"The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual." -- C.S. Lewis, from the preface to "Paradise Lost", ch 3
There's a treasure trove of material embedded in this thought that begs for development, though I haven't the time to do it at the moment. To begin with, it occurs to me that Americans and moderns generally are far more uncomfortable with the "pomp and circumstance" of any sort of ceremony than Europeans and Britons were at least a generation or two ago. Laymen are more comfortable in leisure attire than in neckties and coats, and a bishop is likely to be more comfortable giving a "high five" to one of the faithful than having his ring kissed by someone kneeling in front of him. How this would reflect on the Holy Father's penchant for gestures of humility and eschewal of traditional honors of the papal office, I'm certain I do not know, although it would likely make for an interesting essay.
[Hat tip to Keith Kenny]
3 comments:
Wearing the red shoes, mozzetta, tiara etc etc would have been an act of humility whereas what the B or R did was willful.
As pertains to the Triegnum, Jesus let His enemies crown Him but our modern Popes refuse to let their friends crown them but it has aught to do with humility.
It has to do with cowardice; they do not want to be laughed at and mocked by the world (That is, they will not imitate Jesus who endured such abuse) as they most certainly would be had they accepted the Triregnum which signifies their STILL EXISTING authority over princes and kings and governments.
Cowards all...The Vicar of Christ fears what will befall them IF they act as jesus does. It is EAST to get the world to love you; just stop acting like a Pope.
Enough of the faux humility which is aught but cowardice in the face of our ancient and permanent enemies.
Man-up or piss off Popes.
Abdication/Resignation is the new thing; just do it if you refuse to discharge the duties of the office you freely accepted.
It could be that there is more space between Francis and Kasper than I thought. Or perhaps Mueller has found enough of a spine to say a few things with which the Francis-Kasper MASH unit is not in sync. Mueller's words are bracing in these days of candy and nuts blessings for all [except neo-pelagians], but I am not willing to give any of these poor players much credit as yet.
Saaayyy, is this yet another one of those uproarious "Eye of the Tiber" parodies??
My comments above were meant for the Muller topic. Sorry about that
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