2 September 2018
Marco Tosatti
Excuse my unloading, but I understand why people don't go to Mass anymore, and I have the solution. If anyone else can tell those who need to be told, for example the reigning Pontiff, may he do it and I won't hold him to copyright.
I immediately give the remedy, divided in two options.
The first: move the homily to the end of Mass, and make it optional. Which means that after the final blessing he who wishes may stay to be instructed and edified. He, rather, who would prefer to stay in the state of grace in which the celebration of the sacrifice has left him, can go.
The second: guarantee that every Sunday there is a Mass without a homily, or with a homily strictly regulated under three minutes. In three minutes one can synthesize the spiritual essence of the Scripture, and give to the faithful points for personal reflection, without watering down the soup or doing verbal theater. Certainly, one can always mentally say the Rosary, but...
I went to Mass today in a large Roman church, because of my schedule. Believe me if I tell you that during the homily I wanted to get up and leave. Among the other examples of formal purity--it was the scene of the Pharisees scandalized because the disciples ate without washing their hands; and from a hygienic standpoint they were surely right--the connection was made with the pre-eucharistic fast. It was being said, as if it were an achievement, that now one hour is enough. However, before the Council one had to fast--at least the priest, he added--from midnight. And if one had to celebrate an early Mass, that might be OK. But if one had to celebrate later in the morning "it was a twelve hour fast!" seeing the protruding belly of the celebrant which formed a fine contour under his vestments one could be sure that his fasting business would not be more than sixty one minutes... Then at the moment for the exchange of peace he left the altar and came to great EVERYONE. We were around forty people, standing like scarecrows in an unnatural pause, which broke the entire sacred rhythm. The Church does not need liturgists but choreographers to show that the event has a rhythm which leads to a climax and that to break it is a disaster. Indeed for spiritual concentration, the recollection of those who participate in it. I may be bad, but I had the great impression that the celebrant was merely reciting. Speaking of Pharisees...
(Plinthos translation)