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PODCAzT 38: Ratzinger on “active participation”; The Sabine Farm; Merry del Val’s music
07-07-25 Ratzinger on "active participation"; The Sabine Farm; Merry del Val's music [49:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/07_07_25.mp3
Our PODCAzT today comes after a long break. I has some technical problems.
In today’s PODCAzT I continue the project I started last time of looking at some fundamental characteristic of Holy Mass, especially in light of the older, extraordinary use of the Roman Rite. Our guide is Joseph Ratzinger’s book The Spirit of the Liturgy. Today we get into what "active participation" means. Also, I talk about The Sabine Farm, since so many people are curious about it. We hear some poetry by Horace and also a snip of a book called The Cardinal, in which the poetry of the great Horace is featured.
Thank you once again Father!
Comment by Jonathan Bennett — 25 July 2007 @ 10:31 pmProfessor Ratzinger understands better than many the mystical nature that God imbued in human speech, especially after Christ changed history. A key insight is his recognition of the intimate connexion between the actio divina and the oratio spoken by man. Here are the divine gift of human speech and the divine action made one in spirit. What makes me wonder is why, over the course of the twentieth century, our culture has nearly lost even the desire to understand how the collection of “merely human words” is transformed into the tool of the miraculous Logos. Well into the twentieth century philosophers and theologians of all stripes regularly began their Lebenswerke with their thoughts on the nature of human language. The fact that such discussions are now a rarity makes Dr. Ratzinger’s discussion all the more outstanding.
As for the active participation of the body, the learned cardinal has made quite a contribution to the understanding of the necessity for and essential characteristics of the active participation of the whole being in the liturgy. Last Sunday at a small parish in one of the square states we are asked to “greet the priest” with the opening hymn! O that the “liturgists” would read and comprehend the humble approach of the Holy Father to the awesome and terrible Mystery of the Eucharist!
Thank you, Father Zuhlsdorf, for a very enlightening podcazt.
And on the Sabine farm, and the rural life vs. the urban bustle, I am reminded from my school days:
Integer vitae scelerisque purus
non eget Mauris iaculis neque arcu
nec venenatis gravida sagittis,
Fusce, pharetra,
sive per Syrtis iter aestuosas
sive facturus per inhospitalem
Caucasum vel quae loca fabulosus
lambit Hydaspes.
Namque me silva lupus in Sabina,
dum meam canto Lalagen et ultra
terminum curis vagor expeditis,
fugit inermem,
quale portentum neque militaris
Comment by Denis Crnkovic — 25 July 2007 @ 11:49 pmDaunias latis alit aesculetis
nec Iubae tellus generat, leonum
arida nutrix. &c.
Bravo Father. But you hardly touched on your Sabine.
m
Comment by mike — 26 July 2007 @ 1:00 ammike: You noticed!
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 26 July 2007 @ 1:17 amDenis: I don’t know if you intended this, but “Lalage” is also the name of a character in the book The Cardinal!
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 26 July 2007 @ 1:21 amFr. Z: Thanks again!
Consider doing a podcazt or post on the same topic (and more) from Pope John Paul II’s Ad Limina address to the Bishops of the Church in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Alaska in 1989. It is probably one of the most richest addresses on the liturgy by JPII and likely the least referenced by “liturgists”.
Here are a few quotes from Bullet 4 where it really opens up:
- “But full participation does not mean that everyone does everything, since this would lead to a clericalizing of the laity and a laicizing of the priesthood; and this was not what the Council had in mind.”
