liturgy – Page 10

The sacred Liturgy shapes freedom & is the principle of our renewal

Curious to what others think, I was elated to see the connections the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (Rome), Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, made with the sacred Liturgy in an interv: evangelization, civilization and freedom. It is not very surprising to me that the Prefect of this particular Vatican office said that the Liturgy is the vehicle for our intellectual and cultural renewal. It is new data for those see the Church’s liturgical life as a method for community organizing and feeling good about themselves. I was surprised however, that the Cardinal indicated that the Pope is in favor of Sacrosanctum Concilium. Not that the Pope is radically in disfavor of it but that the Pope’s committed to the document. With all that document’s flaws and the misinterpretations, this is something for me to chew on. May be the Pope is right in that we have to re-evaluate our interpretation of SC. Since 2013 is the 50th anniversary of SC, I am hoping for a brilliant liturgical letter from the Pope. Ultimately, the point is, do we really know what the sacred Liturgy is and how it is a path unto our eternal destiny? Do we really understand that the Liturgy, not our ideology, sets bar for our interior conversion?

Here are some excerpts of the Cardinal’s interview:

“To evangelise the culture means having one’s gaze
fixed on Christ because a man who accepts Christ – who is truly man – will have
Christ’s mentality, thoughts, and feelings,” he said.

“[To build] a civilisation of love, as John Paul II and
Benedict XVI have called for, seems to be a work of evangelisation because in
such a society, God really is recognized as God. The problem of our times is a
culture built without God.”

When it comes to re-evangelising the West in general he [the Cardinal] pointed to the example of St Benedict of Norcia and his search for God and
imitation of Christ. But changing the mentality, he said, includes measures
such as “renewing the liturgy”, reintroducing a “correct sense
of freedom” and presenting “a true and stronger” sense of
religiosity.

Being of similar mind to Benedict XVI he [the Cardinal] naturally has the
same approach to the liturgy which he sees not only as important for the
Church, but also for the world at large.

“Benedict XVI reminds us that the first document of the
Second Vatican Council was Sacrosanctum Concilium [the Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy], and the last document was Gaudium et Spes, [the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World].” he said.

“If we want to be present as Christians in the world,
to form and renew the world, to bring peace, freedom et cetera, we cannot do
that without leaning on the liturgy, on Sacrosanctum Concilium. For this
reason, the Holy Father is very committed to renew the liturgy, to recover
Sacrosanctum Concilium.”

“The liturgy is the first banquet of God; it’s where we can
identify God, it’s prayer, it’s where we can discover salvation, the work of
Grace – all of which are God’s initiative,” he said. “When this is
lived, when it is at the centre of one’s life, the heart changes, the mentality
changes, and also society.”

~Taken from Edward Pentin’s Catholic Herald article of April 16, 2010.

Grail Psalter, Revised –gets Vatican approval

On November 11, 2008, Abbot Gregory Polan of Conception Abbey received the US bishops’ positive vote for the liturgical use of the Revised Grail Psalter. The Grail Psalter was first published for liturgical use in 1963 and revised by Abbot Gregory and monks of Conception Abbey according to current translation principles including Liturgiam Authenticam (2001)

Recently, the whole project received what is called the “recognitio” from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Disciple of the Sacraments (the Vatican office deputed by the pope to guide liturgical matters) in a March 19th letter to Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Paterson and Chairman of the US Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship.

The reception of Vatican approval of these texts means that future liturgical books will use this translation of the Psalms.

Read Conception Abbey’s press release on receiving the Vatican recognitio for the Revised Grail Psalter, which gives many of the interesting details of the work.

The Catholic Key Blog ran a story on the matter on Thursday, April 15, 2010.

Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus, That in all things may God be glorified

Holy Week 2010 at St Catherine of Siena, New York City

St Catherine of Siena Church and Priory has announced its liturgical program for the sacred Triduum Services (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday).

The celebrant and preacher this year is Father Bruno Mary Shah, OP, ordained priest 2 years ago and from New York. Father Shah, with his family, is a convert to Catholicism, and brings a unique experience to these sacred days.

The Dominican Friars will be available for Confessions and food blessings.

Schedule of Services:

Holy Thursday 5:15 pm

Good Friday

Stations of the Cross 11:45 am

Seven Last Words 12-3 pm

The Lord’s Passion 3 pm

Easter Vigil 8:00 pm

Easter Sunday is the normal parish schedule

The Director of Liturgy and curate, Father Jordan J. Kelly, OP, will direct the choir and the Dominican schola. The program put together by Father Jordan can be viewed here Holy Week 2010 Program St Catherine of Siena NYC.pdf.

