Adoremus Bulletin - May 2022

Adoremus Bulletin For the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy

MAY 2022

Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire Offers SubscriptionBased Liturgy of the Hours

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Word on Fire, the multimedia evangelization effort started by Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, wants to make the Liturgy of the Hours a Catholic household name. In mid-March of this year, Word on Fire began offering a monthly subscription-based version of the Liturgy of the Hours.

In much the way that Magnificat provides monthly access to the Mass through its publications, Word of Fire is offering Catholics an opportunity to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, month by month, with the rest of the Church.

Readers who subscribe—Word on Fire is offering the service at $7 per month at this time, billing it as a “Special Founder’s Discount”—will receive the first booklet before the new month begins and receive each additional booklet in time to begin the next month’s prayers.

According to the Word on Fire website, the new service seeks to ensure a user-friendly experience for those who subscribe, noting that subscribers will receive booklets that present the prayers in a linear format (“Just read and pray. No complicated ribbon system.”), include clear instructions on which day of the liturgical calendar is which (“We take all the guesswork out of the liturgical calendar, so you’re praying the correct prayers on the right feast days and celebrations.”), and employ the tried-and-true technology of book and page (“Avoid the distractions that come with praying on screens by having a tangible, single-function, print booklet devoted solely to prayer.”).

Each prayer in the booklet, the Please see BARRON on next page

Benedict XVI and the Reforms of the Second Vatican Council: Re-Catholicizing the Liturgy—Part II The Restorative Vision of A Liturgical Pope

By Kevin D. Magas

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n part I of this article (March 2022), we explored Pope Benedict’s analysis of the state of the liturgy leading up to the Second Vatican Council, his views of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reform, and his critique of certain trends and developments in the postconciliar era. In this article, we will study Ratzinger’s solutions to these challenges, known as the “reform of the reform,” and conclude by surveying the liturgical renewal he ushered in during his papacy.

Ratzinger’s “Reform of the Reform” Ratzinger’s solution to the post-conciliar liturgical crisis is often called a “reform of the reform,” a term whose origin is difficult to trace but has been used by Ratzinger himself to describe his project. At the heart of Ratzinger’s solution to these issues is a proper hermeneutic or lens of interpretation for the Second Vatican Council since the interpretation of Vatican II determines to a great extent the practice of the liturgy. If the Council is imagined as a break in the Church’s history, then the reformed liturgy is seen as a break with the preconciliar liturgy. However, if the Council is seen in substantial continuity with tradition, then the reformed rites which it promulgated will be seen in continuity with the older form of the liturgy. Ratzinger believes, therefore, that traditionalists and progressives make the same error: both view the Council as a break in tradition. Ratzinger highlighted both as a cardinal and as pope that the Council did not represent a rupture, but expressed continuity with the Church’s history: “There is no ‘pre-’ or ‘post-’ Conciliar Church,” he writes “There is but one, unique Church that walks the path toward the Lord….”1 The incorrect way of interpreting the Council, a hermeneutic of rupture, looks at the Council as ground zero for a new beginning, a revolutionary mentality leading to a view of the liturgy as a new product, a fabricated liturgy that can continually be adapted. A hermeneutic of reform in continuity recognizes the given-not-made quality of the liturgy as part of tradition and our inability to manipulate it according to our arbitrary desires or subjective needs.

Note that this is not just a hermeneutic

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Adoremus Bulletin MAY 2022

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News & Views

XXVII, No.6

For Pope Benedict, the postconciliar reform project is not centered on revising the liturgical books themselves or modifying more superficial changes such as certain prayers, ceremonies, gestures, or customs. Instead, his reform centers on changing our approach to the liturgical books, changing our minds and hearts towards them and the atmosphere and mentality surrounding their celebration. For this reason, Ratzinger calls for a new liturgical movement, a “movement toward the liturgy and toward the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly.”

“ Traditionalists and progressives make the same error: both view the Council as a break in tradition.” of continuity but “reform” in the spirit of continuity. There can be reform, development, and new clarifications, but these must be in harmony with previous Councils, the magisterium of the Church, and the deposit of faith—it must represent, in other words, an organic development. Nor is it merely going back to before the Council, as if we’re now going to try to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Ratzinger writes: “If by ‘restoration’ is meant a turning back, no restoration of such kind is possible. The church moves forward toward the consummation of history, she looks ahead to the Lord who is coming. No, there is no going back, nor is it possible to go back. Hence there is no ‘restoration’ whatsoever in this sense. But if by restoration we understand the search for a new balance after all the exaggeration of an indiscriminate opening to the world, after the overly positive interpretations of an agnostic and atheistic world, well, then a restoration in this Ratzinger Part II—This Time It’s Personal In our March issue, Kevin Magas showed us Joseph Ratzinger’s contributions to liturgical scholarship; this time around, he presents Ratzinger’s vision for the liturgy’s future....................................................1 Children Pray the Darndest Things…

Give children a chalice, water, and time to think and—voila!—before you know it, they’re connecting liturgy with scripture.

So says AB Australian contributor Gerard O’Shea....................................................6 What Color’s the Liturgy in Your World?

Emily Valentine Sottile argues for color’s primary role as the wheel that makes the

sense (a newly found balance of orientations and values within the catholic totality) is altogether desirable.”2 With this guiding hermeneutic of reform-in-continuity in the background, Ratzinger’s project of reforming the reform has both internal and external dimensions; that is, he imagines it both as a renewal of an internal dimension consisting of reeducation and renewed catechesis on the nature and spirit of the liturgy, as well as certain external, visible changes in the way the liturgy is celebrated.3 However, contrary to some who misinterpret Ratzinger’s priorities, I would like to reaffirm at the outset that for Ratzinger this project is not centered on revising the liturgical books themselves or modifying more superficial changes such as certain prayers, ceremonies, gestures, or customs. Instead, Ratzinger’s reform centers on changing our approach to the liturgical books, changing our minds and hearts towards them and the atmosphere and mentality surrounding their celebration—words that we might associate with the notion of liturgical “renewal” rather than the more external dimensions we might associate with the word “reform.” This renewal does not consist in abandoning Please see BENEDICT on page 4 liturgy go ‘round in all its shades, hues, and contrasts. You’ll never see the liturgy the same way again!...........................................................8 Mass: 24-7 Did you ever wonder how Mass happens outside of Sunday? We did—and so we asked Msgr. Marc Caron to explain the Church’s mind on Masses for Various Needs and Votive Masses.................................................. 10 Speak to Me In a review of Father Daniel Cardό’s new book The Art of Preaching, Father Andrew Hofer finds the perfect user’s guide for priests and other pulpiteers looking to up their homiletics game.............................................. 12

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Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

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Word on Fire website also states, “includes a hymn with a simple musical notation, making it easy to sing with others even if you have never heard the hymn before,” and each booklet contains “special artwork to mark and celebrate solemnities throughout the year, helping you to better enter the Church’s liturgical life.”

In explaining the importance of the Liturgy of the Hours, Word on Fire’s website notes that this collection of prayers “is an ancient, structured way of praying Scripture throughout the day, focusing especially on the Psalms. It hearkens back to the Jewish custom of praying at fixed hours, a practice early Christians continued. By the medieval period, monks chanted the entire Psalter, all 150 Psalms, throughout each week, and sometimes in a single day!”

“Eventually, this form of prayer became known as the Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office. It is a liturgy because, like the Mass and other sacraments, it is a public prayer of the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, as distinct from private devotions such as the Rosary, novenas, or personal prayer.”

The website also explains that the Liturgy of the Hours is divided into five major “hours”, or times of prayer: • Morning Prayer, also known as Lauds, prayed first thing in the morning • Daytime Prayer, prayed sometime between mid-morning and mid-afternoon • Evening Prayer, also known as Vespers, prayed in the early evening • Night Prayer, also known as Compline, offered just before bedtime • Office of Readings, the longest hour, featuring lengthy readings from the Bible, Church Fathers, or other saints, prayed at any point during the day Subscribers will receive a booklet which contains the main part of the Liturgy of the Hours, “the core Hours of Morning, Evening and Night prayer.”

The Liturgy of the Hours is required reading—and praying—for clergy and religious, the Word on Fire website explains: they “are required to pray the five major Hours every day.” But the laity are also beginning to show greater interest in these prayers, the website notes.

“The Second Vatican Council taught that ‘the laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually,’” the website states. “Recent popes have repeated this invitation.

Pope St. Paul VI especially emphasized the call for families to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, saying, ‘No avenue should be left unexplored to ensure that this clear and practical recommendation finds within Christian families growing and joyful acceptance.’”

According to a letter published at the Word on Fire website, Bishop Barron emphasizes the importance of the Liturgy of the Hours to the life of faith for all Catholics, calling it “the highest and most important form of prayer outside of the Mass.”

“Praying the Psalms in unison with Christians throughout the world at set hours of the day is one of the most ancient traditions of Christianity,” he writes. “These are the prayers of Christ, the prayers of the Church.”

For more information or to subscribe, visit the Word on Fire Website: https://www.wordonfire.org/pray/.

Update on the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition From the January 2022 BCDW Newsletter

“Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6). Sacred Scripture encourages and commands us to praise the Lord God and to pray without ceasing. Our response to these words of Scripture finds its expression not only in the Mass and celebration of the sacraments, but also in the Divine Office, better known as the Liturgy of the Hours. A new English translation of the second typical edition of the book has been in preparation since the bishops of the United States approved a scope of work for the project in November 2012.

The project has taken longer than anticipated, but now the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition is moving closer to completion. The Secretariat of Divine Worship provides here an update on the progress of revisions, translations, and approvals of the various categories of material that comprise the book.

NEWS & VIEWS

Antiphons, Intercessions, and Other Ecclesiastical Texts Since 2014, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) has completed translations of material from various sections of the Divine Office, each in fascicle form: Proper of Time, the Four-Week Psalter, Proper of Saints, Commons, and Office for the Dead. These fascicles included antiphons for the Benedictus and Magnificat, Intercessions, and concluding prayers. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) consolidated these texts into collections that were approved by the bishops in June 2018 and June 2021. In May 2021 ICEL transmitted to its member Conferences of Bishops a new translation of the Ordinary, the section of the breviary that outlines each of the hours and provides commonly used texts. This marked the completion of the retranslation work the USCCB requested of ICEL in its scope of work for the project. However, ICEL is now finalizing one last fascicle, containing corrections of errors and other suggestions for modification that were not part of the scope of work. For example, the Second Readings from the Office of Readings are not being retranslated, but there are various errors that need to be corrected in the body of those texts. That fascicle is expected later in 2022.

The USCCB is responsible for preparing proper texts for the various saints and blesseds inscribed in the U.S. calendar. While there are concluding orations for all these celebrations, some of them—including Sts. Damien de Veuster, Junípero Serra, and Kateri Tekakwitha—currently lack Second Readings for the Office of Readings. The Secretariat has been consulting with the Holy See and with relevant religious communities to find texts to propose which fill these lacunae. The USCCB is also responsible for any adaptations that the bishops might wish to make to the ritual book. The Committee on Divine Worship is expected to begin its review of proper texts and possible adaptations this year, with a possible vote from the body of bishops in 2023.

the book in the coming year. The last piece to be completed will be the Scripture, and it is hoped that all the necessary votes of the body of bishops will have taken place by the end of 2023. Afterward, the various texts will be assembled and transmitted to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for confirmation. The publication process can only begin when that confirmation is received. Taking these factors into consideration, the current estimate is that printed books could be available in 2025. Further updates on the progress of the project will continue to be posted at USCCB.org/prayer-and-worship/ liturgy-of-the-hours/liturgy-of-the-hours-ibid-secondedition.

