By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 1
Many years ago, someone told me a joke I never forgot: “Do you know what the difference is between a terrorist and a liturgist?” The answer: “You can negotiate with the terrorist.”
Putting aside the evident exaggeration, it is also true that since Vatican II there have been liturgists that impose their unique — not to say weird — understandings of the liturgy on the people, in parishes, and in diocesan councils.
In the name of the “liturgical reforms” inspired by the so-called Spirit of Vatican II — whatever that may mean — new liturgical “experiences” have emerged, drawing the faithful further and further away from the authentic Catholic liturgy of old, which was marked by the sense of the sacred.
In his 2010 apostolic letter Ubicumque et Semper, Pope Benedict XVI noted that, while recent technological advancements may have had a positive impact on the material quality of life, they have had a deleterious effect on the spiritual side of existence. He roots this latter deterioration in a “loss of the sense of the sacred,” which has led to a corruption, on a wide scale, of the Christian belief in and worship of a personal God.
Experience has shown that in fact the sense of the sacred, that sense of awe, of admiration of God, His angels, and His saints, which was made present to us by the beautiful liturgies of the past, today has been replaced in a great many places by free-for-all liturgical experiments. Ridiculous songs, jokes, dancing around the altar, clown Masses, every other kind of idiocy can be imposed upon the faithful, who rarely have the choice to walk out, since “Father approves it. . . .”
So here we enter our subject of investigating the nature of the Catholic liturgy, especially in view of the sense of the sacred that must reign around the renewal of Calvary in an unbloody manner — the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
First of all, let us define the word: Originally, the Greek word for “liturgy” meant a “public work or function.” But in the context of the Christian religion, of Catholicism, it means the participation of God’s People in “the work of God,” and the official, public, divine worship performed by the People of God. The celebration of the seven sacraments forms the major part of the liturgy of the Church.
In the Old Testament, God did not allow the Hebrews to worship Him in any way they liked. He made specific instructions, especially in view of the pagan religions that surrounded His people: God did not want the Hebrews to imitate the pagan forms of worship, unlike liturgists today who want Catholics to imitate the Protestant forms of worship. But I digress.
So, when God our Lord instituted the Old Law and Covenant, He Himself laid down provisions for sacred rites by which the Chosen People were to worship Him, the one true God. No ecumenism with other religions was ever allowed.
St. Paul the Apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews (10:1), says that all of the Old Testament rites were “but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of those realities.” Here is the first key to understand God’s Will regarding how He wants us to worship Him: The ceremonies of the Old Testament, from the Paschal meal to the sacrifice of lambs in the Temple, rich in solemnity and sacredness, were just shadows, prefigures, of the true liturgy that was to come in Jesus Christ, the High Priest, who would offer a perfect sacrifice with “His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the renewal, in an unbloody manner, of both the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Last Supper. It is not a celebration of the faith of the community, as some Protestantized liturgists would have it.
These are the essential elements of the Divine Liturgy: 1) It is priestly, that is, a person who has been ordained and consecrated leads and performs the worship. When we pray the rosary, even in church, it is worship of God, of course, but not Sacred Liturgy; 2) the liturgy takes place by means of external signs, that is, it is not something like mental prayer, which only God can know about. There must be words, gestures, readings; 3) it includes worship of God and sanctification of man, that is, it is not the celebration of our faith in community; it is aimed at adoration of God our Lord, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier and at obtaining graces for the growth in holiness among the people; 4) the liturgy is public, that is, it is not a private devotion; 5) the liturgy is performed by Christ and the Church, that is, the priest acts in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, who is the Head of the Church, His Mystical Body, accompanied by the whole body of the faithful. It is something that links Heaven with Earth, time with eternity.
In this way, God our Lord has seen to it that by loving visible realities we may be drawn to the love of invisible realities. The Church is not an invisible reality, it is a visible social body, and therefore necessarily requires a public form of common worship. This common public worship reveals and strengthens the unity of the Mystical Body.
However, ritual is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end. The beauty of the liturgy, including the incense, bells, candles, altars, statues, dignified songs, and vestments, is aimed, in the first place, at fostering sentiments of adoration of God, submission to His divine majesty and will. Secondly, these aspects are intended to be the outward expression of our own inward desire to serve Him and to hand over to Him all that we have and all that we are (Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 1947, Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, part I).
Warning: In spite of all its beauty, the Sacred Liturgy, however impressive it may be, is not a theatrical spectacle attended by onlookers, but an act of divine worship by ministers and faithful alike. And here we will consider the issue of lay participation in the next installment.
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(Raymond de Souza, KM, is available to speak at Catholic events anywhere in the free world in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Please email SacredHeartMedia@Outlook.com or visit www.RaymonddeSouza.com or phone 507-450-4196 in the United States.)
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