Hvordan kan messen bli bedre?
Fr. Alvin Kimel, en tidligere anglikansk nå katolsk prest, skriver et innlegg på sin blog (som er i ferd med å legges ned) om hvordan han mener messen må forandres for at den skal bli bedre. I Norge plages vi heldigvis lite med pkt. 3 og 5. Kanskje pkt. 1 er det som er mest konkret og aktuelt for oss – og hans avsluttende setninger (om TLM) er det mange har diskutert her på bloggen de siste dagene. Her er hans konkrete forslag om å forbedre dagens messe:
(1) Abandon the versus populum, immediately! Let priest and people face God together. The single most destructive feature of the “renewed liturgy” is its anthropocentric orientation. The people of God are sanctified by worshipping God, not by celebrating each other.
(2) Restore the chanted liturgy. Prayers are to be sung according to the ancient forms.
(3) Ban the musical compositions of Marty Haugen and David Haas and anything similar. Gregorian chant must be restored as the primary music of the Latin rite. …
(4) Restore the use of incense.
(5) Eradicate ritual informality.
(6) Drastically reduce electronic amplification.
(7) Encourage eucharistic adoration both within and outside the Mass. …
After much thought, I have finally become persuaded that all Catholic priests should be authorized to celebrate the Tridentine Mass, despite the inevitable confusion this will create. While I personally believe that liturgy should be normatively celebrated in the language of the people, I also believe that the practical abolition of the Tridentine Mass was wrong and destructive. We must retrace our steps and attempt to undo the blunders of the post-Vatican II Church. In one way or another, we must forge new connections to the liturgical tradition and the Mass of St Pius V.