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The Holy Father’s Vigil Sermon - theological starting points for liturgy, ad orientem worship
We can approach the Holy Father’s magnificent Easter Vigil sermon on many levels. Since WDTPRS is mainly interested in our Catholic life of prayer, let’s look at it from the stand point of what Benedict XVI is offering for our own reflection on our present liturgical practices.
First, some remarks:
I have been maintaining that the Holy Father has a program, a vision for the Church. He is trying to revitalize our Catholic identity. I often refer to his "Marshall Plan", as I call it, for the Church. Just as Europe was devastated after the war and needed rebuilding, the Church and our identity as Catholics has been devastated over the last 40 or so years. We need rebuilding. For Benedict, liturgy is the key. It is the "tip of the spear" so to speak. Change our approach to liturgy and you change everything.
One of the most devastating changes after the Council was the widespread abandonment of ad orientem worship. Authors like Klaus Gamber, for whom Papa Ratzinger has such great respect, thought that changing our altars around was perhaps the most damaging change in the post-Conciliar reform. Sadly, the destruction of ad orientem worship was based on misuse of scholarship, surely, but most on ideological choices rooted in a hermeneutic of rupture and a ecclesiology which was little in harmony with our Catholic faith. The results for Catholic worship were viciously corrosive.
Pope Benedict has long written of the meaning and need for ad orientem worship. In practical terms he knows that we cannot force abrupt changes. We must be gentle in reintroducing it.
However, as we have been watching him during the last year or so reintroducing many traditional elements our Roman Rite into the full view of the world, including ad orientem worship in the Sistine Chapel, I think we can say that he thinks the time has come for more decisive moves.
Let’s turn to the Holy Father’s sermon for the Vigil of Easter.
Again, the are many levels on which we can read this sermon and I urge you to read it once, perhaps, with an eye on baptism, on illumination, etc. But let’s take some time for what his words could provide for some liturgical starting points, helpful to a reform of our contemporary liturgical practices.
Here is the Holy Father’s Vigil sermon, with my emphases and comments.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,What is going on here? I think the Holy Father has made another contribution to support the benefits of ad orientem worship. The Holy Father has raised the stakes, so to speak. It seems to me that he is now pressing the issue.In his farewell discourse, Jesus announced his imminent death and resurrection to his disciples with these mysterious words: "I go away, and I will come to you", [A Second Coming, a return.] he said (Jn 14:28). Dying is a "going away". Even if the body of the deceased remains behind, he himself has gone away into the unknown, and we cannot follow him (cf. Jn 13:36). Yet in Jesus’s case, there is something utterly new, which changes the world. In the case of our own death, the "going away" is definitive, there is no return. Jesus, on the other hand, says of his death: "I go away, and I will come to you." It is by going away that he comes. [Again, a return.] His going ushers in a completely new and greater way of being present. By dying he enters into the love of the Father. His dying is an act of love. Love, however, is immortal. Therefore, his going away is transformed into a new coming, [Again, the return.] into a form of presence which reaches deeper and does not come to an end. During his earthly life, Jesus, like all of us, was tied to the external conditions of bodily existence: to a determined place and a determined time. Bodiliness places limits on our existence. We [because of human limitations.] cannot be simultaneously in two different places. Our time is destined to come to an end. And between the "I" and the "you" there is a wall of otherness. To be sure, through love we can somehow enter the other’s existence. Nevertheless, the insurmountable barrier of being different remains in place. Yet Jesus, who is now totally transformed through the act of love, is free from such barriers and limits. [The Lord can be simultaneously on every altar in the world.] He is able not only to pass through closed doors in the outside world, as the Gospels recount (cf. Jn 20:19). He can pass through the interior door separating the "I" from the "you", the closed door between yesterday and today, between the past and the future. [Christ is not bound by the limits of space (He can be on all the altars of the world at once), but neither is He limited in time. Consider that when we follow carefully the liturgical books, the baptized at Mass are in unity with everyone else doing the same thing everywhere. At the same time, when we worship in a way that is continuous with the past, we the baptized are also, because Christ is the true actor in Holy Mass, transcending the barriers of time. We are in unity with all the generations that went before us and we are opened outward to those who will follow.] On the day of his solemn entry into Jerusalem, when some Greeks asked to see him, Jesus replied with the parable of the grain of wheat which has to pass through death in order to bear much fruit. [This makes me think of the cleft in the rock through which God commanded Moses to glimpse Him, as He passed. In a sense, the Crucifix is the same. Therefore the position of the Crucifix for Mass is of great importance.] In this way he foretold his own destiny: these words were not addressed simply to one or two Greeks in the space of a few minutes. Through his Cross, through his going away, through his dying like the grain of wheat, he would truly arrive among the Greeks, in such a way that they could see him and touch him through faith. His going away is transformed into a coming, in the Risen Lord’s universal manner of presence, in which he is there yesterday, today and for ever, in which he embraces all times and all places. Now he can even surmount the wall of otherness that separates the "I" from the "you". This happened with Paul, who describes the process of his conversion and his Baptism in these words: "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Through the coming of the Risen One, Paul obtained a new identity. His closed "I" was opened. Now he lives in communion with Jesus Christ, in the great "I" of believers who have become – as he puts it – "one in Christ" (Gal 3:28).
[At this point the Holy Father has give you some hooks to hang ideas on in an organized way, a "hermeneutic" or lens through which you can hear what follows. He has talked about the Lord’s Coming, and how He establishes a continuity for the baptized that is not limited in space or in time.]
