7/2/2017 AreyouPrayingtheMass?

ABOUTTHISBLOGGER:

AndrewLeungisaseminarianfor
theRomanCatholicDioceseof
Steubenville,Ohio.Hehasserved
asDirectorofMusicatSt.PiusX

ABOUTUS | HEADER | ARCHIVE Church(Atlanta)andtaught
GregorianchantattheCistercian
MonasteryoftheHolySpirit
(Georgia).Fortwoyears,hewill
AreyouPrayingtheMass? Share 99
bestudyinginMacau,China.
published18February2016byAndrewLeung

AST WEEK, I wrote about the Three CONNECTONFACEBOOK:

Common Misconception about Chant and

Corpus...
most people seem to agree with my 12.967Megusta
observations. In that post, I mentioned a deeper
problem that has to do with 'prayer since people
complain about not being able to participate Megustaestapgina
externally.Ithoughtitwouldbeappropriatetowrite
a reflection on Prayer and Liturgy, especially at Selprimerodetus
amigosenindicarquete
thebeginningofthissacredseasonofLent.Thisis gustaesto.
a topic that comes up frequently in my
conversationswithmyspiritualdirector.

Myspiritualdirector,whosenameIwillkeepprivate,isaveryholypriestinhislate70s.Heisthe
LatinMassGuruinourdioceseandhecelebratesbothFormsoftheMassregularly.Hestarted
hisseminaryformationbeforetheCouncilandwasordainedin1964.Heisoneofthefewofhis CONNECTONTWITTER:
generation who never gave up wearing the cassock in public. He is a very wise and inspiring
Follow@ccwatershed
priest. I love discussing liturgical questions with him because he knows exactly what happened
before,duringandafterVaticanII.
"Whatearliergenerationsheldas
sacred,remainssacredandgreat
TherearemanyarticlesthatdealwithproblemsoftheliturgynowadaysIhavewrittensomeof
forustoo,anditcannotbeallofa
them myself. People write about the orientation of the celebration, the language we use in our suddenentirelyforbiddenor
Worship,theOldMassandtheNew,etc.However,Ibelievetherootofalltheproblemswesee evenconsideredharmful."
nowadaysistheunderstandingofprayer.Peopledonotknowhowtopray!Hereareafewquotes PopeBenedictXVI,Letter
frommywisespiritualdirectoronprayerandtheliturgy: accompanying"Summorum
Pontificum"(7/7/07)
The changes that the Council Fathers made to the liturgy were meant to help people to pray
better.However,theoutcomeisnotwhattheywanted.

Itisourfault.Itwasus,mybrotherpriestsandI,whostoppedthoselittleoldladiesfrompraying
therosaryatMass.Theyactuallyknowhowtopray.

InorderforthepeopletoappreciatetheChurchsmusic,theymustfirstlearnhowtopray.

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Icantagreewithhimmore.Wemustlearn
to enter into deep interior prayers. Prayers
are our conversations with God. There are
manyformsofprayer.Physicallydoing,orsaying,
or singing something are ways of praying. Many
people come to Mass to enjoy homilies, to sing
songs and to focus on what they can do. These
are all good ways to participate, but they are
exterior and superficial. We need to listen to God
sothatwecanhavedeepconversationswithHim.
We need to learn to meditate in silence, and
eventually in melismatic chant. Maybe one thing
wecandoduringthisLentistostopcriticizingthe
homilies,musicandthetinymistakesthathappen
atMass,andfocusmoreontheBodyandBloodof
Christonthealtar.

Finally, I would like to end with a remark that I

often hear from my spiritual director when he
thanksmeforsinginghisMasses:

Themusicwasbeautiful.Itwasbeautifulbecause
Icanhearthatyouwerepraying.

AreyouprayingtheMass?Whenyousing,areyoupraying?

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