Why Christian #Liturgy is so Important

I’ve done a few videos on aspects of our #Catholic culture, with a focus on #liturgy and music, in the past and it’s given me the opportunity to encounter some feedback and rebuttals from commenters as well as people I know personally, so I wanted to make another video addressing some of those sentiments.

One argument I’ve seen out there and have had addressed to me is that the Church has a rich history of recognizing what is good in the culture around it and adopting those things into it. So this is why it’s perfectly fine for us to take elements of pop culture and integrate them into our worship.

And this is true the #Church has drawn from cultural influences in the past and many of the things that are associated with traditional Catholicism were not familiar to the early Church.

One example is ancestor worship in pagan culture. We recognized a need to look to our ancestors, especially those who were virtuous and left behind a deposit of prosperity and knowledge. So we used the communion of saints as a way to communicate what those pagan cultures were trying to grasp.

But notice that that is an example of taking something and elevating it so that it is more true and good, not less.

But what we have today, in your average Catholic parish, isn't a case in which we're taking something good in our culture and elevating it to become something more good, true, or beautiful, but rather we're reproducing it in ways that actually reduce it's appeal.

More than that, the popular music of today finds its appeal though novelty and fashion. It's the offspring of an art establishment that is based on the philosophy of modernism which is where we get ideas like, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. In other words, your subjective taste defines what is beautiful. This idea is utterly incompatible with Christianity which has always taught that God is beauty and, therefore, is objective. It exists outside and apart from your particular preferences.

And this brings me to another really popular argument that is out there. It’s a plea to a relativistic idea that we should each seek what happens to appeal to us. If I like chant, I should go to a Latin mass, if you like folk, you should go to a Novus Ordo. If someone else likes third rate 80’s rock ballads, they should go to a youth mass.

OK, let’s say, for the sake of argument, that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with this line of reasoning. Is the Church not universal? What’s the likelihood that the parish in my neighborhood, which is where I’m supposed to go, is going to succeed in this method in appealing to my particular tastes?

And if it doesn’t, does that mean that I’m just out of luck. Too bad for me, I guess I have to drive halfway across the city to find something I like. What’s the likelihood that any of these attempts are going to actually appeal to our youth? Are we actually so naïve that we think that we will succeed in appealing to their tastes in popular music? And if the unlikely event that we do succeed in that occurs, will there be anything recognizably Christian left in it?

If the Church is universal and a place that should welcome all, shouldn’t we be trying to avoid a presentation of the faith that only appeals to one cultural persuasion. Because we have to choose something at the end of the day. That’s why sacred music is such a good fit. It transcends fashions and preferences. It avoids all fashions and, thereby, has an appeal that is universal.

Here’s the thing, liturgy isn’t entertainment. Your religion doesn’t exist to amuse you. Your religion is an emersion into the death and resurrection of the second person of the divine trinity which was necessary for the expiation of human evil. How do you look at that and say, well, as long as they’re playing my kind of music.

People who advocate for traditional liturgy aren’t doing it because it best reflects their taste in music. They’re doing it because they recognize that God is Beauty, as has always been taught, and since he is, that means that beauty is objective. Beauty exists outside and apart from yours or my subjective taste. Our taste is irrelevant. Instead of trying to enforce our preferences onto everyone else, we should be trying to allow ourselves and our tastes to be transformed so that they better correspond to the objective reality of God’s beauty.

I didn't become Catholic because it was the most appealing to me. I became Catholic because it's true. Likewise, I'm not trying to find a liturgical environment that suits my taste.

I'm trying to find one that best reflects the objective reality of God's beauty. My money's on the one that first understood that it is objective and second held captive the spiritual imagination of countless generations of Christians for centuries.

[chernobylwendigo]

"Can't you see you aren't making Christianity better, you're just making rock and roll worse?" - Hank Hill

[countyman]

Thank you so much for your wisdom Brian. As a priest, it warms and edifies my heart to hear young people, like yourself, speak on the beauty and the wisdom of the Sacred Liturgy. May God continue to sustain you and to speak through you!

[BPP]

"Liturgy isn’t entertainment." BOOM!

