The Poor Church

An excellent blog from UK, Fr. Ray Blake on the Poorer Church.Excerpts:
In brief, our catechesis, like our sacramental celebrations have been person centred rather than God centred. We have emphasised human skill, human ingenuity, the human nature of worship, the human-centredness of catechesis and avoiding anything to do with God. Ratzinger spoke of the 'closed circle' not just of contemporary worship but of contemporary Church life, similarly of "the community celebrating itself", of "self reverentialisam".

Ratzinger's answer was 're-orientation'. It is the dependency on the uniqueness of Jesus Christ which is lacking.

A poorer Church therefore is one that recognises its need for re-orientation because centred on itself it is heading to ruin. For Benedict the symbolic re-orientation of worship was of absolute significance because it was about the Church looking beyond itself towards God as true believers rather than looking inwards to itself as a congregation of self sufficient Pelagians.

Arrogance is undermining God while overestimating one's self. A truly humble Church acknowledges God as the source of all that is good and beautiful. She can be comfortable with the gifts endowed to her because she is conscious of the Giver and is committed to the purpose for which the gift is given. When we recognize the grandeur of God and His love, we realize our poverty. Yet, at the same time, we are being raised up in our worth... and being opened up to our greater possibilities. And in this kind of poverty, we find a sense of equality with others. We need not be other people's savior.