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Title: |
Mediator Dei
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Descr.: |
On The Sacred Liturgy
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Pope: |
Pope Pius XII
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Date: |
November 20, 1947
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To
the Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
Bishops, and Other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the
Apostolic See
Venerable
Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
1.
Mediator between God and men(1) and High Priest who has gone
before us into heaven, Jesus the Son of God(2) quite clearly had
one aim in view when He undertook the mission of mercy which was
to endow mankind with the rich blessings of supernatural grace.
Sin had disturbed the right relationship between man and his
Creator; the Son of God would restore it. The children of Adam
were wretched heirs to the infection of original sin; He would
bring them back to their heavenly Father, the primal source and
final destiny of all things. For this reason He was not content,
while He dwelt with us on earth, merely to give notice that
redemption had begun, and to proclaim the long-awaited Kingdom of
God, but gave Himself besides in prayer and sacrifice to the task
of saving souls, even to the point of offering Himself, as He hung
from the cross, a Victim unspotted unto God, to purify our
conscience of dead works, to serve the living God.(3) Thus happily
were all men summoned back from the byways leading them down to
ruin and disaster, to be set squarely once again upon the path
that leads to God. Thanks to the shedding of the blood of [Christ], now each might set about the personal task of
achieving his own sanctification, so rendering to God the glory
due to Him.
2.
But what is more, the divine Redeemer has so willed it that the
priestly life begun with the supplication and sacrifice of His
mortal body should continue without intermission down the ages in
His Mystical Body which is the Church. That is why He established
a visible priesthood to offer everywhere the clean oblation(4)
which would enable men from East to West, freed from the shackles
of sin, to offer God that unconstrained and voluntary homage which
their conscience dictates.
3.
In obedience, therefore, to her Founder's behest, the Church
prolongs the priestly mission of Jesus Christ mainly by means of
the sacred liturgy. She does this in the first place at the altar,
where constantly the sacrifice of the cross is represented(5) and
with a single difference in the manner of its offering,
renewed.(6) She does it next by means of the sacraments, those
special channels through which men are made partakers in the
supernatural life. She does it, finally, by offering to God, all
Good and Great, the daily tribute of her prayer of praise.
"What a spectacle for heaven and earth," observes Our
predecessor of happy memory, Pius XI, "is not the Church at
prayer! For centuries without interruption, from midnight to
midnight, the divine psalmody of the inspired canticles is
repeated on earth; there is no hour of the day that is not
hallowed by its special liturgy; there is no state of human life
that has not its part in the thanksgiving, praise, supplication
and reparation of this common prayer of the Mystical Body of
Christ which is His Church!"(7)
4.
You are of course familiar with the fact, Venerable Brethren, that
a remarkably widespread revival of scholarly interest in the
sacred liturgy took place towards the end of the last century and
has continued through the early years of this one. The movement
owed its rise to commendable private initiative and more
particularly to the zealous and persistent labor of several
monasteries within the distinguished Order of Saint Benedict. Thus
there developed in this field among many European nations, and in
lands beyond the seas as well, a rivalry as welcome as it was
productive of results. Indeed, the salutary fruits of this rivalry
among the scholars were plain for all to see, both in the sphere
of the sacred sciences, where the liturgical rites of the Western
and Eastern Church were made the object of extensive research and
profound study, and in the spiritual life of considerable numbers
of individual Christians.
5.
The majestic ceremonies of the [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the Altar became
better known, understood and appreciated. With more widespread and
more frequent reception of the sacraments, with the beauty of the
liturgical prayers more fully savored, the worship of the
Eucharist came to be regarded for what it really is: the
fountain-head of genuine Christian devotion. Bolder relief was
given likewise to the fact that all the faithful make up a single
and very compact body with Christ for its Head, and that the
Christian community is in duty bound to participate in the
liturgical rites according to their station.
6.
You are surely well aware that this Apostolic See has always made
careful provision for the schooling of the people committed to its
charge in the correct spirit and practice of the liturgy; and that
it has been no less careful to insist that the sacred rites should
be performed with due external dignity. In this connection We
ourselves, in the course of our traditional address to the Lenten
preachers of this gracious city of Rome in 1943, urged them warmly
to exhort their respective hearers to more faithful participation
in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Only a short while previously, with
the design of rendering the prayers of the liturgy more correctly
understood and their truth and unction more easy to perceive, We
arranged to have the Book of Psalms, which forms such an important
part of these prayers in the Catholic Church, translated again
into Latin from their original text.(8)
7.