Hymns Initially, ICEL transmitted to the Conferences translations of hymns section by section, as a part of the fascicles mentioned above, alongside Intercessions and other texts. But later ICEL opted to make further editorial adjustments to the hymns and then compiled all 294 of them into a single fascicle in June 2019. The body of bishops approved that text at the November 2019 plenary meeting, and it was confirmed by the Holy See in May 2020. The USCCB and ICEL are currently working on a hymnal that will contain the entire corpus of hymns of the Divine Office, set to both metrical and plainsong melodies. The publication of the book is expected toward the end of 2022 or sometime in 2023 by USCCB Communications.

How Mass Intentions Work “The Code of Canon Law allows for the faithful to request priests to say Mass for particular intentions, and it allows priests to accept an offering, a stipend, for those Masses to be celebrated,” Father Daren J. Zehnle told CNA by phone.

Usually, a Mass is celebrated for an individual or a group of people if they are connected in some way, such as a family or a nationality.

A priest can keep one Mass stipend per day, but should give any other stipends received to charity.

Father Zehnle, a priest and canon lawyer in the Diocese of Springfield, IL, said Church law states that “if we [priests] accept an offering or a stipend to celebrate a Mass [then] we’re under an obligation to make sure that we do fulfill that request, that we do say that Mass.”

Sacred Scripture Texts from the Bible in the liturgical books are the responsibility of each Conference of Bishops. In the United States, an updated version of the Revised Grail Psalms was approved by the USCCB in November 2014, followed by a translation of Old and New Testament canticles in June 2015. Both were confirmed by the Holy See in May 2018, and subsequently joined together as The Abbey Psalms and Canticles. They were promulgated by USCCB Communications in February 2020 for optional liturgical use upon publication, and this translation will be used for all the psalms and canticles throughout the breviary.

All longer and shorter Scriptural readings in the Divine Office will be taken from the planned liturgical Bible for use in this country, based on a definitive update of the New American Bible Revised Edition. That project is under the direction of the USCCB Doctrine Subcommittee on the Translation of Scripture Text. It is not clear how long it will take to finalize the entire Bible, but it is hoped that all the passages included in the Liturgy of the Hours can be completed and approved by the end of 2023.

Conclusion In summary, ICEL has nearly finished its part of the work on the new edition of the Liturgy of the Hours. The USCCB should finalize the remaining non-Scriptural elements of

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What Has Pope Francis Changed about Mass Intentions?

By Hannah Brockhaus

CNA—One way Catholics can pray for people in need, both the living and dead, is through having a Mass said for that intention.

According to Church law, priests may accept a donation—often around $10 per Mass—for offering the celebration for that intention. If someone is unable to provide the donation but would really like a Mass intention to be said, the stipend can also be waived.

The law does not say how many Mass intentions a priest or Catholic parish can accept but stipulates that the number should not be more Masses than can be reasonably said in one year’s time.

So what happens if a priest, even with the best of intentions, accepts Mass intention offerings he cannot fulfill within the course of a year?

That’s the subject of a clarification to canon law which the Vatican published on March 15, following a small change Pope Francis made in February.

What Happens When a Priest Has Too Many Intentions One of the common solutions to this problem, Father Zehnle said, is to send the prayer intentions “to another priest, to another parish…that fulfill those intentions for them.”

“To reduce the number of Masses [the priests] have to say, the law used to require them to go to the Holy See for permission,” Father Pius Pietrzyk, a Dominican and canon lawyer in Washington, D.C., told CNA via email.

But on February 15, Pope Francis issued a decree modifying some of the codes of Canon Law, including Canon 1308 on Mass intentions. The new Canon 1308 says: “A reduction of the obligations of Masses, to be made only for a just and necessary cause, is reserved to the diocesan bishop and to the supreme moderator of a clerical institute of consecrated life or a society of apostolic life.”

On March 15, the Vatican clarified that a priest who cannot fulfill his Mass intention obligations “may still petition the Apostolic Penitentiary directly to keep them in the internal forum,” Father Pietrzyk said.

The Apostolic Penitentiary is the office of the Roman Curia responsible for issues related to the sacrament of confession, indulgences, and the internal forum, which is an extra-sacramental form of secrecy, or confidentiality, applied to spiritual direction.

EDITOR - PUBLISHER: Christopher Carstens MANAGING EDITOR: Joseph O’Brien CONTENT MANAGER: Jeremy Priest GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Danelle Bjornson OFFICE MANAGER: Elizabeth Gallagher WEBSITE AND TECHNOLOGY: Matt Korger MARKETING AND FUNDRAISING: Eugene Diamond SOCIAL MEDIA: Jesse Weiler INQUIRIES TO THE EDITOR P.O. Box 385 La Crosse, WI 54602-0385 editor@adoremus.org

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The Rev. Jerry Pokorsky = Helen Hull Hitchcock The Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ

Contents copyright © 2022 by ADOREMUS. All rights reserved.

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

A Mountain of Differences—An Ocean of Unity

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By Christopher Carstens, Editor

AB/WIKIMEDIA

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he debate surrounding preconciliar and postconciliar liturgical books did not begin with the Second Vatican Council, but with the Council of Trent. In Pope Pius V’s 1570 promulgation of the Tidentine Missal, Quo Primum, the Holy Father banned any Missals younger than 200 years. Those areas where rites and customs had existed for longer than 200 years could continue to celebrate the Mass according to their tradition, although they could also “celebrate Mass according to its [new] rite, provided they have the consent of their bishop” if they found it “more agreeable.”

Some did not find it more agreeable.

French Catholics, for example, feared that Rome and its Rite would check their Gallican independence—and their Gallican liturgical books. As members of the Sorbonne said at the time about the post-Trent breviary (promulgated 1568): “The adoption of the Roman breviary would diminish the authority of bishops and of dioceses…. The bishops have regulatory and police powers in their diocese, just as the bishop of Rome in his; this great good would be lost by the change in question. This enterprise would be against the liberty of the Gallican church, which, if she submitted on so capital a point, would remain subject to [Rome] in all the rest.”

The Church in France’s independent streak would continue for centuries. But after the French Revolution and its aftermath, French Catholics began to look once again over-the-mountains (thus, the rise of ultramontanism) to Rome and her rites. And as it was bishops and scholars who once rejected the Roman books, it was bishops and scholars who would now seek a reunion. The Bishop of Langres, for example, had come to see firsthand the problems of having five different Gallican missals at use in his one diocese. (And some today think two forms is problematic!) But the main energy in the 19th-century ultramontanist liturgical movement was Dom Prosper Guéranger.

Guéranger was born in 1805—a tumultuous time in France. The French Revolution had ended in 1799; Napoleon had been crowned Emperor in 1804; Pius VII had been kidnapped and brought to France by Napoleon in 1812. Despite (or because of) these times, Guéranger discerned a vocation to the priesthood and was ordained to the Diocese of Le Mans in 1827. An early assignment found him serving a group of religious from Rome where he was introduced firsthand to the Roman tradition, providing an enlightening contrast to his native Gallican traditions, which had existed from before the Council of Trent. A great deal of his subsequent life was spent working for ritual reunion with Rome. After reopening the Priory of Solesmes in 1833 and reestablishing a Benedictine order there, he worked for the restoration and singing of Gregorian Chant; at this time, he also researched and wrote about the Roman liturgy (Thérèse of Lisieux recounts in her autobiography how her saintly parents would read to her and her siblings from Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year).

Ecclesial and liturgical unity did not begin with Guéranger, but he does illustrate this most fundamental

The sacred liturgy, while existing in and influenced by local cultures, is also universal in scope. This principle held true for the dioceses of 19th century France and ultramontane Rome, and—happily—exists between Adoremus readers in the United States our new readers over-the-waters in Oceana.

of principles in a heroic way (the cause for Guéranger’s beatification began in 2005). Jesus’ high priestly prayer from the Last Supper expresses the desire “that those who will believe in me…may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:20-21). You, me, Pope Francis, Prosper Guéranger, Christ—although individuals, are called to unity in God. St. Paul speaks to a similar diversity-inunity when writing of the Church: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). Accordingly, despite accidental differences of time and culture, Catholics profess belief in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”

In our own day, too, the Church continues to balance legitimate diversity within substantial unity. Among the Second Vatican Council’s principal goals were “to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change [and] to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1). Even among missales and rituales—and now I speak of Vatican II’s pre- and postconciliar books—the sought-after balance between unity and diversity is a primary concern.

Both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis made the decisions they did motivated by unity: Benedict says, “It is a matter of coming to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church” (Letter accompanying Summorum Pontificum), while Pope Francis says he is motivated “In order to promote the concord and unity of the Church” (Traditiones Custodes). However the objective is reached—and while methods and opinions differ—the goal of achieving unity-among-diversity remains.

Adoremus: Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy works for this same goal. A new dimension to our work begins with this May 2022 issue: Adoremus has officially begun printing and distribution from Sydney, Australia, to all present and future readers in Oceania.

Adoremus, thankfully, has had readers in Australia and New Zealand since its start in 1995. But as of now—thanks to current readers in Perth, to Parousia Media in Sydney, and to donors across Australia—the Bulletin will come to local readers from within Australia itself. A component part of this promotion is the opportunity for all in Oceania who desire it to receive the Bulletin—in print and/or electronically—free of charge between now and March 2023. Simply email orders@ parousiamedia.com or visit www.parousiamedia.com/ adoremus-bulletin/. A final element celebrating our Australia-New Zealand launch features authors from Australia in each of the upcoming issues—which we in North America will be grateful to read, too! In the present issue, see the entry on the nature of mystagogical catechesis by Dr. Gerard O’Shea, a professor of religious education at the University of Notre Dame, Australia, and at Campion College, Sydney. We are grateful to all of our new friends, readers, and collaborators Down Under for making this new endeavor happen.

I am no modern-day Guéranger, and the geographic ocean between the United States and Australia is not the same as the political mountains separating 19th century France from Rome. Still, all involved in today’s endeavor will continue to implement, celebrate, and love the Roman Rite liturgy in the years ahead. And, if God so blesses our work, we “may be brought to perfection as one” (John 17:23).

Adoremus Bulletin Announces a New Land-Down-Under Edition

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doremus Bulletin is coming to Australia and New Zealand, and prospective subscribers can receive it FREE OF CHARGE until March 2023.

Adoremus has been blessed since its inception in 1995 to have readers across the English-speaking world, including Australia and New Zealand. Beginning in May 2022, the Bulletin will be printed and distributed directly from the continent thanks to local donors, current readers, and the Sydney-based Catholic media enterprise, Parousia.

For almost 30 years, Adoremus has fostered the sound formation of Catholic laity in matters relating to the Church’s worship, consistent with the Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and has aided Catholics (including priests and seminarians) with reliable information and encouragement about the Church’s mind and heart on all things liturgical.

In Adoremus’s mission, its editorial team and host of talented, thoughtful writers strive to bring the Catholic liturgy to its readers. We share Pope Benedict XVI’s excitement in raising up our readers to share ever more fully in the beauty and truth of Christ found at the heart of the liturgy. “What is exciting about

Christian Liturgy is that it lifts us up out of our narrow sphere and lets us share in the Truth,” says Pope Benedict. “The aim of all liturgical renewal must be to bring to light this liberating greatness” (Feast of Faith, 75).

The mission of Adoremus is to rediscover and restore the beauty, the holiness, and the power of the Church’s rich liturgical tradition while remaining faithful to an organic, living process of renewal. Faithful to the magisterium, concerned with tradition, eager to open the liturgy’s mystery to the modern world, Adoremus is joyful, orthodox, and intelligent. Our hope is to respond to the interventions of Australia’s Plenary Council, through a lay endeavor, by being faithful to our mission and providing this resource to the people of Oceania.

