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Recent Editorials:
 THE LITURGY AND THE NEW EVANGELISATION
Vol. 41 No.4 - December 2011
The Church has always been missionary: we cannot hold back the good news Christ offers to all. Thus we are called to engage in a profound dialogue between the Gospel and the world in which we live. After the 1974 Synod of Bishops on the topic, Pope Paul VI wrote about evangelisation in the modern world in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi. Since then, Pope John Paul II and now Benedict XVI have begun talking of a ‘new evangelisation’. What is new is today’s world and the way we live in it. A particular focus now is the witness to our faith in those parts of the world which have traditionally been marked by Christian culture but which increasingly display indifference to religion.
Consequently in 2010, the pope established the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation and, next year in October 2012, the Synod of Bishops will return to the topic The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. The Lineamenta or discussion document has been released and may be read on the Vatican website.
In my view, the liturgy and our participation in it is absolutely central to the work of evangelisation and this is made clear by some of the principles set out in the Lineamenta.
♦ Evangelisation is about showing others that we rejoice in a personal encounter with Christ and live in communion with Christ; the liturgy is the privileged place where we encounter Christ and express our communion with the body of Christ.
♦ Evangelisation arises in a proclamation of the Gospel and is centred in a deep love for the word of God; in the liturgy, the word of God is proclaimed and received in faith.
♦ Evangelisation has as its primary agent the Holy Spirit – it is less about what we do and more about what the Holy Spirit does through us; likewise the liturgy is effective and fruitful through the power of the Holy Spirit – changing not only the bread and wine but the assembled Church into the risen Body of Christ.
♦ Evangelisation as the transmission of faith is ‘a communal ecclesial event’: the agent for transmitting the faith is the entire Church which manifests itself in the local Churches where proclamation, transmission and the lived experience of the gospel are realised; the communal prayer of the liturgy and especially the Eucharist is the fullest expression of our identity as Church, and is the action of the whole Church expressed through the words and gestures of a particular assembly of the local Church.
♦ Evangelisation is about engaging with the real world; the liturgy sends us out with new strength and hope to witness to Christ in the ordinary places where we live and work.
♦ Evangelisation seeks to initiate people into a Christian understanding and way of life; the catechumenate is the pastoral process which enshrines the liturgy of Christian initiation and its sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.
♦ Evangelisation, in forming individuals capable of living life to the full and of making their unique contribution to the common good, offers people the ‘hope of a world made new’; in the liturgy, we receive a glimpse and foretaste of this kingdom of God.
Now, it is not only that the liturgy prepares people for the work of evangelisation and empowers them to undertake a witness to Christ. The liturgy itself is a most important moment of evangelisation. The Rite of Marriage and the Order of Christian Funerals both encourage us to show special consideration to those who take part in liturgical celebrations or hear the gospel only on the occasion of a wedding/funeral, either because they are not Catholics, or because they are Catholics who rarely, if ever, take part in the Eucharist or seem to have lost their faith. Priests are ministers of Christ’s gospel to everyone (RM 9 and OCF 18).
The liturgy as a place for the new evangelisation is seen especially when the worshipping community comes into contact with the ‘outside’ world. Besides funerals and marriages, the sacraments of Christian initiation are often opportunities to engage with families who may only have a feeble connection with the life of the Church. Such contact also occurs when our liturgy is celebrated on civic occasions when politicians, the legal profession, or the defence forces might be present. Finally we can think of the great congregations at the annual festivals of Christmas and Easter. All these events offer a point at which people may enter the sacred mysteries with the faith community. The way we celebrate the liturgy needs to be accessible and to invite full, conscious and active participation.
Here I hope the bishops at the Synod will put the questions boldly. Does the liturgy undertake its function of evangelisation when its ministers are robed in lace, swathed in seven metres of scarlet silk and attended by page boys? Are we concerned about the new evangelisation when we keep refining small rules for the Church about celebrating an old use in Latin? Are we looking outwards to others when we eliminate from the liturgy those few religious names which everyone in the society recognises (Good Friday, for example, or Mary MacKillop)? Do we speak clearly to an alienated world when our new translation of the Roman Missal gives absolute priority to the structures and vocabulary of a dead language? Latin is our internal language which struggles to make meaning even for the initiated. An inward-looking liturgy will never realise its potential for an outward-directed evangelisation.