But while We derive no little satisfaction from the wholesome
results of the movement just described, duty obliges Us to give
serious attention to this "revival" as it is advocated
in some quarters, and to take proper steps to preserve it at the
outset from excess or outright perversion.
8.
Indeed, though we are sorely grieved to note, on the one hand,
that there are places where the spirit, understanding or practice
of the sacred liturgy is defective, or all but inexistent, We
observe with considerable anxiety and some misgiving, that
elsewhere certain enthusiasts, over-eager in their search for
novelty, are straying beyond the path of sound doctrine and
prudence. Not seldom, in fact, they interlard their plans and
hopes for a revival of the sacred liturgy with principles which
compromise this holiest of causes in theory or practice, and
sometimes even taint it with errors touching Catholic faith and
ascetical doctrine.
9.
Yet the integrity of faith and morals ought to be the special
criterion of this sacred science, which must conform exactly to
what the Church out of the abundance of her wisdom teaches and
prescribes. It is, consequently, Our prerogative to commend and
approve whatever is done properly, and to check or censure any
aberration from the path of truth and rectitude.
10.
Let not the apathetic or half-hearted imagine, however, that We
agree with them when We reprove the erring and restrain the
overbold. No more must the imprudent think that we are commending
them when We correct the faults of those who are negligent and
sluggish.
11.
If in this encyclical letter We treat chiefly of the Latin
liturgy, it is not because We esteem less highly the venerable
liturgies of the Eastern Church, whose ancient and honorable
ritual traditions are just as dear to Us. The reason lies rather
in a special situation prevailing in the Western Church, of
sufficient importance, it would seem, to require this exercise of
Our authority.
12.
With docile hearts, then, let all Christians hearken to the voice
of their Common Father, who would have them, each and every one,
intimately united with him as they approach the altar of God,
professing the same faith, obedient to the same law, sharing in
the same Sacrifice with a single intention and one sole desire.
This is a duty imposed, of course, by the honor due to God. But
the needs of our day and age demand it as well. After a long and
cruel war which has rent whole peoples asunder with it rivalry and
slaughter, men of good will are spending themselves in the effort
to find the best possible way to restore peace to the world. It
is, notwithstanding, Our belief that no plan or initiative can
offer better prospect of success than that fervent religious
spirit and zeal by which Christians must be formed and guided; in
this way their common and whole-hearted acceptance of the same
truth, along with their united obedience and loyalty to their
appointed pastors, while rendering to God the worship due to Him,
makes of them one brotherhood: "for we, being many, are one
body: all that partake of one bread."(9)
13.
It is unquestionably the fundamental duty of man to orientate his
person and his life towards God. "For He it is to whom we
must first be bound, as to an unfailing principle; to whom even
our free choice must be directed as to an ultimate objective. It
is He, too, whom we lose when carelessly we sin. It is He whom we
must recover by our faith and trust."(10) But man turns
properly to God when he acknowledges His Supreme majesty and
supreme authority; when he accepts divinely revealed truths with a
submissive mind; when he scrupulously obeys divine law, centering
in God his every act and aspiration; when he accords, in short,
due worship to the One True God by practicing the virtue of
religion.
14.
This duty is incumbent, first of all, on men as individuals. But
it also binds the whole community of human beings, grouped
together by mutual social ties: mankind, too, depends on the
sovereign authority of God.
15.
It should be noted, moreover, that men are bound by this obligation
in a special way in virtue of the fact that God has raised them to
the supernatural order.
16.
Thus we observe that when God institutes the Old Law, He makes
provision besides for sacred rites, and determines in exact detail
the rules to be observed by His people in rendering Him the
worship He ordains. To this end He established various kinds of
sacrifice and designated the ceremonies with which they were to be
offered to Him. His enactments on all matters relating to the Ark
of the Covenant, the Temple and the holy days are minute and
clear. He established a sacerdotal tribe with its high priest,
selected and described the vestments with which the sacred
ministers were to be clothed, and every function in any way
pertaining to divine worship.(11) Yet this was nothing more than a
faint foreshadowing(12) of the worship which the High Priest of
the New Testament was to render to the Father in heaven.
