The voice crying in the desert is that of Fr. Stravinskas. He explains 'why Catholics don't believe in the Eucharist any more' and prescribes medicines by enumerating the problems. Not likely that the US Bishops will pay any attention, and perhaps only 1 of any 5 parish priests will--but every single one makes sense and is utterly, totally, defensible.
...In every religion where sacrifice has been offered, from biblical Judaism to the worship of the pagan Greeks and Romans, priest and people face the same direction, presumably facing the Divinity being implored...
...In promulgating Immensae Caritatis (1973), Paul VI gave very precise indications for recourse to the non-ordained for distributing Holy Communion; those norms were subsequently incorporated into the 1983 Code of Canon Law. I have never seen a situation in which those norms are followed....
... In Memoriale Domini (1969), the Pope, fearing a schism, acquiesced to the will of the disobedient countries, allowing the continuation of Communion in the hand, there and only there. But it didn’t end in those places. ...
...Every major religion retains a place of honor for a sacral language, lest the pedestrian override the sacred. Banishing Latin has also contributed to the “balkanization” of parishes as various ethnic groups split off into their separate communities....
... why the relegation of the tabernacle to a side altar, separate chapel (or closet), resulting in the replacement of Christ at the center, usually by an enthroned priest?...
... Ripping out altar rails obscured the necessary distinction between the sacred and the profane. The altar needs to be visually set apart because what is enacted there is removed from our commonplace experience of daily life...
...the Communion fast began at midnight; it was hard, so that the frequent Communion advocated by Pope Pius X was noted in the breach more than in the observance. Pius XII wisely mitigated that fast to three hours for solid foods and one hour for liquids. Pope Paul VI modified the fast even further, to the present discipline, namely, one hour for solid food or liquids. The purpose of the Eucharistic fast is to make us feel physical hunger, the better to know spiritual hunger for the Bread of Life....
... For centuries, Catholics of the Western Church have knelt to receive their Eucharistic Lord (Eastern Christians historically have stood). The problem is not so much with standing as such but with the lack of any sign of reverence....
All of this points to the underlying sin of the Intellectualoid Liturgists: separating the mind from the body. They removed most of the corporeal signs and signals (enumerated above) in favor of 'intellectual understanding'. (Remember the "commentator" who was there to explain everything to you?) It's called "dualism" at its worst, and Descartes made it popular for modern man.
But no human being operates that way. Everyone knows that you should reduce your speed in a school zone, but without the sign clearly identifying that zone, your 'knowledge' is not very useful. Everyone knows that there are certain areas of a home which are private; that's why there are doors and curtains to set them off. It's a "both/and" thing, reflecting your real composition of body and soul.
Actual humans 'get' stained-glass windows, ornamental carved wood, gold chalices, Chant, incense, and kneeling. Can they articulate exactly why these things are understood? Not always--but that's not really important--except to the Intellectualoid Liturgists.
It's the same in the secular world; look at a courtroom, where the most honored person(s) sit at the front, enclosed behind an impressive and elevated desk. There is a railing separating the judge and the lawyers from the spectators because something special is going on in that place. The participants use language which is often uncommon (and not understood by laymen); there are procedures which must be followed that are nowhere seen in 'real life'---etc.
Now we are in the desert--a land without symbol, often devoid of any beauty at all, because Descartes revived an ancient heresy and the Intellectualoids bought in.
How long, O Lord, before we are brought back to the land of milk and honey?
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