Talk: Priests’ Meeting, Nashik Catholic Diocese, 28 Jan 11, Fri, 9am
All of us present here, undoubtedly, have been attracted by a good, holy priest who celebrated the Holy Mass with devotion, faith and love. I recall my life in my own parish hostel in Assam, in the diocese of Tezpur, how I was attracted by the Eucharistic celebration. And I thought to myself that one day I will also celebrate Mass.
As priests, our life is so much immersed in liturgy, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments.
This morning, I would like to place before you some liturgical sharings under the title Liturgy in the life of a priest. The injunction from the Church and the Lord is that we become ‘pastors’ (who lead the people to God and bring down God to them) and not just ‘rubricists or doers of ceremonies and ceremonials’.
1)Life of a priest and the celebration of Eucharist are integral
Pope John Paul II gave us a strong reminder of this with his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (17 Ap 2003) wherein he set forth afresh certain elements of great importance on this subject in view of the ecclesial circumstances of our times. We know the importance of the eucharist in relationship to the church. Today, however, a priest’s life is so hectic. Full of administration that at times there is hardly time to prepare oneself really well for this great mystery.
Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic journey to Ireland, wayback on 1 Oct 1979, he addressed priests, missionaries, religious brothers and sisters at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Monday.
2: My first words go to the priests, diocesan and religious. I say to you what Saint Paul said to Timothy. I ask you "to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when (the Bishop) laid (his) hands on you" (2 Tim 1:6). Jesus Christ himself, the one High Priest said: "I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!" (Lk 12 :49). You share in his priesthood; you carry on his work in the world. His work cannot be done by lukewarm or half-hearted priests. His fire of love for the Father and for men must burn in you. His longing to save mankind must consume you.
You are called by Christ as the apostles were. You are appointed like them, to be with Christ. You are sent, as they were, to go out in his name, and by his authority, to "make disciples of all the nations" (cf. Mt 10:1; 28:19; Mk 3:13-16).
Your first duty is to be with Christ. You are each called to be "a witness to his Resurrection" (Acts1:22). A constant danger with priests, even zealous priests, is that they become so immersed in the work of the Lord that they neglect the Lord of the work.
We must find time, we must make time, to be with the Lord in prayer. Following the example of the Lord Jesus himself, we must "always go off to some place where (we can) be alone and pray" (cf.Lk 5:16) . It is only if we spend time with the Lord that our sending out to others will be also a bringing of him to others.
3: To be with the Lord is always also to be sent by him to do his work. A priest is called by Christ; a priest is with Christ; a priest is sent by Christ. A priest is sent in the power of the same Holy Spirit which drove Jesus untiringly along the roads of life, the roads of history. Whatever the difficulties, the disappointments, the set-backs, we priests find in Christ and in the power of his Spirit the strength to "struggle wearily on, helped only by his power driving (us) irresistibly" (cf. Col1:29).
2) Dangers of a slip-shod Eucharistic Celebration
We are well aware of the dangers of a slip-shod Eucharistic celebration. Since we are so busy, there is a danger to take some short-cuts. Pope John Paul II warns us strongly in the same encyclical of Ecclesia de eucharistia.
52: All of this makes clear the great responsibility which belongs to priests in particular for the celebration of the Eucharist. It is their responsibility to preside at the Eucharist in persona Christi and to provide a witness to and a service of communion not only for the community directly taking part in the celebration, but also for the universal Church, which is a part of every Eucharist. It must be lamented that, especially in the years following the post-conciliar liturgical reform, as a result of a misguided sense of creativity and adaptation there have been a number of abuses which have been a source of suffering for many. A certain reaction against “formalism” has led some, especially in certain regions, to consider the “forms” chosen by the Church's great liturgical tradition and her Magisterium as non-binding and to introduce unauthorized innovations which are often completely inappropriate.
I consider it my duty, therefore to appeal urgently that the liturgical norms for the celebration of the Eucharist be observed with great fidelity. These norms are a concrete expression of the authentically ecclesial nature of the Eucharist; this is their deepest meaning. Liturgy is never anyone's private property, be it of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated. The Apostle Paul had to address fiery words to the community of Corinth because of grave shortcomings in their celebration of the Eucharist resulting in divisions (schismata) and the emergence of factions (haireseis) (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34). Our time, too, calls for a renewed awareness and appreciation of liturgical norms as a reflection of, and a witness to, the one universal Church made present in every celebration of the Eucharist. Priests who faithfully celebrate Mass according to the liturgical norms, and communities which conform to those norms, quietly but eloquently demonstrate their love for the Church. Precisely to bring out more clearly this deeper meaning of liturgical norms, I have asked the competent offices of the Roman Curia to prepare a more specific document, including prescriptions of a juridical nature, on this very important subject. No one is permitted to undervalue the mystery entrusted to our hands: it is too great for anyone to feel free to treat it lightly and with disregard for its sacredness and its universality.