When you sign up to receive Adoremus, you not only receive its full-color, 12-page print bulletin, published six times each year, but you also receive a monthly electronic newsletter, AB Insight. In addition, Adoremus offers podcasts and videos on its website, www.adoremus.org.

If you would like to receive the Adoremus Bulletin for

free from May 2022 until March 2023, email orders@parousiamedia.com; to make a donation, visit https://www.parousiamedia.com/adoremusbulletin/.

Please join us in the work of ongoing liturgical renewal!

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

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Pope Benedict consistently recommended the retrieval of certain devotional forms in the Church’s life outside of the Eucharist, such as the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the Corpus Christi procession, and Eucharistic adoration. He lamented that many of these devotional forms fell out of practice in the immediate postconciliar period and contributed to the sense that Vatican II was a dramatic break with the past.

the postconciliar form of the liturgy but celebrating it with dignity, solemnity, reverence, and beauty. For this reason, Ratzinger calls for a new liturgical movement, a “movement toward the liturgy and toward the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly.”4 Among the outward and external improvements, Ratzinger begins by advocating for the elimination of liturgical creativity as a central, guiding liturgical goal.

On the one hand, this improvement consists in better catechetical explanations which make absolutely clear that the liturgy is “something other than the invention of texts and rites, that it lives precisely from what is beyond manipulation.”5 On a more practical level, Ratzinger suggests removing certain phrases in the missal that encourage the priest to use “these or other words,” which can be interpreted as leaving too much freedom for celebrants to alter liturgical texts.

Against the exclusive use of liturgical celebrations celebrated “towards the people,” Ratzinger recommends and encourages celebration ad orientem, towards the East as a symbol of the coming Christ.

This turning together of priest and congregation towards the Lord would help to cultivate the Godward orientation of the liturgy and of our lives and serve as an antidote to the notion of a closed-in community gathered for a meal which has afflicted the postconciliar era. With his recommendation, however, Ratzinger shows how he doesn’t simply want to restore a past practice but reform it in a spirit of continuity. He doesn’t advocate that the entire Mass would have to be celebrated ad orientem but only the second half, the Eucharistic liturgy proper, where the priest-celebrant guides the people of God to turn towards the Lord together. However, the first part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word, has a proclamatory nature and is still fitting to be celebrated towards the people, versus populum. The preconciliar liturgy was often celebrated as a low Mass with the priest celebrant reading the passages of scripture in a low voice in Latin facing the altar, and Ratzinger viewed this as a deficient practice that was in need of reform.

Ratzinger is also aware of the pastoral difficulties that might accompany celebration ad orientum today.

After 50 years of celebrating Mass versus populum, he recognizes the attachment that certain people have to this form and the possible confusion and disruption such an abrupt change could have in the lives of the faithful. For this reason, his own alternative solution has been the introduction of a cross on the center of the altar which can represent a “spiritual East” and orient both priest and people to the true center of the Eucharist celebration, the Cross of Christ. This is consistent with the nature of Ratzinger’s “reform of the reform” as a whole: not as something concerned with dramatic, radical, exterior change, which could possibly further the damage caused by the instability in liturgical practice of the last 50 years, but as a pru-

“ Latin texts and faithful liturgical translations can still move people through their beauty, and cultivate a spiritual attitude of adoration and prayerful communion to facilitate a true internal participation in the liturgical action.” dent use of legitimate options already present within the current Missal.

Tied with the question of orientation in liturgical prayer, Ratzinger advocates for the reintroduction of certain elements of Latin into the reformed liturgical rites. Once again we find his solution very moderate: he doesn’t advocate for restoration of an entirely Latin liturgy. He recognizes that elements of the Liturgy of the Word are more suitable in the vernacular language, but that the use of Latin in certain parts of the Mass, such as the ordinary (the Gloria, Agnus Dei, etc.), could help emphasize the universal dimension of the Church’s Roman Rite, connecting us with tradition and serving as an antidote to the

AB/THE PAPAL VISIT ON FLICKR

Continued from BENEDICT, page 1

notion that the liturgy is created by each local congregation. Closely related to this is Ratzinger’s concern for revising the translations of the missals into vernacular languages so that they more faithfully reflect the Latin originals and reflect a liturgical language that is more dignified, solemn, and beautiful.

Both of these suggestions reflect Ratzinger’s theology of active participation, which doesn’t rely on everything being simple and immediately intelligible or accessible and understood by everyone. Rather, Latin texts and faithful liturgical translations can still move people through their beauty, and cultivate a spiritual attitude of adoration and prayerful communion to facilitate a true internal participation in the liturgical action.

In addition, Ratzinger consistently has recommended the retrieval of certain devotional forms in the Church’s life outside of the Eucharist, such as the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the Corpus Christi procession, and Eucharistic adoration. He lamented that many of these devotional forms fell out of practice in the immediate postconciliar period and contributed to the sense that Vatican II was a dramatic break with the past. While the Council reclaimed the fact that the Eucharist was the source and center of the Church’s life and recovered the notion that the assembly should be participating in the liturgical act rather than their private devotions during Mass, Ratzinger believes devotions outside of the Eucharist have the profound capacity to lead us into a more fruitful celebration of the sacraments and help meet the profound spiritual hunger of our modern world.

The final major component of Ratzinger’s liturgical reform lies in releasing a wider permission for celebration of the pre-conciliar Missal (called in various circles the traditional Latin Mass, the 1962 Missal, the Tridentine Mass), an idea he advocated for as a cardinal and brought into the Church’s life as Pope through his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in 2007. This more widespread usage, he believed, would offer two main benefits to the Church. First, it would serve as a bridge in two vital ways. It would help bring unity and reconciliation to the Church, serving as a way of reaching out to those groups that became disaffected with the Church over liturgical transitions or broke communion, such as in the case of the Society of St. Pius X. The use of the older form of the Mass, what Ratzinger calls “the Extraordinary Form,” would also bridge the gap between the pre-conciliar and post-conciliar Church: “There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.”6 The second main benefit is that the two forms—the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms—could “mutually enrich” and complement one another. The old missal could be used as a point of reference for celebrating the liturgy according to the new missal: “The

Pope Benedict was noted as a humble, restrained, and dignified celebrant of the liturgy, giving witness to his teaching that the liturgy should be centered on God, not the idiosyncrasies of the priest-celebrant.

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

Liturgical Renewal of Benedict XVI Instead of initiating major structural reforms to the liturgy as pope, Benedict focused on his role as a liturgical catechist and educator; in this role it was especially important that he led by personal example in his own celebrations of the liturgy. His teaching as pope highlights common themes throughout his career as a theologian and cardinal—the centrality of God in the liturgy and its nature as being first and foremost opus Dei, the work of God; the nature of the liturgy as given-not-made; the cosmic dimensions of the liturgy; the orientation of liturgical prayer; the importance of the gesture of kneeling and the adoration of the Eucharist; among others. Central features of Benedict’s liturgical teaching can be found in a clear and profound way in his post-synodal exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (2005). Among the many rich aspects of Benedict’s liturgical teaching I wish to highlight two: his notion of the ars celebrandi and advocacy for the way of beauty.

“ More recently we have seen increased attacks on the authority of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms from a vocal minority of radical traditionalists, particularly online and on social media. This renders the balance, nuance, and pastoral sensitivity of Benedict’s approach very timely.”

Benedict describes the ars celebrandi as the “fruit of faithful adherence to liturgical norms in all their richness” and the foundation for authentic active participation: “The primary way to foster the participation of the People of God in the sacred rite is the proper celebration of the rite itself. The ars celebrandi is the best way to ensure their actuosa participatio. The eucharistic celebration is enhanced when priests and liturgical leaders are committed to making known the current liturgical texts and norms.... The ars celebrandi should foster a sense of the sacred and the use of outward signs which help to cultivate this sense, such as, for example, the harmony of the rite, the liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the sacred space.”9 Closely related to this encouragement of ars celebrandi is his affirmation of beauty as a key to contemporary liturgical renewal: “[T]he liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor.... [Because] in Jesus we contemplate beauty and splendor at their source, [the care for beauty in the liturgy] is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God’s love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us.”10 “Everything should be marked by beauty,” Benedict reminds us as he encourages special respect and care in the construction of vestments, liturgical furnishings, sacred vessels, the altar, etc., “so that by their harmonious and orderly arrangement they will foster awe for the mystery of God, manifest the unity of faith, and strengthen devotion.”11 This concern for beauty was not just theoretical, a mere matter of nice words in an official Church document, but something visibly lived out in his own liturgical style. His ars celebrandi as pope served as an example for the entire Church. Pope Benedict was noted as a humble, restrained, and dignified celebrant of the liturgy, giving witness to his teaching that the liturgy should be centered on God, not the idiosyncrasies of the priest-celebrant. The papal liturgies under his master of ceremonies, Msgr. Guido Marini, were noted for their solemnity and beauty and displayed many aspects of Benedict’s liturgical teaching. Benedict occasionally

AB/VATICAN MEDIA/CNA

celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage,” Ratzinger writes.

“The most sure guarantee that the Missal of Paul VI can unite parish communities and be loved by them consists in its being celebrated with great reverence in harmony with the liturgical directives. This will bring out the spiritual richness and the theological depth of this Missal.”7 At the same time, Benedict believes that aspects of the new missal, which he called the Ordinary Form of the Roman rite, such as new Saints and new prefaces can and should be inserted into the old missal and that the genuine achievements in participation in the postconciliar era can influence the way the old rite is celebrated and entered into. Above all, Benedict here displays a preference for an authentic liturgical pluralism in the Church’s life, where numerous forms are able to coexist peacefully and bear witness to the undivided faith of the Church.8

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Ratzinger shows how he doesn’t simply want to restore the past ad orientem practice but reform it in a spirit of continuity.

He doesn’t advocate that the entire Mass be celebrated ad orientem but only the second half, the Eucharistic liturgy proper, where the priest-celebrant guides the people of God to turn towards the Lord together.

celebrated Mass ad orientem publicly and used the altar cross arrangement he recommended in his The Spirit of the Liturgy, such that this practice has been called the “Benedictine arrangement.” This new arrangement places the crucifix at the center of the altar and three high candlesticks at each side with the body of Christ on the crucifix facing the celebrant as his point of reference. Benedict’s teaching on the importance of kneeling was given concrete expression in his decision in 2008 to introduce the practice of distributing communion to the faithful at a kneeler, preferably on the tongue, in papal masses. Benedict even visibly manifested his “hermeneutic of continuity” in his choice of liturgical vestments, using papal staffs and historical garments used by his papal predecessors as well as modern vestments, all in an attempt to model the “uninterrupted continuity” of the Church’s life.

