By RAYMOND DE SOUZA
Part 5
Why is it important to observe the proper rubrics of the Catholic liturgy? In order to avoid the “liturgical experiments” that have weakened people’s faith.
These innovations have diminished the faith of the people, making the worship of God dependent on the subjective opinions and preferences of the famous “parish liturgical committees” who often invent new things to keep the people, especially youth, “entertained.”
As if we went to church not to worship God in fulfillment of the Third Commandment, but to enjoy a good performance of music and sometimes jokes from the pulpit!
On the contrary, the Church teaches us that in the sacred liturgy, the whole Christ is proposed to us in all the conditions of His life.
We can see Him as the Word of the Eternal Father; as born of the Virgin Mother of God; as the one who teaches us truth, heals the sick, consoles the afflicted; as the one who endures suffering and who dies; as the one who rose triumphantly from the dead and who, reigning in the glory of Heaven, sends us the Spirit as Paraclete and, finally, as the one who lives in His Church forever: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
This is a key point for contemporary Catholics to understand in these days of a crisis of faith in the Church: As the Latin adage goes, “Lex orandi, lex credendi…lex vivendi.” In practical terms, the way we pray heavily influences the way we believe, and both influence the way we live.
Consequently, if the liturgy in my parish has been modified with innovations that tend to be Protestantized, my beliefs will be influenced by those innovations and my behavior in life will also be modified accordingly.
The example of Brazil is proverbial: The trendy clerics have modified the liturgy so much, introducing all sorts of innovations and experiences, with hardly any moral teaching, that the faith has largely been left aside.
Consequence: People leave the Church in millions to join Protestant groups, which appear to teach religion.
But if the clergy in Brazil and in many other places, including the United States, had presented the mysteries of Christ as ever present and as shining examples of Christian perfection, as well as sources of divine grace, due to the merit and prayers of Christ, things would have been much different.
Each mystery of faith brings its own special grace for our salvation. We are in communion with the mysteries of Jesus: for He lived His life not for Himself but for us; because in them He presents Himself as our model; and because He enables us to live in Him all that He lived, and He lives it in us.
The rubrics of the Church’s sacred liturgy, when properly observed, bring to us feast days of the angels and saints, interspersed throughout the year. These days remind us of those Catholics who were raised to the honor of the altar because of their exemplary fidelity to God’s Law and love for God and neighbor. They serve as examples for us to follow, or at least, to admire, as the saints are the real super-heroes of Christendom.
Chief among those feast days are those dedicated to our Lady, which must always be observed with the utmost devotion. These feasts can be seen in the calendar at the front of any good missal. Sunday remains the preeminent feast day of the Resurrection of our Lord.
There is also a whole “Holy Library” of liturgical books of the Roman Rite, to which most of us belong. They are: The Missal, the Lectionary, the Gradual, the Pontifical, the Ritual, the Ceremonial of Bishops, the Breviary, or Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours, and the Martyrology.
As you see, there is a lot more to learn about worshiping God than just expressing our feelings!
I mentioned the “liturgical committees” in parishes. These initiatives, which in some places “create” innovations almost from Sunday to Sunday, more often than not ignore the fact that the regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church. That authority resides in the Apostolic See, in Rome, and, as laws may determine, at times on the bishop or on the conferences of bishops.
Those who say that the Vatican II allowed “liturgical creativity” at the parish level are deceiving the people: Because, no other person at all, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority (Sacrosanctum Concilium, article 22; see canon 838).
And here we touch on a delicate point: “liturgical creativity” in Christian funerals. Time and again I have seen generous eulogies of the deceased’s life and sayings, with funny stories and jokes, and even attempted “canonizations” (declarations that the deceased “is in Heaven”) which introduce a breath of tranquility among family members, since the deceased is supposedly already enjoying his reward and is happy ever after….
Such things are totally out of place at a Catholic funeral, and offer false consolation to family and mourners. Remember: What the dead need are prayers, not praise. It is no consolation to a soul in Purgatory to be lauded on Earth when a congregation should be praying for his eternal repose. The “wake” that follows the funeral sometimes seems more like a party than an occasion of mourning.
The purposes of a funeral are: 1) to pray for the soul of the deceased; 2) to bring God’s consolation to those who mourn; and 3) to dispose of the body ritually and reverently in expectation of the resurrection.
For a deceased Catholic, a Requiem Mass is most suitable, for in the Eucharist, “the Church expresses her efficacious communion with the departed: offering to the Father in the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of the death and resurrection of Christ, she beseeches that His child be purified of his sins and their consequences, and be admitted to the Paschal fullness of the table of the Kingdom.”
What about cremation, you might ask. The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the deceased be retained. She does not, however, forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine.
The practice of cremation re-entered the Western world at the time of the so-called Enlightenment, originally as an act of defiance against the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. If cremation is chosen for this or any other anti-Christian reason, the Church will not grant ecclesiastical burial.
The bottom line regarding Catholic liturgical practices is this: The liturgy of Earth must reflect the liturgy of Heaven. In the earthly liturgy, we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem, toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle.
With all the warriors of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory.
Friends, if we do not find this kind of liturgy in our parishes, try again. That explains why so many are moving back to the Traditional Rite of the Mass, as in parishes run by the Church-approved Fraternity of St. Peter.
Next article: The sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ.
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(Raymond de Souza is available to speak at Catholic events anywhere in the free world in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Please email Sacred HeartMedia@Outlook.com or visit www.RaymonddeSouza.com or phone 507-450-4196 in the United States.)
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