But the priest will have to conduct many services which are only partly
liturgical, or not liturgical at all. Of such a nature is the ordinary
Sunday evening service at most of our churches, or the weekday
Benedictions, meetings of Confraternities, etc. Here again there is room
for improvement in the manner they are conducted. Many a priest
"gabbles" the prayers--especially the Hail Marys of the Rosary--in a
manner which makes them quite inaudible, and is a real hindrance to the
people joining. It conveys the idea that he is discharging a duty for
the sake of his people, without any idea of praying himself. Yet surely
the prayers which are good enough for them are good enough for him; and
in truth there is no more moving or devotional sight than that of a
priest praying together with his people. The practice of utilising the
time during Benediction to say Office is regrettable if only for this
reason--that it destroys the community of prayer between priest and
people, and he loses the grace of the Congregational Act. At the
Eucharistic Congress in 1908, when the people assembled at each side of
the street in their thousands, one of the most touching sights was the
arrival of groups or congregations led by their priests, reciting the
Rosary or other devotions or singing hymns with him. No more vivid
representation could be imagined of the good shepherd leading his flock,
as is customary in southern or mountainous countries, which formed one
of the best known of the parables of our Lord.
There is certainly a need for more variety in our popular evening
services: people get tired of the perpetual Rosary, sermon and
Benediction; but until something better is forthcoming, we must make the
best of what we have. Evening services are comparatively new in other
countries besides England, as formerly there was no satisfactory means
of lighting the churches, and there is now room for their development.
In some smaller churches Night Prayers are an agreeable variety: the
Curé of Ars used to say them with his people every evening. There is
something to be said also for the old English devotion of the Jesus
Psalter; and in Lent, Stations of the Cross are usually popular. But on
the whole, there is a want of suitable variety in the first part of the
service. For the concluding part, nothing could be more beautiful than
the Benediction service, which has crystallised itself into a definite
form for this country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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