Important reminder about true nature of the Mass

http://deacbench.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-frankly-do-not-understand-this.html

The Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige spoke to Bruno Volpe for the papal news website Petrus.

(My comment: Notice his eloquent description of the mass as sacrifice and worship, which is what I've been harping about for so long. I could not put it better than he:)

snip

The Holy Mass is sacrifice, gift, mystery, independently of the celebrating priest. It is important, fundamental even, that the priest be put aside: the protagonist of the Mass is Christ. I do not understand, thus, the Eucharistic celebrations transformed in shows with dances, songs, and applause, as it frequently happens with the Novus Ordo."

snip

Another point: one often hears very long homilies..."This also is an abuse. I am opposed to dances and applause in the middle of the Masses, which are not a circus or a stadium. As for the homilies, they must relate, as the Pope has underlined, exclusively to the catechetical aspect, avoiding sociologisms and useless chatter. For example, priests often veer towards politics because they have not prepared well the homily, which must, instead, be scrupulously studied. An excessively long homily is synonymous with a scarce preparation: the correct time for a sermon must be of 10 minutes, 15 at most. It must be acknowledged that the culminating moment of the celebration is the Eucharistic mystery, which does not mean downplaying the Liturgy of the Word, but clarifying how a correct liturgy must be applied."