17.
No sooner, in fact, "is the Word made flesh"(13) than he
shows Himself to the world vested with a priestly office, making
to the Eternal Father an act of submission which will continue
uninterruptedly as long as He lives: "When He cometh into the
world he saith...'behold I come...to do Thy Will."(14) This
act He was to consummate admirably in the bloody Sacrifice of the
Cross: "It is in this will we are sanctified by the oblation
of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all."(15) He plans His active
life among men with no other purpose in view. As a child He is
presented to the Lord in the Temple. To the Temple He returns as a
grown boy, and often afterwards to instruct the people and to
pray. He fasts for forty days before beginning His public
ministry. His counsel and example summon all to prayer, daily and
at night as well. As Teacher of the truth He "enlighteneth
every man"(16) to the end that mortals may duly acknowledge
the immortal God, "not withdrawing unto perdition, but
faithful to the saving of the soul."(17) As Shepherd He
watches over His flock, leads it to life-giving pasture, lays down
a law that none shall wander from His side, off the straight path
He has pointed out, and that all shall lead holy lives imbued with
His spirit and moved by His active aid. At the Last Supper He
celebrates a new Pasch with solemn rite and ceremonial, and
provides for its continuance through the divine institution of the
Eucharist. On the morrow, lifted up between heaven and earth, He
offers the saving sacrifice of His life, and pours forth, as it
were, from His pierced Heart the sacraments destined to impart the
treasures of redemption to the souls of men. All this He does with
but a single aim: the glory of His Father and man's ever greater
sanctification.
18.
But it is His will, besides, that the worship He instituted and
practiced during His life on earth shall continue ever afterwards
without intermission. For he has not left mankind an orphan. He
still offers us the support of His powerful, unfailing
intercession, acting as our "advocate with the
Father."(18) He aids us likewise through His Church, where He
is present indefectibly as the ages run their course: through the
Church which He constituted "the pillar of truth"(19)
and dispenser of grace, and which by His sacrifice on the cross,
He founded, consecrated and confirmed forever.(20)
19.
The Church has, therefore, in common with the Word Incarnate the
aim, the obligation and the function of teaching all men the
truth, of governing and directing them aright, of offering to God
the pleasing and acceptable [Eucharistic] Sacrifice; in this way the Church
re-establishes between the Creator and His creatures that unity
and harmony to which the Apostle of the Gentiles alludes in these
words: "Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and
foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints and
domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone; in
whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into a
holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together in a
habitation of God in the Spirit."(21) Thus the society
founded by the divine Redeemer, whether in her doctrine and
government, or in the [Eucharistic] Sacrifice and sacraments instituted by Him,
or finally, in the ministry, which He has confided to her charge
with the outpouring of His prayer and the shedding of His blood,
has no other goal or purpose than to increase ever in strength and
unity.
20.
This result is, in fact, achieved when Christ lives and thrives,
as it were, in the hearts of men, and when men's hearts in turn
are fashioned and expanded as though by Christ. This makes it
possible for the sacred temple, where the Divine Majesty receives
the acceptable worship which His law prescribes, to increase and
prosper day by day in this land of exile of earth. Along with the
Church, therefore, her Divine Founder is present at every
liturgical function: Christ is present at the august [Eucharistic]
Sacrifice of
the Altar both in the person of His minister and above all under
the Eucharistic species. He is present in the sacraments, infusing
into them the power which makes them ready instruments of
sanctification. He is present, finally, in prayer of praise and
petition we direct to God, as it is written: "Where there are
two or three gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst
of them."(22) The sacred liturgy is, consequently, the public
worship which our Redeemer as Head of the Church renders to the
Father, as well as the worship which the community of the faithful
renders to its Founder, and through Him to the heavenly Father. It
is, in short, the worship rendered by the Mystical Body of Christ
in the entirety of its Head and members.
21.
Liturgical practice begins with the very founding of the Church.
