The Devotionalists are coming! The Devotionalists are coming!

Dom Bettinelli relays another example of GIRM warfare at a Boston parish. They've been told that genuflecting toward the Tabernacle ist verboten.

[W]e are not to genuflect to the Tabernacle while Mass is going on because to do so would mean that we don't recognize that Jesus is present at Mass or at the very least it diminishes his Presence at that time.

Uh-huh. Acknowledging Jesus' Real Presence = Devotionalism/Very Bad/Sound of Ruler Slicing Thought The Air. Acknowledging Jesus' spiritual presence in the gathered community/each other = Primary Understanding/Mandatory/Achtung, pal. As we've been frequently told, the community is the focus of the eucharistic celebration [Warning: Link contains Mass as rendered by imaginative Jesuits and Mercy Sisters].

OK, I get it: Jesus is undeniably present among His gathered disciples. He willingly identifies Himself with His persecuted people. In other words, it's a perfectly accurate and valid insight. Within limits.

I know: "Limits?! Don't quench that Spirit!"

And yet, Jesus' physical presence generates a different response.

In other words, the two presences of Jesus are of decidedly different modes, and as much as the liturgical expert might enjoy it, I'm not about to worship the innovator as though he were God.

I have two suggestions for these recurring disputes: (1) gently suggest to the "gathered community/Christ in everyone" fanatic that he/she is not offering you the proper respect and worship to which you are entitled, or (2) continue your horrid devotionalistic practices with the explanation that your genuflecting is offered to Him in the gathered community as well.

Who knows? It could jar some wheels loose.