We ought to get back the dimension of the sacred in the liturgy. The liturgy is not a festivity; it is not a meeting for the purpose of having a good time. It is of no importance that the parish priest has cudgeled his brains to come up with suggestive ideas or imaginative novelties. The liturgy is what makes the Thrice-Holy God present amongst us; it is the burning bush; it is the Alliance of God with man in Jesus Christ, who has died and risen again. The grandeur of the liturgy does not rest upon the fact that it offers an interesting entertainment, but in rendering tangible the Totally Other, whom we are not capable of summoning. He comes because He wills. In other words, the essential in the liturgy is the mystery, which is realized in the common ritual of the Church; all the rest diminishes it. Men experiment with it in lively fashion, and find themselves deceived, when the mystery is transformed into distraction, when the chief actor in the liturgy is not the Living God but the priest or the liturgical director. - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Chile, 1988)
Do we still need sacred space, sacred time, mediating symbols? Yes, we do need them, precisely so that, through the "image," through the sign, we learn to see the openness of heaven. We need them to give us the capacity to know the mystery of God in the pierced heart of the Crucified. - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Spirit of the Liturgy )
Daily Rome Shot 1024
-
Yes, at The Parish™ preparations are being made for the Feast of St.
Philip Neri (which is also my anniversary). How I wish I could be there.
And now I...
The Vigil of Pentecost 2024
-
It is worthy and just that the things of heaven and of earth should praise
Thee, o God, who by Thy Spirit teachest us to reject the things of earth,
and fo...
ROGATIONS
-
The three Rogation Days are upon us! Instituted in Gaul around 475 'to
repel calamities'; to ask that God will ... in the words of Cranmer's
translations o...
The Conclave of the Media
-
Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the clergy of Rome on the 14th of
February 2013, revealed that during the sessions of the Second Vatican
Council, ther...
No comments:
Post a Comment