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| Some of the guys I studied liturgy with in seminary, getting ready to "do liturgy". |
When the Pope writes a letter, we have to ask ourselves, what is he doing with this? Is he making a law, or pronouncing a teaching, or resolving a dispute? Is he laying down a blueprint for a new program or initiative? So when I heard last week that we would be receiving Desiderio Desideravi, an Apostolic Letter from the Holy Father Francis on the Liturgical Formation of the People of God, I was more than a little concerned.
It is almost the last thing I would have expected. Even after I read the introduction where he explained, I write to share with you some reflections on the liturgy. … I do not intend to treat the question in an exhaustive way. I simply desire to offer some prompts or cues for reflections that can aid in the contemplation of the beauty and truth of Christian celebration, I was not sure what to make of it. But as I worked through it (over 11,000 words in 65 paragraphs), it took me back to my days in seminary.
We study many subjects in preparation for priesthood, but the one that everyone has a strong opinion about, and everyone has a vested interest in, is liturgy. Because even before we start the seminary, we all have an experience of liturgy; and once we have finished the seminary, we will be responsible for “doing” liturgy. Most other subjects could seem abstract, if only by comparison.
We knew we would be responsible for the liturgy, and while we might not have been sure exactly how we would do it, we at least had plenty of ideas about how we would not do it. After suffering through disappointing or even appalling liturgical efforts, we were resolved to do better. Maybe that is why the Holy Father’s approach in his letter reminded me of those days; he, too, lists expansively many things not to do. Here is one of his characteristic “not this, but not that either” paragraphs:
We could say that there are different “models” of presiding. Here is a possible list of approaches, which even though opposed to each other, characterize a way of presiding that is certainly inadequate: rigid austerity or an exasperating creativity, a spiritualizing mysticism or a practical functionalism, a rushed briskness or an overemphasized slowness, a sloppy carelessness or an excessive finickiness, a superabundant friendliness or priestly impassibility.
A cursory reading of that litany readily draws agreement; a closer reading by one who has to chart his course down the narrow path between disastrous opposites leads to more circumspection about one’s ability and even the possibility of finding that blessed “happy medium”. But lest you think that Pope Francis sets the liturgical bar high only for us priestly types, he has other news for you! Listen to this:
Speaking of this theme we are inclined to think of it only in regards to ordained ministers carrying out the service of presiding. But in fact this is an attitude that all the baptized are called to live. I think of all the gestures and words that belong to the assembly: gathering, careful walking in procession, being seated, standing, kneeling, singing, being in silence, acclamations, looking, listening. There are many ways in which the assembly, as one body, (Nehemiah 8:1) participates in the celebration. Everybody doing together the same gesture, everyone speaking together in one voice — this transmits to each individual the energy of the entire assembly. It is a uniformity that not only does not deaden but, on the contrary, educates individual believers to discover the authentic uniqueness of their personalities not in individualistic attitudes but in the awareness of being one body.
So now, if you care to read his letter, you will find you have your marching orders. He sets no small task before us all. Quoting twentieth-century author Romano Guardini, he tells us: “Here there is outlined the first task of the work of liturgical formation: man must become once again capable of symbols.” This is a responsibility for all, for ordained ministers and the faithful alike. The task is not easy because modern man has become illiterate, no longer able to read symbols; it is almost as if their existence is not even suspected.
You may not have sat through liturgy classes with a bunch of seminarians, but I suspect you are capable of that, and more.
Monsignor Smith
