Celebration or Sacrifice

[StephenF]

It seems to me that as soon as we started designating the Mass as a "celebration", it shifted from being an act of worship For God to being an assembly For the Congregation.  Do you agree with this?  Is not the Mass a Holy Sacrifice, a re-enactment of Calvary?  How could the Church have permitted this strange emphasis?  Is it not the root of the misinterpretation of Vatican II? 

[NorthernTrad]

It seems to me that as soon as we started designating the Mass as a "celebration", it shifted from being an act of worship For God to being an assembly For the Congregation.  Do you agree with this?  Is not the Mass a Holy Sacrifice, a re-enactment of Calvary?  How could the Church have permitted this strange emphasis?  Is it not the root of the misinterpretation of Vatican II? 

Unfortunately, I don't think we misinterpret what VII meant to do at all.  The Council was more interested in not offending these guys: 



rather than worrying what Catholics were offended by.

[Archbishop_10K]

I agree, although I think one of the Mass's many secondary meanings has always been a celebration. We've referred to the main priest or bishop as the "Celebrant" and used the term "celebrating the Mass" for a long time. It's not so much an invention as a reordering of emphasis. I still think of the traditional Mass as a celebration, among other things.

[CarolusMagnus]

Mass should be a sacrifice then the rest of the day is a celebration, that is the best way, before the Mass we are enslaved by our sins, during Mass there is the sacrifice and we are set free from them, after mass we celebrate our freedom bought for us by Christs sacrifice, thats the way I always look at.

------>------>

[CaroleK]

I don't think the problem is with the word but rather with the modern understanding of the word "celebration."  It is properly termed the Celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Why?  Because celebration (the noun) means  1) an act of celebrating  2) the festivities engaged in to celebrate something.

Which brings us to the definition of celebrate (the verb)  1) to observe (a day or event) with ceremonies of respect, festivity or rejoicing  2)  to perform (a religious ceremony)  3) to extol or praise  4) to make widely known; display.

Ceremonies of respect, festivity or rejoicing.  The Mass is without doubt a ceremony of respect and of rejoicing.  Do we not rejoice in the offering of the Eucharist, in the ability to receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord?

The Mass is further performing a religious ceremony, it extols and praises the Divine and Holy Trinity and the Sacrifice of Christ and it does make widely known and display the sacrifice at Calvary.

It is not the fault of the word that the modern and secular world sees only the "festivity" in the word celebrate.  It is the fault of the ignorance of people.

So I would posit that while there is, perhaps, a problem with the emphasis and connotation of the word celebrate by those too ignorant to know better there is no inherent problem with acknowledging that we truly do celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

[KatieRD]

Carole, good post.  I agree with you.

[NorthernTrad]

Carole, good post.  I agree with you.

 

Ditto