So, dear friends, it is clear that, through Baptism, the mysterious words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper become present for you once more. [So, the starting point for "active participation" is our baptismal character. This "active participation" starts with an interior dimension of the human person. In his sermon for the Chrism Mass he spoke to the "active participation" of priests in liturgy, starting from "correct celebration" brought to completion by "interior participation". More on this below.] In Baptism, the Lord enters your life through the door of your heart. We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another. He passes through all these doors. This is the reality of Baptism: he, the Risen One, comes; he comes to you and joins his life with yours, drawing you into the open fire of his love. You become one, one with him, and thus one among yourselves. [Think of the liturgical unity we have.] At first this can sound rather abstract and unrealistic. But the more you live the life of the baptized, the more you can experience the truth of these words. Believers – the baptized – are never truly cut off from one another. Continents, cultures, social structures or even historical distances may separate us. But when we meet, we know one another on the basis of the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope, the same love, which form us. Then we experience that the foundation of our lives is the same. We experience that in our inmost depths we are anchored in the same identity, on the basis of which all our outward differences, however great they may be, become secondary. [Think of this in terms of the "continuity" the Holy Father is seeking to reestablish.] Believers are never totally cut off from one another. We are in communion because of our deepest identity: Christ within us. Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close (cf. Eph 2:13).
The Church expresses the inner reality of Baptism as the gift of a new identity through the tangible elements used in the administration of the sacrament. The fundamental element in Baptism is water; next, in second place, is light, which is used to great effect in the Liturgy of the Easter Vigil. Let us take a brief look at these two elements. In the final chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, there is a statement about Christ which does not speak directly of water, but the Old Testament allusions nevertheless point clearly to the mystery of water and its symbolic meaning. Here we read: "The God of peace … brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant" (13:20). In this sentence, there is an echo of the prophecy of Isaiah, in which Moses is described as the shepherd whom the Lord brought up from the water, from the sea (cf. 63:11). Jesus appears as the new, definitive Shepherd who brings to fulfilment what Moses had done: he leads us out of the deadly waters of the sea, out of the waters of death. In this context we may recall that Moses’ mother placed him in a basket in the Nile. Then, through God’s providence, he was taken out of the water, carried from death to life, and thus – having himself been saved from the waters of death – he was able to lead others through the sea of death. Jesus descended for us into the dark waters of death. But through his blood, so the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, he was brought back from death: his love united itself to the Father’s love, and thus from the abyss of death he was able to rise to life. Now he raises us from death to true life. This is exactly what happens in Baptism: he draws us towards himself, he draws us into true life. He leads us through the often murky sea of history, where we are frequently in danger of sinking amid all the confusion and perils. In Baptism he takes us, as it were, by the hand, he leads us along the path that passes through the Red Sea of this life and introduces us to everlasting life, the true and upright life. Let us grasp his hand firmly! Whatever may happen, whatever may befall us, let us not lose hold of his hand! Let us walk along the path that leads to life.
In the second place, there is the symbol of light and fire. Gregory of Tours recounts a practice that in some places was preserved for a long time, of lighting the new fire for the celebration of the Easter Vigil directly from the sun, using a crystal. Light and fire, so to speak, were received anew from heaven, so that all the lights and fires of the year could be kindled from them. This is a symbol of what we are celebrating in the Easter Vigil. Through his radical love for us, in which the heart of God and the heart of man touched, Jesus Christ truly took light from heaven and brought it to the earth – the light of truth and the fire of love that transform man’s being. He brought the light, and now we know who God is and what God is like. Thus we also know what our own situation is: what we are, and for what purpose we exist. When we are baptized, the fire of this light is brought down deep within ourselves. Thus, in the early Church, Baptism was also called the Sacrament of Illumination: [I am reminded of the new prayer for Jews on Good Friday.] God’s light enters into us; thus we ourselves become children of light. We must not allow this light of truth, that shows us the path, to be extinguished. We must protect it from all the forces that seek to eliminate it so as to cast us back into darkness regarding God and ourselves. Darkness, at times, can seem comfortable. I can hide, and spend my life asleep. Yet we are not called to darkness, but to light. In our baptismal promises, we rekindle this light, so to speak, year by year. Yes, I believe that the world and my life are not the product of chance, but of eternal Reason and eternal Love, they are created by Almighty God. Yes, I believe that in Jesus Christ, in his incarnation, in his Cross and resurrection, the face of God has been revealed; that in him, God is present in our midst, he unites us and leads us towards our goal, towards eternal Love. Yes, I believe that the Holy Spirit gives us the word of truth and enlightens our hearts; I believe that in the communion of the Church we all become one Body with the Lord, and thus we encounter his resurrection and eternal life. The Lord has granted us the light of truth. This light is also fire, a powerful force coming from God, a force that does not destroy, but seeks to transform our hearts, so that we truly become men of God, and so that his peace can become active in this world.
[Now we get to the meat of what I am talking about. This is where he reveals more clearly what he is driving at.]
