Nicholas Postgate: Christ's Real Presence in our liturgies is not enough

Nicholas Postgate writes:

I disagree with those who say that we should seek our consolation solely in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The liturgy has a far greater purpose than to give us an opportunity for a moment's adoration in the midst of an ocean of banality and noise; indeed the liturgy is not supposed to be itself a mortification, a cause of pain, but a consolation, a reservoir of peace and joy. The purpose of the liturgy is to form our souls in the beauty of holiness ....

By attending poor liturgy one implicitly accepts it -- that is, one says to it: "Shape me, shape my soul, form my spirit. Make me like yourself." But this is what one must not allow to occur with experimental, horizontal, anti-sacral liturgy; its habits, as it were, must not become my habits. Sadly, the vast majority of Catholics who still attend Mass, including their bishops and priests, have been habituated precisely to this poverty, so much so that it is no longer possible for most to be made aware of the impoverishment, let alone persuade them of its remedies.

For more on Postgate's article, "Liturgy Forms Christ in Us," in an earlier post entitled "Does the form of the liturgy not matter much?" (scroll down, if necessary).