Fifty Years of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Today is the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, on December 4, 1963. Understanding the primal importance of the liturgy, this was the first document approved by the Second Vatican Council and it followed a long and growing "liturgical movement," which extended back for many decades. Many prior popes and bishops, including St. Pope Pius X, had recognized the need for various reforms to meet people's desire for deeper appreciation of and greater lay participation in the Holy Mass.

One of those involved in the liturgical movement was Father Joseph Ratzinger, who was a peritus (advisor) to the Council (and later became Pope Benedict XVI). In his contemporary account, he described how important the sacred liturgy is and why the situation as it existed prior to the Council demonstrated an evident need for renewal.

[F]or the Church, divine worship is a matter of life and death. If it is no longer possible to bring the faithful to worship God, and in such a way that they themselves perform this worship, then the Church has failed in its task and can no longer justify its existence. But it was on precisely this point that a profound crisis occured in the life of the Church. Its roots reach far back. In the late Middle Ages, awareness of the real essence of Christian worhip increasingly vanished. Great importance was attached to externals, and these choked out essentials. (Theological Highlights of Vatican II, 129)

Although the Council of Trent eliminated some abuses that had crept into the liturgy over time and made some reforms to prevent new overgrowths in the future, Father Ratzinger noted that this created its own problems.

The main measure [after the Council of Trent] was to centralize all liturgical authority in the Sacred Congregation of Rites . . . This authority completely lacked historical perspective; it viewed the liturgy solely in terms of ceremonial rubrics, treating it as a kind of problem of proper court etiquette for sacred matters. This resulted in the complete archaizing of the liturgy, which now passed from the stage of living history, became embalmed in the status quo and was ultimately doomed to internal decay. The liturgy had become a rigid, fixed and firmly encrusted system; the more out of touch with genuine piety, the more attention was paid to its prescribed norms. . . . The baroque era adjusted to this situation by superimposing a kind of para-liturgy on the archaized actual liturgy. Accompanied by the splendor of orchestral performance, the baroque high Mass became a kind of sacred opera in which the chants of the priest functioned as a kind of periodic recitative. The entire performance seemed to aim at a kind of festive lifting of the heart, enhanced by the beauty of a celebration appealing to the eye and ear. On ordinary days, when such display was not possible, the Mass was frequently covered over with devotions more attractive to the popular mentality. . . . In practice this meant that while the priest was busy with his archaic liturgy, the people were busy with their devotions to Mary. They were united with the priest only by being in the same church with him and by consigning themselves to the sacred power of the eucharistic sacrifice. (Theological Highlights of Vatican II, 130-32)

Faced with this situation, as the bishops themselves could see in their own churches, the Council Fathers saw the need for liturgical renewal, including taking steps to make a reality the expressed desire of Pope Pius X for greater "active participation" on the part of the laity.

In order that the Christian people may more certainly derive an abundance of graces from the sacred liturgy, holy Mother Church desires to undertake with great care a general restoration of the liturgy itself. For the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change. These not only may but ought to be changed with the passage of time if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it.

In this restoration, both texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify; the Christian people, so far as possible, should be enabled to understand them with ease and to take part in them fully, actively, and as befits a community. (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 21)

Clearly, then, this was not a "reinvention" of the Mass, nor was it the creation of a "new Mass," as that term is sometimes derisively used. As a matter of sacramental doctrine, there is one and only one Mass, just as there is only one God, one holy sacrifice of Christ, and one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Rather, as the text indicates, this was to be a restoration of the whole purpose of the liturgy – "when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects. . . . Such participation by the Christian people as 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people' (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2:4-5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism." (Id., 11, 14).

It is to their credit that our excellent priests at Blessed Sacrament have helped to make the blessings of Sacrosanctum Concilium a reality. And thanks to Bishop Loverde, and Bishops Keating and Welsh before him, that the sacred liturgy throughout the Diocese of Arlington is so reverent and fruitful. (Sadly, in some locales this is not always the case, as many of us discover when we travel during the holidays and go to Mass in some other diocese and/or as some others of us experienced back in the 1970s. Although the Mass is always holy – because Christ himself who is present in the Mass is holy – that much-needed reverence can sometimes be lacking.)

The fruits of Sacrosanctum Concilium are many, but understanding that our faith is a journey, there is still room for us to grow, to move ever closer to the Lord. As Pope Francis has been saying a lot in a variety of contexts, let us ask God for this grace in the sacred liturgy, to be more worthily disposed and to grow deeper in the love of Christ, the Holy Bridegroom of the Church.

Daughter of her Son - the Assumption of Mary

by Mark Rothe, Master Catechist

Today is the Solemnity of the Bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, a "holy day of obligation."

