Pharisees

^"6 Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple.
⁷ And if you had understood the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless.
⁸ For the Son of man is master of the Sabbath.'
⁹ He moved on from there and went to their synagogue;
¹⁰ now a man was there with a withered hand. They asked him, 'Is it permitted to cure somebody on the Sabbath day?' hoping for something to charge him with.
¹¹ But he said to them, 'If any one of you here had only one sheep and it fell down a hole on the Sabbath day, would he not get hold of it and lift it out?
¹² Now a man is far more important than a sheep, so it follows that it is permitted on the Sabbath day to do good.'
¹³ Then he said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out and his hand was restored, as sound as the other one.
¹⁴ At this the Pharisees went out and began to plot against him, discussing how to destroy him."

Mt 12: 6-14

The Pharisees are so conceited, their hearts are so full of themselves that there is no room left there to the Word of the Lord. Jesus talks about them, the control freak book worms of His time who claim blasphemy by wrongly applying the words of misunderstood texts in order to oppress righteous acts. They are masters of distorting the Word of God. The spiritual children of the Pharisees of our time try to oppress contemplative consumption of the Eucharistic Host by claiming deviation from the prescriptions in the liturgical books. They are also masters of distorting of what they read: they are riding on letters without understanding the Word!

Those who codified the regulations in the liturgical books wanted to prevent accidental misuse of the Sacred Host. Like children taking home the Host to granny or to a little sister who is ill. These things, even with good intention, simply cannot be done. That is why the books say the Host must be consumed immediately after receiving it into your palm. However codifiers never wanted to prevent small communities from administering the Host in the presence of an ordained presbyter, under well controlled circumstances. So the proper understanding should take into consideration the true intention of the codifier.

According to the intent of the codifier the contemplative consumption of the Host during Eucharistic celebrations is not in violation of the code, but it is a variation of the prescribed manner of distributing the Host. Of course, the liturgical books will be refined to reflect the true intent of the codifiers. It is just a matter of time. 

An analogy from science is the relation between the Newtonian and relativistic mechanics, the old and the new: the new relativistic equations describe correctly the behavior of objects moving with extremely large speed, while the old Newtonian framework applies to objects changing positions with regular speed. The new approach refines but does not override the old.

However, Pharisees never truly want to simply grasp and embrace the truth. The more important thing they want is proclaiming their own righteousness on the expense of Jesus Christ and his Church. I somehow cannot see much difference between these two generations of Pharisees, they all turn deaf ears to the Words of the Lord. They claim righteousness exclusively for themselves. But, in fact, their self-righteousness rings hollow as they drift apart from the Lord.

Caiaphas

Folks at the Jungewatch blog are determined to dissect and dismantle the Neocatechumenal Way because of the contemplative consumption of the Host in our Eucharistic Celebration. The owner of the blog still does not understand that contemplative consumption and immediate consumption are not in contradiction to each other. Our practice in the Way is a variation and not a violation of the prescriptions in the liturgy books. But Caiaphas and the Pharisees do not care...

Tim wrote

Simply provide the document that authorizes the Neocatechumenal Way to disregard the requirement that the sacred species be immediately consumed as required by the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the "liturgical books" as noted in your statute. If there is authorization then I have no argument and you win. http://junglewatch2.blogspot.com/2013/12/lets-review_19.html

Here is the answer

Then Caiaphas said:  
No, Jesus, you cannot heal on Sabbath day. Simply provide the document that authorizes you, “Son of Man” (contempt is his eyes), to disregard the requirement that the sacred Sabbath be honored as required by the General Instruction of the Torah, the “liturgical books” as noted in your own Torah roll (Ex 20:8-10). If there is authorization then I have no argument and you win. 

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03143b.htm

So Jesus responded: 
You are a hypocrite Caiaphas. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath!” (Mk 2:27)

Celebration of the Eucharist in small communities

I try to answer here the following question:

Why does the NCW have to hold a separate mass? Why don't they just go to church like the regulars Catholics do? Why the need for a separate celebration?

The Neocatechumenal Way is an organizational and educational tool for the faithful in the Catholic Church. It is based on small communities, that are interrelated across parishes and physical spaces. This setup as a huge network of faith communities produces incredibly plenty of fruits for the Way and for the Church, which is undeniable. How these fruits are produced? Well, in the small communities 

1. a natural inclination of the faithful toward each other is freed up and 
2. a space of deepening faith is opened.

1. Because we Christians are sisters and brother in Christ, it is just natural that we open up our arms toward each other. We support each other, learn from each other and grow together in faith. Could the same things happen apart from the communities? Well, it definitely could. But faith communities provide a background that perhaps best fits our natural inclinations. The evidence is coming not only from the Early Christian Church but even from the whole 2000 years of the history of Christianity.

2. We Catholics base our faith on the Scripture, on the Christian Tradition and on the Holy Liturgy. These are equally important, but the Scripture may have a preeminent role. Studying the Scripture together is the first step of true fellowship in Christ. We rely on each other and experience each others faith. This will nurture our own faith and will create a space of deepening faith that leads us closer to the Lord. We all have a little Jesus living in us by baptism. We need to nourish this little Jesus in us by faith and deeds guided by the Holy Spirit so that this little Jesus could grow large in us and may take over our lives one day. 

In small communities all this can take place. Inclination and deepening faith become the sources of plenty of fruits. They form a coordinate system measuring up the space of our walking toward the Lord, plain and simple.

The celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart and soul of all faith communities. It is just reasonable to follow our coordinates of fruitfulness and celebrate this most solemn weekly event as in a community of communities. Even though we also attend regular masses in our churches from time to time as described in the Statutes of the Way. Hopefully, all Catholics with open mind and unbiased thinking will recognize the powerful potential of small faith communities in their own hearts. We all know who is the One we are coming all around together. We are the same flock of the Lord, after all.