The Church of Saint Catherine of Siena

411 East 68th Street

New York, NY 10065

Dominicans and the Liturgy: recovering patrimony

The Order of Friars Preachers (the Dominicans) of the Province of Saint Joseph are now showing renewed interest in their own liturgical patrimony.

See this page for list of resources The Dominican Rite: A Guide to the Low Mass

And The Dominican Liturgy blog

One of many reasons this is good news to me is that finally the Dominicans are beginning to address their own liturgical tradition viz. their life and mission in the Church. The Liturgy has and ought to continue to be a central source of contemplation and worship of God that will influence all aspects of their life (the so-called 4 pillars) and their preaching. Time will tell on how this renewed interest in the Dominican Liturgy will impact life in the priory, the monasteries, the parishes and even Providence College. Some of the friars are not going to be all that pleased about the old Dominican Rite and will likely be obstructionists. But we need to pray for these poor souls.

One last reason this is a good thing, the good and excellent Liturgy is not only essential to the fraternal life, evangelization, personal conversion but it also inspires solid vocations. I have met a number of men who were turned-off by the Dominicans because of their refusal to entertain the possibility of a richer, more historic use of the Dominican liturgical tradition. The vocation director aborted the vocations of a number of men because of his dim understanding of the Liturgy; with renewed liturgical verve the Dominicans will likely flourish in great proportions. Sadly, the Dominicans’ loss is the gain of dioceses and other religious orders.

Blessed Humbert of Romans, pray for us!!!!

1962 Missal of Blessed John XXIII at the College of the Holy Cross on March 19th

The liturgical landscape on certain Jesuit university campuses has changed dramatically in the last few years. It is a new world! In my time of studying with the Society of Jesus the Missal of Blessed John XXIII would never have been a possibility (until about 4 years ago). It fact, the Jesuits would have marginalized you to Pluto for suggesting it or sent you to a shrink for thinking about the venerable form of the Mass. Now it seems that Georgetown, Fordham AND now the College of the Holy Cross are willing to occasionally have the 1962 Missal Mass. I wonder how long it will take Boston College, Fairfield, Loyola Chicago, St Louis Universities to pray this Mass publicly????

The Pope’s liturgical “style”

Have you ever thought of Pope Benedict XVI’s liturgical “style”? Or have you asked yourself, “What does Pope Benedict think about the sacred Liturgy?” Or have you asked yourself, “Do I know what the meaning of Catholic Liturgy is for the Church? Good. I want you to ask these questions because I want to encourage you to read some good things on the Liturgy and not the crap you generally find in the NCR or America Magazine. You can read longer works of Ratzinger’s like A New Song for the Lord, The Feast of Faith, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Looking Again at the Question of the Liturgy with Cardinal Ratzinger, God and the World (Ch. 17), among others.

BUT for a short piece on the subject you may be interested in reading the article by John Allen, “Liturgist: Pope aims to “propose’ practices,” where he speaks with the Pope’s Master of Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini. Plus, there’s the “Q&A with Msgr. Guido Marini, papal liturgist.”

Is a Strong Priesthood In the World’s Future? asks Massimo Camisasca

On February 26th Zenit published an article by Father Massimo Camisasca looking at what he considers to be the pillars (prayer & Liturgy) of priestly reform in the Catholic Church. Reading a bit of Church history recently there’s been a lot to consider when thinking about the state of the Catholic Church viz. the rise of Portestantism and then the decline of the Christian religion in some parts of the US and the world. Father Massimo Camisasca is the founder and superior general of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo. The Fraternity was founded in 1985 and recognized as a Society of Apostolic Life in 1999.

Statistical data of the past 30 years reveals an increase of 5% more diocesan priests worldwide, compared with an increase of 48% more baptized persons.

This alone could explain the question in the title of my latest book, “Padre ci saranno ancora sacerdoti nel futuro della Chiesa?” (Father, Will There Still Be Priests in the Future of the Church?) — a theme that underlies the entire text.

However, even more than the number of priests, the Church is interested in the truth of their experience. For reasons connected with my work as superior of a fraternity of missionaries, I travel throughout the world and am in contact with the most diverse realities. And, meeting with priests of different regions, I note that many of them experience difficulties not so much of an ideological type as of an emotional order.

Why is it that today the priestly life — which has made thousands of men happy and contributed enormously to the spiritual growth of humanity — is going through such a profound qualitative crisis?

My [Italian-language] book stems from this question. It is an attempt to rethink the life of a priest from its roots.

Rebirth

The regeneration of priestly life is one of the conditions for the new flowering of Christianity in Europe, and more generally, in our jaded West (Asia and Africa merit separate treatment).

I have attempted to trace the path for a rebirth returning to the fundamentals of the priesthood. I find one of those fundamentals in prayer.