In the early Church there was a custom whereby the Bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: "Conversi ad Dominum" – turn now towards the Lord. This meant in the first place that they would turn towards the East, towards the rising sun, the sign of Christ returning, whom we go to meet when we celebrate the Eucharist. Where this was not possible, for some reason, they would at least turn towards [the liturgical East] the image of Christ in the apse, or towards the Cross, so as to orient themselves inwardly towards the Lord. [interior orientation toward the Lord who is coming!] Fundamentally, this involved an interior event; conversion, the turning of our soul towards Jesus Christ and thus towards the living God, towards the true light. Linked with this, then, was the other exclamation that still today, before the Eucharistic Prayer, is addressed to the community of the faithful: "Sursum corda" – "Lift up your hearts", high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness – "Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!" [Again, this signals an interior orientation. Now the Holy Father returns more closely to baptism.] In both exclamations we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism: Conversi ad Dominum – we must distance ourselves ever anew from taking false paths, onto which we stray so often in our thoughts and actions. We must turn ever anew towards him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, [this phrase surprises me a little, given Pope Benedict’s knowledge of Augustine’s amor meus pondus meum... but there it is.] which pulls them down, and inwardly we must raise them high: in truth and love. At this hour, let us thank the Lord, because through the power of his word and of the holy Sacraments, he points us in the right direction and draws our heart upwards. Let us pray to him in these words: Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of your love. Amen.
I believe that it is time for bishops and priests around the world to take the hint and start, first through catechesis, to start turning our worship back toward the Lord in ad orientem worship.
I made a point I wanted to return to about active participation.
I wrote that, the starting point for "active participation" is our baptismal character. This "active", participation" starts with an interior dimension of the human person. In his sermon for the Chrism Mass he spoke to the "active participation" of priests in liturgy, starting from "correct celebration" brought to completion by "interior participation". I often speak of the need for strong active interior participation which then comes to be expressed in outward gestures, movement, singing, etc. However, here the Holy Father is speaking about how the correct outward celebration of the priest, is brought to completion in interior participation. I don’t want to put to much on this at this moment, but it has started me thinking. First, perhaps there is a possible distinction to be made in active participation of laypeople and that of priests. Also, this expression may also represent the other side of the coin of lex orandi lex credendi. There is a reciprocal relationship between how we pray and what we believe. Sometimes the one or the other will have logical priority.
Can anyone else imagine hearing the words “Conversi ad Dominum” chanted at the start of the Liturgy of the Eucharist in the Ordinary Form? I can!
I pray that more priests will read the words of the Holy Father on this subject and give it some very serious thought… and then action!
Comment by Geoffrey — 22 March 2008 @ 4:11 pmLex orandi lex credendi, indeed. The old cliche rings true here: actions speak louder than words. The question remains unanswered: Are the bishops listening to the words of the Holy Father, and are they going to act?
Comment by TNCath — 22 March 2008 @ 4:24 pmConversi ad Dominum—in my mind’s eye I see those three words being propelled up and down the blogosphere. The sacred Triduum is a great time to pray for priests, that they may be anointed with the Holy Ghost and illumined with the knowledge and zeal to restore the right liturgical praxis.
Comment by John Collorafi — 22 March 2008 @ 4:25 pmFather,
Can you tell us anything about the Holy Father’s miter for the Easter Vigil Mass? I assumed it was an image of Jesus with a lamb, but I just saw a close up and the animal looks more like a dog! A German shepherd, perhaps? Watching the events today and on Good Friday from St. Peters, I was amazed at how beautiful the music is now with Benedict. It is so much more appropriate to the setting.
Happy Easter!
Comment by madirish — 22 March 2008 @ 4:29 pmIn addition to offering the older form of the Mass (which is sadly not very well attended), I have been trying gently to suggest we take seriously our history and our pope in the newer form—conversi ad Dominum. We turned the altar around for Holy Thursday and, in its limited role, for Good Friday. On Holy Thursday this included a sermon on “turning towards the Lord” on a night “which is different from every other night.” I now offer one NO Mass a week versus Deum, and some people come to the older Mass during the week as well. There is, perhaps, a grudging acceptance by some, but there is a tremendous amount of resistance as well. I am so glad the Holy Father keeps this gentle note sounding. There is strength in numbers. So, my fellow priests—convertimini ad Dominum.
Comment by Father M — 22 March 2008 @ 4:46 pmThe Holy Father is giving Holy Communion under both kinds by intinction! First time I’ve EVER seen that! :-)
Comment by Geoffrey — 22 March 2008 @ 5:01 pmGeoffrey, yes, this is wonderful! Holy Communion by intinction. Deo gratias!
Comment by techno_aesthete — 22 March 2008 @ 5:09 pmI was under the impression that intinction was forbidden in the Roman rite. I certainly know that when I was an Unnecessary Eucharistic Minister, I was told that I was to ensure that people did not dip the host into the chalice.
Comment by Will — 22 March 2008 @ 5:19 pmFather Z.,
Re: Gravity. Don’t think of Augustine’s amor meus, but of the weight of sin. Or perhaps Chesterton’s angels who fly because they take themselves, but not God, lightly.
Father M.: Bravo! Keep up the good work.
Will: self intinction by laity is forbidden, but not by a priest communicating us on the ongue.
Comment by Dave Deavel — 22 March 2008 @ 5:25 pmHi, I always read your blog Fr. Z. Great blog. Today, you compare the Second Vatican Council with the Second World War. That was nice for some people and terrible for others.
I just have a question and I hope you answer me: Does anything good or valuable come from the Second Vatican Council?
Thank you and have a very good Easter!
