Some people may ask, “Is Vincent Pham (a.k.a. The Catholic Man) liturgy crazy?” Well, I think that is the case sometimes. While I love all things Catholic, there is something about the liturgy that has captivated me as a young child. I often used to do “fake” Mass at home and tried to imitate everything the priest had, from vestments to furnishings. Slowly, the “fake” Masses turned into serious matter when our pastor asked me to be the Liturgical Master of Ceremonies for major celebrations at our Parish over four years ago (a position which I still hold today), while being a part-time sacristan at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica just less than year ago. Then, just in recent years, I became interested in the Mass in “Ad Orientem” in the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary form and for many years, I have been reading about liturgy, its developments, its theology, its form, its rubrics… all matters liturgical.
It was not until just recently that I came to realize how important beauty is when it comes to the liturgy. One may say, “The Mass is the Mass… you don’t need aesthetics…” While I would agree with that statement years ago, my thoughts on beauty and the liturgy really changed when I took a course called, “Beauty, Human and Divine” at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto last term. It was a first-year Foundations Seminar course that I took solely to fulfill a breadth requirement just because it has the term “Christian” in its course description. But I was wrong… it was a course that included the reading of secular texts, but had Catholic influence, including The Picture of Dorian Gray
When I stress that liturgical rubrics should be followed, pr beautiful vestments should be used, or six-candles should be used at a Solemn Mass, I am not focussing on aestheticism. Rather, when the liturgy is done correctly with the rubrics of the Church, then it is very beautiful. That beauty leads one into a sense of reverence, and then ultimately to God himself because he, in the term of Jean-Louis Chrétien, is “the Divine Artist” (see Hand to Hand: Listening to the Work of Art, Chrétien 2003).
The beauty of the liturgy is compelling, even for non-Catholics. In Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian is attracted to the beauty of the liturgy in chapter 11 from the fabric of the dalmatic of the deacon, to the “fuming censers”. Unfortunately, he fails to have metanoia. In many cases, like the souls in Purgatorio, the beauty of the liturgy, especially that of ancient prayers lifts their eyes up to “Paradiso”.
Beautiful liturgy is liturgy done right – according to the rubrics of the Church, and celebrated in a manner that is reverent, not only by the presider, but by the people of God as a whole. When liturgy is celebrated beautifully and reverently, we exemplify the importance of the Sacred Mysteries that we celebrate.
Find celebrating beautiful liturgy to be too expensive? While there are certainly ecclesiastical furnishing companies that have very expensive items, or elaborate vestments with price tags too high, I recommend Holy Art. I have found that Holy Art’s items everywhere (at least within the Archdiocese of Toronto) from St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica to my home parish at St. Cecilia’s Church. There are also items for your “Domestic Church” as well. Holy Art boasts a whole selection of beautiful wooden statues, and especially crucifixes. The crucifix currently in my bedroom altar is from Holy Art, and my sister and I wrote a review of it on The Catholic Man Reviews blog.
The thing with Holy Art is that their items offer beauty and simplicity, all in one package with all of their items. They also sell a lot of unique liturgical finds such as a wedding ring tray, beautiful Paschal candle incense nails, and even (the most unique in my opinion), Host baking machines!
Check out Holy Art’s wide selection of Liturgical Items here.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Holy Art, in exchange for an honest review of Holy Art. This post also contains affiliate links to Amazon.ca.