But this is not to say that Benedict did not make any disciplinary attempts to correct certain erroneous practices. For example, in 2006 Pope Benedict called for the translation of pro multis as the more literal “for many” rather than “for all,” a move consonant with his desire for more faithful and literal translation from the Latin originals. In addition, Benedict also sought to correct liturgical abuses and what he considers inappropriate practices: rescinding the indult permission for extraordinary ministers of holy communion to purify sacred vessels after Mass, and restoring this action to the priest or deacon; removing Eucharistic prayers for children from the missal, which had “failed to adequately convey a sense of the sacred”; abandoning the use of the tetragrammaton (the Hebrew name of God, YHWH) in the liturgy, in light of “immemorial tradition”; and correcting some liturgical practices of the Neocatechumenal Way by insisting they return to the prescribed liturgical books without “omitting or adding anything.”12 Benedict’s Vision of Re-Catholicizing the Liturgy More recently we have seen increased attacks on the authority of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms from a vocal minority of radical traditionalists, particularly online and on social media. This renders the balance, nuance, and pastoral sensitivity of Benedict’s approach very timely. While Benedict has expressed his critique of postconciliar developments in strong language, he nevertheless remained convinced of the many positive developments emerging from the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms. In Sacramentum Caritatis he claims that “the difficulties and even the occasional abuses which were noted…cannot overshadow the benefits and the validity of the liturgical renewal, whose riches are yet to be fully explored.”13 Overall, I would judge that Benedict’s liturgical reforms are not truly reforms in the strictest sense. They are concerned with how the liturgy is celebrated rather than mere superficial ritual changes or substantive structural alterations. For Benedict, it is not primarily a matter of changing the rites again (for this would in many ways repeat some of the errors of the last 50 years) but of changing ourselves and our own attitudes towards the liturgy. True active participation consists of an “awareness of the mystery being celebrated and its relationship to daily life.”14 Even Benedict’s external reforms—such as celebrating ad orientum or with an altar cross, reception of communion kneeling, and more Latin and Gregorian

chant—are compatible with and foreseen by the Missal of Paul VI. Benedict himself desired that we see his own contributions less in terms of his concrete recommendations on external matters but as a retrieval of the spirit of the liturgy, and its central role in the life of the Church and, by extension, in our own daily walk with the Lord. Much of Benedict’s liturgical vision advances what liturgical scholar Msgr. M. Francis Mannion calls the “recatholicization” of the liturgy—a renewal of the “spiritual, mystical, and devotional dimensions of the revised rites” in order to vitally recreate the “ethos that has traditionally imbued Catholic liturgy at its best—an ethos of beauty, majesty, spiritual profundity, and solemnity.”15 In the closing words of his personal introduction to the volume on the liturgy in his Collected Works, Pope Benedict states that the essential purpose of his work on liturgy is “to go beyond the often petty questions about one form or another and to place the liturgy in its larger context.... I would be happy if the new edition of my liturgical writings could help others see the greater perspectives of our liturgy and put petty quarrels about external forms in their proper place.”16 Let us rejoice in the wisdom of this profoundly liturgical pope by following his example and allowing the liturgy to transform and renew us today.

Kevin D. Magas holds an MTS and PhD in theology from the University of Notre Dame. He currently serves as an assistant professor of dogmatic theology and director of intellectual formation for the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

He lives in Mundelein, IL, with his wife and children.

1. Joseph Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori, The Ratzinger Report. An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985), 35.

2. Ibid., 37-38.

3. Cf. Bilniewicz, Liturgical Vision of Benedict XVI, 107-149.

4. Ratzinger, Spirit of the Liturgy, 8-9.

5. Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth. Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millenium. An Interview with Peter Seewald. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997), 177.

6. Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum (Juy 7, 2007).

7. Ibid.

8. This article was written in advance of Pope Francis’ Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, which substantially reverses the liturgical legislation on the wider liberalization of the 1962 Missal found in Summorum Pontificum. While ensuing discussions of this document have left unanswered questions and often generate more heat than light, a helpful and irenic analysis contextualizing this development can be found in the two-part article series by William Johnston: “Traditionis Custodes: How Did We Get Here?” (Church Life Journal, Oct. 1, 2021); “Traditionis Custodes Challenges Everyone” (Church Life Journal, Nov. 5, 2021). We should also attend to the points of continuity between Traditionis Custodes and Summorum Pontificum. In the letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes, Francis cites Summorum Pontificum when he asserts that he is “saddened by abuses in the celebration of the liturgy on all sides. In common with Benedict XVI, I deplore the fact that ‘in many places the prescriptions of the new Missal are not observed in celebration, but indeed come to be interpreted as an authorization for or even a requirement of creativity, which leads to almost unbearable distortions.’” See https://adoremus. org/2021/07/accompanying-letter-to-traditionis-custodes/ 9. Pope Benedict XVI, post-synodal Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis 38; 40.

10. I bid., 35.

11. I bid., 110.

12. S ee Bilniewicz, The Liturgical Vision of Pope Benedict XVI, 195-203.

13. S acramentum Caritatis, 4.

14. I bid., 52.

15. M . Francis Mannion, “The Catholicity of the Liturgy: Shaping a New Agenda,” in Masterworks of God: Essays in Liturgical Theory and Practice (Chicago/Mundelein, IL: Hillenbrand Books, 2004), 216-217.

16. P ope Benedict XVI, Collected Works, xvii.

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Even Children Know the Nature of Mystagogy: How Early Education in Liturgy and Scriptures Can Reveal a Lifetime of Faith

AB/WIKIMEDIA. THE ANNUNCIATION, C. 1485, BY PIERMATTEO D’AMELIA

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

The moment in the Mass when the priest invokes the Holy Spirit (the Epiclesis) is a crucial point in the Eucharistic liturgy. This liturgical action is beautifully illustrated for children in the episode of the Annunciation. When the Angel Gabriel asks Mary to be the mother of God, her response is not an immediate “Yes,” but it is a question: “How shall this be?” Mary is told that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her—as is happening at the Mass’s epiclesis.

By Gerard O’Shea

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ome years ago, after undertaking some study into the work of the Catholic educator, Maria Montessori, I learned an important truth about children between the ages of six and nine years—namely, that they have an extraordinary capacity for making imaginative connections between the variety of data that they have at hand. I decided to test this out in a class of seven-year-old children. I set up a model altar with its essential elements (ciborium, chalice, paten, crucifix and candles). These were placed side by side with dioramas of some key moments in the scriptures (Annunciation, Last Supper, death and Resurrection of Jesus). The children were given about 10 minutes to handle the models and move around the dioramas. Then I asked them what they had discovered, and I was stunned by the results. For 45 minutes, they suggested things I thought I would need to explain to them. The candles were like Jesus, the light of the world; the paten and chalice reminded them of the Last Supper; the crucifix reminded them that Jesus died and rose again…and so forth.

Exactly as Montessori had described in her writings, the children showed me that they were in a “sensitive period” for making connections that would serve them as a foundation for the rest of their lives. In that single moment, I began to perceive what the liturgy was meant to be for all of us—the means of making the scriptures come vividly alive in the here and now.

Moreover, it became crystal clear that there is a particular moment when it will have maximum impact— typically between six and nine years of age. Montessori maintained that if the “sensitive period” was missed, the opportunity for learning easily would not come again. Older children and adults would still be able to learn, but the effort would be roughly the equivalent of trying to learn a new language after the age of four.

Later, I discovered that the Church had a word for this process of connecting the liturgy with the scriptures. It was called mystagogy, and it was the principal means by which the early Church had inducted new Christians into the faith. One need only look at St. Ambrose’s De Mysteriis and De Sacramentis or the

Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem to see the process at work.

Sacramentum Caritatis Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, calls for a renewal of mystagogy. The document encouraged us to “be personally conformed to the mystery being celebrated, offering one’s life to God in unity with the sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of the whole world” (64). Without this personal participation, there is a risk that the liturgy will fall into a kind of superficial ritualism.

The bishops participating in the 2005 synod on the Eucharist preceding Pope Benedict’s document unanimously agreed that mystagogical catechesis was the

“ Teachers will have no difficulty in recognizing the frenetic, data driven, and evidence-based activity associated with contemporary educational practice which makes the students so busy that there is little time for reflection.” preferred catechetical method. Paragraph 64 of Sacramentum Caritatis articulates the essentials of mystagogy thus: 1) mystagogy interprets the liturgical rites in the light of the events of our salvation; 2) mystagogical catechesis must be concerned with presenting the meaning of the signs contained in the rites; and 3) mystagogical catechesis is concerned with bringing out the significance of the rites for the Christian life in all its dimensions.

Some Basic Anthropology In adopting mystagogy in our catechetical practice with children, there is a significant obstacle. Having

been trained in the assumptions of Kantian epistemology, teachers and other professionals can be implicitly misled by a basic assumption: that it is only through continuous discursive activity that a child learns. Kant taught that discursive learning involves distinguishing, comparing, examining, relating, deducting, analysing, abstracting, and demonstrating. Teachers will have no difficulty in recognising the frenetic, data driven, and evidence-based activity associated with contemporary educational practice which makes the students so busy that there is little time for reflection. Such a pedagogy ends up treating human beings as “computers” who need to be properly programmed. I do not want to suggest that there is no value in discursive activity. It has always been the predominant way through which human beings learn, but it is not the only way. All humans—yes, even children—also participate in the simplex intuitis: the more profound knowledge of higher beings, mediated by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through contemplation.

How often do we simply “know” something that we cannot yet explain? This form of understanding was known even by pagan Greek philosophers, starting from Heraclitus to Aristotle, who insightfully described it as perceiving a whole reality in a similar way to the eye taking in a whole landscape. Both Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas considered this capacity to be a “supernatural” element of common human experience. Therefore, without making space for this kind of contemplative activity, the connection between the liturgy and the scriptures will struggle to take root in our lives.

Scripture scholar and co-developer of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Sofia Cavalletti relates the story of a young boy called Massimo who seemed to be drawn to a simple activity of pouring water and wine into a chalice. He returned to it often. When Cavalletti asked him to try something else, he told her that there was something more that he needed to learn. After many more weeks, Massimo told her that he thought he understood now. He poured the wine into the chalice and said “lots of Jesus” and then added a little water with the words “and just a little bit of me… because we

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Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022 must lose ourselves in Jesus.” This story captures what we are trying to do with the liturgical education of children. We do not need them to become liturgical scholars, but we want to give them sufficient time to explore prayerfully the connections between the liturgy and the scriptures. This cannot be achieved through incessant discursive activity; it will come about when they are given time for a “still, small voice” to speak to them and “understand” that the liturgy brings them into contact with their Lord and Savior.

St. Leo the Great in his fifth-century sermon notes that, from the day of the Ascension, the visible presence of Christ on earth passed into the sacraments. In catechetical terms, the most concrete means by which we have access to Christ is the liturgy. Children always learn best by starting with some concrete, sensate reality. Hence, it is best to begin any presentation of the scriptural mysteries via tangible signs of the sacred liturgy.

Practical Implementation If children are to see the necessary connections, it helps to link each liturgical moment with at least one episode from the scriptures. (Of course, as they develop and become more familiar with the Bible, they will notice many more connections.) A simple process that can be employed even with the youngest children is to use models of the liturgical vessels, placed beside simple scriptural dioramas. These should be presented more or less at the same time, helping the children to make the links between them. Of course, it must always be made clear that, even though we are using the words and doing the actions of the priest, we are not able to do what priests do. We are only trying to come to a better understanding of what is happening. (This message must be continually repeated; saying it once is not sufficient.)

We owe a great deal to Sofia Cavalletti and her subsequent collaborators in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for our understanding of how to proceed with a mystagogical catechesis. At the most basic level, there are three essential moments from the Mass which help children to begin discovering the link between liturgy and scriptures: 1) the preparation of the chalice; 2) the Epiclesis (and consecration); and 3) the offering to the Father.

given a glimpse of the divine and human natures of Jesus made visible before their eyes. Children relate very well to this concrete manifestation of the hypostatic union. There is some readily available artwork that beautifully depicts this moment. For younger children, it will work better to use a three-dimensional diorama to represent each of the characters set against a background of Mount Tabor.

