sense of the sacred: Deacons should preach less at Mass, Michigan bishop says

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Deacons should preach less at Mass, Michigan bishop says :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

St. Stephen the Deacon

When deacons are assigned to me, I tell them that their primary role is to "wait at the table of widows and orphans." While I require them to assist at Mass and be present at the recitation of Lauds and Vespers, I allow them to preach only on 1 Sunday Mass and the ferial Mass on Thursdays. They are assigned to take charge of the social services of the parish. I really believe that we must return to the original intention for the establishment of the Holy Order of Deacons. I am glad that at least one Bishops shares the same view!

follow this link: Deacons should preach less at Mass, Michigan bishop says :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

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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 )