- “...Yet active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it. Worshippers are not passive, for instance, when listening to the readings or the homily, or following the prayers of the celebrant, and the chants and music of the liturgy. These are experiences of silence and stillness, but they are in their own way profoundly active. In a culture which neither favors nor fosters meditative quiet, the art of interior listening is learned only with difficulty. Here we see how the liturgy, though it must always be properly inculturated, must also be counter-cultural. “
- “Conscious participation calls for the entire community to be properly instructed in the mysteries of the liturgy, lest the experience of worship degenerate into a form of ritualism. But it does not mean a constant attempt within the liturgy itself to make the implicit explicit, since this often leads to a verbosity and informality which are alien to the Roman Rite and end by trivializing the act of worship. “
- “The use of the vernacular has certainly opened up the treasures of the liturgy to all who take part, but this does not mean that the Latin language, and especially the chants which are so superbly adapted to the genius of the Roman Rite, should be wholly abandoned. If subconscious experience is ignored in worship, an affective and devotional vacuum is created and the liturgy can become not only too verbal but also too cerebral. “
Comment by Diane — 26 July 2007 @ 5:16 amDear Father, can you list the songs and music you use in your podcazts? :-)
Comment by Tom — 26 July 2007 @ 9:50 amRatzinger’s “The Spirit of the Liturgy” is an excellent book, and I enjoy hearing you read it, Fr. Z.
Comment by Jeff Pinyan — 26 July 2007 @ 9:58 amAnother great podcast! I look forward to these things more and more!
Comment by Charles Robertson — 26 July 2007 @ 10:01 amInteresting, as ever … I actually have an old vinyl record of Cardinal del Val’s compositions (some fifteen pieces in all I think).
Comment by Aumgn — 26 July 2007 @ 10:22 amFather, I did not know that Lalage is a character in The Cardinal. I should have posted the rest of Horace’s ode (I.22) in which Lalage becomes the punch line:
Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis
arbor aestiua recreatur aura,
quod latus mundi nebulae malusque
Iuppiter urget;
pone sub curru nimium propinqui
solis, in terra domibus negata;
dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,
dulce loquentem.
[There is a translation here.]
In any case, this is a nice incentive for me to Robinson’s read book. I obviously can’t get by any more with the lame excuse that “I saw the movie.”
Diane, Thanks for the quotations from John Paul II. To those who realize that “active participation” means, among other things, being intellectually engaged in the liturgy with the “whole heart, whole mind, whole soul,” it is no secret that being an active participant requires some hard mental work. This point often seems lost on congregants and celebrants alike. Using a Tridentine Daily Missal to read and pray the Mass along with the priest is hardly a passive act, as anyone who has done this knows. Let’s only hope that more people will read Cardinal Ratzinger’s inspired discussion on the spirit of the liturgy and let’s keep spreading the word that Fr. Zuhlsdorf has a blog….
Comment by Denis Crnkovic — 26 July 2007 @ 10:44 amDenis: The character Lalage is also in the movie. She was in the village Fr. Fermoyle was sent to as punishment duty. She went to join a nursing order.
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 26 July 2007 @ 10:48 amThanks Father! I just started listening to your wonderful audio programs. I listen on Long Island, and have especially enjoyed St. Augustine as I take my daily walk along the beach. Ah, if only this were the Med!
Comment by MacBeth — 26 July 2007 @ 10:54 amDelightful podcast, Fr. Z. You make a very interesting speaker. Sometimes, I think I enjoy your ‘secular’ themes more than your religious ones, but that is just me.
I guess this is a ‘Yes’ vote.
Comment by Dan O — 26 July 2007 @ 9:12 pmI wrote on this same exact thing the other day and had similar (albeit less articulate) observations. (Click on my name if you want to read it.) Peace.
Comment by Richard — 27 July 2007 @ 2:31 amFather, Thank You.
Comment by Carolina Publican — 27 July 2007 @ 10:29 amHelp!! Fr. Z- What is the bumper music? My mother-in-law says it is “Call me” (NOT the Blondie one) I am trying to locate it on iTunes. Yes- I subscribe to your PODcastz!!
Comment by JSW — 27 July 2007 @ 5:16 pmFather, a fine podcast, as always! I’ll be reading The Cardinal!
What was the music that you played before and after your reading from The Spirit of the Liturgy? The horns and choral crescendo were particularly striking.
Comment by Kevin P. Edgecomb — 28 July 2007 @ 11:23 pmThanks Fathers! Where did you find that music by Merry del Val?
Comment by Elizabeth — 29 July 2007 @ 12:11 pm