Getting Back into Context

Let me highly recommend, over at Chant Cafe, an article by Jeffrey Tucker: Does the Ordinary Form Have a Voice .

The article stands on its own and should be read and reflected upon by a great cross section of Catholics. Jeffrey's analysis contributes effectively to indicating that which must precede what most experts consider the long term goal of mending the torn garment of our liturgical tradition. We have to move people from where they are now and at their best sometimes, namely in a well-meaning Sunday worship service whose style is a far cry from what it should or could be.

One issue in the article which has recently taken on a new dimension for me is that of "options" (different formulas for the penitential rite, different blessings, even the multiple Eucharistic Prayers and Prefaces). I treasure the options less and less as the years go on and since becoming a bishop I've exclusively used the greeting proper to a bishop (Peace be with you!) and the classic final blessing reserved to the bishop.

Since coming to Ukraine a year ago, I've come to be even less interested in options for two reasons: 1) my exposure to Byzantine Liturgy which is breath-takingly beautiful without any variables other than choir settings; 2) my struggle to prepare to celebrate the Latin Liturgy in public in the vernacular, in Ukrainian. Lots of hours of practice notwithstanding I am just barely able to get through the ordinary parts without stumbling, stammering or misspeaking (freezing up). The proper prayers for each day represent a real challenge.

For a good month now in Ukrainian I've been using the first option of the penitential rite, the Confiteor, and there is something very fine about the limitation (Granted this might be termed making a virtue out of necessity). My own feeling is that for the next edition of the Roman Missal (no rush!) they'll be able to save paper by eliminating sections that are still as good as new in an otherwise worn volume.

Generally my public liturgies here have been in Latin but whether the mother tongue of the congregation is Ukrainian or Hungarian, they are lost. We need to meet them on their territory and improve the vernacular experience for them. As I say, I think Jeffrey is on to something as he urges us to do more by the book or books...

I would be remiss if I didn't urge one and all to make the move toward worship ad Orientem. As I have said before, it is so terribly right and not only for the priest celebrant.

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Active Participation - A Gloss on the Video

The great little video about the Latin Mass (more profound than much one is exposed to) brings up quite elegantly, even forcefully, the question of "active participation" on the part of all those who are assisting at Mass. Quoting Pope St. Pius X, the video distinguishes between praying at Mass and doing what the saintly Pope urged, namely getting involved in "praying the Mass" or actively participating.

Over the centuries the greatest fail at Mass has been in terms of active participation; if I may be permitted a judgment, it has been that of giving up on the real effort or work involved in praying the Mass. The Council Fathers knew that, Pope St. Pius X knew that very clearly. The issue is not one of distraction alone but rather of capitulation in the face of what genuine active participation demands of us. 

Hans Urs von Balthasar, in vol. II: Spouse of the Word, of his work "Explorations in Theology", Ignatius Press, 1991, expresses his reservations about the great old Schott missal, which generations of Germans used for following the Latin Mass. It was a major investment and, as we learn also from Georg Ratzinger, a family treasure. Von Balthasar is not so sure that it really encouraged active participation in church; he seems to think that the book or reading individually abstracts from the mystery, from the sublime action in which we are to take part. I think von Balthasar wants to lay the emphasis on hearing for participation and argues that reading per force takes me out of the loop. I don't know if that is necessarily so, but I'm at a loss as to how to counter his argument.

Let me retreat then from such heady discourse and return to what is a centuries old crisis in matters of active participation. Let me briefly remark that we have seen this capitulation clearly in the great age of monasticism, in the distinction within the great monastic orders between lay brothers, externs, if you will, and choir monks. All served the monastery and indirectly contributed to assuring the singing of the Divine Office, the Liturgy of Hours, but some did it in choir singing and others by the sweat of their brow, perhaps not even literate, perhaps sustained only by their rosaries and their Angelus prayer. On the eve of the Council, 50 years ago, we saw this capitulation in already centuries old manifestations like the Czech Christmas Mass of J.J. Ryba (from the 18th Century) see video ... It was a great way to spend Christmas in church while Father did his thing reciting Mass in Latin up at the altar.... Praying at Mass or Praying the Mass?

Too much of the last 40 years has been capitulation, withdrawing from the work which is the liturgy and, well, experimenting with all sorts of instruments and musical genres, puppets, banners, you name it. Not good, to say the least!

Apart from rediscovering the rubrics for the celebration of Mass and praying the Eucharistic Prayer ad Orientem, we can only hope that chant will universally make its reappearance and genuinely sacred spaces for worship will be reclaimed. Using the Communion rail again and slowing down this important moment of our participation in the Sacrifice of Christ. 

I don't want to harp, but I think it important for us all to recognize that there's more to active participation than shaking hands at some point.

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI

Just too good not to stop and reflect!

Regardless of whether your goal is the restoration of the TLM or the reform of the reform, this little girl has some powerful things to say to us all.