I believe that the new evangelisation is fundamentally about finding a common language with which to enter into dialogue. Partners in a dialogue listen to one another and search together. It is an invitation to be open, open to discovering common ground. It is a subtle, flexible task which leaves ample scope for the mysterious work of conversion which only the Holy Spirit can bestow. The committed believer does not engage the unbeliever simply by talking louder.
By Tom Elich
Finding Things in the Missal; Weekday Mass 'ad libitum'
Vol. 41 No.3 - September 2011
Finding Things in the Missal
Priests and those who prepare the liturgy will need to get used to finding liturgical texts in unexpected places. Formerly, ICEL devoted quite some attention to structuring and ordering the liturgical books in such a way that they would be pastorally helpful for the English-speaking world. Now the arrangement of the book must follow the Latin editio typica exactly.
The Eucharistic Prayers are not all in the one place. The four principal prayers are within the Order of Mass. The music settings of these four Eucharistic Prayers follow the solemn blessings. The two Eucharistic Prayers for Reconciliation and the four prayers for use in Masses for Various Needs are found in an appendix to the Order of Mass after the form of Mass with the participation of a single minister. The Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children, originally in an appendix at the back of the book, have now been banished from the Missal altogether and will be published in a separate volume.
We will have to wait and see how clearly the sanctoral cycle is presented. It contains all the proper feasts for England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Australia. There are very many commemorations for these other countries which we will need to pass over. Will our very modest Australian calendar get lost? How have they handled feasts celebrated on different dates (in Australia, for example, St Mark is postponed to the day after Anzac Day)?
Perhaps most confusing is the fact that there is no longer a single collection of all the Prefaces in one place in the Missal. Prefaces used for more than one day are still to be found collected together within the Order of Mass (for example, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Passion, Easter, Ascension, Ordinary Time, Saints, Dead). Prefaces used on a single day are found with the prayers for that day, either within the seasons of the year (Baptism of the Lord, Sundays in Lent, Pentecost, Trinity, Sacred Heart, Christ the King) or within the cycle of Saints (Annunciation, Presentation, Sts Peter and Paul, Transfiguration, Assumption, Triumph of the Cross, All Saints, Immaculate Conception). Some Prefaces are found in two or three places (St John the Baptist, St Joseph, Ascension, Chrism Mass/ordinations, Trinity, Angels, etc). Some Prefaces are found with the Commons (Dedication of a Church); others are placed with Ritual Masses (ordinations, religious profession, dedication of a church and of an altar, and marriage – in the case of marriage, each of the three Prefaces is associated with a different Mass formulary); others Prefaces again are put with Masses for Various Needs and Occasions (Christian Unity) or Votive Masses (Trinity, Triumph of the Cross, Sacred Heart, Holy Spirit, Angels, etc). On occasion, cross references are given to the pages where the Prefaces are scattered throughout the Missal.
One could argue that the new arrangement of the Prefaces locates them right after the Prayer over the Offerings exactly where they are required. While this may often be true, it is not consistent for the seasonal Prefaces which are placed within the Order of Mass. Specific Prefaces will be difficult to find. For example, the readings on a certain day in Ordinary Time might make a perfect match with the Preface of the Holy Spirit, or the Triumph of the Cross, or Christian Unity. How will they be found?
One final example: The blessing and sprinkling of water which may replace the Penitential Act on Sundays no longer rates a mention in the Order of Mass. It is buried in an appendix at the back of the book. The leather-bound Missal will undoubtedly be beautiful to look at and luxurious to handle. But it will require close study by priests and liturgy committees if its contents are to be mastered and made accessible so that the volume becomes easily usable in the celebration of the liturgy.
The Mass ad libitum for Weekdays
Most commonly, when there is no feast or memorial on a weekday in Ordinary Time, the priest uses the Mass of the previous Sunday. For priests and communities celebrating frequent weekday Masses, repeating the Sunday prayers each day can quickly become tedious. At least, until now we have had the alternative Opening Prayer to provide a measure of variety. This prayer was a freer version of the same Latin original. The new Missal will have only one Collect literally translated from the single Latin text.
