Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Guide to Liturgies

I like Tom's colorful graphs but don't feel confident enough in my gif-making skills to create my own. So I thought I'd borrow his even though it doesn't really fit. But it is easy on the eyes. And if you can't borrow from a fellow St. Blogger then who can you?

  Liturgies

Color State Reverent Less than reverent Tridentine Novus Ordo Byzantine Catholic /Orthodox (not used)

Some 'splanation is in order. The pastor at the Byzantine Catholic church I attend often mentions that "we are a Resurrection People" (a subtle distancing from the Roman rite's emphasis on the cross even though this Byzantine church is in communion with Rome?). Anyway, that phrase tends to make me cringe since normally "Resurrection people" gets bandied about by liturgists who think James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend" is an excellent opening hymn. And although I've gone to only two Tridentine liturgies and thus am unqualified to pronounce judgment, my initial take is that it is very reverent if a bit gloomy (represented by the red hue). But the Ruthian Byzantine liturgy is extremely reverent while also maintaining the cheerfulness of a "Resurrection People" (represented by the green hue). The two liturgies represent the "two lungs of the Church" as Pope John Paul II wrote. "Such a wealth of praise, built up by the different forms of the Church's great tradition, could help us to hasten the day when the Church can begin once more to breathe fully with her 'two lungs', the East and the West" (John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 34).

Fine Print:
--I define reverent here as recognizing that God is Holy, i.e. Other, i.e. not us.
--Not all Novus Ordo liturgies fall into the "Less than reverent" half of course. (A drawback of using someone else's picture.)