“ All that God has ever done for our salvation, all that He is doing now, and all that He will ever do is in some way symbolised in the Eucharist.” —Sofia Cavalletti A further demonstration of the way in which the two natures are united will also be helpful for older children. We need to help them gain a correct understanding that the two natures are not some kind of “mixture.” This classic example is effective: if we take a cold knife and try to cut butter, it will not work well.

When we heat the knife, it will be far easier. Just like the divine and human natures of Jesus, the heat and the knife both remain what they were, but still operate as one when they are united. This is a good way of opening the reflection on the nature of the mystery.

Epiclesis/Consecration and the Annunciation The moment when the priest invokes the Holy Spirit (the Epiclesis) is a crucial point in the Eucharistic liturgy. The words “make holy, therefore, these gifts we

pray, by sending your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” clearly explain what is happening: the Holy Spirit is made present by this liturgical action. In the Eucharist, Christ is not made present, however, until the words of consecration are spoken.

This liturgical action is beautifully illustrated in the episode of the Annunciation (again, the use of a diorama is particularly effective for children). When the Angel Gabriel asks Mary to be the mother of God, her response is not an immediate “Yes,” but it is a question: “How shall this be?” Mary is told that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her. She then speaks the words needed to cooperate with the action of God. Offering to the Father/Death and Resurrection of Christ The Offering to the Father is another climactic moment in which the priest raises up the body and blood of Christ. There are two essential aspects to bring out here. The double consecration of the bread and wine has indicated the death of Christ. Children easily understand this if they are asked whether anyone can continue to live if all of their blood is removed from the body.

This liturgical moment readily links with the crucifixion of Christ presented by simply recalling that Jesus died by placing a small crucifix on the table with the Last Supper presentation. The other element to emphasise is the upward movement of the paten and chalice.

This highlights the resurrection from the dead. As the children come to a better understanding of this reality, they can be offered a further development by drawing attention to the moment when a fragment of the consecrated host is broken off and placed in the chalice— indicating (among other things) both death and resurrection when the two species are reunited. These scriptural and liturgical accounts of the death and resurrection of Christ need to be continually linked.

Tied to the Eucharist One former adult student of mine (a teacher in a Catholic high school) became so captivated with the process that he set out to create a full mystagogy of the Eucharist for his grade nine students. He found pictures of the moments of the Mass and linked them with episodes from the scriptures—literally tying them together with pieces of string.

He called me out to his school one day to demonstrate the activity in progress: it required the full space of a double set of indoor basketball courts to put into effect. His students were completely captivated with this approach and looked forward to it whenever they had the opportunity to participate.

One of the “problems,” the teacher told me, was that whenever he listened to the readings or took in some aspect of the liturgical gestures, he discovered something more and wanted to add to the work he had created.

Clearly, he had discovered the truth of Cavalletti’s words: “All that God has ever done for our salvation, all that He is doing now, and all that He will ever do is in some way symbolised in the Eucharist.”

Preparation of the Chalice and the Transfiguration The preparation of the chalice is the moment in which water and wine are poured, along with the words: “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” This action, when performed by young children, is usually accompanied by a deep serenity. The principal mystery being conveyed through this action is the hypostatic union—Christ’s divinity and humanity mystically joined together— which lies at the core of Christian faith. If the divine nature can be united to a human nature, then our human nature can be united to the divine nature (grace).

One Scriptural episode that can be used here is the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8). In this dramatic moment, Peter, James, and John are

AB/WIKIMEDIA

“ I began to perceive what the liturgy was meant to be for all of us—the means of making the scriptures come vividly alive in the here and now.”

The Church has a word for the process of connecting the liturgy with the scriptures. It is called mystagogy, and it was the principal means by which the early Church had inducted new Christians into the faith. One need only look at De Mysteriis and De Sacramentis of St. Ambrose (depicted above) or the Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem to see the process at work.

Dr. Gerard O’Shea is a professor of religious education at the University of Notre Dame, Australia, and at Campion College, Sydney. He has been a teacher, Catholic school principal, and a diocesan director of mission and religious education. He and his wife, Anne, have five children and thirteen grandchildren.

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

BEFORE, EVERGREENE ARCHITECTURAL ARTS; AFTER, BRANDS & KRIBBS PHOTOGRAPHY

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St. Mary Church, Aspen, CO, before and after. The renewed palette foundation color is warm. Earthy red accent colors comfortably allow for prominent use of the color blue without feeling cold.

The Many Shades of the Liturgy: A Case for Why Color Matters in Sacred Architecture

By Emily Valentine Sottile Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

— Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

T

he Church has long recognized the profound power of beauty to evangelize, catechize, and heal. Still, in the latter part of the 20th century, many historic American church interiors were white-washed (or in some cases beige-, gray-, blue-, or pink-washed), and many newer churches were built to the exclusion of art.

After this period of fasting, however, there is in the Church a burgeoning appetite for a return to the via pulchritudinis—the way of beauty. An essential component of slaking the thirst for beauty in ecclesiastical settings is color.

Color Timidity and Audacity After so many years of sensory deprivation, many have grown shy about color and pattern. Will it be too busy? Too distracting? Too bright? On the other extreme we find no compunction to the arbitrary introduction of color, pattern, and imagery irrespective of scale, saturation, and relationship to adjacent ornament. If applied indiscriminately, color and decoration can indeed be a distraction. Both extremes are the result of a lack of literacy when it comes to art and architecture—or perhaps more of a forgetting that, like the other great arts the Church has used to glorify God, such as music, church buildings are meant to be read, heard, and otherwise engaged by the faithful. Art and architecture speak. When done well, ecclesiastical art and architecture should speak to each other—and speak to us.

One of the great strengths of communication of this sort is its ability to transcend time and spoken language. A friend of mine, a priest who heard confession at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris for decades, told me about an encounter he had, many years ago, with a twenty-something-year-old American tourist in sneakers. The young man entered the Cathedral, turned to my friend, a priest he had never met, and said, “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Tell me about God.” At their best, art and architecture can be powerful mystagogical instruments, deepening our understanding of the mysteries of faith and supporting the heavenward pilgrimage of all who enter a church. Pope Benedict XVI said in a general audience address that “Art is capable of making visible our need to go beyond what we see and it reveals our thirst for infinite beauty, for God” (August 31, 2011).

Applications of color, including foundation colors, accent colors, the arrangement of color to create repetitive patterning, figurative artwork, and other decorative works of art are all proper to the discussion of color and ecclesiastical artistry. At their best these color techniques should collaborate with the architecture to move the eyes and body through the building. We often think of beauty as a superficial luxury: If we have excess money to throw around, we may throw some of it at the walls to

make them beautiful. If we are practical, hardworking, and conscious of the suffering of others, beauty may feel like a scandalous indulgence. However, when we look to nature, we find beauty is never frivolous. Beauty has a very specific job: to draw the spectator in. We need only look at a flower that beckons a bee, or a peacock a mate, to see this in action among the things of nature and to know beauty is not the end point but an entry point. Therefore, we can say that as an entry point, the job of ecclesiastical artistry is both formalistic (to support the architecture) and theological (to support the liturgy).

Effective use of color and decoration are informed by the properties of beauty defined by St. Thomas Aquinas: integrity (integritas), harmony (consonantia), and clarity (claritas). Uncompromising adherence to these principles doesn’t necessarily mean spending more money. (Although it is remarkable to consider the immigrant communities built across the United States in the late 19th century through “sweat equity,” that is, giving of their time and talent if not their treasure.) The way color is perceived in architecture is influenced by several factors, including: interplay of light and shadow created by the geometry of the building, as well as natural and artificial light and whether there is stained glass; relationship to adjacent colors; and atmospheric perspective, which causes muting of colors due to the distance at which they are viewed. These complex factors mean there is no fixed formula for the selection of colors. That is not to say however that color selection is a subjective endeavor. Adherence to or dissent from the principles that govern the relationship between colors determine palette harmony.

The most beautiful color schemes result from harmonious color relationships. Formalistic considerations of the colors should include: palette, hue, value, chroma, and temperature (see sidebar on page 9). Colors should be informed by the architecture and historic precedent. Traditionally, earth-tones are the foundation colors closest to the ground and lower levels of the church, informed by natural building materials such as stone, clay, and wood (gray, tan, reds, and browns). The colors graduate to celestial colors in higher areas: blues and golds. Stronger colors are used in moderation as accents. This approach allows greater control over the way the building is experienced and opens the palette up to include a greater diversity of colors without feeling garish.

There is a tradition in fine art of reserving blue (which was at one time made from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone from Afghanistan, making it the most expensive pigment) for the garments of the Blessed Virgin. Using this special color in a purposeful manner in figurative painting effectively identifies Mary and draws attention to her unique status, no matter how the artist chooses to portray her facial features.

Unfortunately, many churches dedicated to the Blessed Virgin seeking to make use of this symbolic color are painted a monolithic light blue evocative of a swimming pool. Thus, while the theological concept is present, the formalistic considerations are absent. St. Mary’s Church in Aspen, CO, suffered from pool-blue syndrome with the vast sanctuary area covered in flat blue paint without patterning, accent colors, or any decoration to move the eye, set against a cool uninterrupted white foundation color throughout the church. The effect was icy. A palette with a warm neutral foundation color on the walls and red accent colors can support prominent use of the color blue in the sanctuary and nave ceilings without feeling cold. (See before and after images above.)

In St. Mary’s 2018 renewal, deep colors in the sanctuary provide contrast with the reredos making it appear more prominent. The architectural nature of the reredos is suggestive of a church building reaching into the heavens while an entablature created using trompe l’oeil (a painting technique which gives the illusion of three dimensions on a flat plane, derived from the French for fool the eye) featuring portraits of saints (cloud of witnesses) is suggestive of the walls of the heavenly city, a reminder that when we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we share in the heavenly liturgy. Introduction of three-dimensional trusses and painted ceiling coffers with borders and decorative medallions break up the expansive ceiling, creating a better sense of proportion, and rhythm (relating both to the natural heartbeat and the liturgical procession). One feels at ease when colors and scale are in harmony.

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022 Two Churches, One Beauty An examination of two very different historic churches is instructive in the use of color: St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan, NY, and Cathedral of the Madelene in Salt Lake City, UT. Both take a similar ochre foundation color and both use color to great effect but in very different ways.

St. Francis Xavier’s architecture features significant raised (three-dimensional) ornament including evangelists sculpted into the crossing corners, foliated capitals (in the form of leaves) and other ornate sculpted elements, and striking murals of the Stations of the Cross, St. Francis Xavier, angels, and the crucifixion. St. Francis Xavier’s palette is rather stayed: we find true marble in the columns, floors, and lower walls (a mix of warm and cool earth-tones), with a warm foundation color. Highly saturated colors are reserved for murals and stencils (two-dimensional ornament).

The murals are naturalistic (believable likeness of figures). A significant aspect of the color palette is the use of glaze (a transparent pigment). When applied to raised ornament, glaze settles into recesses and highlights are created when the glaze is wiped off the tops. The effect is greater articulation and legibility of the architectural elements which helps the eye decipher shapes into recognizable forms. The ornament is abundant, but it is serenely ordered and the appropriate size for the scale of the building.

The architecture and the program of color are harmonious: they work together to create a strong sense of rhythm and procession, drawing us into engagement with the symbolism and biblical narrative. While discord and disparity are realities of the fallen world, the art and architecture at St. Francis Xavier Church invite us to contemplate return to the order and abundance of the garden of Eden.

