Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Pope Benedict XVI - Ideas on Liturgy when Cardinal Ratzinger

This is a review Cardinal Ratzinger wrote Versus Deum per Iesum Christum.

Versus Deum per Iesum Christum

“The latest direction of liturgical action, never expressed to such an extent in the outer forms, is the same for the priest and for the people: towards the Lord”. The introduction of the dean of the Sacred College to the book of Uwe Michael Lang

by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Now Pope Benedict XVI)

To the ordinary churchgoer, the two most obvious effects of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council seem to be the disappearance of Latin and the turning of the altars towards the people. Those who read the relevant texts will be astonished to learn that neither is in fact found in the decrees of the Council. The use of the vernacular is certainly permitted, especially for the Liturgy of the Word; but the preceding general rule of the Council text says, ‘Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites’ (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.1). There is nothing in the Council text about turning altars towards the people; that point is raised only in post-conciliar instructions. The most important directive is found in paragraph 262 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, the General Instruction of the new Roman Missal, issued in 1969. That says, ‘It is better for the main altar to be constructed away from the wall so that one can easily walk around the altar and celebrate facing the people (versus populum).’ The General Instruction of the Missal issued in 2002 retained this text unaltered except for the addition of the subordinate clause, ‘which is desirable wherever possible’. This was taken in many quarters as hardening the 1969 text to mean that there was now a general obligation to set up altars facing the people ‘wherever possible’. This interpretation, however, was rejected by the Congregation for Divine Worship on 25 September 2000, when it declared that the word ‘expedit’ (‘is desirable’) did not imply an obligation but only made a suggestion. The physical orientation, the Congregation says, must be distinguished from the spiritual. Even if a priest celebrates versus populum, he should always be oriented versus Deum per Iesum Christum (towards God through Jesus Christ). Rites, signs, symbols and words can never exhaust the inner reality of the mystery of salvation. For this reason the Congregation warns against one-sided and rigid positions in this debate.

This is an important clarification. It sheds light on what is relative in the external symbolic forms of the liturgy and resists the fanaticisms that, unfortunately, have not been uncommon in the controversies of the last forty years. At the same time it highlights the internal direction of liturgical action, which can never be expressed in its totality by external forms. This internal direction is the same for priest and people, towards the Lord – towards the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit. The Congregation’s response should thus make for a new, more relaxed discussion, in which we can search for the best ways of putting into practice the mystery of salvation. The quest is to be achieved not by condemning one another, but by carefully listening to each other and, even more importantly, listening to the internal guidance of the liturgy itself. The labelling of positions as ‘preconciliar’, ‘reactionary’ and ‘conservative’ or as ‘progressive’ and ‘alien to the faith’ achieves nothing; what is needed is a new mutual openness in the search for the best realisation of the memorial of Christ.

This small book by Uwe Michael Lang, a member of the London Oratory, studies the direction of liturgical prayer from a historical, theological and pastoral point of view. At a propitious moment, as it seems to me, this book resumes a debate that, despite appearances to the contrary, has never really gone away, not even after the Second Vatican Council. The Innsbruck liturgist Josef Andreas Jungmann, one of the architects of the Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was from the very beginning resolutely opposed to the polemical catchphrase that previously the priest celebrated ‘with his back to the people’; he emphasised that what was at issue was not the priest turning away from the people, but, on the contrary, his facing the same direction as the people. The Liturgy of the Word has the character of proclamation and dialogue, to which address and response can rightly belong. But in the Liturgy of the Eucharist the priest leads the people in prayer and is turned, together with the people, towards the Lord. For this reason, Jungmann argued, the common direction of priest and people is intrinsically fitting and proper to the liturgical action. Louis Bouyer (like Jungmann, one of the Council’s leading liturgists) and Klaus Gamber have each in his own way taken up the same question. Despite their great reputation, they were unable to make their voices heard at first, so strong was the tendency to stress the communality of the liturgical celebration and to regard therefore the face-to-face position of priest and people as absolutely necessary.