Comment by milanta — 22 March 2008 @ 5:26 pmIt was a wonderful Mass, however I think an even more profound statement has been made by the Pope by baptizing the former muslim. Hopefully this is a great shot in the arm for all the Cantalamessa’s out there teaching false ecumenism. Hopefully this point didnt escape their notice. The Latin Mass, Ad Orientem, and now publically showing the world that the Church does believe in bring in the lost sheep. Maybe the new springtime is finally upon us after so many years in the desert. God bless you Fr. Z
Comment by Douglas Nesmith — 22 March 2008 @ 5:30 pmFather Zuhlsdorf,
I listened to the Homily entranced. When His Holiness mentioned “Conversi ad Dominum,” my jaw dropped. I instantly thought, “How does Fr. Zuhlsdorf get advanced previews of things like this?” I say this truly in jest, but it was as if you had overheard what the Pope was thinking. Excellent analysis!
Comment by Deo volente — 22 March 2008 @ 5:30 pmDave: That makes sense. I have since found it in the GIRM N. 281-287. I have never seen it before, though.
Comment by Will — 22 March 2008 @ 5:36 pmDave: Re: Gravity. Don’t think of Augustine’s amor meus, but of the weight of sin.
I understand what the Holy Father said, Dave.
However, Augustine spoke of love in terms of weight. In ancient thought weight was inner inclination of the thing that drew it to its best place, its resting place, which is why the human heart is restless until it rests in God. It surprises me, as I said, that he didn’t stick to the Augustinian image.
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 22 March 2008 @ 5:44 pmAbout intinction: Yes, it is licit in the Roman Rite, but people cannot intinct the Host by themselves. The priest or deacon must intinct and then place it on the tongue of the Communicant. Communion by intinction can never be given in the hand.
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 22 March 2008 @ 5:46 pmFr. M
Comment by Fr. Wade — 22 March 2008 @ 5:50 pmKeep up the good work. Yes there can be a lot of resistance but thank you Lord of our good German Shepherd. We have started ad orientem worship here as well after a number of weeks of teaching on the subject. One of my parishoners told me that it was so wonderful to go Mass like this, “I never thought of you once Father”. As our Holy Father has said so many times that the priest is not that important, it is Jesus who is important. I believe that firm teaching following the lead of our Holy Father will eventually yield results. My experience of the EF has enriched my offering of the OF. I love the EF it has been such a blessing for my priesthood. It is true that the attendence is not that great but that also will improve especially with more beautiful Chant. My goal is to make it difficult for people to distinguish between the EF and the OF. I think that we we will come back to one expression of the Latin rite but it may take a while.
Father, this may not be the place to ask but as a newcomer please forgive my ignorance. Now that we are getting back to basics of faith I just purchased a new St. Andrews missal for Mass, but someone told me it is different than the 1962 missal. Can I use this for the Traditional Mass? What changes will I have to make if any? I just want to do what is right. If I should ask this somewhere else please feel free to correct me. Thank you and God bless
Comment by Doug — 22 March 2008 @ 6:08 pmRegarding intinction, does anyone know anything about the sacred vessel that is both a chalice and ciborium in one? My grandmother has told me about it… There would be a cup at the top with the Precious Blood and a little “dish” attached to the bottom filled with Hosts. The priest would then take the host and dip, rather than have someone else nearby holding a chalice (like the Papal Easter Vigil Mass). Does anyone know what this vessel is called? Pictures?
Comment by Geoffrey — 22 March 2008 @ 6:13 pmWe experience that in our inmost depths we are anchored in the same identity, on the basis of which all our outward differences, however great they may be, become secondary. Believers are never totally cut off from one another. We are in communion because of our deepest identity: Christ within us. Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close.
Um . . . does anyone else hear overtones the current situation in China and Tibet (and Sudan and Kenya and…and…) in these words?
Comment by Fr Arsenius — 22 March 2008 @ 6:34 pmThis is all nice and great to see, I’m overjoyed. However, reality sets in and makes me wonder what will really happen here in the US where we have so few solid bishops. I live in a smaller diocese where I don’t even know of a solid priest in the entire diocese, our only Latin Mass was the most disrespectful Mass I’ve ever seen.
What can we do, and how do we deal with the frustration over our bishops who refuse to listen to our Holy Father?
Comment by Jeff — 22 March 2008 @ 6:47 pmGeoffrey: Intinction sets are readily available. Here is a picture of one a parish I attend has:
http://www.artegranda.com/images/catalogo/111.105p.jpg
It is used only on very special occasions, such as an ad orientem Latin Novus Ordo Mass last Christmas.So far as I know, intinction is not allowed in the TLM, but is mentioned a number times in the GIRM for the Novus Ordo.
Comment by Henry Edwards — 22 March 2008 @ 6:51 pmDoug: Father, this may not be the place to ask but as a newcomer please forgive my ignorance. Now that we are getting back to basics of faith I just purchased a new St. Andrews missal for Mass, but someone told me it is different than the 1962 missal. Can I use this for the Traditional Mass?
Many believe the pre-1962 St. Andrew Daily Missal to be the finest Latin-English hand missal ever published. I use it frequently, as well as the two newly published 1962 missals. Aside from the 1955 simplfications in the liturgy for the Sacred Triduum, the 1962 changes were truly miniscule from a layman’s viewpoint. If you are a newcomer to the TLM, you might use the St. Andrew Daily Missal for a year without noticing any difference with what’s going on at Mass. The ordinary and proper texts and readings will all be the same. The only difference in ceremony you might notice is that in many places the Confiteor is not repeated by the ministers and people just before Holy Communion. It was deleted from the 1962 missal, but is still seen in some places, in which case the St. Andrew missal will agree even in this instance. In short, “Be not afraid” of this fine missal.
