The Recovering Choir Director

It occurs to me that in my last post I forgot to boldface the passage that distinguishes the Catholic and Orthodox faiths —mea culpa:

He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, “the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross” (20), but especially under the eucharistic species.

So, if the music doesn’t foster participatio actuosa in the form of focusing ever more deeply on the humiliating grandeur of Christ truly present among us in the Eucharist—or worse, if the music erodes belief in what is truly a “hard saying” (John 6:61)—I don’t think I’m alone in saying, “Anathema sit!” Of course, my anathema alone doesn’t carry any weight.