{"id":26980,"date":"2014-08-16T17:28:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T22:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=26980"},"modified":"2024-09-26T18:36:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T23:36:41","slug":"non-solum-bodily-imagery-in-the-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/16\/non-solum-bodily-imagery-in-the-liturgy\/","title":{"rendered":"Non Solum:<\/i> Bodily Imagery in the Liturgy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhy is it that the two things people are most reluctant to speak about are how we come into the world (human sexuality) and how we leave (human death)?\u201d (Charles Gusmer, And You Visited Me: Sacramental Ministry to the Sick and the Dying<\/em><\/a>, 174)<\/p>\n

It is only when the liturgical life of the church can fully embrace, ritualize, and sacramentalize sex and death, the poles of human existence, that all of the rest of human life can be fully embraced, ritualized and sacramentalized as well.<\/p>\n

During Lent, a friend wrote to me about the entrance antiphon for the Fourth Sunday. The text of the antiphon read: “You will find contentment at her consoling breasts\u201d? My friend was unsure what to do. Should they use the proper entrance antiphon or should they use another text which was not so \u201ccontroversial?\u201d They choose to use another entrance antiphon after deeming this antiphon inappropriate.<\/p>\n

There are many texts in scripture and in our liturgies which utilize imagery deemed inappropriate by our society today. Even something as natural as breastfeeding has become sexualized and banished from public discussion. The ancients had no problem with such imagery because of their connection to \u201cthe circle of life\u201d \u2013 to borrow a phrase from Disney. But we do not live in the time of the ancients. Puritan ideas permeate American culture. Our bodies are divorced from the sacred and relegated to the profane. This is especially the case in the liturgy.<\/p>\n

It is ironic that in today\u2019s sex-obsessed culture we are uncomfortable with such language in our liturgies. As the disconnect between our spiritual lives and our bodies widens, our liturgies become more cerebral and less grounded in a key part of human existence. Society\u2019s unease with language surrounding our bodies is troubling to me because it sterilizes our liturgies and tends toward Gnosticism.<\/p>\n

Perhaps imagery such as this is no longer appropriate in our public liturgies. What are we to do, however, when it comes up?<\/p>\n

I think our inability to address \u201cthe circle of life\u201d in our liturgies creates an environment in which the Church and her sacraments lose their resonance with the lives of the faithful.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts? How would you respond? Please comment below in an appropriate and respectful way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many texts in scripture and in our liturgies which utilize imagery deemed inappropriate by our society today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[275,17,167,3813,31],"tags":[2560],"class_list":["post-26980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funeralsburial","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-marraige","category-non-solum","category-sacramental-theology","tag-non-solum"],"yoast_head":"\nNon Solum: Bodily Imagery in the Liturgy - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/16\/non-solum-bodily-imagery-in-the-liturgy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Non Solum: Bodily Imagery in the Liturgy - 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