In actual fact, there are very many possibilities for the Mass prayers on these days. The Mass of the day may employ the prayers from any Sunday in Ordinary Time (not just the previous Sunday); further, one may celebrate the Mass of any optional memorial occurring on that day, or the Mass of any saint listed in the martyrology for that day with texts from a Common, or a Mass for Various Needs and Occasions, or a Votive Mass, or a Mass for the Dead. (See GIRM 355, 363, 381.) In planning the celebration, the priest should pay attention to the common spiritual good of the people of God, rather than his own inclinations (GIRM 352).
So there is a wide range of options for the entrance and communion antiphons, the Collect, Prayer over the Offerings, and the Prayer after Communion. Of course, unless there are special circumstances, the weekday cycle of readings would be preserved so that there is some continuity in the texts that are heard from one day to the next.
One of the main difficulties in exploiting the choices on offer is deciding how to make the selection and communicate it clearly to the liturgical assembly. I would like to propose a simple solution. Where the Ordo lists a weekday Mass ad libitum in Ordinary Time, we could take the date of the month and use the texts from the Sunday in Ordinary Time of the same number (on the twelfth of the month we use the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, and so on). With such a simple agreement, priest and people are on the same page. To trial this proposal, the Daily Mass Book 2012 published by The Liturgical Commission will arrange such a set of texts for the month. We will see whether it becomes a helpful way for communities to make their selections.
Tom Elich editor
UNDERSTANDINGS & MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Vol. 41 No.2 - June 2011
We do not have to like the new translation of the Missal. We do not have to agree with the authoritarian process by which it was produced. But we do now need to learn to appreciate it and pray with it so that the words we use will still be a window to the sacred and allow the gathered Church to express its worship of God.
With time, favourite phrases will begin to carve themselves into our minds and hearts. Perhaps one place to start is with the concrete images which have been revealed in the new text: a serene and kindly countenance (EPI); break the bonds of death; sending the Spirit like dewfall (both in EPII); from the rising of the sun to its setting (EPIII).
However, we will regularly have to work harder to avoid misunderstandings. The new translation is touted as uncovering the scriptural references in the text. One clear example of this occurs in the invitation to communion. I doubt that anyone familiar with the story of the centurion’s sick servant would have missed the reference in the translation we have used to date. Nevertheless, the people’s response now quotes the centurion’s words more fully, as the Latin does: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof... (Mt 8:8, Lk 7:6). The words which invite this response refer to the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. The dialogue recognises our need as sinners for the healing word of Christ, so we confess that we are not worthy to be in the company of Christ. The danger with the phrase enter under my roof is that people will take it at face value and say, ah yes, the roof of my mouth. This is not just a quaint misunderstanding, but enshrines an unhelpful theology limiting and localising the real presence of the living risen Christ in the blessed Sacrament. It is not as though Christ is somehow trapped within the host. As Nathan Mitchell once wrote, the body of Christ is present in the Eucharist not in the usual, natural, visible, local ways bodies are normally present, but rather in a spiritual, non-visible, substantial, and sacramental manner… (Real Presence: the Work of Eucharist, Chicago: 1998). In scholastic terms, locality belongs to the accidents of the bread and wine, not the substance of Christ’s body. The risen Christ no more enters our mouth than he is prisoner in the tabernacle. Such a misunderstanding reduces the reality of the real presence.
The translation is sometimes less scriptural in its wording, and this too creates problems. I am thinking here of the words of institution over the wine. All modern translations of the biblical narrative use the word cup. The Latin calix is a general word for a drinking vessel, not in any way limited to the ecclesiastical goblet we call a chalice. It would be wrong to imagine from this usage that Jesus celebrated the ‘first Mass’ at the Last Supper – the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection had not yet been accomplished. How then are we to appreciate such a text in our liturgical prayer? I suggest we need to recognise it as a deliberate variation to scriptural text designed to move the institution narrative away from any historical sense of mere re-enactment; instead the usage affirms that these are our ritual words which Christ speaks in the here and now in our liturgy. The word chalice on the priest’s lips corresponds to the vessel in his hands. Ironically, cup is retained in the second people’s acclamation which follows the institution narrative when conceivably chalice might have been quite serviceable.