Comment by Henry Edwards — 22 March 2008 @ 7:09 pmHenry Edwards: Thanks for the photo! I didn’t think it would be used at TLMs, which makes me wonder where my grandmother has seen them!
Comment by Geoffrey — 22 March 2008 @ 7:10 pmMr. Edwards,
It is not true that proper texts and readings are all the same. Besides the upgrading, downgrading, removal and reestablishing of new/old feasts, you also have a few new common Masses, a change in some proper Mass texts for certain feasts, and a shortening of the readings for the Passion (first in 1955, and again in 1960)
If you only go on Sunday and Holy Days, though, you would only notice a difference on Palm Sunday, with a Passion missing 41 verses. But if you go every day, like myself, it will be far more frustrating.
Comment by Joshus — 22 March 2008 @ 7:53 pmExactly Fr Z. I always find myself agreeing with you.
Comment by Chris — 22 March 2008 @ 8:31 pmI wish you would found a religious society of congregation of priests. I would join.
May you have a blessed Easter
Christopher
Speaking of missals, I noted with some amusement that the 1990 Le Barroux monks’ reprint of a French-Latin hand missal, with imprimatur of Cardinal Mayer, then president of Ecclesia Dei, and preface by Cardinal Ratzinger, mentions the “Second Confiteor” in a footnote in the ordinary, where it mentions it is used in “certain places” by custom. A beautiful missal, incidentally, once sold by the FSSP (maybe now out of print?), and to the best of my knowledge the only “Ecclesia Dei”-approved missal ever published.
Comment by Dr. Lee Fratantuono — 22 March 2008 @ 8:36 pmthis would be hilarious if it weren’t so awful.
Comment by paddy the papist — 22 March 2008 @ 9:51 pmI wish more than a few priests and laymen in Dallas would heed the Pope’s “hints.”
I visited a nearby tonight to assist at Vigil Mass. My parish offered a bilingual Mass…I passed.
The parish that I visited incorporated Spanish into the Mass.
The music was awful. The parish is ugly to the core.
An usher literally grabbed my hand to force me to hold hands during the Our Father.
EMs all over the place.
Please pray for me. I struggle just to make my Sunday Obligation each week in Dallas.
The liturgy here is difficult to face.
I pray that the Holy Father’s “hints” will be heard in Dallas.
Everybody…please pray that at least one or two parishes in Dallas come forward to offer the Traditional Latin Mass.
Please pray for me.
Please Holy Father, lead the Church from the liturgical insanity that has engulfed us.
Comment by Tom — 22 March 2008 @ 9:53 pmI just returned from another awful Dallas liturgical experience.
Therefore, my depressed state probably reflects in the following question:
I appreciate the Holy Father’s words…but didn’t Popes Paul VI and John Paul II offer words regarding Catholic liturgy?
My world is Dallas, Texas.
I read the Holy Father’s statements…I read Fr. Z’s commentary regarding the Pope’s “Marshall Plan.”
But frankly, I feel like I belong to a different religion when I assist at Mass here and there in Dallas.
The Easter Vigil Mass at which I just assisted was dreadful.
Seriously, I wonder whether the Catholic religion I knew as a boy even exists in Dallas.
Everything during tonight’s Mass…from the shocking manner in which a great many people dressed, to the banal liturgical action that I encountered…makes we almost believe that I belong to a different religion than the Catholic religion into which I was baptized.
Why should I expect the Dallas Diocese to follow the Pope’s “hints” regarding liturgy?
I won’t name the parish at which I assisted tonight…but it’s a standard Dallas parish.
Sorry, I’m depressed at this moment…but Fr. Z…anybody…please tell me why I should believe that the Dallas Diocese would embrace Pope Benedict XVI’s “Marshall Plan.”
Please pray for me.
Thank you.
Comment by Tom — 22 March 2008 @ 10:09 pmI was deeply touched by the Holy Father’s homily. However, I think it’s wrong to go first to the liturgical aspects of what he is saying. Is the not a first message here a proclamation of hope to the essential loneliness of man? Depression and loneliness are epidemic in modern society, and this is all due to the loss of the sacred and the need for Christ.
Comment by Melody — 22 March 2008 @ 10:56 pmDownplaying this weakens the argument for liturgy when the Holy Father seems to be working to create informed hearts—fostering the inner spirituality which demands the old form and the return of the sacred action of “turning towards the Lord”.
Tom: Speaking of depression… I’ve been there…
Check this out: http://web2.airmail.net/carlsch/MaterDei/
It’s a Latin mass community in Dallas. According to the website they are in full communion with Rome and operate under an indult granted by the Bishop of Dallas. It is also home to a community of Carmelite nuns.
Comment by Melody — 22 March 2008 @ 11:06 pmSorry for the double post Father Z, but just after I clicked “submit” I found an article saying there is also a Latin mass at St. William parish in Greenville (am I right in thinking that is a suburb?)
Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-dreher_27edi.ART.State.Edition1.4350cb4.html
Comment by Melody — 22 March 2008 @ 11:16 pmI hear you, Tom.
The mass I went to was not much better.
Haas, Haugen, and Hurd, etc. Plenty of tambourines.
The church was in the middle of a construction project and I don’t remember seeing a crucifix.