The first Christians, in fact, "were persevering in the
doctrine of the apostles and in the communication of the breaking
of bread and in prayers."(23) Whenever their pastors can
summon a little group of the faithful together, they set up an
altar on which they proceed to offer the [Eucharistic] Sacrifice, and around
which are ranged all the other rites appropriate for the saving of
souls and for the honor due to God. Among these latter rites, the
first place is reserved for the sacraments, namely, the seven
principal founts of salvation. There follows the celebration of
the divine praises in which the faithful also join, obeying the
behest of the Apostle Paul, "In all wisdom, teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles,
singing in grace in your hearts to God."(24) Next comes the
reading of the Law, the prophets, the gospel and the apostolic
epistles; and last of all the homily or sermon in which the
official head of the congregation recalls and explains the
practical bearing of the commandments of the divine Master and the
chief events of His life, combining instruction with appropriate
exhortation and illustration of the benefit for all his listeners.
22.
As circumstances and the needs of Christians warrant, public
worship is organized, developed and enriched by new rites,
ceremonies and regulations, always with the single end in view,
"that we may use these external signs to keep us alert, learn
from them what distance we have come along the road, and by them
be heartened to go on further with more eager step; for the effect
will be more precious the warmer the affection which precedes
it."(25) Here then is a better and more suitable way to raise
the heart to God. Thenceforth the priesthood of Jesus Christ is a
living and continuous reality through all the ages to the end of
time, since the liturgy is nothing more nor less than the exercise
of this priestly function. Like her divine Head, the Church is
forever present in the midst of her children. She aids and exhorts
them to holiness, so that they may one day return to the Father in
heaven clothed in that beauteous raiment of the supernatural. To
all who are born to life on earth she gives a second, supernatural
kind of birth. She arms them with the Holy Spirit for the struggle
against the implacable enemy. She gathers all Christians about her
altars, inviting and urging them repeatedly to take part in the
celebration of the Mass, feeding them with the Bread of angels to
make them ever stronger. She purifies and consoles the hearts that
sin has wounded and soiled. Solemnly she consecrates those whom
God has called to the priestly ministry. She fortifies with new
gifts of grace the chaste nupitals of those who are destined to
found and bring up a Christian family. When at last she has
soothed and refreshed the closing hours of this earthly life by
holy Viaticum and extreme unction, with the utmost affection she
accompanies the mortal remains of her children to the grave, lays
them reverently to rest, and confides them to the protection of
the cross, against the day when they will triumph over death and
rise again. She has a further solemn blessing and invocation for
those of her children who dedicate themselves to the service of
God in the life of religious perfection. Finally, she extends to
the souls in purgatory, who implore her intercession and her
prayers, the helping hand which may lead them happily at last to
eternal blessedness in heaven.
23.
The worship rendered by the Church to God must be, in its
entirety, interior as well as exterior. It is exterior because the
nature of man as a composite of body and soul requires it to be
so. Likewise, because divine Providence has disposed that
"while we recognize God visibly, we may be drawn by Him to
love of things unseen."(26) Every impulse of the human heart,
besides, expresses itself naturally through the senses; and the
worship of God, being the concern not merely of individuals but of
the whole community of mankind, must therefore be social as well.
This obviously it cannot be unless religious activity is also
organized and manifested outwardly. Exterior worship, finally,
reveals and emphasizes the unity of the mystical Body, feeds new
fuel to its holy zeal, fortifies its energy, intensifies its
action day by day: "for although the ceremonies themselves
can claim no perfection or sanctity in their own right, they are,
nevertheless, the outward acts of religion, designed to rouse the
heart, like signals of a sort, to veneration of the sacred
realities, and to raise the mind to meditation on the
supernatural. They serve to foster piety, to kindle the flame of
charity, to increase our faith and deepen our devotion. They
provide instruction for simple folk, decoration for divine
worship, continuity of religious practice. They make it possible
to tell genuine Christians from their false or heretical
counterparts."(27)
24.
