...my first thought...well, maybe second or third thought...was that maybe the many problems besetting the Church in this country are caused by our ruthless pursuit of individuality and personal rights that everyone seems to think they're entitled to. Everyone thinks their way is the right way...in other words, the whole protestant understanding of faith and works has totally infiltrated Catholicism.
Having converted from presbyterianism I'm often disappointed when I find that the average Catholic church is little different from what I left behind...the lukewarm faith, the embarrassment of an outward manifestation of our faith explained away as 'living the Christian life and being witnesses to Christ by our good behavior...that words aren't needed" and stripped churches that have few statues and tiny little Stations of the Cross etc. When I joined the Church I expected beauty, mystery, sounds of bells and scents of incense, chants and ancient beauty. Instead, I find protestant hymns or happy, clappy campsongs written in the past forty years, people wearing short shorts and tank tops, bare toes sticking out of sandals, altar girls, women doing the readings, women cantors, women Eucharistic ministers...I feel like the only change I've experienced is the Eucharist, which I'm very grateful for, but sometimes even that is difficult when the music is so terrible and distracting.
But, getting back to my orginal 'waking thought'...our first and primary purpose of worship is just that. Worship!! It's not about us. All our music, all our thoughts, all our gratitude should be directed to our Lord and His sacrifice during the Mass. We should be dressed reverently and in our best clothes...not fancy or expensive clothes, but certainly our best and cleanest. And all this controversy in the Church would be elimminated if we remembered Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loves us. We may not agree on how the Mass should be carried out, or what our expectations of our pope should be, but above all else we should try to love one another...which doesn't mean we have to accept heresy or lies.