They cut two readings (but made the ones they read extra long—responses in the middle of the readings, turning one reading into more of a dramatic recitation (complete with piano accompaniment). Incidentally, the four readers were all women (the Deacon read the Gospel).
No Rite of Sprinkling, rather the worshipers walked to the front of the church and placed their finger in the baptismal font and blessed themselves with the sign of the cross.
Despite all the choir’s preparation, the church forgot to assign sufficiently for the collection and presentation of the gifts, and the priest had to ask for assistance.
Oddly, only one EMHC, as there was no Blood of Christ.
Terrible, and exceedingly long, Litany of the Saints.
Astonishingly, there were no baptisms or confirmations.
Apparently this is the customary service for the Easter Vigil at this parish. They have a new, fairly conservative pastor, and he has not yet made many significant changes to the liturgy, but I pray they come soon.
For the Holy Father’s “Marshall Plan” to work, it is going to take brave, young priests willing to go against many of their parishioners’ wishes in order to follow the our Holy Father, the GIRM, etc.
Pray for our priests!
Comment by Mark W — 22 March 2008 @ 11:19 pmFr Zuhlsdorf: I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough on St Augustine’s image of love, but it seems to be that the context provides the reason why the Holy Father went with the image of releasing our hearts from the force of gravity rather than with the Augustinian image of love giving weight to our hearts. The Pope used the imagery of our hearts being free to rise because he is elaborating on the “Sursum corda” which carries it’s own imagery. It seems to me that different sets of imagery – even sometimes apparently contradictory – can sometimes work very well to explain different aspects of a phenomenon, in this case love. Thus, the image of a gravitational pull can express how love attracts us to our true resting place, but the image of freedom from gravity can express how love gives us the wings necessary to soar to union with God. Similarly, the same images can be used in radically different ways: for example, the salt in the waters of the sea is often interpreted as a sign of alienation and death, whereas the “salt of the earth” or salt used to bless water has an altogether different significance. Do you think this make sense?
Comment by Kim D'Souza — 23 March 2008 @ 12:03 amFr. Z—excellent insight. Thank you for this post.
This is what stuck me most:
“anchored in the same identity…”
Does it seem that there are too many “types” of Catholics? If more were actually anchored in the same (Catholic) identity, we would have a much greater affect on the world, the policies of nations, much greater evangelization.
Have a blessed Easter!
Comment by mj anderson — 23 March 2008 @ 12:09 amThis is all wonderful and true, and I hope for the sake of the Church that the Holy Father’s plan comes to fruition. Unfortunately, ars longa, vita brevis. We should pray as often as possible for those suffering in the pews who either don’t know any better or don’t have access to reverent liturgy.
Comment by jacobus — 23 March 2008 @ 12:21 amIs the paschal candle used by Holy Father 100% beeswax? What minimal amount of beeswax is licit to sing about it as about the masterpiece of bees work?
Comment by pjo — 23 March 2008 @ 1:31 amCompare the Paschal Vigil at ther Vatican with the assembly at the national Shrine. Where do folks get their liturgical training? Why can’t Lumen Christi. Deo Gratias! And the silence ensue, rather than the choir having to perform?
Comment by Hieromonk Gregory — 23 March 2008 @ 2:54 amI don’t want to derail the discussion on a very good article, but I’m also curious about the mitre the Holy Father wore. For all the world it looked to me like the Risen Christ patting a big St Bernard on the head! I kept wondering, artistic license? A gift from the Dominicans?
Happy Easter to all…waiting for the Papal Mass and Urbi et Orbi in 1/2 hour.
Comment by giovanni — 23 March 2008 @ 3:05 amTom and like minded individuals~
The solution is not to say “how long oh Lord”, but it is to rather to put oneself into a position where one can affect change. The fulcrum is the “Marshal Plan” but the lever is people standing up and taking back control of the Church. The only way for the liturgy and Catholic identity to be restored is for men to stand up and go to seminary and become priests or permanent deacons. For people of good faith to get themselves on the committees at these liberal parishes, to become educators of the children, and every other possible thing that each individual could do.
We may bemoan the fact that we have shepherds that are interested in other things besides the sacraments and preaching Christ crucified, and that the liturgy is often a mess, but if we become involved in the fundamental levels of the parish structure those that come after us will not have to experience what we have. Even if we consider ourselves to be not the best, our paltriness is more than what is, and besides look what God did with weak people like Moses and Peter.
It is not easy and it wont be quick, but real structural change at the parish level will only come when men and women of orthodox faith, even with great lack of abilities, lay themselves down and become levers by which to move the parish.
Often we will drive hundreds of miles to a proper Sunday Mass, but we pay little attention to the walls of the parish that is falling down across the street. Pope Benedict’s Marshal Plan will never get implemented in that parish until people who are willing to implement it are in fundamental positions in that parish.
You want a better parish? What have you done to make it better? No one is teaching the kids the faith? When was the last time you taught them? Bunch of liberal priests and deacons? When are you (men) applying to seminary?
Pope Benedict can have a great vision and issue all sorts of documents, but it is all useless unless there are people on the ground who are willing to lay down the bricks and mortar.
Depression is the result of a loss of hope which plunges us into darkness. Hope is not regained by waiting for somebody to turn the lights back on, it is regained by getting up and changing the light bulb. We hope in Christ not by standing still and waiting, but by moving towards Him. So too then for his Mystical Body, we must not simply just stand still but we must move the Body towards Christ by our own actions.