The Cathedral of the Madeleine uses a similar foundation color as St. Francis Xavier but the liturgical artistry program is exuberant and ecstatic! The interior of the Cathedral of the Madeleine is enrobed with vibrant colors, pattern, and figurative imagery. The unfettered application of decoration is evocative of Christ’s anointment with precious perfume (Matthew 26:7). What was achieved with three-dimensional ornament at St. Francis Xavier is here realized with color. For example, the raised ornament (such as ribs and capitals) at the Cathedral of the Madeleine is simpler than at St. Francis Xavier, but all are enriched, emphasized, and enlarged by the use of color, gold, patterning, and figurative painting. The highly saturated sanctuary is teeming with celestial activity (stars, comets, and angels), text, richly carved furnishings, and a dynamic cloud of witnesses pull all who enter towards the sanctuary. We find here a palette and figures purposely stylized and otherworldly to emphasize the radical difference of the heavenly reality with the terrestrial.

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tion, the subject of the artwork, and the quantity of decoration—should be guided by the specific architecture it decorates and the community it serves.

Be Not Afraid It is often said, “They don’t make them like they used to.” Perhaps they don’t. But beautiful liturgical artistry and appropriate use of color is possible today in any kind of building—including new churches. The key to appropriate employment of color in Catholic churches is to follow the principles of color theory and to be uncompromising when it comes to striving for beauty in the house of God. When considering how to incorporate color into a historic or new church, keep the following in mind: 1. Be not afraid to use color—but be sure to rely on the basics of color theory.

2. Rely on historic precedent—but remember the color and style or decoration should always flow from the architecture and collaborate with it to support the liturgy and the community it serves.

3. The constituent parts of beauty in the classical sense are integrity, harmony, and clarity. These should be the measure for any architectural project.

4. Beautiful churches can be made today and, for those who can’t start from scratch, ugly churches can be made more beautiful.

5. The objective of all liturgical art is to provide an encounter with the source of all beauty, God. Emily Valentine Sottile is an expert in ecclesiastical art and architecture. As director of the Sacred Space Studio at EverGreene Architectural Arts, Brooklyn, NY, Emily draws on formal training in art history and theology—and over a decade of hands-on experience bringing large-scale restoration and new design projects to fruition—to develop artistry and restoration programs to support the liturgy and architecture. Emily is an adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY, and frequent contributor to The Chair documentary series (Amazon Prime). Emily holds a BA in History of Art from Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, and an MA in History of Art from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Color in Other Styles of Architecture The most effective examples of ecclesiastical decoration subtly imbue formalistic elements with theological content. This can be achieved in any style of architecture if care is taken to integrate the artistry program with the architecture.

Gothic architecture invites contemplation of salvation through imagery of the forest and the return to Eden, both of which express the state of

Exuberant patterning amplifies the architecture of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, UT.

The ornament of St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan is articulated using glazes (transparent colors).

perfect abandon to the will of God. A common example of this sort of artwork is the design of clustered columns like tree trunks reaching heavenward with branch-like ribs ornamented with foliated and fruited capitals. Peering through the “branches” we may see stars that help us recall God’s promise to Abraham and the sign of the Savior’s birth given to the Magi. In addition to the narrative imagery in windows, stained glass filters light through color in a way reminiscent of the dappled light filtering into the forest through leaves. Foliated motifs with a directional thrust towards the altar create a sense of procession and emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist in the Mass. A common casualty in post-historic renovations of Neo-Gothic churches are borders. On the theological side, painting over borders obscures the metaphor of the garden. On the formalistic side, borders enlarge the artwork they frame, allowing the art to be held in place by visual tension. Without borders, the artwork can float in space like postage stamps on an envelope, and the contrast between finely painted figurative murals and the white or beige wall is too stark, making for an abrupt or discordant transition from art to architecture.

Many insensitive post-historic renovations have sought to impose a style of artwork that is discordant with the architecture. Undecorated walls of a Cistercian monastery in Europe may be ideal for monastic contemplation and the architecture of that particular kind of building, but that doesn’t make painting the walls, ceilings, and ornament of a parish church in the Gothic style all white a good idea. Every aspect of liturgical art—the color of the walls, the style and placement of the decora-

The Shades of Colorful Language: A Lexicon • Palette: The selected range of colors intended for use—in the case of establishing a palette for an interior painting program it would identify the foundation colors for use in large areas such as walls and ceilings; prominent materials used in flooring, columns, visible beams or trusses, ornament, and furnishings; and accent colors used in patterning and figurative artwork. A harmonious palette is one in which the colors are of a family.

• Hue: What we think of as color—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc.

• Value: Relative light and dark—two different colors (such as a midnight blue and a deep forest green) are different colors (one is more blue and the other more green) but could carry the same relative value in terms of their relative darkness. In practical term this means either would carry the same visual weight in a composition.

• Chroma: Saturation/intensity—foundation colors will typically be more neutral and therefore lower in chroma (such as lighter golden colors, tans, and off-whites), whereas accent colors used for figurative painting, patterns, simple lining (using a relatively thin band of a single color to accentuate ornament), and cutting in color (introducing an accent color on panels or other discrete areas within the architecture) will be higher in chroma and appear more vibrant.

• Temperature: Coolness or warmth of a color—colors with blue and green undertones are cool and recede in space, while colors with red and yellow undertones are warm and will come forward.

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

An Occasion to Celebrate: Discovering the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions and Votive Masses of the Roman Missal

By Msgr. Marc B. Caron

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his article begins a series dedicated to an exploration of two often overlooked parts of the Roman Missal: the Masses for Various Need and Occasions and Votive Masses. This series will offer suggestions on how these texts can be integrated into the liturgical life of a parish in order to foster the devotion of the faithful and to bring a spiritual dimension to the full range of temporal realities the faithful encounter in daily life. In this way, the full, actual, and conscious participation of those present at Mass can be fostered since the words they hear prayed will reflect more closely the realities they live.

The Masses for various needs and occasions can offer a wealth of opportunities to bridge this gap between one’s faith life and one’s daily life. When used judiciously, this collection of orations can make the prayer of the Church resonate in harmony with the needs and hopes of those gathered around the altar. The words of these prayers can help those present recognize that the Gospel does in fact have something to say about what they experience. It may help them recognize that God is not distant, but wishes to be close to what is in their hearts each day. This series will explore how the prayers found in this section of the Roman Missal can be used wisely for this purpose.

A History Told in Weekdays Whenever we come to Mass on Sundays, we know that the three collects the priest celebrant will pray that day are unique to the occasion. By “collects” I mean what we colloquially call the opening prayer, the prayer over the gifts, and the prayer after communion. Each of these is specific to the given Sunday and they are used as a set on appointed Sundays throughout the year. Indeed, the current Roman Missal (2002) also has a specific set of three collects for each of the weekdays of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter as well. The most important days of the liturgical year, such as Christmas, Ascension, All Saints, and Assumption, also have sets of three collects which are specific to these feasts. In the history of the evolution of the Roman Missal, this was not always the case. Certainly, the sets of prayers to be used on Sundays and important feasts were the first to be codified. But even until 1969, the missal did not contain specific prayers for the weekdays of Advent, Christmas, or Easter for example.

The prayers of the previous Sunday were simply repeated throughout the week. This is still the case for the weekdays of Ordinary Time even now.

Early on in the history of the development of the Roman Missal, there arose the desire for prayers which were specific to the occasion being celebrated during the course of the week. For example, we know that Mass prayers for the celebration of funerals and weddings began to be standardized first. The earliest known ancestor to today’s missal, the so-called Leonine Sacramentary or Verona Sacramentary, dating from the middle of the sixth century, already included Mass prayers for these two important occasions. Eventually, additional prayers for events like baptisms, religious professions, and ordinations were added to the collections of Mass prayers found in medieval manuscripts. Today, the Roman Missal has an entire section of prayers for ritual Masses where a sacrament or a sacramental is celebrated.

As early as the middle of the eighth century in a manuscript called the Gelasian sacramentary (Vat. Reg. 316), we see sets of prayers composed for specific spiritual and temporal needs such as the salvation of the living, for birthdays, and for a barren woman. Eventually prayers for a wide range of intentions, such as prayers for rain, for the release of captives, or for the healing of the sick, were grouped together toward the end of missals in a section called orationes diversae. This multiplication of Mass texts for all kinds of intentions coincided with the new custom of the daily celebration of Mass by monks who were priests. Individuals would approach a monk and ask him to offer Mass for a specific need they had, whether for good crops, the forgiveness of their sins, etc. During the Carolingian period (800-1000 A.D.), many new sets of Mass prayers expressed the intention for which the priest had promised to pray at Mass.

Today, the Roman Missal (2002) includes a large number of sets of prayers for various needs and occasions—49 sets in fact. Twenty of these correspond to some need in the Church such as the unity of Christians or vocations to holy orders. Seventeen address pressing circumstances which communities face, such as exile, war, or famine. Twelve sets of formularies are devoted to needs which individuals face, such as sickness, imprisonment, or approaching death.

In addition, the Carolingian period was a time of great confidence in the intercessory role of the saints in the economy of salvation. Often, the celebration of Mass was requested to honor a particular saint as an act of thanksgiving after obtaining a favor through the power of that saint’s intercession. At Mass, the priest celebrant himself could intercede before God for a specific intention which was proposed to him. But the priest could also ask a saint to likewise intercede before God for the same intention. Therefore, votive Masses in honor of various saints were also offered in order to obtain specific blessings. This led to the development of many sets of Mass prayers and readings dedicated to the saints to thank them for favors obtained and to request their intercession in time of need.

Over time, the use of these votive Masses in honor of the saints became disengaged from any specific need. On a weekday when there was no special celebration of great importance, a priest might offer Mass in honor of St. Joseph or of the angels as an expression of his own personal devotion for example. Otherwise, the Mass prayers and readings from the previous Sunday were simply repeated every day of the following week. Eventually this system of votive Mass became highly structured. Unless a feast day intervened, the Roman Missal of 1570 provided that on Monday the priest could offer Mass in honor of the Trinity, on Tuesday Mass in honor of the angels, on Wednesday Mass in honor of St. Joseph or Sts. Peter and Paul or all the apostles, on Thursday Mass in honor of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Eucharist or Christ the High Priest, on Friday Mass in honor of the Holy Cross or the Passion of the Lord, and on Saturday Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over time, additional votive Masses were added to the missal, such as the Sacred Heart of Jesus, or more recently in 2002, in honor of the Mercy of God. The votive Masses in honor of one of the persons of the Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or one of the Apostles found in today’s missal are no longer assigned to specific days of the week, but are available for use whenever the occasion warrants it.

AB/WIKIPEDIA. THE ADORATION OF THE TRINITY, BY ALBRECHT DÜRER (1511).

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Unless a feast day intervened, the Roman Missal of 1570 provided that on Monday the priest could offer Mass in honor of the Trinity, on Tuesday Mass in honor of the angels, on Wednesday Mass in honor of St. Joseph or Sts. Peter and Paul or all the apostles, on Thursday Mass in honor of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Eucharist or Christ the High Priest, on Friday Mass in honor of the Holy Cross or the Passion of the Lord, and on Saturday Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over time, additional votive Masses were added to the missal.

The Church Takes a Holiday…

When faced with the many choices which the Roman Missal (2002) already provides, celebrants and liturgy committees can wonder why more choices taken from the Masses for various needs and occasions are needed. As we know, the optional memorials of saints can be observed or not. Prayers taken from the commons of the saints can supplement those in the sanctoral cycle for a given saint. Any of the Sunday collects can be used on a weekday, not simply the prayers from the previous Sunday.

Beautiful prayers exist for Masses for the dead and for the celebration of the sacraments, with ample choice left to the celebrant as to which prayers can best serve the spiritual needs of those present.