But the chief element of divine worship must be interior. For we
must always live in Christ and give ourselves to Him completely,
so that in Him, with Him and through Him the heavenly Father may
be duly glorified. The sacred liturgy requires, however, that both
of these elements be intimately linked with each another. This
recommendation the liturgy itself is careful to repeat, as often
as it prescribes an exterior act of worship. Thus we are urged,
when there is question of fasting, for example, "to give
interior effect to our outward observance."(28) Otherwise
religion clearly amounts to mere formalism, without meaning and
without content. You recall, Venerable Brethren, how the divine
Master expels from the sacred temple, as unworthily to worship
there, people who pretend to honor God with nothing but neat and
well-turned phrases, like actors in a theater, and think
themselves perfectly capable of working out their eternal
salvation without plucking their inveterate vices from their
hearts.(29) It is, therefore, the keen desire of the Church that
all of the faithful kneel at the feet of the Redeemer to tell Him
how much they venerate and love Him. She wants them present in
crowds - like the children whose joyous cries accompanied His
entry into Jerusalem - to sing their hymns and chant their song of
praise and thanksgiving to Him who is King of Kings and Source of
every blessing. She would have them move their lips in prayer,
sometimes in petition, sometimes in joy and gratitude, and in this
way experience His merciful aid and power like the apostles at the
lakeside of Tiberias, or abandon themselves totally, like Peter on
Mount Tabor, to mystic union with the eternal God in
contemplation.
25.
It is an error, consequently, and a mistake to think of the sacred
liturgy as merely the outward or visible part of divine worship or
as an ornamental ceremonial. No less erroneous is the notion that
it consists solely in a list of laws and prescriptions according
to which the ecclesiastical hierarchy orders the sacred rites to
be performed.
26.
It should be clear to all, then, that God cannot be honored
worthily unless the mind and heart turn to Him in quest of the
perfect life, and that the worship rendered to God by the Church
in union with her divine Head is the most efficacious means of
achieving sanctity.
27.
This efficacy, where there is question of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the sacraments, derives first of all and principally
from the act itself (ex opere operato). But if one considers the
part which the Immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ takes in the
action, embellishing the [Eucharistic] Sacrifice and sacraments with prayer and
sacred ceremonies, or if one refers to the "sacramentals"
and the other rites instituted by the hierarchy of the Church,
then its effectiveness is due rather to the action of the Church
(ex opere operantis Ecclesiae), inasmuch as she is holy and acts
always in closest union with her Head.
28.
In this connection, Venerable Brethren, We desire to direct your
attention to certain recent theories touching a so-called
"objective" piety. While these theories attempt, it is
true, to throw light on the mystery of the Mystical Body, on the
effective reality of sanctifying grace, on the action of God in
the sacraments and in the Mass, it is nonetheless apparent that
they tend to belittle, or pass over in silence, what they call
"subjective," or "personal" piety.
29.
It is an unquestionable fact that the work of our redemption is
continued, and that its fruits are imparted to us, during the
celebration of the liturgy, notable in the august [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the
Altar. Christ acts each day to save us, in the sacraments and in
His holy [Eucharistic] Sacrifice. By means of them He is constantly atoning for
the sins of mankind, constantly consecrating it to God. Sacraments
and [the Eucharistic Sacrifice] do, then, possess that "objective" power
to make us really and personally sharers in the divine life of
Jesus Christ. Not from any ability of our own, but by the power of
God, are they endowed with the capacity to unite the piety of
members with that of the head, and to make this, in a sense, the
action of the whole community. From these profund considerations
some are led to conclude that all Christian piety must be centered
in the mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ, with no regard for
what is "personal" or "subjective, as they would
have it. As a result they feel that all other religious exercises
not directly connected with the sacred liturgy, and performed
outside public worship should be omitted.
30.
But though the principles set forth above are excellent, it must
be plain to everyone that the conclusions drawn from them
respecting two sorts of piety are false, insidious and quite
pernicious.
31.