When we see all these great things being said by Pope Benedict, but we only consider how our own parishes fall short, we will quickly loose all hope.
BUT, when we see all these great things being said by Pope Benedict and we first say what must I do personally to implement this in my parish, then we gain hope for it is then when we work in concert with the Pope, and not simply stand still and considering what is lacking, that we truly move towards Christ.
Comment by Lurker #59 — 23 March 2008 @ 3:47 amThe whole communion by instinction scene made me recall my experience assisting at the recent Palm Sunday Mass in a Tokyo suburb. The Mass was in Japanese, and while the congregation was well dressed and there was none of that irritating hand-holding during the Pater Noster and hand gestures in response to “the Lord be with you,” to my absolute shock and horror the communicants, after receiving the Sacred Host in the hand, proceeded to where the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion was standing holding a chalice, and dipped the Sacred Host into the chalice and self-communicated, every single one of them, including the religious sisters in habit. This, plus the fact that the congregation stood for the entore eucharistic prayer despite the presence of kneelers made me so sick I decided to abstain from receving Holy Communion. At the end of the Mass, while the congregation was still singing the closing song, I stood up and left. On the way out, I bumped into a woman, apparently one who works or volunteers at that parish, who saw the pained look on my face. When I asked her about the self-communicating and standing throughout the consecration thing, she said she sympathized with my disappointment, but she explained that the Church authorities in Tokyo decided to forego kneeling because they wanted to avoid the “commotion” that accompanied standing-kneeling-standing. She had no explanation for the self-communication. This is a shocking reminder to all faithful Catholics at the rot that has infiltrated the Church. The Holy Father’s attempt at reform will have no effect whatsoever on disobedient bishops unless strong action is taken to bring them into line.
Comment by Richard — 23 March 2008 @ 4:56 amThis is for Lurker #59
Thank you for your comments. It was as if God spoke to me through you.
Richard DeSpirito
Comment by Richard DeSpirito — 23 March 2008 @ 5:23 amDid H.H. celebrate ad orientem? That would make more impact and if H.H. thinks it is the right way how can H.H. justify not doing so? Also in my opinion the clergy in my neck of the woods (Hexham and Newcastle, England) have no intention of going back to ad orientem, there is a good chance they would ignore it, or at least do their best to find some loophole to avoid it even if they were commanded directly so merely hinting at it in a sermon is going to have zero effect. By the way since the Motu Proprio nothing has changed in my diocese, I wouldn’t even know about it if not for the internet.
Comment by Volpius — 23 March 2008 @ 5:23 amTo Lurker, I don’t have the authority to command my Parish Priest to celebrate the liturgy in the Latin Rite of 1962, I am not called to be a Priest, many times I have considered it, seeing it as the only way I would be able to get to a Mass I could happily worship on a regular basis, but if it is not my vocation as I believe it is not then I would do more harm than good.
The Church is hierarchical, if the Bishops do not want it there is nothing you or I can do, we do not have the authority to overrule them, nor to seize control of the Church from them whom God has appointed.
Change at the Parish level cannot happen when it is opposed at the Diocesan level.
The reason I ignore the parish across the street is because I am not part of it, I am a Latin rite Catholic not a English rite Catholic, (no doubt some of you will say there is no English rite rather it is the Latin rite in English, while this may make sense theologically it denies common sense, and denies what I witness with my eyes and ears). And even then it does not adhere to the guidelines for saying the English rite issued by Rome. The fundamental position in a small parish such as the one I happen to live in is the Priest, we don’t have committees or councils to my knowledge. If the Priest doesn’t want it and the Bishop doesn’t want it doesn’t happen period.
We have a Catholic school to teach the kids the faith, and then it is up to the parents of the child, I am not a teacher at the school, to be one I would have to go through six years of study and be certified by the government to teach. If those appointed to teach the kids the faith, the parents and teachers and the clergy, are neglecting to teach it properly again I can do nothing the schools are controlled jointly by the government, the Priest and the Bishop. I cannot kidnap people’s children and ram the faith down their throat.
The office of Priest is not for everyone, simply saying all you men need to become priests and solve this mess isn’t realistic, I know several traditional young men who have explored the possibility most of them could not bear to be in the seminary for more than a year, you see the seminary is ran by, you guessed it, the Bishop and his staff.
Just recently Polish, Nigerian and Indian Priests who are working in the UK because we have a shortage of priests were forced by the Bishop to attend re-education classes at the seminary because in the words of Rev. Terry Drainey the president of the college “Some foreign priests working in Britain tend to be too dogmatic about the church’s moral rightness on just about everything. That’s not how we do things here. This course shows how we deal with a whole range of issues affecting Catholics, including the role of women, divorce, the lay ministry and homosexuality.” With comments like this I am left wondering if the English Church is part of the Universal Catholic Church at all.
But that is the point, H.H. is not issuing all sorts of documents, if H.H did and the Bishops refused to obey then I could refuse to obey them, but H.H isn’t instead all we are getting is hints, hints are not binding on the Bishops and they will simply ignore them.
I have hope though it has recently been sapped by been forced to observe Easter in the English rite rather than the Latin Rite of my forefathers, but I am also realistic, in my Parish and my diocese there is nothing I am able to do other than pray.
Comment by Volpius — 23 March 2008 @ 6:47 am“Communion by intinction can never be given in the hand.”