But there are many other times when the current sets of prayers in the temporal cycle or the sanctoral cycle do not correspond well with the occasion. Often these are days of civic importance or personal significance. These days can have great meaning for believers, and yet that meaning is rarely expressed by the wording of the usual ferial day’s prayers. Recognizing this lack, the bishops of the United States, for example, provided Mass texts for Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day in order to better express the importance these days hold for believers in the U.S. Mass texts drawn from the Masses from various needs and occasions can function in much the same way on other days of civic or personal importance.

For example, on Election Day (first Tuesday of November in the United States), would it not help to connect the life of faith with one’s civic duties to hear: “O God, who arrange all things according to a wonderful design, graciously receive the prayers we pour out to you for our country, that, through the wisdom of its leaders and the integrity of its citizens, harmony and justice may be assured and lasting prosperity come with peace” (For the Nation or State, no. 21). Or in a farming community at springtime, would it not convince those present that the life of faith is not isolated from their daily concerns were they to hear: “O God, by whose help we sow seeds in the earth that will grow by the effect of your power, grant that what we know to be lacking in our labors may be supplied abundantly by you, for you alone give increase” (At Seedtime, no. 27). Or on the first day of school, doesn’t it make sense to pray: “O God, who are without beginning or end, the source of all creation, grant us so to live this new year, whose beginning we dedicate to you, that we may abound in good things and be resplendent with works of holiness” (At the Beginning of the Civil Year, no. 25). On any of these occasions, it might be easier to simply fall back on the Mass prayers from the previous Sunday. But that choice becomes a missed opportunity to draw connection between the Church’s public prayer and the daily lived reality of parishioners.

The gradual, unconscious separation of the spiritual life from temporal life is a constant temptation for believers in a secularized society. Unfortunately, the Church can even foster this separation when its public prayer rarely refers to the actual realities faced by those present for the Eucharist. Believers come to church week after week on Sunday and may hear very little about how they live outside of church during the week. They can go away thinking that the faith has little to do with life. That is why it is so important for preaching to be timely and relevant as well as spiritual and challenging. The prayers of the faithful should reflect real needs in a local community, not simply generic, abstract concerns which fail to stir hearts to turn to God. When none of the prayers of the Mass, the collects, the prefaces, and the Eucharistic prayers for example, refer to what at those present consider important in their lives, the disconnect between faith and life widens.

Editor’s note: look for Msgr. Caron’s future entries on Masses for Various Needs and Occasions and Votive Masses in our monthly electronic newsletter, AB Insight, and on our website, www.adoremus.org.

Msgr. Marc B. Caron, S.T.D., is the vicar general and the moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Portland, ME. He has served as a pastor, as the director of the diocesan Office for Worship, and as a chancellor of the diocese. Most recently, he was a member of the faculty of St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, MA, where he was also director of liturgy. In 2021, he received the doctoral degree from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, writing on the sacramental nature of the diaconate.

He is the author of a number of articles which have appeared in The Jurist, Worship, Catechumenate, and Homiletic and Pastoral Review.

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Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

Q A

THE RITE QUESTIONS : How is an altar initiated according to the rites of the Church?

: If we have paid attention in Catholic school or catechism class, we know that our reflection of the Redeemer returns and grows through the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. Those who regain the lost image of God most perfectly are called saints. What we may not know is that the fallen, material world is similarly restored through a kind of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. A particularly substantial ritual that celebrates nature’s divine restoration is the Order for the Dedication of an Altar.

Before an altar comes to life as a divine image of Christ, it is as mundane as any other table. So when the diocesan bishop—who is the ordinary minister of adult initiation—arrives, he ignores the “altar” and walks immediately to his chair during the entrance procession.

After all, if the soon-to-be-but-not-quite-yet-initiated altar is at this point not significantly different from any other table, why would he bow to it or kiss it? In fact, at this, the beginning of the ritual, the altar stands naked: no cloths, no candles, no flowers adorning it.

But then a remarkable thing happens: the bishop blesses holy water, and then he sprinkles it on the people (whose hearts, the Rite says, are the true “altar of God”) and the altar. Much as that first creation emerged from the waters (Genesis 1:1)—and not unlike our own rebirth from the baptismal font—the altar begins its supernatural genesis from water.

After the sprinkling of holy water during the Mass’s introductory rites, the Liturgy of the Word follows. But this doesn’t mean that the altar is now fully initiated.

Like God’s people, whom the altar represents, the altar’s baptism is next “confirmed” with sacred chrism. The bishop goes to the altar and pours chrism on the four corners and center of the altar’s top, evoking the five wounds of Christ, whose image the altar is becoming. The bishop then anoints with his hand the entire altar top.

A few additional rites are necessary before the altar’s initiation is complete. First, the chrism is wiped from the altar—removed along with the incense that was also burned upon it, signifying how our “prayers rise like incense” (Psalm 141:2) before God. Washed clean with water and confirmed with sacred chrism, the altar is now covered with a white cloth (other colors are not permitted), much as the newly-baptized member of the Church dons an alb (from the Latin albus, “white”). Second, like the newly-vested neophyte who receives a lit baptismal candle, the altar’s candles are solemnly lit for the first time. Finally, the bishop performs that gesture he had omitted at the start of the Mass—he approaches the altar and kisses it, signaling that it is becoming the presence of Jesus.

But as significant as these elements are—the vesting, the lighting, and the kissing—the most important rite for the altar now begins: the celebration of the Eucharist. Here, again, we witness a remarkable parallel between the initiation of a person and the “initiation” of an altar: both complete their sacramental conformity to Christ in the reception of their first Holy Communion. When referring to the altar, the Order for the Dedication of an Altar cites St. John Chrysostom on the point: “This altar is an object of wonder: by nature it is stone, but it is made holy after it receives the Body of Christ.” There exists no greater transformative force on earth than the Eucharist, for it has the power to change any worthy recipient—be it a person or an altar—into Christ.

Men and women become saints by actualizing in the world their reception of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. Tables become altars by a similar sprinkling with holy water, anointing with sacred chrism, and receiving and giving the Eucharistic Christ.

—Answered by the Editors

Q A

: I s a new altar supposed to have an altar stone?

: An altar stone is a small piece of natural stone, roughly 12 to 14 inches square, inserted into the top slab of what the 1903 Catholic Encyclopedia rightly described as “the structure which answers the purpose of an altar when the whole altar is not consecrated.” Strange as it may seem, this small piece of stone was actually the entirety of the altar even when set into a larger altar-like setting. So in a proper understanding of terms, what is known in common parlance as an “al-

tar stone” is simply a tiny altar. “Altar stone” and “portable altar” are exact synonyms.

A classification made in liturgical law before the Second Vatican Council distinguished between fixed altars and portable altars. Fixed altars were immovably attached to the floor and required a large, single piece of stone as its entire top slab, called the mensa. The “altar stone” or portable altar, as this latter name implies, could be carried from place to place. It was consecrated by a bishop, anointed in five places, incised with five crosses and given a tiny cavity, called the sepulcher, for the placing of relics. When this altar stone was set into a permanent structure made of other materials like wood or plaster, it was known as a “quasi-fixed” altar.

Since liturgical law at the time only permitted altars made of stone, no matter how elaborate the “structure which serves the purpose of an altar” might be, if it was not made of stone, an altar stone had to be set into it to serve as the altar proper. Though the mind of the Church clearly preferred that the principal altar in a church be fixed with a full-sized stone mensa, permissions were given for a quasi-fixed altar if a large piece of stone was not available. And as with many permissions given by way of exception, it became almost the norm in American churches that even principal or “high” altars had only a 12-inch stone serving as their actual altar. Rightly, liturgical scholars urged that the full sign of the altar be expressed whenever possible with a full stone mensa, and encouraged people to avoid quasifixed altars which gave the appearance of a full altar while actually reducing it the minimum size needed to hold a chalice and paten.

Postconciliar legislation remedied this problem by allowing movable altars to be constructed of “any noble and solid materials suited to liturgical use” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 301). While the Church’s liturgical books maintain a clear preference for a fixed, stone altar, nonetheless a moveable altar can be made completely of wood, for instance, with no need for a stone insert. While not forbidden by name, altar stones are no longer prescribed by liturgical legislation, and therefore it is safe to conclude that the quasi-fixed arrangement is not envisioned for new altars.

In one last point of clarification, an older fixed altar with a stone mensa may show a small square cut out of the same stone near its center. This is not an altar stone, but rather the covering of the cavity in the mensa itself in which relics were placed. Depositing of relics within the mensa was a permitted option among others, including placing relics under the altar, until the postconciliar Order of the Dedication of an Altar (ODA) specifically forbade it in 1970 (par. 11). Ironically, the preconciliar rules for the construction of an altar required that the mensa be made of one piece of stone, noting that if it accidentally cracked into two pieces, it lost its consecration. Yet the very same rubrics allowed the mensa to be cut into two pieces to carve out a place for relics.

Today’s law requires relics to be placed under the mensa rather than within it precisely to remedy this situation, and therefore the altar is to be fully itself without attenuation, becoming clearly recognizable as Christ, the “living Altar of the heavenly Temple” (ODA, 1).

—Answered by Dr. Denis McNamara, Executive Director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College

Q

A

:D oes the priest ever

venerate the altar in the Liturgy of the Word?

: Of all the symbols in the church, the altar occupies the pre-eminent place among the signs of Christ in the church building. Indeed, “it is rightly forbidden both by custom and by liturgical law to dedicate a church without dedicating the altar” (Order for the Dedication of a Church and an Altar (ODCA), III.1)—a church is not a church without an altar. For the priest to lead any kind of liturgical prayer in the church without at least reverencing the altar would be akin to walking past one’s spouse without at least saying hello. By means of “the anointing with Chrism the altar is made a symbol of Christ who, before all others, is and is called, ‘The Anointed One’” (ODCA, II.16.a). The altar is Christ. Indeed, the church is called the “community of the altar” (LG 26). Even as the people do not physically encircle the altar, they are enumerated among the “circle of offerers”1 who are said to surround the altar (circumstantes). This is why the altar is venerated with a kiss after it is reverenced with a profound bow when the entrance procession reaches the sanctuary, whether at Mass, or at a liturgy of the word outside Mass.

The identification of the altar with Christ means that it is the principal sign-object around which prayer is offered in the church, since Christ is the one mediator between God and men. Even when the altar is not being used to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice, our deportment around the altar illustrates its central place in the life of the church at prayer. Outside the liturgy, a “deep bow is made to the altar by all who enter the sanctuary (chancel), leave it, or pass before the altar” (Ceremonial of Bishops (CB) 72). The altar is the perpetual “sign of Christ” in the church building, and so the visible sign of he who is “the source of the Church’s unity and of fraternal harmony” (ODCA, IV.48). Currently, the celebrant venerates the altar with a kiss at both at the beginning and end of Mass (CB 73). Moreover, during the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, the bishop venerates the altar with a kiss at the beginning and end of a solemn celebration of morning or evening prayer (CB 196) and then incenses the altar during the singing of the Benedictus and the Magnificat (CB 204).

The principal source for arguing for the venerating of the altar with a kiss, even in liturgical celebrations where Mass is not being celebrated, comes from the Ceremonial of Bishops, where it is said that a “Celebration of the word of God should be patterned on the structure of the liturgy of the word at Mass” (CB 224).

Wearing the miter and carrying the crozier, the bishop carries out “the introductory rites,” which include the entrance chant, greeting, and opening prayer (CB 226).

