The community and liturgy

It's a very naive place. Most mornings there is a celebration either feast day or birthday. We stand sing a song and one of the nuns gives you a flower. No cake. Food is simple and hearty you can have as much as you like. Mainly rice. Some breakfasts we get pouris and sometimes chapatis, real chapatis not the Lambadi roti. And lots of little curries, veg, always at least one meat or fish curry but more for taste. It's basically rice basmati long grain and south indian short grain which I think is tastier. Had a few short chats. Most of the lads are still asking the usual questions. Some are more playful than I am. I am learning snitchets of Malayalam and Tamil most are from Kerala though a few are from Tamil Nadu, a few from Ethiopia and a few from the North.

I need to be clearer for tomorrow's tutorial. The first two chapters introduce liturgy from the pagan term public service, which comprised two elements a burden done out of fear or ambition, and a duty willed from love, friendship and loyalty. These two elements are taken up in the Hebrew Sheret inner service and Abhodah external service. In the Old Testament prophets fulminate against the priestly caste's usurpation of this covenantal duty to God. Eventually people get bored of praying and leave it to priests and then complain that the priests keep them out of the prayers. Plus ca change.

Although Jesus transforms the liturgy he transforms everything by the incarnation. Liturgy becomes the self-communication of God's Word to his People. The dual nature of Jesus deifies the self-serving lip service of liturgy in his human nature through amor, and the overspiritualized internal rapture of his divine agape is humanized and made immanent.

This compares with the sociological interpretation of liturgy, initiation rite, social acceptance rituals for Abhodah and the psychological interpretation of personal hierophanies for Sheret.

Historically in the West the priestly caste takes over from the Carolingians till the liturgical reforms of the C19th and the Benedictine Mysterium school of Odo Cassel and the monks of Solesme. Theoretically liturgy was lost in the West till the reforms of the VAT II and is only now being recovered. In practice this never stopped God's self-communication to his people especially in his Saints. Theoretically also the liturgy was preserved in the East although horribly mutilated in India when the Portugese brought latin rite conformity to the Esis of the East. An Esi is a canon law term for a particular church I started reading a book on the spirituality of canon law because I figure if they let me take Canon Law from November I have three years visa to mess around here. And plenty of time to find a french indian widow for the sacrament.

The Biblical chapter restates the Biblical foundation of Liturgy. The bible has often been viewed with suspicion by devout Catholic Christians who hold the Roman Rite. They may deny it but it's true. So it is affirmed that the Liturgy is in the Bible, the Bible in the Liturgy and that it is based on Biblical Revelation. They muthoi of the Birth of Moses and Jesus illustrate.

The parallel is that the Syro-Malabar rite is the chosen vessel of God to redeem India. It has been like Moses brought up among Pharaoh the Latin Rite. But now the burning bush has sent it back to redeem its people. A criticism over dinner once of the rite is that although it is strong on catechesis and praise worship. It is a rite of martyrs concentrating on paradise and the next world. But where is the mission. There is no element of social justice or empowerment in it. In the West the laics continually fight with the priests for power and access to church time and resources largely because of liturgical reforms. In the East it remains a levitical priestly caste. Though this was the liturgy that Vladimir I Prince of Kiev had said it took him to heaven and made him realise the majesty of God. Whereas of the Latin rite he said, it just made him want to fart.

There appear to be hundreds of ways of being Indian. I was told once by a white missionary that I wasn't really a Goan. I did let rip on him outraged Goinka that I am that Indians no longer rely on white orientalists to tell us who we are. I think I was less polite. But in another conversation over lunch a priest said that previously what westerners consider Indian, Indian spirituality and theology, was only Brahmin north indian. Courses on Indian theology and spirituality now involve looking at the Dalit experience and regions. His belief was Tamil has it all. The language alone is spiritual, children are those given from God, and God is the word for Transcendent-Immanence. Not to mention the art architecture of Tamil Nadu. When I asked the Pentecostal preacher what Kerala had to offer he said that had loads of nice coconuts. I wike this gang.

I have enough to bullshit for Monday morning. I'll see about other courses and what I can go for in November. The spirituality and counselling MA seems way to heavy for me 6 hours experiental classes per day. Woah.