Hmm…all of this recent talk about the damage done by practice of Communion-in-the-hand and the desirability of doing away with it…then the Holy Father shows everyone how to do it!
Bravo, Papa! And a Happy Resurrection to all!
Comment by Maynardus — 23 March 2008 @ 6:48 amJoshus: For Doug’s benefit—despite the potential thread drift—I feel obliged to reiterate my advice to keep and use his fine St. Andrew daily missal. If and when he wants a newer missal, that’ll be fine (of course), but in the meantime the one he as will serve him well, and he ought never discard it entirely.
Almost every day of the year, I compare the propers and readings in a 1962 missal (either my Angelus or my Baronius) with those in both my St. Andrew missal and my Father Lasance missal of similar vintage. This gives me three complementary English translations of the same Latin Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion, and the three often provide enlightening and complementary nuances of meaning in these rich but dense old prayers, most of which date back unchanged well over millenium. For me, this is invariably fulfilling, never frustrating.
Comment by Henry Edwards — 23 March 2008 @ 7:05 amTo Tom and others,
I also must endure what is our local liturgies. There is no TLM at all in my
diocese. We are busy ‘empowering the laity’ which is to say, the aging women.
There are always lots of women all over the place and on both Holy Thursday
and Good Friday a woman in jeans shoved the Sacred Host in my mouth perhaps
to let me know that in the hand is preferred.
HOWEVER—THERE IS AN EXCELLENT TLM IN DALLAS! I DO HAVE A FRIEND WHO ASSISTS
THERE AND FINDS IT A SLICE OF HEAVEN. THIS FRIEND ENDURED FOR YEARS AND YEARS
and would drive great distances to find a properly celebrated Mass. Twice the
priests in her parish left because of sodomy. This friend claims there are
many of such persuations but then that would be hearsay, wouldn’t it. But
it does explain the awful liturgies that can be found and the total lack
of Church teaching.
My pastor last night rambled on and on and on and on about immigrations and
young soldiers and so on before my ears went numb. I do not think he mentioned
Our Lord, but then he generally speaks of himself. Father said at the end:
“I CAN TELL IF IT IS A GOOD LITURGY IF I HAVE HAD FUN AND I HAD FUN TONIGHT”.
Yep, all about father having fun. He nearly blew the consecration as he
was wrapped up in his singing; luckily he caught himself and redid it.
One day, I will be somewhere with properly celebrated and totally licit
Comment by magdalen — 23 March 2008 @ 8:15 amMasses.
Dallas has surely had more than its share of crosses to bear in the last several years, but the Fraternity of St. Peter has had an apostolate there for well-nigh two decades and they are also in Fort Worth these days.
Comment by Abe — 23 March 2008 @ 9:45 amI think great things are happening in the Church today.
Pope Benedict is going to find that, among the young adults, there will be a huge uprising of support for his Marshall Plan. This group is primarily composed of those who responded to the late JPII’s call to a “New Evangelization” and apologetics. They are primed with the doctrinal traditions of the Church, and they will be open to the liturgical traditions of the Church. Both are a part of the sensus catholicus that has permeated the Church throughout the ages.
I also believe that in America, the “melting pot,” people are losing their ethnic and cultural heritage. As a result, the Church has a golden opportunity to offer a REAL heritage that goes back 2,000 years. The best way to reconnect with that Catholic Identity is through the liturgy – and not simply saying, “St. Francis went to Mass, and so can you.” No, people need to pray the same prayers and go through the same rituals that St. Francis went through if they really want to step into the same liturgical universe St. Francis was in. Then they will feel like they have “come home” and “discovered who they are” in a traditional Catholic way.
Only after this connection is re-forged will any “reform of the reform” make any sense.
In the meantime, I am excited to follow the HF’s lead and “Save the Liturgy, Save the World”. Our schola in College Station, TX is doing just that. God is preparing the Church for a BIG return to sacred worship.
Viva il Papa!
Comment by RichR — 23 March 2008 @ 10:04 amThank you to the priests that have begun re-introducing ad orientem worship. I attended an Ordinary Form mass in the San Diego area recently, and was pleasantly shocked to see the priest conduct the Liturgy of the Eucharist ad orietem and in Latin! I feel that this, along with the traditional music played, great increased the atmosphere of reverence. I’m in my 30s, and grew up with the OF, and found this particular mass to be incredibly moving.
Comment by Cal-Brian — 23 March 2008 @ 10:42 amThank you to all…
Volpius,
It is my understanding that there is a long-standing tradition at the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle in which the celebrant stands at the altar in a manner we would consider “versus populum”, but he is actually facing cardinal east.
You’ll notice that there were candles (7!) and a crucifix on the altar between His Holiness and the congregation.
In many churches still celebrating “versus populum” there has arisen what’s becoming known as the “Benedictine” arrangement of the altar, that is, the priest still stands on the side of the altar “facing the people” (sorry, Fr. Z), but with the introduction of six large candles and a crucifix arranged in such a way that the candles and crucifix stand on the side of the altar closest to the congregation. The focus becomes the crucifix (and the action on the altar) rather than the priest. This is where St. Mary, Greenville SC started, and now Fr. Newman has catechised the faithful in the tradition of the ad orientem position, and they’ll make that change in the next several weeks.
Brick by brick!
Comment by David Andrew — 23 March 2008 @ 10:55 amI am also an inmate of the Diocese of Dallas, but wish we could find a better place to discuss this without hijacking “The Holy Father’s Vigil Ser