In the common way of seeing things, the greeting in the introductory rites consists of a single greeting of the people: “Peace be with you,” to which the people respond, “And with your spirit.” Nevertheless, in the “traditional practice of the Roman Rite” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) 42), the greetings are more diffuse than often recognized. Since at least the seventh century (and likely as far back as the fourth),2 the first thing that occurred when the entrance procession “reached the altar was a series of greetings— kisses, according to ancient custom.” These greetings were delivered to the “co-liturgists and also to the two objects most intimately connected with the liturgy, objects which represented Christ, the Gospel book and the altar.”3 The current General Instruction of the Roman Missal describes the actions that follow when the entrance procession reaches the altar as the “Salutatio altaris et populi congregati”—literally, the “greeting of the altar and of the assembled people” (GIRM 49).

Where the ministers are directed to “reverence the altar with a profound bow,” the word “reverence” translates saluto, “to greet, hail, salute.” Occasionally, “reverence” is used as a catchall for both reverencing the altar with a bow and venerating the altar with a kiss, as when the Ceremonial of Bishops describes the opening Mass for a diocesan synod: The bishop “reverences the altar and incenses it…then goes to the cathedra” (CB 1171).

Therefore, it might be best to see both the bow and the kiss as part of the salutatio altaris.

Regardless of whether Mass is being celebrated, the kissing of the altar is understood as an act of the veneration that the altar itself calls forth, as a sign of Christ.

Indeed, the kissing of the altar might ultimately be seen as a sign of adoration toward Christ himself. As Pope Benedict puts it, “The Latin word for adoration is adoratio—mouth to mouth contact, a kiss, an embrace, and hence, ultimately love.”4 —Answered by the Editors 1. Joseph A. Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, trans. Francis A. Brunner (Notre Dame, IN: Christian Classics, 1951), vol. 2, p. 162, 166.

2. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 314–15.

3. Ibid., p. 311.

4. Benedict XVI, God’s Revolution: World Youth Day and Other Cologne Talks (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 59.

MEMORIAL FOR Monsignor John M. Galyo Archdiocese of Philadelphia 1927-2015 from Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Brownell My parents and brother from Barbara Manson Father Thomas Baima from Christopher Carstens

IN THANKSGIVING Helen Hull Hitchcock For a valiant, holy woman from Kathleen and Tom Reeves

12

Adoremus Bulletin, May 2022

New Book on Homiletics Preaches at Crossroads of Art and Theology

The Art of Preaching: A Theological and Practical Primer

by Daniel Cardό. Foreword by Timothy Gallagher, OMV. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021. 224 pp. ISBN 978-0-8132-3473-1. $34.95 Paperback.

By Father Andrew Hofer, O.P.

P

ope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis, places a premium on the role played by the homily in the Mass—and gives the Church’s homilists a less than favorable review regarding the current state of homiletics. He writes, “Given the importance of the word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved” (46).

I thank God that we have a new book that can assist in remedying this significant need in the Church.

The author, Father Daniel Cardό, holds the Benedict XVI Chair of Liturgical Studies at Saint John Vianney Seminary in Denver and is Pastor of Holy Name Parish. He dedicates his latest book to his students and his parishioners at those two places respectively. The Art of Preaching: A Theological and Practical Primer demonstrates the wisdom and skill of someone with much experience of preaching and of teaching preaching. The book is clear in structure and layout, balanced in approach, incisive in judgment, and extraordinarily helpful. This review will touch upon each of these characteristics.

Clarity in Structure and Layout Father Cardό begins the book with an introduction titled, “Why Preach?” Honest about deep problems in the Church, he knows that “It can seem that the people of God are drifting further from our Lord every day, and indeed the statistics say so” (p. 5). The Church has been proposing a new evangelization, and Cardό believes that the future is full of hope because of God’s goodness. The author writes, “The springtime that we need will come from an unpretentious movement: to love Christ, and to know how to speak about him. This book hopes to offer a contribution for that future” (p. 5).

Not a scholarly manual but a user-friendly guide, the book offers the art of preaching through two principal considerations. Part I gives the Foundations of Preaching in nine chapters, and Part II contains a Homiletics Reader, with Chapters 10–23 offering selections from sermons of model preachers in the Church from the fourth-century St. Gregory Nazianzen to our current Holy Father, Pope Francis.

Part I has nine chapters, each about a dozen pages in length, arranged in logical order. Each chapter ends with Questions for Reflection and Conversation, a tool that can be handy for a classroom or group discussion. After the first chapter’s emphasis on “Homiletics: The Challenge and the Opportunity,” the book gives chapters dedicated to public speaking and a theology of preaching.

After Chapter 5’s detailing advice from a spectrum of the faithful who listen to preaching, the book gives counsel about preparing a Sunday homily and its delivery. Chapter 8 focuses on the brilliant example of St. Augustine, and the last chapter of Part I extols preaching as locus theologicus, a place of authority for thinking about God. A consummate teacher who can explain difficult concepts in an intelligible way to students, Father Cardό takes that final chapter of the first part of the book to show that those called to preach are called to be theologians. He explains the term locus theologicus, borrowed from the 16-century Dominican Melchior Cano, as a “theological place” in three respects: a place for encountering the Word, a place for the celebration of God’s Word, and a place to listen to theology.

Father Cardό introduces Part II by explaining that he is offering “a sample of exemplary homilies for personal reflection and group discussion, because we need to learn from the best” (p. 123). He does not intend for readers to copy what great preachers have done in Church history, but rather to learn from them. The 14 homilies selected for the book, chronologically arranged, communicate an amazing range of homiletic styles. Readers can hear from St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. John Chrysostom, St. Leo the Great, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop Jean-Bénigne Bossuet,

St. John Henry Newman, Father Ronald Knox, St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.

Like the chapters in Part I, each chapter of Part II concludes with thought-provoking questions.

The book holds an admirable clarity in design and argument, and it is indeed a “primer,” a starting point for the art of preaching.

Balance One of the qualities of Father Cardό’s book that has most impressed me is its balance. It is both deeply theological and eminently practical. It offers the research of Church history, with special attention to the Fathers of the Church, while responding to the needs of the present time. It gives appreciative readings of the magisterial teachings of the post-Vatican II pontificates, and it offers opinions from those in the pews. The book is very Catholic, steering clear of useless polemics but recognizing grave problems and the need to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the ultimate solution to these problems.

As an example of the balance which characterizes the book’s overall approach, in Chapter 2, “Homiletics and Public Speaking,” the author recognizes that preaching is a species of oration—public address, and so its exploration of the natural virtues of a good speech precedes Chapter 3’s Theology of Preaching. (Grace does not destroy nature, but presupposes it, after all.) Within his treatment of public speaking, Cardό has a dual focus: how to employ the principles of classical rhetoric within a contemporary setting. In classical rhetoric, he draws upon Aristotle for the three main modes of persuasion to cause pistis (trust) in an audience: logos (appeal to reason), ethos (appeal to virtue), and pathos (appeal to emotion). Like Augustine, he draws from Cicero the three necessary objectives of teaching, delighting, and swaying. He also borrows from Quintilian the canons of rhetoric which must be kept in mind during the composition of the homily: invention, arrangement (with introduction, narration, argumentation, and conclusion), style, memory, and delivery. Cardό briefly explains each.

After all that foundational work, Cardό looks at the popularity of TED Talks as a contemporary example of successful oration. Relying upon TED Talks’ head and curator Chris Anderson, who has written the official TED guide, he finds that preachers can learn much. For example, every TED talk needs a “throughline,” a connecting theme that keeps all the parts together to help produce the overall meaning. Cardό writes, “I am convinced that if this one practice were implemented by all preachers, we would witness a quick and significant improvement in the quality and timing of homilies” (p.

33). Underscoring that there are significant differences between TED talks and preaching, the author offers his readers some important take-aways. Every homily needs a personal connection, but any talk that conveys egocentrism will be ineffective. Powerful stories help, as homilies, like TED talks, need to elicit interest from hearers.

Ultimately, preachers are meant to be persuasive and to fill the church with awe and enthusiasm—though not for the speaker as such, but for his subject, Jesus Christ.

Incisive Judgment Father Cardό’s book not only offers balance, it communicates incisiveness in judgment. The author is an accomplished liturgical scholar. He has been markedly influenced by the theology of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, and his previous books include The Cross and the Eucharist in Early Christianity: A Theological and Liturgical Investigation (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Whether he gives speculative considerations or practical advice in The Art of Preaching, Father Cardό offers keen

insights that support a rich appreciation for the mysteries of faith in homiletics for the real needs of today.

For example, from a theological perspective, Chapter 4 helps the reader understand preaching through an incarnational approach. “It is no exaggeration to say that communion with Christ the incarnate Word is the real foundation for good preaching,” the author writes, “which in the end consists in accepting the Word in our lives, learning from him how to proclaim the good news, and learning to do so with him. Only in Christ are we truly capable of knowing God, of whom we preach; and of knowing our people to whom we preach” (p. 52, original emphases).

Father Cardό continues to spell out this incarnational logic, modelled on the one divine person of Jesus Christ, who has both divine and human natures. Christ offers those conformed to him by holy orders a capability of acting in both the divine and human worlds. Father Cardό summarizes that “in communion with Jesus, the preacher becomes capable of speaking of ‘two worlds,’ translating God to his people, and bringing his people to God.” But Father Cardό also offers some practical wisdom along with the theological kind that appears in his book.

He knows that preachers will have different ways of delivering a homily, but he insists that some qualities must be present. One is eye contact. “A homily is interpersonal communication, an experience of communion and conversation. Because of this personal character, the homilist normally looks at his people when he preaches. Eye contact is one of the most natural and evident expressions of this personal aspect of preaching: naturally, we look at those we are addressing. We must avoid certain defects as we preaching, such as simply reading from a text, looking at a wall, or closing our eyes” (p. 95).

Furthermore, his wisdom on practical matters also touches on uniquely contemporary questions: “Is there room for using videos or presentations on screens during the homily?” He writes in response “Mass should be one of the few oases in which the soul can rest from screens” (p. 97). It is important to maintain the sacredness of the liturgy in a way that separates the Mass’s homily from the latest video technology.

Extraordinary Helpfulness Father Cardό has done a remarkable service for the book’s readers. As a priest in the Order of Preachers who has been blessed to teach preaching in Nairobi, Kenya and Washington, DC, and who loves to write about patristic preaching, I have found The Art of Preaching exceedingly advantageous. In the last several months, it has been an important part of my ongoing formation as a preacher, and I have already cited it in my writing. It can be an influential book for those in initial formation to be preachers and for those in ongoing formation.

For student and experienced preacher alike, Father Cardό returns preaching to the breathtaking basics of salvation. Listen to his words: “What we preach is simple: Jesus is Lord. Of course, simple does not mean shallow or repetitive. The depths of the simplicity of God are infinite” (p. 45). The author stresses that the greatest preachers have varying styles, “and yet their voices form a wonderful polyphonic song to the Lord, magnificently blended by the harmony of love. Is it a coincidence that the most memorable homilies of our tradition were preached by saints?” (p. 450).

I highly recommend The Art of Preaching to all bishops, priests, deacons, and those in formation for Holy Orders. Additionally, those who do not practice liturgical preaching but want to support its renewal may also read this book with great profit—and they may want to give it as a gift to preachers. I, as one preacher, am grateful that it was given to me.

Father Andrew Hofer, O.P., teaches on the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, where he serves as editor of The Thomist. His publications include Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (OUP, 2013) and The Word in Our Flesh: The Power of Patristic Preaching (CUAP, forthcoming). He is presently co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Deification (OUP), The Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Sermons (CUP), The Pastoral Theology of the Early Church (CUAP), and Thomas Aquinas as Spiritual Teacher (Sapientia Press).

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