He was Amazed at their Lack of Faith

For those of us who because of temperament or prejudice were not swept away with enthusiasm for the charismatic movement in the Church (40 years ago?), these words from the Gospel for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) remain as a sort of condemnation, deserved or undeserved: "He was amazed at their lack of faith." And some would say that's why Jesus doesn't or can't do anything for us: no healings, nothing extraordinary... Years back, I remember a couple German priest friends who said to me with a sense of resignation, that the only hope for sainthood for a great German martyr of World War II was a miracle some place in Latin America; not much chance in the rational atmosphere which reigned in their homeland of recognizing or accepting one should it perchance happen.

There is indeed a sort of rationalism abroad, which is for me more worrisome than that of Jesus being taken for granted in His native place, as Mark's Gospel today describes. While it is a taking for granted of the familiar, it is indeed worse in the sense that today's haughty sophisticate TV and radio talk-show atheists and scorners of religion reject what they have conveniently fabricated as caricature of the faith while bitterly and sneeringly leaving themselves outside of everything in God's universe with their totally irrational and unreasoned big bang or monkey's nephew theories that are nothing more than myths for the godless who settle for too much less than nothing.

In case you are wondering what I'm talking about, I saw a little piece of a YouTube video of Ross Douthat humoring Bill Maher and trying to sell his book "Bad Religion"... Why would you even want to go there Ross? I just don't know! How easily some people give price to the treasures of the Book of Genesis, when the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church approach them with fear and trembling. Where is our faith in the God Who made us and saved us?

"He was amazed at their lack of faith." Yes, rightly so. Our age too is a faithless one, which refuses to ask for a sign. We block the way to the Kingdom for others by our scandalous concessions to unbelief, while refusing to enter ourselves.

Pray for the recovery of faith during this upcoming year of faith: for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for all those who still cause the Lord amazement for their lack of faith! 

The call of beauty

I especially like Cardinal Burke's invitation at the end of this video to stop resisting the will and teaching of the Holy Father in matters liturgical.

First to Reflect the Patience of God

There is much out there these days about the eventuality of an SSPX “reconciliation” yet still at this point in time and sadly yet what might still militate against it. The ever popular “Roman Curia conspiracy” theories with numerous twists are legion and in their variations, with their almost wild-eyed descriptions of attempts to scuttle “the deal”. While the common reflection and awareness within the community of the Church is increasingly cognizant that not only 40+ years of liturgical excesses and abuse are indicative of a high-jacking of the post-conciliar implementation process of liturgical renewal, this is not to say that we have not become increasingly aware that outrageous fortune hasn’t also battered the barque of Peter over these years on many other accounts as well (viz. misconceptions of what the Church means by ecumenism, not to mention other topics).

In the last weeks, however, I have begun to get the impression that some people cannot see the differences which have arisen on various topics, between popular presentation of official Church teaching and the stance of the SSPX, as comparable to some of the school differences from once upon a time between Jesuits and Dominicans, allowing the Holy Father as chief arbiter to establish the rules for respectful and continued fraternal disagreement within the community of the Church. I am beginning to fear that some people don’t appreciate the urgency of “coming in” or “coming back”. The facility with which some folk fling their unqualified anathemas would seem reminiscent of the so-called “gospel holiness tradition” which saw separation as a way of preserving both sanctity and orthodoxy. It is not the Catholic way for working out our differences. Whatever happened to the sheep and the goats or the wheat and the weeds growing together until the harvest?

A homily of St. Augustine, cited in today’s Office of Readings is a helpful reminder to me and to all who share the shepherding task. Let me quote from it briefly:

 “And so, my brothers, let us listen to the words with which the Lord upbraids the wicked sheep and to the promises he makes to his own flock. You are my sheep, he says. Even in the midst of this life of tears and tribulations, what happiness, what great joy it is to realise that we are God’s flock! To him were spoken the words: You are the shepherd of Israel. Of him it was said: The guardian of Israel will not slumber, nor will he sleep. He keeps watch over us when we are awake; he keeps watch over us when we sleep. A flock belonging to a man feels secure in the care of its human shepherd; how much safer should we feel when our shepherd is God. Not only does he lead us to pasture, but he even created us.

You are my sheep, says the Lord God. See, I judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. What are goats doing here in the flock of God? In the same pastures, at the same springs, goats – though destined for the left – mingle with those on the right. They are tolerated now, but will be separated later. In this way the patience of the flock develops and becomes like God’s own patience. For it is he who will do the separating, placing some on the left and others on the right.”

I am particularly moved by the notion that the patience of the flock should become like God’s own patience. Patience is our calling, our God-like calling. We cannot turn our backs on others. We do indeed need to live together in this life as visible Church cum et sub Petro. We need to struggle, not so much with our differences, but with our injustices, with the wrongs we do and that we do unto one another. The patience of the Good Shepherd is what we owe to each other for His greater glory and honor.

History teaches us that church councils are not packaged commodities but rather moments which initiate processes in the life of the Church, going on for decades or perhaps centuries, and whose yield may be greater or smaller. The issue may be neither doctrinal nor pastoral but rather one of analysis and application as yield. Lateran IV or Trent: objectively we can point to which had the greater yield, if you will. It is shared opinion that councils are risky business both in their celebration and in their implementation. I think however that it would be grievously wrong for any true Catholic to attribute error in matters of faith or morals to the promulgated documents of an ecumenical council. Formulations might be dated and even tainted by a certain world view, but as a departure from what the Church must believe and teach as coming to us from the Apostles... no!