 About this idea of Mass as an "obligation" --

 Yes, this is the Church's own terminology, and it is 100 percent true, but I'll confess I'm not entirely comfortable with the word in our contemporary times. Too many people associate "obligation" with drudgery, a burden, a really big pain, something one has to do when when he would rather being doing something else that is more interesting or beneficial. We're obliged to pay way too much of our hard-earned money in taxes rather than spend it on what we want to spend it on. We're obliged to get up in the morning and have to go to work, rather than sleep in and play all day. In most people's eyes, obligation is the antithesis of freedom. It is a matter of owing something to another, rather than giving it freely and voluntarily.

Well, Mass need not be, and should not be, seen as a burden and a hassle. Instead, it should rightly be seen an an opportunity. An opportunity to be with God and love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we receive from Him, the more we obtain the grace to be truly free, the freedom and power to do good and be the people we want to be, rather than be the slaves of worldly desire and sin. Thus, we can see that the truth of the "obligation" to attend Mass is not something that deprives us of freedom, rather, it is a truth that sets us free. In fact, it so liberates us that, by showing God your love at Mass, you can receive the "medicine of immortality," i.e. the Eucharist. It is hope, the hope by which we are already saved.

 If we love God, and if we want to be with Him in heaven, then we should want to be with Him for a little bit while we are still sojourning down here on earth. Conversely, if we purposely do not go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, we are saying that we do not want to be with God, we do not want to spend a measly one-hour in His presence. Not only does that end up making us less free, making us servants and slaves to worldly concerns and sin, it imposes the enormous burdens and pains and drudgery that are associated with worldly concerns and sin.

 Ultimately, of course, that means that if we do not want to be with God here and now, then we will not be with Him after we have left this earth. Despite the use of the word "obligation" to refer to Sundays and Holy Days, neither God nor the Church will force you to go to Mass, just as God will not force you to spend time with Him in heaven. You are perfectly free to spend your eternity apart from Him in hell if you desire.

 So, go to Mass!

If you have been away for awhile, for whatever reason you left and/or have stayed away, do not be afraid to admit that you are starving. Come home. The Father will slaughter the fatted calf and all of heaven will rejoice and celebrate.

 If it is not proper for you to receive Holy Communion because you’ve done something that you shouldn’t have done and thus are in a state of sin, but you like it and intend to keep on doing it, so that you're not ready to go to Confession yet, don't go up for Communion, but do still go to Mass! Jesus Christ is there!  (And work toward getting yourself to Confession!)

 If the liturgy is poorly done, or if the music is bad, or the homily is boring, or the other people are dressed inappropriately, or the priest/deacon/ministers are too liberal or too conservative or too this or too that, or you stayed out too late the night before, or you don't understand some of the teachings of the Church, or you think you know better and oppose the Church, or whatever million other excuses you can come up with, even when you are fully justified in your dissatisfaction, none of that is God's fault. Don't take it out on Him. He is the remedy to all these problems. He is the priceless pearl. The Eucharist is "the source and summit" of our faith. The Blessed Sacrament is Emmanuel, God with us. No matter how lousy everything else is, do not let that keep you from Him.

Mass is not a burdensome duty, but is an empowering opportunity. It should not be thought of as having to go to Mass, but as getting to go to Mass. An opportunity to be with God and love Him.

A Treasure to Behold: The New English Translation of the Roman Missal

We will soon experience the Mass in a way that is even closer to the Scriptures and more poetic than we have known.  After many years of careful work, the new English translation of the Roman Missal, the prayers of the Mass from the official Latin texts, will begin to be used at Masses in dioceses throughout the United States on the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, 2011.  But changes to the Roman Missal over the centuries are not new at all — these are simply the newest changes to the Missal.

With the new English translation, the whole Church in the United States has a new opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the Mass and how important it is in each of our lives, said Fr. Terry Cramer, Parochial Vicar at Blessed Sacrament Parish. “The attitude we should have is that this is an invitation to go deeper and deeper into the Mass,” he told parishioners gathered in Quinn Hall on Saturday, Oct. 29 for his presentation on the new translations.

“Why is the Church doing this? Changes the Church does are always for the betterment of our souls, “ Father Cramer said. “ The Church does change. Anything that is organic and living changes.  Think back to the early Church, when people gathered in people’s homes for Mass.  The Mass back then didn’t look like what the Mass looks like today.  But Who we worship and the essence of the Mass does not change.  It has remained exactly the same for 2,000 years.  The way we celebrate has to be adapted to times and places.”

The following provides an overview of how often the Roman Missal has changed over the centuries:

• 1570 – Pius V promulgated the first Roman Missal as mandated by the Council of Trent (1545-1563)
• 1604 – Clement VIII
• 1634 – Urban VIII
• 1834 – Pope Leo XIII
• 1920 – Pope Benedict XV
• 1962 – Pope John XXIII (used today for Masses in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, sometimes called Tridentine Rite)
• 1970 – Paul VI
• 1975 – Paul VI
• 2000 - John Paul II

The parish is providing several resources to help: at the parish office booklets are available “Understanding the Revised Mass Texts” by Fr. Paul Turner, also laminated cards with the new words soon will be in the pews, along with new Ritual Song books which will have the whole Mass in the front of it.  Fr. Cramer said, “We’re not going to leave you high and dry. You’ll have the resources. ... In your prayer time, look over some of the changes to the prayers, take that to adoration and read over it. Allow these changes, these beautiful prayers, to sink into your soul and make a difference.”

