sense of the sacred: The Single Greatest Obstacle to the Reform

Friday, June 3, 2011

The Single Greatest Obstacle to the Reform

Yesterday, some students from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila interviewed me for an article on Universae Ecclesiae. When the conversation tackled the issue of Ad Orientem, I asked the students: To whom does the priest offer the Sacred Liturgy, to God or to the people? Without carefully thinking, the students unanimously answered: "The people!" They were surprised when, using the Ordo Missae, I pointed out to them how the prayers were addressed to the Lord and not to the people. No matter how much the Holy See insists on the fact that the Liturgy is always directed Ad Deum, it seems that such is not immediately picked up by the average Catholic. The reason for this? It is the celebration of the Mass versus populum. I agree with Dom Mark Kirby of Vultus Christi when he said that "Mass facing the people is the single greatest obstacle to the Reform" of the Liturgy.

You can read his article by following the link: New English Translation Be Enough?

3 comments:

IJRJune 3, 2011 at 6:29 PM
Whoa! Father, I presume they are from The Varsitarian....
ReplyDelete
Replies
achanoahJune 3, 2011 at 8:10 PM
The Varsitarian??? Hhmmm are they the one with the Article "A Benedictine criticized Benedictine reform"???
ReplyDelete
Replies
GeraldJune 7, 2011 at 4:36 PM
I agree with your observation Father. The unanimous response of the students is a confirmation that the change in direction of liturgical prayer resulted in a paradigm shift.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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 )