Another change with which I hope will always be a struggle for people is the misleading English translation of pro multis as for many. Although it is literally correct, this English wording flatly contradicts the Catholic faith that Christ died for all (2 Cor 5:14-15 and Catechism of the Catholic Church, 605). Originally in 1970, the translation for all was defended by the Holy See, but then a 2006 circular letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments pointed out that ‘for many’ is a faithful translation of ‘pro multis’ whereas ‘for all’ is rather an explanation of the sort that belongs properly to catechesis. The strangeness of other possible translations such as ‘for the many’ or ‘for the multitude’ might at least have puzzled people towards a good theological understanding. In praying the new translation, we will need to emphasise other phrases which correct any misunderstanding. The third acclamation acknowledges Christ as the Saviour of the world. Eucharistic Prayer III provides a useful counterbalance as it draws the peace and salvation of all the world within the scope of this Sacrifice of our reconciliation. Eucharistic Prayer IV describes the work of Christ as sharing human nature in all things but sin, proclaiming salvation to the poor, prisoners and the sorrowful, and sanctifying creation to the full; it speaks of the sacrifice acceptable to you which brings salvation to the whole world.
A final example of how a nuanced understanding of the new translation is required occurs in the response, And with your spirit. There is no ground for thinking that it recognises some special gift of the Holy Spirit which the priest has received by virtue of his ordination and which therefore is meant to separate the ordained minister from the rest of the people of God. The phrase is used by St Paul to address the entire community: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters (Gal 6:18); My greetings to every one of God’s holy people in Christ Jesus... May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit (Phil 4:21-23; see also 2 Tim 4:22 and Philemon 25). The dialogue between priest and people does seems uneven when we just look at: The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. But it takes on a rather different colour in the context of the longer greetings when the priest says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, or, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here it is clearer that what we intend is a mutual spiritual blessing, by which God’s love and grace constitute the assembly as the Body of Christ. The Lord be with you can be regarded as a kind of abbreviation of these more ample greetings. The people reply with emphasis on the third word rather than the last, And with your spirit, because the greeting is in fact a symmetrical recognition on the part of both priest and people that Christ is present in the gathered Church.
In sum, the new translation provides rich texts for our worship but they are more difficult. It is imperative that we make the effort to understand and use them well.
Tom Elich, editor
PREACHING on the LITURGY
Vol. 41 No.1 - March 2011
The new English translation of the Missal which we will introduce this year is an opportunity for parish communities to explore the liturgy of the Mass. Normally liturgical preaching centres on the Biblical text, but it may also be based on texts from the liturgy (GIRM 65). Various schemes will no doubt be proposed for liturgical catechesis at Mass. Material for the priest’s preparation and for parish newsletters is available in the resource Become One Body, One Spirit in Christ and on the Roman Missal Australia page at www.catholic.org.au. Let me make a suggestion – first for a six-week preaching program on the Eucharistic Prayer and then a five-week program on the Order of Mass.
EASTER.
The six weeks of Easter might be a good opportunity to explore the Eucharistic Prayers and so to foster an understanding of eucharistic theology. The parish might decide to use the new translations as a way of preparing people for the new style of liturgical language and alerting them to the introduction of the new people’s responses after Pentecost. It could look like this:
Second Sunday of Easter
Readings: Risen Christ and Thomas: He breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit.
Preaching: (1) Invocation of the Holy Spirit on the gifts and on the gathered Church (epiclesis). Role of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharistic Prayer. (2) Introduce the language of Eucharistic Prayer II and highlight the place of the Holy Spirit (note the image of dewfall).
Liturgy: Use Eucharistic Prayer II in its new translation for the first time.
Newsletter: An outline of the structure of the Eucharistic Prayer (GIRM 79).
Third Sunday of Easter
Readings: The Road to Emmaus: They recognised him at the breaking of the bread.
Preaching: (1) The transforming power of the words of Christ, This is my body; this is the chalice of my blood. The place of the Institution Narrative in the Eucharistic Prayer. (2) Introduce the language of Eucharistic Prayer III and explain the use of chalice and for many in the words of institution.
Liturgy: Use Eucharistic Prayer III in its new translation for the first time.