Today many priests lose themselves in action, in the infinite number of activities and preoccupations that entrap them. For the action of each one of us to always be a source of nourishment, it must be constantly redirected to our relationship with Christ. And the place of our relationship with Christ is prayer, inseparable from silence.

Silence, prayer, reflection and study are the answer to one of the evils that afflict the figure of the priest: activism, which remains on the surface of things and absorbs the time of our energies and our feelings. Instead, action that stems from charity introduces us in the work of God, who precedes and exceeds us.

Liturgy

Another pillar of the renewal of priestly life is the liturgy. I say this following the teaching of the Pope. I am not ruled by the desire to accommodate myself to a current, but by a profound conviction that is born from experience.

If the priest does not rediscover the true meaning of the liturgy in his life, he cannot find himself.

Surmounting the process of trivialization, which we have witnesses in the last 30 years, it is necessary to return to that “fons et origo” that the Second Vatican Council identifies in the liturgy.

When it is faithful to the one who instituted it, when it is lived in all its rigorous totality and is attentive to the tradition of the Church, the liturgy is the place of education to communion.

The protagonist of the liturgy is Christ. By living the liturgy, we can enter into the life of God, and only thus can we priests be an effective company of men.

In the third place, the emotional question is central in the life of a priest. Loneliness is the other great evil that today afflicts thousands of priests.

Only by discovering himself a son can the priest be a father.

Friendship is a positive experience in a person’s emotional life. In the Church there is still much fear of friendship. Pathologies are not channeled if one is not helped to develop a healthy life.

Unhealthy and negative friendships, which because of this are not proper friendships, must not close us off from the essential value of these bonds of preference that open us to the love of others and help us to understand who God is.

The crucible of Lent: the Embertide

In the reformed Catholic Liturgy we hear little of the traditional days throughout the year given by the Church to pray in a more intense way and to fast in the light of the sacred Liturgy. Namely, Ember Days. Not only is it Lent but this week, Wednesday (today), Friday and Saturday, we have something extra added (at least we did, let me explain below): we offer to God the work and fruit of the season of spring and we ask God for blessings. In the old way of doing things deacons were ordained priests on Saturday. An intense sensibility of prayer and fasting make these days notable.

Catholics should always situation themselves in the context of the Liturgy (that is, Lauds, Vespers & Mass) with the minor though NOT incidental liturgical observances like Ember days that happen about quarterly in the calendar year. Before the promulgation of the Missal of Paul VI (the style of Mass we now have) there was a tradition of specifically gathering on three days, three times a year which correspond to the seasons of the year. In addition to what said above about the character of the Ember Days, one can also emphasize the purpose of these days as to place before the Lord our own struggle to live a life of holiness asking for the grace to continue without back-sliding (which is easy to do for many of us). The work to overcome our disordered concupiscence (conversion of morals) is difficult and excruciatingly painful at times. And to be honest, it’s only possible to advance in the spiritual life with the abandonment of self to God unreservedly. What the Church proposes is that we consider the Scripture narrative of the Transfiguration of the Lord (seen on the right by Giovanni Bellini) as an apt motif for our own desire to change for the better.

Even though the reflections offered at the New Liturgical Movement blog are within the perspective of the Missal of John XXIII (the 1962 Missal), it is worth noting what the two writers say about the Lenten Ember Days because the liturgical practice is correct and helpful for all of us.

I, for one, would love to see a reclaiming of the Embertide traditions if not in the actual restoration to the liturgical observance then in teaching the faithful through the normal channels of CCD, bulletin teaching and preaching. What is striking about the Embertide liturgy is the use of sacred Scripture: the number of readings increase thus giving a fuller plate of the word of God for our meditation.

Here is the post on the Ember Days in the Fall.

Let us ask Mary, Mother of God, refuge of sinners, to aid us with her prayers.

Chair of Saint Peter

Whatever you
will bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
will be loosed in heaven, the Lord said to Simon Peter.

O God, Who having given
Peter, Thy Apostle, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, did bestow on him the
pontifical power of binding and loosing; grant that by the help of intercession
we may be delivered from the bonds of our sins.

On this feast in 2009, Pope Benedict taught the following in an audience:

“This Sunday is also the
feast of the Chair of Peter, an important liturgical feast that highlights the
office of the successor of the Prince of the Apostles. The chair of Peter
symbolizes the authority of the Bishop of Rome, who is called to perform a
special service for the whole People of God. Immediately after the martyrdom of
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the primacy of the Church of Rome in the Catholic
community was recognized. This role was already attested to in the 2nd century
by Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Romans, Pref.: Funk, I, 252) and by
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (Contra Haereses, III, 3, 2-3). This singular and
specific ministry of the Bishop of Rome was stressed again by the Second
Vatican Council. “Moreover, within the Church,” we read in the
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, “particular Churches hold a rightful
place; these Churches retain their own traditions, without in any way opposing
the primacy of the Chair of Peter, which presides over the whole assembly of
charity (cf. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, Pref.) and protects
legitimate differences, while at the same time assuring that such differences do
not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it” (Lumen Gentium, 13).