3) Dangers of Liturgical Abuses
In line with the injunction of the pope, the sacred congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacrament issued an instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, 25 March 2004, on certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist.
2. This instruction takes up some elements of liturgical norms that have been previously expounded or laid down and even today remain in force in order to assure a deeper appreciation of the liturgical norms; to establish certain norms by which those earlier ones are explained and complemented; and also to set forth for Bishops, as well as for Priests, Deacons and all the lay Christian faithful, how each should carry them out in accordance with his own responsibilities and the means at his disposal.
9: The document says that abuses are often based on ignorance, in that they involve a rejection of those elements whose deeper meaning is not understood and whose antiquity is not recognized. For “the liturgical prayers, orations and songs are pervaded by the inspiration and impulse” of the Sacred Scriptures themselves, “and it is from these that the actions and signs receive their meaning”. As for the visible signs “which the Sacred Liturgy uses in order to signify the invisible divine realities, they have been chosen by Christ or by the Church”. Finally, the structures and forms of the sacred celebrations according to each of the Rites of both East and West are in harmony with the practice of the universal Church also as regards practices received universally from apostolic and unbroken tradition, which it is the Church’s task to transmit faithfully and carefully to future generations. All these things are wisely safeguarded and protected by the liturgical norms.
11: The Mystery of the Eucharist “is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured”. On the contrary, anyone who acts thus by giving free reign to his own inclinations, even if he is a Priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved, and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today. Nor do such actions serve authentic pastoral care or proper liturgical renewal; instead, they deprive Christ’s faithful of their patrimony and their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal, but are detrimental to the right of Christ’s faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church’s life in accordance with her tradition and discipline. In the end, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony into the very celebration of the Eucharist, which is oriented in its own lofty way and by its very nature to signifying and wondrously bringing about the communion of divine life and the unity of the People of God. The result is uncertainty in matters of doctrine, perplexity and scandal on the part of the People of God, and, almost as a necessary consequence, vigorous opposition, all of which greatly confuse and sadden many of Christ’s faithful in this age of ours when Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of “secularization” as well.
4) General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), Institutio generalis Missalis Romani (IGMR), 3rd edition, March 2002. This will need another revision in view of the new missal.
GIRM has brought about changes not in the theology of the eucharist but in the ‘importance and dignity of the Eucharistic celebration’.
A few reminders to us all:
1)Vatican II’s SC14 exhortation: participation – active, full and conscious. We are trying to achieve this even today.
2) IG22: dignity of the celebration through the liturgical space, music and art.
3) IG29: readings are to be proclaimed. 4) IG39: importance of singing, choir.
5) IG42, 43: movements and postures ‘pertains to the common spiritual good of the people of God, rather than to personal inclination or arbitrary choice.’ 6) IG276: incensation is an expression of reverence and of prayer but the use of it is optional in any form of Mass.
7) IG296: altar at Mass becomes the centre of liturgy. 8) IG305: Moderation in decorations. Flowers are placed around and not on it. 9) IG307: candles are to be appropriately placed either on or around the altar in a way suited to the design of the altar. 10) IG308: crucifix…to be clearly visible to the people gathered together. 11) IG24: inculturation of gestures, signs and symbols, 12) IG61: responsorial ps should correspond to each reading.
5) New Missal 2011
It is the outcome of Liturgiam authenticam, 28 March 2001, of the SC for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, 5th instruction, ‘for the right implementation of the constitution on the sacred liturgy of the 2nd Vatican Council (SC36), on the use of vernacular languages in the publication of the books of the Roman liturgy. To appreciate the outcome of the new missal, it is recommended that one goes through the following:
i) Explaining the history of the roman missal
ii) The new English translation of the missale romanum 2002
iii) The ars celebrandi and the new roman missal
iv) Pro multi
v) And with your spirit
vi) New Missal: priest and the faithful
Contributed by Fr Alu, sdb. I appreciate his thinking of the Priesthood
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