Entertainment and the related industry vs art that is true and meaningful as well as beautiful and good

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Consider for a moment all that is "funnelled" into our senses and memories, minds and imaginations, hearts, souls, and spirits originating in all that has anything to do with what is called the "entertainment industry"....  Human beings have manifested a great variety of artistic forms of expression for at least 30 to 40 thousand years. Until perhaps the advent of radio, television, and then the internet; art usually tried to express truth, goodness, and beauty - the "three great transcendents" - which also put human beings in real contact with absolute values and with our God and Creator. 

I've never seen a "Cirque du Soleil" performance until just recently thanks to a link sent by a friend.... This "show" recorded in a Las Vegas hotel / casino is obviously an expert glorification of the human form, of colour and forms, creative designs, sound and sights, music and harmony, human dexterity and skill, and risky daredevil feats, but with minimal story telling and an apparent evacuation of significant meaning or transcendent values... in other words, pure entertainment.... This begs the question of anything and everything that is done today and has been done for the past century or so in the name of entertainment.

In Cinema, Theatre, on TV, and on the Internet entertainment is a general category that increasingly puts on display scenes and activities we would never tolerate at home in our living rooms or in our churches, and certainly not if the actors or participants were to be our mothers and fathers, siblings, or children. All too often what is being "glorified" is a rudimentary, primitive, or "crude" version of some elements of human life that by their very nature are intended to convey meaning and purpose, truth, goodness, and beauty, and to do so in the context of meaningful relationships oriented to their highest possible purpose; which is selfless, self-sacrificial, and self-bestowing love entirely oriented to the good and the final destiny of the other. 

There is a growing consensus that underneath it all there is a definite conspiracy out of hell to push completely out of the "screen" or out of our minds, imaginations, hearts, and spirits any hint of almighty God our Creator or Jesus, his Son, our Saviour, or the Holy Spirit, or love of neighbour.

All that remains is fascination of the senses... and anaesthesia of the mind and soul.... For the unwary, watching such spectacles leaves the senses satiated or saturated but the heart and soul empty and cold due to allowing one's mind, heart and soul to be distracted for the awesome presence and life-giving love of the Most Holy Trinity; who are always present to us....

It is perhaps on coincidence that the "Cirque du Soleil" was created in Québec, in a society where the reality and presence of God the Creator has been entirely evacuated from the public square, along with any meaningful consideration of the human drama and our ultimate destiny.

That is what makes classic novels, stories, by Charles Dickens and films portraying them, for example, and other creative works of art so significant and meaningful as well as beautiful and "entertaining"....

So, perhaps we are being given all these challenges as opportunities for us to "keep awake" as Jesus often said, and to become more deliberate in our choices, moment by moment throughout our days and nights, regarding all that "comes our way"; in order be not be passive but rather active in selecting with careful discernment what we "allow through the gates" of our senses into our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls. In this way, we can at the same time be more deliberate in attending to the divine Presence of the Three Divine Persons in the Most Holy Trinity; who in turn are here to help us be more attentive, loving, and caring to one another... and even towards enemies. 

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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At a wedding a priest sings a secular song with adapted lyrics

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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A good friend recently sent me a YouTube link showing a priest singing adapted lyrics to the tune of "Hallelujah"... written I believe originally by Leonard Cohen. I too have enjoyed listening to this tune until I could discern the lyrics, which with all due respect to Mr. Cohen I did not find necessarily inspirational....

As much as I find the music hauntingly beautiful, still, I regret to say that this performance by a priest from the Altar makes my skin crawl.... I understand that our culture has gone over the top in blissfully identifying with what we could all "performance mode"... in our fast changing pleasure driven culture even at the high points and meaningful moments of life everyone wants to perform.

However, a priest in chasuble in the sanctuary behind an altar stands not in his own name nor according to his own sentiments, however noble they may be and however much he may want to demonstrate caring for the engaged couple about to be or just previously joined in holy Matrimony, but that priests stands there first and foremost in the Person of Jesus Christ.

This is not a performance but a real time event that has its counterpart in eternity before the throne of God the Father... or however we can understand the eternal and glorious Presence of the Holy Trinity surrounded by myriads of angels and saints.... You've doubtless heard the expression "a Marriage made in Heaven"? Well that's what the Sacrament of Marriage, or Holy Matrimony, is - a couple joined simultaneously on Earth and in Heaven before God.

The chasuble is the garment in which the priest most solemnly represents Jesus at the Last Supper, with the Risen Lord bringing us now present to that moment and experience of his self offering at the Last Supper and and simultaneously to the moment of his self offering on the Cross on Calvary. Because Jesus is risen from the dead He is not a past historical figure but the Living One present at this very moment both on Earth and in Heaven and everywhere simultaneously in the universe and beyond it....

Jesus is both fully human, a man, and the Son of God; so that his offering of Himself at the Last Supper and on the Cross is a perfect offering of divine love, and as such, it is a self offering that is ongoing, not yet finished, until the very last human being will have lived and died and the last day has arrived and the Lord will come in final triumph of divine love over evil.

Even if the Marriage Rite were celebrated without Eucharist and so not in a chasuble for the priest but in alb and stole or alb and cope, this would still not be an appropriate time for a priest to perform. It is dignified, meaningful, and appropriate for other people to play music and sing to accompany in a meaningful way parts of the Liturgy, again with the entire focus of both lyrics and music on the Lord Jesus, the Word being spoken by God, and the High Priest who joins the engaged couple in the Sacrament of Marriage. A church sanctuary built around an Altar, which represents Christ the Rock upon whom we are lifted up to offer our lives also with Him to the Father; it may resemble a stage but it is never a stage for performance only.

If my comments offend anyone's sensibilities, I am sorry for that, but the truth must be told. Even if the entire world decided to do whatever "feels right" with the sacred Mysteries of our faith, I hope and pray the Lord will give me the strength to defend these Mysteries in accord with God's will as expressly manifested in our tradition and the Church's teachings, to my dying breath.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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