Bonds of Unity

My dear friend, the Apostolic Nuncio in Indonesia, shared with me the link to the homily he preached for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul:

http://tradisikatolik.blogspot.com/2012/07/hari-raya-st-petrus-st-paulus-misa.html If you don't happen to read Indonesian... the English translation is provided below on the same page in the commentary. I recommend the whole homily for your edification but I'd like to quote at length from what he says, citing the Catechism, about the three concrete bonds which hold us together in the love of Christ in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church:

“… it is very important for every member of the faithful and every Christian community to be in full communion with the Pope. Let us be clear: this communion is not simply a feeling of sympathy for the Pope, nor is it an intellectual interest in what he says, nor is it reduced to some acts of outward enthusiasm towards him. We must be linked to the Pope by objective, visible, concrete bonds, the same bonds by which we are united in the Church. 

…“What are the bonds of unity?” asks the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And it answers: “Above all, charity ‘binds everything together in perfect harmony’. But the unity of the pilgrim Church is also assured by visible bonds of communion: profession of one faith received from the Apostles; common celebration of divine worship, especially of the Sacraments; apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God’s family” (CCC 815). 

… a) The Bond of Faith. Peter and his successors in the Church continue to proclaim: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, a claim which is at the very heart of our Christian faith. The first bond that we must have with the Pope is the profession of faith, through attention, knowledge and adherence to his teachings. The Pope’s voice is not just one more voice among others, like the opinions of theologians or even of individual bishops, but is decisive for evaluating the doctrines taught and preached in the Church and the opinions and theories current in society. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “the task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him” (CCC 100). And again: “The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for” (CCC 2034). 

… b) The Bond of the Liturgy. The liturgy, which has its summit in the celebration of the Sacraments and especially of the Eucharist, is the prayer of the whole Church; the prayer of the one Church formed by the Saints, by the dead in Christ and by ourselves; the prayer of the one Church spread throughout the world and led by the Pope and the Bishops. Therefore, in the Eucharistic prayer of every Mass we commemorate the Virgin Mary and the Saints, the Pope and the bishops, as well as the whole Church spread throughout the world. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church” (CCC 1369). 

How often the Holy Father Benedict XVI reminds us that we have to celebrate the liturgy not as something we invent as we please, according to our ideas, following the trends and theories of the moment, but as a celebration of something greater than us, which we must enter and by which our own prayer is shaped. The Holy Father provides this teaching about the correct way to celebrate the liturgy by the example of his own celebrations, in which a sense of adoration, beauty and the Church’s tradition shines forth. 

I would like to stress once again the importance of faithful observation of the rules about the liturgy given by the Church: bishops and priests, ministers of the sacred liturgy, are not the masters of the liturgy, they cannot change it at will, and the faithful should not assume that liturgical celebrations are merely objects of taste and desire. The liturgy does not belong to anyone and cannot be manipulated by anyone at will! Regarding the liturgy too, we must ask whether we are in tune with the teaching and the example of the Pope. 

c) The Bond of Discipline. “Jesus entrusted to Peter... the ‘power of the keys’ (which) designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church” (CCC 553). Peter and his successors, as well as the bishops in communion with the Pope, have been entrusted with the task not only of teaching and sanctifying, but also of governing the people of God, giving guidelines and laws, which are to be received with respect and obedience, knowing that “the law of God entrusted to the Church is taught to the faithful as the way of life and truth” (CCC 2037). These rules are not arbitrary decisions of those who exercise power, but through them the divine will is manifested to us. Benedict XVI recalled this truth at the beginning of his pontificate: “My real programme of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history” (Homily of 24 April 2005). 

… We celebrate in this Holy Eucharist “The Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, ... through whom the Church received the beginnings of right religion” (Collect), i.e. the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, as Peter proclaimed. In the Church and through the Church, founded precisely on the rock, which is Peter, we continually receive, nurture and give witness to this faith. 

Let us entrust the person and ministry of Pope Benedict XVI to the intercession of the Holy Apostles. For ourselves and for the whole Church, let us pray that the bonds of faith, prayer and obedience with the Successor of Peter may be further strengthened, so that the Church in Indonesia and around the world may fulfil with renewed vigour the mission entrusted to her by our Lord Jesus Christ." (Source: The Embassy of the Holy See to Indonesia)

Too often, I suspect, in various controversies facing the Church from within or without what we experience as a loosening or violation of the bond of charity might quickly be healed if the concrete bonds of faith, prayer and obedience had not already been broken asunder.

Analyze if you will any contemporary problem we might have within the Church and you will find that at least one of these rules is at issue.

The recovery of the basics of faith and, apart from liturgy, of a life of prayer of communion with the Lord Who made and saved us in obedience to God's law and the precepts of His Church is too urgent.

Pray for the success of the Year of Faith soon to begin!