WORDS TO THE WHYS

The truth will make you odd. Flannery O’Connor

A Reason For Mission

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[ 2 minute read ]

Thoughts from An Unofficial Ordinariate Primer

Fuel for Mission

Beauty feeds the soul for mission. Souls fed on beauty, truth and goodness rise in hope each day to feed others, whether it be by offering bread or by offering the goodness of friendship or guidance or by sharing other charitable gifts.

Ordinariate Catholics are fond of saying that we strive to worship God in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 96:9). We endeavor, therefore, to offer the sacred Liturgy (and Offices of Mattins and Evensong) in a manner that honours God and allows His people to perceive His truth, goodness and beauty. That clarity of purpose is not a sterile or banal approach that, to the uninitiated, appears to idolize good gifts while ignoring the Giver of those gifts. Rather, Ordinariate Catholics access the Church's vast treasury of art, music and architecture, enthusiastically employing elements of that venerable treasure trove of beauty to service as reliable vehicles for prayer through which God entices us into His embrace.

The Ordinariate brings back to the awareness of Latin Catholics a lively and sober celebration of God through the gifts He has given us, blessed avenues through which we enter into a personal communion with Him and are nourished by His Word and Presence. The Sacraments, preeminently, embody the love, glory and mercy of God and divinize the man who humbly enters into relationship with Jesus Christ, the author of those sacraments. The Sacraments can and should be offered with care appropriate to their dignity as signs of Christ acting among us.

The Ordinariate brings to the Church a renewed sense of appreciation for the gifts God has given in and through the English Patrimony that enthusiastically preserves a wealth of artistic and architectural forms that edify and invigorate souls thirsty for the joy and hope that God offers.

Show me a beautiful church and you show me a people of hope.

The parish liturgical landscape tends to reflect or mirror the inner landscape of the congregation. A sanctuary that embodies beauty and goodness is likely an affirmation of a congregation that acknowledges the glory of God and reverently celebrates His innumerable gifts. We who have received God's blessing should surely muster the appropriate humility and enthusiasm to honour the gifts God gives us to invite others into God's embrace.

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