Pope Benedict XVI,

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, 22 February 2009

The
Church celebrates today, since the 4th century, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle. The
Church does not worship church furnishings but the office that was given to the
Apostle Peter by the Lord Himself. This chair, then, is the key to unity among
Christians. Hence, it is not just a chair, but a throne or cathedra, i.e., a
seat of pastoral authority. It is not an authority for temporal affairs or political engagement. It is about preaching, teaching and sanctifying God’s people. These three functions are to lead others to heaven —communio with the Blessed Trinity.

For what purpose does the Church have a feast called the “Chair
of Saint Peter” and how is it connected with unity among Christians? Saint
Cyprian, Carthage’s bishop (d. 258), tells us,

“The Lord says to Peter: ‘I
say to you,’ He says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the
keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever things you bind on earth shall be
bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, they shall be loosed
also in heaven.’ And again He says to him after His resurrection: ‘Feed my
sheep.’ On him He builds the Church, and to him He gives the command to feed
the sheep; and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles, yet He
founded a single chair, and He established by His own authority a source and an
intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter
was; but a primacy is given to Peter whereby it is made clear that there is but
one Church and one chair. So too, all are shepherds, and the flock is shown to
be one, fed by all the Apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not
hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith?
If he desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be
confident that he is in the Church?“

“There is one God and one
Christ, and one Church, and one Chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord.
It is not possible to set up another altar or for there to be another
priesthood besides that one altar and that one priesthood. Whoever has gathered
elsewhere is scattering.”

Saint Cyprian is very clear that Christ founded
upon Saint Peter the visible basis of the unity of the Church. Peter does not replace Christ as the
head of the Church. In theological terms this feast notes, observes and
otherwise holds up a primacy given by the Lord to Saint Peter to ensure and preserve
her unity. Saint Cyprian argues:

“With a false bishop appointed for
themselves by heretics, they dare even to set sail and carry letters from
schismatics and blasphemers to the chair of Peter and to the principal Church,
in which sacerdotal unity has its source; nor did they take thought that these
are Romans, whose faith was praised by the preaching Apostle, and among whom it
is not possible for perfidy to have entrance.”

For Saint Cyprian, the unity of the bishops and priests has its source (not only as a
past event but as a living, thriving principle) in the Chair of Saint Peter.

Last year’s blog post may also have some relevant info…

Understanding Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

Periodically people ask about the practice of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I typically find the questions interesting because it seems like we have forgotten the reasons why we adore the eucharistic Presence of Jesus Christ and this experience of eucharistic adoration is key for every Catholic and for every parish, school, hospital, convent, abbey, etc.

When questions arise about the character of Adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament we should go to the liturgical book called Holy
Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass. While it does not provide
details about what ought or ought not be done at Adoration, it does provide a
liturgical theology by which we follow. There it says that

Exposition of
the Holy Eucharist is intended to acknowledge Christ’s marvelous presence in
the sacrament. Exposition invites us to the spiritual union with him that
culminates in sacramental communion. Thus it fosters very well the worship
which is due to Christ in spirit and in truth. This kind of exposition
must clearly express the cult of the blessed sacrament in its relationship to
the Mass. The plan of the exposition should carefully avoid anything
which might somehow obscure the principal desire of Christ in instituting the
Eucharist, namely, to be with us as food, medicine, and comfort” (n.82).

Therefore,
we can reason that devotions, songs, prayers, etc., ought to be consistent
with what is given in this book.

The Directory on Popular Piety and the
Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines does offer examples of what is
consistent with the purposes of Eucharistic adoration. It says:

The
faithful should be encouraged to read the Scriptures during these periods of
adoration, since they afford an unrivalled source of prayer. Suitable
hymns and canticles based on those of the Liturgy of the Hours and the
liturgical seasons could also be encouraged, as well as periods of silent
prayer and reflection. Gradually, the faithful should be encouraged not
to do other devotional exercises during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
Given the close relationship between Christ and Our Lady, the rosary can
always be of assistance in giving prayer a Christological orientation, since it
contains meditation of the Incarnation and the Redemption (n.165).

This list of practices is not exhaustive, and it is not meant to be but it does give a useful sense of how to
evaluate our devotional practices during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.