More recently the atmosphere has become more relaxed so that it is possible to raise the kind of questions asked by Jungmann, Bouyer and Gamber without at once being suspected of anti-conciliar sentiments. Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come. In this situation, Uwe Michael Lang’s delightfully objective and wholly unpolemical book is a valuable guide. Without claiming to offer major new insights, he carefully presents the results of recent research and provides the material necessary for making an informed judgment. The book is especially valuable in showing the contribution made by the Church of England to this question and in giving, also, due consideration to the part played by the Oxford Movement in the nineteenth century (in which the conversion of John Henry Newman matured). It is from such historical evidence that the author elicits the theological answers that he proposes, and I hope that the book, the work of a young scholar, will help the struggle – necessary in every generation – for the right understanding and worthy celebration of the sacred liturgy. I wish the book a wide and attentive readership.

The text of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger printed in these pages, unpublished in Italy, is the preface which the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote for Uwe Michael Lang’s book Conversi ad Dominum. Zu Gechichte und Theologie der christlichen Gebetsrichtung, published last year in Switzerland by Johannes Verlag in Einsiedeln. The English version of the book (Turning towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer) is coming out with the Ignatius Press publishing house of San Francisco (USA), which holds the copyright of the book.

Uwe Michael Lang is a member of the Oratory of Saint Filippo Neri in London, studied theology in Vienna and Oxford, and has published numerous texts on patristic subjects.

10 comments:

Roberto Iza Valdés said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

More Questions: Is it illegal to jailbreak an iphone? What are the pros and cons?



________________
[url=http://unlockiphone22.com]unlock iphone[/url]

Anonymous said...

I currently own a Samsung Synch on the AT&T Wireless network. While I would love either an iPhone or the new Blackberry Bold, the costs of the phones and the necessary data plans are beyond my means. I currently need something with internet access and email capabilities. I need to stay on the AT&T network. Any suggestions?



________________
[url=http://unlockiphone22.com]unlock iphone[/url]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://vioperdosas.net/][img]http://vioperdosas.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]what software to buy to, [url=http://sapresodas.net/]order making software[/url]
[url=http://sapresodas.net/]software after purchase[/url] game software store adobe creative suite 4 production premium serial
software price uk [url=http://sapresodas.net/]how to play dos games under windows xp[/url] office 2003 updates
[url=http://sapresodas.net/]used educational software[/url] list of software resellers
[url=http://vioperdosas.net/]nero 9 freeware download[/url] microsoft system software
software with academic discount [url=http://sapresodas.net/]QuarkXPress 8 Mac Retail[/url][/b]

Anonymous said...

I am able to make link exchange with HIGH pr pages on related keywords like [url=http://www.usainstantpayday.com]bad credit loans[/url] and other financial keywords.
My web page is www.usainstantpayday.com

If your page is important contact me.
please only good pages, wih PR>2 and related to financial keywords
Thanks
duewFrexJex

Anonymous said...

INSERT

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.broncosnflprostore.com/]Broncos Von Miller Jersey[/url]

6 This special report identifies seven common reasons why training doesn't meet it's goals - even when it is the right tool - and more importantly - gives you some action steps to avoid these pitfalls Below I've included 5 tools that can help you But, when one considers the 'me-too think' that is evident in schooling it is no wonder

[url=http://www.heathmillerjersey.net/]Steelers Heath Miller Jersey[/url]

Inhibit the growth of some yeast Ive decided to give important advice to the candidates Enlightenment will not come when your mind is busy with old thoughts Of course, a bicycling jersey can also include vent panels which could moreover cool down the sweating biker

[url=http://www.johnelwayjersey.net/]John Elway Nike Jersey[/url]

Anonymous said...

Peoples fears to do a partnership business coz bad history[url=http://nikebengalsnflstore.com/]A.J. Green Bengals Jersey[/url]
It is also true that two minds can work much better than one (but only when both intellect matches as a blue print) Authentic sport jerseys can be found in many sports stores and online (Just ask any "road warrior"!)However[url=http://www.juliojonesjerseys.us/]Nike Julio Jones Jersey[/url]
there IS an alternative:An Internet Cafe
Third[url=http://indianapoliscoltsofficialstore.com/]Blue Andrew Luck Jersey[/url]
sit down and make a list of all the people you do not have a great relationship with So how do you repay that unconditional love and devotion? There are hundreds of different ways!1 ;Boner; may be cute among your fellow fraternity members[url=http://ravensofficialnflshop.com/]Terrell Suggs Purple Jersey[/url]
but it won't go over well at the veterinarian

Anonymous said...

http://www.cafb29b24.org/docs/buyativan/#anxiety ativan withdrawal pain - ativan 6mg

Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.