2 Chronicles 29:6
For our ancestors have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the dwelling of the Lord, and turned their backs.
We wring our hands, rend our garments, wail and gnash our teeth as we witness the demise and the utter destruction of the Catholic faith throughout the West. Post-Christianity is blamed on everything from Vatican II, the Age of Aquarius, the Enlightenment, Consumerism and the Sexual Revolution. The rise of man is inversely proportional to the fall of Christ in our cultures and our homes.
How is it that God has abandoned us to the world, the flesh and the devil and that hirelings are found everywhere and scarcely a shepherd can be found amongst them? I must confess that simple things, neglected or spurned, often have unintended consequences; being faithful in small things earns us the honor of being trusted with larger things. Of course, the opposite is also quite true and usually dismissed as a mere superstition which is nothing more than some medieval idea such as ghosts or the evil eye; quaint little folk tales and stories to entertain children but little else.
So why did our Lord say in John 14:18: ‘I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you’ ? Perhaps He is awaiting our response to His hidden presence and our return to Him. When we return to something or to someone we face them. We do not turn our backs on them and walk in the opposite direction for that is not the way back Home. The first response is always the about face in our lives and facing the Orient from whence comes our help. Figuratively in the liturgy, it would amount to returning to worship God rather than man; our priest being an intercessor and facing the only direction that leads us directly to Him Whom we abandoned.
2 Chronicles 30:9
For as you return to the Lord, your kindred and your children will find compassion with their captors, and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”
It is long overdue, that the call of God be heard in the invitation of Cardinal Sarah to once again worship our God in the Liturgy, ad orientem rather than continue what symbolically represents that the world at large is more interested in worshipping itself. For since the beginning of mankind, worship faced the idol or the god or the True God for that matter. It is a sign that we know what we worship and are not merely giving a lecture about some hypothetical subject or how to lead a nice life. If Christ is really and truly present then we should focus all our mind, heart and desire on Him; from Whom comes our Help. I think we have reduced Christ in the liturgy to a simple symbolic aesthetic and no longer as a Real Person; the Person of God. Is it any wonder that as soon as this symbolism manifests itself in our lives that we no longer believe in the Real Presence as a whole . . . in fact we only believe that we can be nicer and kinder if we work at it? I think it was inevitable. Perhaps we could begin to repair our Church with a simple gesture. Christ does not demand much from us. But surely this is not a big thing to ask of us: is it?
All Along the Watchtower 
To worship God in truth and Spirit is the key. The Psalmist tells us “from the lips of infants thou hast ordained praise to silence the foe and the avenger.”
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True. But are there small and simple things that we can do to help people do this? It seems to me that things as simple as symbolically facing God or using body gestures which are understood on a psychological level as praise and worship creates an air or atmosphere that promotes true worship. Liturgy might be a good place to inculturate people into such a mindset. Small things speak volumes in terms of our psychology of worship.
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You are right and each of us are different. We must find what works for us and the culture we are called to minister in.
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Good plug for Ad Orientem. Nice. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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I fear your hierarchs will not listen, Scoop. But surely you can at the least start or sign a petition. They must be supplicated with the reverence due their office and with the flourish of reason. Remind them of what the turn from Jerusalem symbolized in the life of Muhammad. Surely we who are the subjects of the Great King should face His regal city?
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Indeed it will need be a bottom-up call for change. We all saw the criciticsm of Cardinal Sarah when he asked us all to do this during Advent. Sad really. And indeed it is almost like taking a Muslim and having them say their prayers facing another direction rather than Mecca.
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The Muslims once faced Jerusalem, then Muhammad had a revelation telling them to face Mecca – after he had a falling out (to understate the matter) with the Jews of Arabia, who rejected him for a false prophet.
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Indeed. Though I would like to see the success of telling Muslim folks that they should now face New York when they pray. That is sort of what it is like for a Catholic – prayer, facing God or facing the people of the world.
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Is there discretion, incidentally? For example, if the priest has permission to use the Latin Mass, must he still face ad populum?
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No there are no restrictions on the priest unless his Bishop has instructed them differently. After all, it was intended in the instructions of the New Order of Mass that it would be said as it was always said: ad orientem. It became popular among the ‘spirit of VII’ crowd to say the Mass facing the people . . . and now it has mostly been accepted as an unwritten rubric which most priests abide with. But there is nothing stopping them from going back to what was intended.
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I see, so the issue is whether the Bishop has a particular instruction.
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No, more like whether the bishop is a modernist-liberal type or a more orthodox bishop.
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‘We wring our hands, rend our garments, wail and gnash our teeth as we witness the demise and the utter destruction of the Catholic faith throughout the West. ‘
I Bosco the Great jump for joy at the demise of a false cult. But, alas, there are thousands more. All one can do is get saved and save those around you.
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