Brian sets us up for Dietrich von Hildebrand's proposal: “[T]he Face of Christ is revealed in the Liturgy: *The Liturgy is Christ praying.* To learn the fundamental dispositions embodied in the Liturgy means to penetrate more deeply into the great mystery of the adoration of God, which is Jesus Christ (Liturgy and Personality. Hildebrand Press, 2016, p. 5, emphasis added).

[Randaed]

I've started liking your videos before finishing them. I have not regretted this.

[paulhenderson]

Great video. I too became a Catholic because I think it’s true! Keep up the good work.

[st.frankofva.]

Cannot enjoy this one enough. Thank you for putting into words what many of us struggle to say or even know how to formulate. Well done.

[williamjones]

Low church evangelical here. I could not agree more with you regarding variety show religiosity. Love your channel.

[flightless]

I have always been saying this and I know it in my heart it's true. I am a cradle Catholic and I always will be! Thannks!

[joshua_wherley]

"Liturgy is not entertainment. Your religion does not exist to amuse you."

This is something that I wish I could work up the courage to say to my family members who attend non-denominational churches. We need to go back to the roots of Christianity, not chase passing trends.

[S.Mihai.S]

A comment I saw on Facebook about how liturgy is not entertainment.
" We went to a different NO parish for Mass today. Average age 80. Wonderful warm welcoming people and genuine holiness of heart, despite "Shine Jesus Shine!" and clapping.
I was pounced on directly after mass by 2 different well meaning people insisting that my children (12, 9, 5) would love to go to the children's liturgy to do colouring sheets based on the Gospel ect. I told both of them that i prefer to keep the children in the main body of the church so they can learn. The people were not having any of it and could not understand why i would not take advantage of the resource they have obviously carefully planned.
The truth is that my kids are too old to do colouring in a seperate room. I take them to mass to go to mass! Not to go to todlers playgroup!
Another old lady told me she was greatly moved by the fact that my children genuflect before receiving communion. I quietly told my son "See, actions are evangelistic and important."
Another lady was totally bemused by the fact that we enjoy the Latin Mass and the nuns chanting as our regular parish.
On leaving, one well meaning man basically begged us to return next week. "We need children! Come back - it's fun here! " he said in desperation. It was sad. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we go to mass to worship God, not to have "fun" as such. "

[seraphimk]

Many western Christians need to hear this. I was raised in a Western Evangelical tradition. While I am grateful to my past, I am so thankful Christ led me to the Eastern Orthodox Church where I participate in St. John Chrysostom’s Divine Liturgy every Sunday. You have a compelling channel and I hope many hear the words you share.

[NotAFeminist]

The first Roman Catholic Mass I attended shocked me. I knew I had stepped into what the book of Revelation called the Supper of the Lamb. I had not planned to become Catholic but was so drawn to it. The Mass drew me into that place where heaven and earth meet

[oseikwamejnr]

Does God care how we worship Him was a video you did which I loved and this one is all the more excellent! Once again, you did it. Now I have someone who thinks objectively on such issues.

[Maytrovato]

Thank you so much! I've been digging more and more about the beauty in the Catholic architecture, sacred music, and liturgy, and I don't want to stop because beauty helps me to be more concentrated, to make a better pray and contemplate God's creation. As a Catholics, we have a lot of wealth.

[jeffstumpf]

Excellent as always, Brian. Thank you for what you do.

[donm-tvcm]

You're spot-on, as usual. The more the liturgy becomes like pop-culture and the modern world, the less it stands out from the world and the less compelling it becomes! I'm a Protestant still working on coming in, but I can tell you that the older style music as seen in Latin Mass and Paul Jernberg's work speak to my heart in ways that very few modern works do. That music tells me the Catholic Church is like no other church or organization, and I'm DRAWN to it! The Church needs to get back to that!

[LD-nlvf]

I always love your content and your opinion.thank you very much for sharing your faith and knowledge, the beauty of our faith and history

[alexfurey]

Thank you Brian. Your succinct arguments, comments, and history are encouraging and useful in addressing the primacy and importance of Sacred Music, especially Chant

[pedrosgarden]

I love listening to you! So glad I found you. There's nothing out there like this.

[mottledbrain]

You put a voice to my thoughts. Thank you.
Thank you also for the detailed description provided ... reading that (along with the title) convinced me to watch/listen to the whole video.
Dominus tecum Brian!