Easy on the Eyes

Seeing who has authority to change the liturgy

09/09/2023

Lk 6:1-5 While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?" Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."

On Fridays I go to visit my parents who now reside in Springdale. In the past two weeks I have read to my father from an online periodical called The Pillar, which gives in-depth news and analysis on the Catholic Church. The news lately has been about our home state of Kerala, India, and specifically about our home church called the Syro-Malabar Church, founded by St. Thomas the Apostle. Yeah, that St. Thomas. So Catholicism has been in India for 2,000 years.

The Pillar has published several articles covering a dispute in Kerala that has been brewing for months and years over which way the priest should face at Mass. Things have gotten so bad, people have protested in the streets, burned images of the cardinal in effigy, and the cathedral church has to be closed for everyone’s safety.

At root what is at issue is that for over 50 years the priest has faced the people during the whole Mass. But since 2021 the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church decided that all 35 dioceses in that church will have the priest facing the people at the beginning and end of Mass, but during the middle of Mass, the priest would face east, or away from the people. This half-and-half arrangement is what the bishops want.

But the priests and people want the priest to face the people throughout the whole Mass. How would you feel about which way the priest faces? Well, if your priest was as handsome as Fr. Mike Schmitz, you may demand he faces the people the whole Mass. He is easy on the eyes. But if he’s an old bald priest like me, you might think, yeah, it’s probably a good idea he faces east instead.

On the one hand we might feel, what’s the big deal? But on the other hand, we might think, hey don’t monkey with the Mass. Remember how hard it was for us back in 2011 when we started saying, “And with your spirit” instead of “And also with you” when the priest said, “The Lord be with you”? And we still can’t figure out if we should stand, sit, or kneel after we receive Holy Communion.

In my mind the bone of contention has to do with who has authority over the liturgy to make changes. In the Catholic Church that authority has been given by Jesus to Peter and the apostles, and to their successors, the pope and the bishops. In fact, Pope Francis sent a papal delegate, Archbishop Vasil, to settle the dispute and encourage the priests and people to obey the change instituted by the bishops. But the priests and people did not budge. And the papal delegate returned to Rome empty-handed.

In the gospel today we see something similar: who has authority over the liturgy? Jesus allows his disciples to pick grain and eat it on the Sabbath, which was forbidden by Pharisaic law. But Jesus replies, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” And by “Sabbath” Jesus did not just mean Saturday, but everything you should or should not do on Saturday, including divine worship, or the liturgy.

And when Jesus instituted the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Holy Thursday, he gave the charge of how to celebrate Mass to the pope and bishops. So, what that means – if you can mentally connect the dots – when the Syro-Malabar priests and people defy their bishops (and Pope Francis), they are rejecting the ultimate authority of Christ. They are siding with the Pharisees in the gospel today.

My friends, may I ask your prayers for the Church in my home state of Kerala? Let us pray for the unity of the Church, and that this dispute does not end in division, like has happened too many times in the 2,000 year history of the Church. But we also need to pray for Pope Francis and the up-coming Synod on Synodality.

I worry that what is unfolding in Kerala might be a preview of coming attractions all over the world. Or maybe pray that all priests could be as handsome as Fr. Mike Schmitz, and then people would not care how we mess with the Mass. Because then the Mass would always be easy on the eyes.

Praised be Jesus Christ!