Newsletter: A glossary of difficult words: oblation, sacrificial Victim, Sacrifice of our reconciliation, Order of Bishops.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Readings: Sheepfold: That they may have life and have it to the full.
Preaching: (1) Christ’s offering on the cross and the place of the Paschal Mystery in the Eucharistic Prayer (anamnesis). The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. (2) Introduce the language of Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation I (spur us on to possess a more abundant life) and reinforce the Christ’s work of reconciliation.
Liturgy: Use Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation I in its new translation for the first time.
Newsletter: Background article on understanding Sacrifice (the cross and the Mass).
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Readings: Farewell Discourse: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Preaching: (1) Praise and thanksgiving in the Eucharistic Prayer. ‘Eucharist’ means thanksgiving. (2) Introduce the language of the Eucharistic Prayer IV and the way it recounts the marvellous deeds of God through the whole sweep of salvation history (in the fullness of time, you sent your Only Begotten Son).
Liturgy: Use Eucharistic Prayer IV in its new translation for the first time. Newsletter: The role of the Preface and Sanctus: we join the praise of choir of heaven.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Readings: Farewell Discourse: The Advocate, the Spirit of Truth
Preaching: (1) Intercession in the Eucharistic Prayer: praying for the pope, the bishop, and the church, both the living and the dead. (2) Introduce the language of the Eucharistic Prayer for Various Needs and Occasions and note the variable intercessory sections.
Liturgy: Use the Eucharistic Prayer for Various Needs and Occasions III in its new translation for the first time.
Newsletter: Background on the Church universal (pope) and local (bishop).
Ascension of the Lord
Readings: The Ascension in Matthew and Acts: I am with you always.
Preaching: (1) Summarise the elements of the Eucharistic Prayer by noting the different structure of the Roman Canon. (2) Introduce the language of Eucharistic Prayer I, especially appreciating the rhetorical force of repetition.
Liturgy: Use Eucharistic Prayer I in its new translation for the first time.
Newsletter: An outline of the unique chiastic structure of Eucharistic Prayer I (see Johannes Emminghaus, The Eucharist: Essence, Form, Celebration (1978) p. 215.
Pentecost Sunday
This solemn feast is often the occasion to celebrate the sacraments of Confirmation and first Communion, and so would not be used for liturgical preaching on the Mass.
ORDINARY TIME
In Australia this is the time established for introducing the new people’s parts of the Order of the Mass. Against the appreciation of Eucharistic praying fostered during the Easter Season, a period of preaching on the Order of Mass may now profitably be undertaken, for example, in the five weeks following Pentecost.
Trinity Sunday
Readings: God loved the world so much.
Preaching: (1) Trinity Sunday would be a good opportunity to preach on the Creed in the Sunday liturgy (GIRM 67). (2) Introduce the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds.
Liturgy: For a gentle introduction to the new responses, perhaps only the new translation of the Apostles’ Creed would be said today.
Newsletter: History of the creeds.
The Body and Blood of Christ
Readings: The Living Bread: My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.
Preaching: The perfect feast to preach on the communion rite: including breaking the bread and communion from the altar, under both kinds.
Liturgy: Use all the new people’s responses for the first time, perhaps continuing to use the Apostles’ Creed for a while.
Newsletter: Many possibilities: perhaps a background piece on the real presence.
Fourteenth Sunday
Readings: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened...
Preaching: A good Gospel text to preach on the Introductory Rites (See GIRM 46-54).
Liturgy: Use all the new people’s responses again, choosing different greetings and acclamations.
Newsletter: Background piece on the various penitential elements in the Mass.
Fifteenth Sunday
Readings: Parable of the Sower.
Preaching: An opportunity to preach on the Liturgy of the Word and the Lectionary.
Liturgy: Use all the new people’s responses again, choosing different greetings and acclamations.
Newsletter: A summary of the three-year cycle of readings.
Sixteenth Sunday
Readings: Parables of the Kingdom.
Preaching: An opportunity to preach on the Concluding Rites and our sending into the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
Liturgy: Use all the new people’s responses, with different greetings and acclamations.
Newsletter: The lay mission in the world.
Tom Elich, editor
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