Eucharist contemplated

Tim Rohr tries to police the Neocatechumenal Way into oblivion. Or is he just desperate to find a hold on the Way by enforcing misunderstood policies on the Eucharistic Celebrations? He claims:

""Let's review. In 2005 you were told by Rome to conform your liturgies, especially in the manner of distributing Holy Communion, to the liturgical books - meaning you were to do as the rest of us. The leaders of the NCW said "we will not obey", and they did not. In 2008, your statute was approved with the same demand that you conform your liturgy to the liturgical books. Your leaders said "we will not obey". This Saturday you will go to your Eucharist and you will receive communion in a manner not in conformity with the liturgical books, and in doing so, you will say "we will not obey". And you tell us many will be saved through this?""

http://junglewatch2.blogspot.com/2013/12/this-is-classic-no-comment-needed.html

Let me place my answer here:

You are confused, dear Tim. I have already explained it to you once, but you do not heed. Before the Arinze letter it was possible to receive Communion in the Way while sitting. The letter asked the faithful to stand up while receiving Communion. There was a time of transition allowed to make this change. When the Statutes of the Way were accepted, this requirement was included in the regulations and the communities all required the regulation to be followed. This guaranteed conformity with the liturgical books.

What you are talking about is a completely different thing, the immediate vs. contemplated consumption of the Host. This should not be confused with the Arinze letter. In the Way, during Communion, the Eucharistic Host is kept in one's palm for a short period of time for contemplation. This is also a technical necessity because in a small community setup there is no sufficient space for the faithful to line up for Communion. This should be taken into consideration when we interpret the words of the liturgical books.

Therefore a contemplated consumption of the Host is to occur at the Way's celebrations of the Eucharist. This is absolutely in compliance with the spirit of the regulations. I wonder if this insignificant detail is all the criticism that those who attack the Way are able to come up with.

Honest to the Truth

Tim Rohr, a prominent Catholic on Guam tries to dissect the Way.

//junglewatch2.blogspot.com/2013/11/why-junee-must-live-apart.html#more

He lists a number of perceived differences between the traditional and Neocatechumenal mass as follows:

"Difference No. 1

First, neos (and we'll use "neo" for short) do not call it the "Mass". They call it "Eucharist". Nothing wrong with that, but it's still a difference. We go to Mass. They go to Eucharist. 

Difference No. 2

Next, the neo-Eucharist is not normally held in a church. Canon 932 requires that the eucharistic celebration "be carried out in a sacred place unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in such a case the celebration must be done in a decent place." (...)

Difference No 3

The Neocatechumenal Way has a separate weekday celebration of the Liturgy of the Word. This is allowed in the approved Statute (Art. 11), but nevertheless it is a "difference", since for the other faithful, a separate celebration of the Word is not permitted:

In the celebration of Mass, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are intimately connected to one another, and form one single act of worship. For this reason it is not licit to separate one of these parts from the other and celebrate them at different times or places. (Redemptionis Sacramentum, 60.)

Difference No. 4

The next difference is what happens in the celebration of the Eucharist. The statute (Art. 13) allows for three differences: 1) the transfer of the Rite of Peace to after the Prayer of the Faithful, 2) permission to always receive communion under both kinds, and 3) communicants may remain in their place when receiving communion, though they are required to STAND, not sit, as before the Statute was approved in 2008. (...) 

Difference No. 5

The next difference is the music at the liturgy. However, since almost all parishes ignore the musical norms for the liturgy as prescribed in the post-conciliar document, Musicam Sacram (which provides the norms for sacred music as per the desires of the Council), I suppose we cannot take the neo-music too much to task."

I responded to him in order to correct his false claims. He, however, banned me from publishing on his blog because my comment did not support his agenda. He even made false statements about the content of my response as he tried to stir controversy about my words that nobody has had a chance to read on his blog. So, I put here for everyone interested in order to read the original message. Decide by your own if Tim did it right to ban this message from his blog or not.

*************************************************

Here is my response (as submitted on December 6th)

*************************************************

Tim, would it be hard, for a change, to consider fellow Catholics as doing something good rather than doing evil? What are the reasons of your biased assumptions regarding the Way?

Ad 1.

The mass is a mass, does not matter how you call it. The mass is also an Eucharistic celebration. Is this anything wrong with this for you?

Ad 2.

The Way provides a special means of organizing faith communities. Community life requires autonomy in the sense of building relations and developing the works of faith. Celebrations are open to the faithful. So if you are interested, please, ask about the time and locations of celebrations. I understand that if you are not particularly interested, then you won't ask about these details. 

Ad 3.

This is a blunder. Check your sources, please. The Way has its Bible studies once a week, each community its own, which is called Celebration of the Word. It has no connection to the weekly mass or Eucharistic Celebration.

Ad 4.

The Eucharistic Prayer is truly the summit of celebration of the Eucharist in the Way. If you would come, you would agree that it is presented in a solemn and most reverent manner. Do you think the Host is desecrated when the faithful keeps it in her/his palm for a short period of time and meditates on its mystery? You should think it over what are the alternatives of celebrating the Eucharist in small communities. Do you have any meaningful alternative? Please, share it! I can assure you that the Host is revered and consumed with a true sense of communion in the Way when members of the community take it and eat it at the same time.

Ad 5.

All music and songs played during celebrations are composed by Kiko Arguello himself who is the founder of the Way. These songs bring the Spirit of the Lord to us through the melodies of our spiritual guide and founder. What is wrong with that?