5 minute read
Family matters
The heart of the matter
Did you know that Albert Einstein was an actual scientist who really existed? I always thought he was a theoretical physicist! Haw haw, very funny.
In case you didn’t get the joke, I will now ruin it by explaining it. It’s funny because something being “theoretical” can mean it’s not real, just an idea perhaps - something confined to the imagination. At the same time a “theoretical physicist” is a type of physicist who studies the mathematical ideas and theories behind physics.
As it happens Einstein’s theoretical physics turned out to be incredibly practical. His special theory of relativity is one of the most tried and tested pieces of scientific knowledge out there. We rely on it for everything from nuclear power to GPS navigation. Every time you load up a map on your phone a little arrow somehow knows where you are standing, Einstein’s theory is proving itself to be correct.
I mention this joke because I think sometimes I am in danger of being a “theoretical Catholic”. That is to say, not a Catholic who appears only in your imagination but a Catholic who studies the ideas and theories behind Catholicism a lot more than he actually practices them.
Recently, somebody asked a question that I have often seen lobbed at traditional Catholics like a sort of ideological hand grenade. “How can you participate at Mass if you don’t understand Latin? Huh? Huh?” Usually, people who ask such things don’t wait around for an answer. They don’t really want to know. It’s theoretical. In this case it was different, a lady at our local Latin Mass was coming from a far more practical perspective. “Is it okay for me to receive Holy Communion” she asked, “if I have not understood the words and followed what is happening?” She wasn’t an ideological opponent looking for a quick win, but somebody with a genuine interest in learning more about the Latin Mass.
The answer, assuming there is no other obstacle, is that of course she can receive Holy Communion. Not knowing at any given moment precisely which part of the Mass the Priest is saying doesn’t mean you can’t understand in your heart and in your head what the Mass is and why you are there. The same goes for parents who might have spent most of Mass just outside of the Church with a screaming child, only catching the occasional hint of a bell somewhere in the distance.
Such parents are done a disservice, I think, by the mistaken belief that we can only participate at Mass by saying and doing things. If you do not sing loudly, say the responses, hear the prayers, understand the words and sit/stand/kneel at the appropriate moments - have you even been to Mass? Of course you have.
What actually matters here is that you love God. “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1Cor 13:1). Or to paraphrase - if I turn up to Mass and understand every word the Priest says, but do not have love, it’s all just empty gestures. The flip side is true - if I go to Mass and adore Jesus on the altar but have not the foggiest idea what is going on in terms of specific liturgical prayers and actions, that is really all that I need.
It’s a strange sort of irony that traditional Catholics, so often accused of caring only about external appearances, are now having to explain that external appearances are not what matters here.
So hold on James, you are saying that as long as we love God, we don’t need incense, chant, Latin or fancy fiddleback chasubles? That doesn’t sound very traditional!
Well it is.
The key here is to remember that all of those things are signs and symbols of spiritual realities and ultimately, the only spiritual reality that matters is - do you love God? If you read the Catechism of the Council of Trent 1566 you will find that "he who loveth has fulfilled the law" and yet in another classic Catholic “both/and” situation it also quotes Our Lord that “If anyone love me, he will keep my word” (Jn 14:23).
In other words – traditional Catholics are not modern Pharisees. We do not believe in salvation by box ticking - if we love God then the boxes are ticked by default. At the same time we cannot be simply “theoretical Catholics” talking all of the time and never doing.
There is no contradiction here like Einstein’s theory, our love of God should not remain purely theoretical. It has to have real life practical consequences. Something I for one, could do to work at.