After the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) the amount of Scripture readings proclaimed in the Mass increased, so the Roman Missal was divided into two books, the Lectionary and the Sacramentary.  The big red book that you see on the altar that the altar servers hold up for the priest, the Sacramentary, which contains the prayers the priest uses, and the Lectionary for Mass, with the Scripture readings, make up the Roman Missal.  With the new English translation, the name of the Sacramentary will change to the Roman Missal.

In 1963, the revised rite of the Mass was called for in the Vatican II document Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy by Pope John XXIII.  Very soon after the Council ended in 1965, the revised Order of Mass in Latin with the people’s parts in the vernacular (language native to a region or country) was published.  The English translations from the official Latin texts, first issued in 1966, were done very quickly, aiming to get the texts out as soon as possible and to capture the spirit or essence of the Latin texts rather than a word for word translation.  Rather than a word for word translation from Latin, the Vatican document Comme le Prévoit (“So as to allow”) called for a “dynamic equivalent” translation to express the ideas that were in the Latin text.  For more on this, see this article by Father Bryan P. Babick, SL.L., the diocesan vicar for Divine Worship and the Sacraments of the Diocese of Charleston, SC, “Does the new translation mean we've been wrong?”

For example, our current translation of the people’s response during the Liturgy of the Eucharist has “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”  Fr. Cramer said, “That is nowhere near what it says in Latin, which is ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.’”  We recognize the words “that you should enter under my roof” as the words the centurion said Jesus in asking him to heal his servant. “The centurion said …, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8).

Fr. Cramer added, “The Latin Mass is not changing.  It is the standard text, so it will always stay the same.  This is not the new Mass. It is a newly translated Missal.”

In 1969, Pope Paul VI promulgated the revised rite of Mass as the definitive Latin text with his Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum, with the changes to be used beginning the First Sunday of Advent of that year. However, the revised Roman Missal itself actually was published in 1970.  It was translated into English and issued in 1974.  A second Latin edition of the Roman Missal was issued in 1975.  It was published in English in 1985 and is the one the priests use today in the Sacramentary.  For the Great Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II promulgated the third edition of the Roman Missal.   

To guide the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal into the vernacular, in 2001, the Vatican issued a document Liturgiam authenticam (On the Use of Vernacular Languages in the Publication of the Books of the Roman Liturgy) which called for “formal equivalency” in the translation from Latin to the vernacular. The document states, “it seems necessary to consider anew the true notion of liturgical translation in order that the translations of the Sacred Liturgy into the vernacular languages may stand secure as the authentic voice of the Church of God” (7).  It later says: “While it is permissible to arrange the wording, the syntax and the style in such a way as to prepare a flowing vernacular text suitable to the rhythm of popular prayer, the original text, insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses” (20).

Another reason for the need for the new Roman Missal is that more feasts have been added to the Church.  Under Pope John Paul II numerous saints were proclaimed in the Church, such as Saint Padre Pio and many others, but they’re not in the Sacramentary now. They are now in the new Missal.  Father Cramer noted, “Eventually, 20 years from now, 30 years from now there will be more saints and we will need to have a new Missal again.  It’s quite normal that throughout the centuries of the Church we get new Missals.  What’s more remarkable is that we don’t do it more often.”

The changes should be accepted as an invitation to pause and reflection on what, after so many years, we may have taken for granted, Fr. Cramer added.  “I can tell you that there is an absolute great need for this.” 

He said a middle school student asked him recently, “Why do the priests have that consecration prayer when the hosts come from the convent? Surely the nuns blessed them.”  The student did not understand that the Eucharist is confected by a priest by pronouncing the words of consecration in the Mass and that it truly becomes the Body of Christ, just as at the Last Supper.  “So many people don’t… grasp what the Mass is and Who the Eucharist is!  So hopefully this will help us go a little deeper, especially parents with children, grandparents …help your grandchildren understand what the Mass is.  Because if we believe (the Eucharist) is only a symbol, then … we’re no better than a country club that gets together because we like each other.  We are at Mass to be on our knees before God.”  He noted that among Catholics today, “not just children, but many adults believe the Eucharist is a symbol and not Christ Himself.”

Father Cramer said of the current changes, “I’d say within two years, at most, it will become a lot more natural for us.  The first several times it’s going to be very different. .. But the reaction shouldn’t be to pull back, it should be to dive in. The more work we put into it, the easier it’s going to be and the more beautiful it’s going to be.”

Pope Benedict XVI himself, to stress the connection between our daily lives and the Mass, wrote two of the new options the priest may choose from for the dismissal prayer at the end of Mass.  They are "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord" and "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life."

The author, Jennifer Reed, is a Blessed Sacrament Parishioner