By JAMES MONTI
NEW YORK — Welcomed with rounds of avid applause, His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke inspired and delighted a large assembly of priests, seminarians, religious, and laity gathered for the Sacra Liturgia USA 2015 conference held at Hunter College in New York City, June 1-4.
His keynote address on Day One (June 1) of Sacra Liturgia, “Beauty in the Liturgy and the Beauty of a Holy Life,” annunciated several of the principal themes of the conference, most notably the vital role of beauty in liturgical rites and ecclesiastical art, architecture, and furnishings.
Describing the sacred liturgy as our participation in “the Heavenly Marriage Feast of Heaven,” His Eminence set forth as the basis of his presentation the proposition that “God is truth, goodness, and beauty,” and that thus we as His creatures participate in what is “true, beautiful, and good.”
Moreover Christ, as the fount of all “that is true, beautiful and good,” is beautiful even in His Passion, even with His wounds and in His sufferings. In fact it is only by contemplating the image of Christ Crucified that we discover “the totality of Christ.”
Throughout his talk, His Eminence copiously cited the insights of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as the foundation of his reflections. Tying in his subject matter with current events, the cardinal noted that the modern world disputes what truth, goodness, and beauty are, which in turn leads to the questioning of when life begins and what constitutes marriage and the family; thus, “Precisely because we have lost beauty, we have also lost goodness and truth.”
Religious art should lead to the adoration of God, His Eminence observed. Stressing that “sacral art is at the service of the sacred liturgy,” the cardinal related an amusing anecdote from his own experience of what can happen when a church is designed by an architect who has no understanding of the liturgy. On a visit to a new cathedral church in the company of the bishop of that place (His Eminence discreetly omitted naming him), the cardinal found himself utterly dismayed by the bizarre and discordant design of the altar and the ambo.
The bishop proudly explained that “the principle of the architecture was asymmetry.” Seeing how troubled the cardinal was by the church’s ugly design, the bishop added that the cardinal’s reaction was what the architect intended, for the cathedral was purposefully designed to elicit “disorientation.” At this the conference audience erupted in peals of laughter.
Sacred furnishings for the church, the cardinal declared, should attest to “the beauty and the majesty of the liturgy as the action of Christ among us, uniting Heaven and Earth.” Citing Pope St. John Paul II’s application of the incident of Christ defending, against the protests of Judas, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who had anointed His feet (John 12:3-8), His Eminence observed that beautiful church furnishings, like this woman’s gesture, are “a natural expression of the love of God.”
Turning his attention to the pre-eminent fittingness of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite to the manifestation of beauty in the liturgy, and the power of that beauty to attract souls, he told of being invited to an Extraordinary Form Mass at Spain’s monastery shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat near Barcelona.
A Spanish youth group devoted to the Extraordinary Form liturgy that had arranged for the Mass brought to the shrine as their guests a number of destitute “street people” from Barcelona. His Eminence was amazed by the profound devotion with which these desperately poor men and women responded to the usus antiquior liturgy.
Turning to the principal subject of his address, “holiness of life,” Cardinal Burke stated that the call to holiness begins with Baptism, for this great sacrament is not content with “mediocrity,” but rather constitutes a true entry into holiness. His Eminence stressed that the whole life of a Christian and of the family must lead in this direction.
Citing an expression of Pope St. John Paul II, “the beauty of holiness,” the cardinal observed that this beauty is most evident in our participation in the sacred liturgy, where “God Himself acts,” where His action prevails, and where we are “united with the Lord.” But our Christian life will not be authentic, he warned, if we are not faithful to the moral teachings of the Church.
Reiterating “the important place of the liturgy in the pursuit of holiness,” he concluded that “the worthiness of our worship of God” will lead to our own sanctification and the sanctification of the world.
During the question and answer session that followed, His Eminence recounted how there had been in the years immediately following Vatican II an unrealistic “euphoria” about what the early Church was like, and how this heady atmosphere had given rise among other things to ridiculous songs, citing as an example he particularly recalled, “Sing a New Church into Being.” He noted how painful and traumatic this period must have been for faithful priests.
Responding to a question regarding those who in seeking to do what the Church wants encounter hostile opposition, His Eminence stressed that when we know what is right, we should be very serene, confident, charitable, but also firm in what we are doing.
Yet he also warned that we must not succumb to anger, for anger is a “countersign” that undermines our credibility. He lamented how some who are zealous for the restoration of Traditional liturgy have grown embittered with anger.
His Eminence also pointed to the catastrophe of Catholic Ireland’s referendum vote legalizing same-sex marriage as compelling proof of why we need to be serious about teaching the faith and administering the sacraments with greater fidelity than ever.
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