{"id":60387,"date":"2022-07-22T11:01:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T16:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=60387"},"modified":"2022-07-28T14:06:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T19:06:37","slug":"a-horticulturist-goes-to-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/22\/a-horticulturist-goes-to-mass\/","title":{"rendered":"A Horticulturist Goes to Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

I offer for thought a passage from Christopher Carstens, Principles of Sacred Liturgy: Forming a Sacramental Vision<\/em> (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications \/ Hillenbrand Books, 2020), 160:<\/p>\n

We could look at the liturgy [we attend] with the eyes of an historian, a mathematician, a football fan, a farmer, or any other point of view, and gain some insights.\u00a0 But seeing sacramentally and mystagogically bears the most liturgical fruit because it engages the liturgy directly, on its own ground, according to its own nature.\u00a0 Imagine, by way of comparison, watching a baseball game only through the eyes of a horticulturist: even if the lush green grass of the outfield, mowed beautifully in a houndstooth pattern, gave some satisfaction to the green thumbs in the crowd, all other aspects\u2014the beauty of the left-handed pitcher\u2019s curveball, the masterful double play in the fourth inning, and the squeeze play that scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth\u2014would be immaterial to the interests of horticulture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sometimes I look at liturgy through the eyes of a rubricist: what the minister just said in the greeting has no place in the rite or what someone just put in THAT spot should be in that OTHER spot.\u00a0 Sometimes I look \/ hear as a musician: that tempo is too fast (or, more often, too slow).\u00a0 Sometimes I am a theologian: did someone just skip a line in the Creed?<\/p>\n

I suppose I am in good company.\u00a0 One of Jesus\u2019 disciples viewed the Temple through the eyes of an architect: \u201cLook, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!\u201d (Mark 13:1) only to be told that not one stone would be left on another.<\/p>\n

The large stones were important.\u00a0 The Creed is important.\u00a0 Good execution in music ministry is important.\u00a0 Where things go and what gets said in liturgy is important.\u00a0 No part of liturgy is unimportant.\u00a0 Yet, like the animals on Orwell\u2019s farm, some elements are more equal than others.\u00a0 Among those elements is the sacramental imagination I (should) bring with me to worship.\u00a0 I do not want to be a horticulturist who admires (or detests) the flowers near the altar to the detriment of the paschal sacrifice there renewed for my life and the life of the world.<\/p>\n

Now, if only the presbyter would not raise the host quite that high during the Eucharistic Prayer . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I look at liturgy through the eyes of a rubricist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":60388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3119,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-liturgical-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nA Horticulturist Goes to Mass - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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