CONFERENCE HOLY HOUR
"In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church's supreme act of adoration."
"Receiving the Eucharist means adoring Him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with Him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself." -- Pope Benedict XVI -- Sacramentum Caritatis
But instead of this
"Receiving the Eucharist means adoring Him whom we receive. Only in this way do we become one with Him, and are given, as it were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself." -- Pope Benedict XVI -- Sacramentum Caritatis
But instead of thisThere is THIS!
The flow of “praise the Lord”, the cheers from the audience, the buzz of “tongues” - these are all trappings of charismatic weekends. And the World Youth Day, the Steubenville and the LA Religious Educational Congress conferences are some of the biggest; drawing huge crowds of Catholics. These are in fact “Christian” rock carnivals to feed and to entertain the charisma manic crowd.
Being “Catholic” they all promote Eucharistic Adoration. Except that these holy hours begin with rousing “gathering music” and the crowd grooves and claps and dances in the aisles before adoration.
Then the drama begins. The priest makes an entrance with the monstrance. The lights are dimmed; there is a spotlight on the Eucharist. The worship band intensifies its tunes. They are playing a Protestant “Agnus Dei”. Heavy beat pulsates through the crowd by the time the monstrance is placed on the table. The music rises to a crescendo. With arms raised the priest bellows into the microphone “Holy are you, Lord. Blessed is our Lord God, Worthy, worthy is the Lord, worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord, shamana shamana shamana shamana shamana.”
The music quiets down and the buzz of tongues continues. But fear not; more Protestant tunes are on the way. There is a brief but rousing homily then the priest slowly makes his way into the crowd. The Protestant music is deafening. The crowd stands up and arms are raised. After fifty minutes of going around the crowd the priest returns to the stage and puts the monstrance back on the table. Its “Tantum Ergo” time - as if the Catholic hymn could undo the previous blasphemies. “You have given us bread from Heaven” chants the priest. (And you priest, you welcomed the Bread of Heaven into the bowels of syncretistic hell.) Priest and monstrance leaves the hall the worship band strikes up another loud number and the Steubenville Holy Hour is over.
Being “Catholic” they all promote Eucharistic Adoration. Except that these holy hours begin with rousing “gathering music” and the crowd grooves and claps and dances in the aisles before adoration.
Then the drama begins. The priest makes an entrance with the monstrance. The lights are dimmed; there is a spotlight on the Eucharist. The worship band intensifies its tunes. They are playing a Protestant “Agnus Dei”. Heavy beat pulsates through the crowd by the time the monstrance is placed on the table. The music rises to a crescendo. With arms raised the priest bellows into the microphone “Holy are you, Lord. Blessed is our Lord God, Worthy, worthy is the Lord, worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord, shamana shamana shamana shamana shamana.”
The music quiets down and the buzz of tongues continues. But fear not; more Protestant tunes are on the way. There is a brief but rousing homily then the priest slowly makes his way into the crowd. The Protestant music is deafening. The crowd stands up and arms are raised. After fifty minutes of going around the crowd the priest returns to the stage and puts the monstrance back on the table. Its “Tantum Ergo” time - as if the Catholic hymn could undo the previous blasphemies. “You have given us bread from Heaven” chants the priest. (And you priest, you welcomed the Bread of Heaven into the bowels of syncretistic hell.) Priest and monstrance leaves the hall the worship band strikes up another loud number and the Steubenville Holy Hour is over.
