Silence squelched in Novus Ordo mass . . .,A meditation on noise

A Catholic thing:

A few weeks back, I attended a Novus Ordo (New Order, or “ordinary”) mass after weeks of (Extraordinary Form, old order) Latin masses. I had to start jotting just as the sermon began. Only a six-minuter and something acceptable, in any case not unusually good or bad.

Feeling dreaded ennui coming on, I reached for the little black pad and pen, and there I was again, jotting. In the few recent weeks when I made Extraordinary (Latin) my mass of choice, I had not done this once! . . . .

Etc. here.

Silence squelched in Novus Ordo mass . . .

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Silence squelched in Novus Ordo mass . . .

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A few weeks back, I attended a Novus Ordo (New Order, or “ordinary”) mass after weeks of (Extraordinary Form, old order) Latin masses. I had to start jotting just as the sermon began. Only a six-minuter and something acceptable, in any case not unusually good or bad.

Feeling dreaded ennui coming on, I reached for the little black pad and pen, and there I was again, jotting. In the few recent weeks when I made Extraordinary (Latin) my mass of choice, I had not done this once!

Why now? Because the service was losing my attention, and I had to wrench it back into place by recording my reflections. It’s a ploy I learned decades ago, in my exclusively N.O. days. This was my first trial of attention, of cooperation, collaboration, indeed participation in what we Catholics used to call the holy sacrifice.

Most preachers fall short (for me, I’m picky) and thereby constitute a distraction. On this occasion Father urged us on sincerely. (Sincerity is not usually the problem.) But sincerely or not, the weekday homily, short as it is, constitutes a distraction at this point. It becomes an interruption to the worship experience.

At least there were no petitions — prayers of the faithful — name-dropping of a dozen or so issues demanding our attention, many of them ripped from the day’s headlines. Many the time when this worshiper thought we might as well put in a good word for the White Sox while we’re at it. (I’m sure it’s been done somewhere.)

With the sermon done, the head trip began, and the sounds of silence went missing. Father is miked, of course, and he is in the minds if not hearts of us all, reading the ordinary (every day) parts so that we do not miss a syllable. He kills the silence.

He puts his imprint on the service. He’s supposed to. It’s the post-Vatican 2 norm. Let there be light, the Creator said at the Beginning.

Let there be noise, said Vatican 2, or at least its alleged spirit. And the priest, being chief, or only, noisemaker, performing according the script given him, unwittingly makes it all about him.

His performance matters. All, or so very much, depends on him. Or is made to look that way.

Kenosha police Chief Dan Miskinis: My officers did nothing wrong in allowing teen gunman Kyle Rittenhouse to walk away after allegedly killing 2 protesters – Chicago Sun-Times

Front-loaded

Chicago Newspapers

The newspaper lede that blatantly editorializes:

Kenosha police Chief Daniel Miskinis on Friday tried torationalize why his officers allowed a teenage gunman to walk away from the scene after authorities have said he killed two people with an assault rifle — a situation that led to heavy criticism of the department.

Rationalize? Not explain? Or does the writer and his editors not know the difference?

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Lumes Pancake House shooting: 5 shot, 1 fatally, outside Morgan Park restaurant, Chicago police say – ABC7 Chicago

Black lives matter. Tell that to the ubiquitous shooters.

Trevaughn Roberson, a relative of one of the women who was shot, said shootings are commonplace in the area.

“I won’t lie to you, it’s kinda normal for me. But it, for it to hit home, you know, it’s always that much worse. Of course I’m affected by it, yeah,” Roberson said. “This goes on all day, everyday. Everybody knows it. I just hope for better days.”

No one is in custody. Area Two detectives are investigating.

Will Lori Lightweight show up and berate citizens for not naming the shooters?

Trump Outside-In Mideast Strategy Takes To the Sky

Things moving along in the Mideast:

President Trump’s top Mideast negotiator, Jared Kushner, and top Israeli and American officials are scheduled to board an El Al plane tomorrow to make the first direct commercial flight between Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi. The historic trip will vindicate the outside-in approach to peacemaking, long championed by Mr. Kushner.

Monday’s two-and-a-half-hour flight comes after the United Arab Emirates announced earlier in August its intention to fully normalize relations with Israel. On board, in addition to Mr. Kushner, will be President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, and an Israeli delegation headed by Mr. O’Brien’s counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat.

Anticipating their arrival — and despite background noises about a possible deal-breaking dispute involving an American sale of F35 fighter planes to the Emirates — the UAE officially scrapped a 1972 law that banned doing business with Israeli firms.

more more more about this deal by our dealmaker POTUS.