Very truly, the sacraments and the [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the
Altar, being
Christ's own actions, must be held to be capable in themselves of
conveying and dispensing grace from the divine Head to the members
of the Mystical Body. But if they are to produce their proper
effect, it is absolutely necessary that our hearts be properly
disposed to receive them. Hence the warning of Paul the Apostle
with reference to Holy Communion, "But let a man first prove
himself; and then let him eat of this bread and drink of the
chalice."(30) This explains why the Church in a brief and
significant phrase calls the various acts of mortification,
especially those practiced during the season of Lent, "the
Christian army's defenses."(31) They represent, in fact, the
personal effort and activity of members who desire, as grace urges
and aids them, to join forces with their Captain - "that we
may discover...in our Captain," to borrow St. Augustine's
words, "the fountain of grace itself."(32) But observe
that these members are alive, endowed and equipped with an
intelligence and will of their own. It follows that they are
strictly required to put their own lips to the fountain, imbibe
and absorb for themselves the life-giving water, and rid
themselves personally of anything that might hinder its nutritive
effect in their souls. Emphatically, therefore, the work of
redemption, which in itself is independent of our will, requires a
serious interior effort on our part if we are to achieve eternal
salvation.
32.
If the private and interior devotion of individuals were to
neglect the august [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the Altar and the sacraments, and
to withdraw them from the stream of vital energy that flows from
Head to members, it would indeed be sterile, and deserve to be
condemned. But when devotional exercises, and pious practices in
general, not strictly connected with the sacred liturgy, confine
themselves to merely human acts, with the express purpose of
directing these latter to the Father in heaven, of rousing people
to repentance and holy fear of God, of weaning them from the
seductions of the world and its vice, and leading them back to the
difficult path of perfection, then certainly such practices are
not only highly praiseworthy but absolutely indispensable, because
they expose the dangers threatening the spiritual life; because
they promote the acquisition of virtue; and because they increase
the fervor and generosity with which we are bound to dedicate all
that we are and all that we have to the service of Jesus Christ.
Genuine and real piety, which the Angelic Doctor calls
"devotion," and which is the principal act of the virtue
of religion - that act which correctly relates and fitly directs
men to God; and by which they freely and spontaneously give
themselves to the worship of God in its fullest sense(33) - piety
of this authentic sort needs meditation on the supernatural
realities and spiritual exercises, if it is to be nurtured,
stimulated and sustained, and if it is to prompt us to lead a more
perfect life. For the Christian religion, practiced as it should
be, demands that the will especially be consecrated to God and
exert its influence on all the other spiritual faculties. But
every act of the will presupposes an act of the intelligence, and
before one can express the desire and the intention of offering
oneself in sacrifice to the eternal Godhead, a knowledge of the
facts and truths which make religion a duty is altogether
necessary. One must first know, for instance, man's last end and
the supremacy of the Divine Majesty; after that, our common duty
of submission to our Creator; and, finally, the inexhaustible
treasures of love with which God yearns to enrich us, as well as
the necessity of supernatural grace for the achievement of our
destiny, and that special path marked out for us by divine
Providence in virtue of the fact that we have been united, one and
all, like members of a body, to Jesus Christ the Head. But
further, since our hearts, disturbed as they are at times by the
lower appetites, do not always respond to motives of love, it is
also extremely helpful to let consideration and contemplation of
the justice of God provoke us on occasion to salutary fear, and
guide us thence to Christian humility, repentance and amendment.
33.
But it will not do to possess these facts and truths after the
fashion of an abstract memory lesson or lifeless commentary. They
must lead to practical results. They must impel us to subject our
senses and their faculties to reason, as illuminated by the
Catholic faith. They must help to cleanse and purify the heart,
uniting it to Christ more intimately every day, growing ever more
to His likeness, and drawing from Him the divine inspiration and
strength of which it stands in need. They must serve as
increasingly effective incentives to action: urging men to produce
good fruit, to perform their individual duties faithfully, to give
themselves eagerly to the regular practice of their religion and
the energetic exercise of virtue. "You are Christ's, and
Christ is God's."(34) Let everything, therefore, have its
proper place and arrangement; let everything be "theocentric,"
so to speak, if we really wish to direct everything to the glory
of God through the life and power which flow from the divine Head
into our hearts: "Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in
the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ, a new and
living way which He both dedicated for us through the veil, that
is to say, His flesh, and a high priest over the house of God; let
us draw near with a true heart, in fullness of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with clean water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope
without wavering...and let us consider one another, to provoke
unto charity and to good works."(35)
34.
Here is the source of the harmony and equilibrium which prevails
among the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. When the
Church teaches us our Catholic faith and exhorts us to obey the
commandments of Christ, she is paving a way for her priestly,
sanctifying action in its highest sense; she disposes us likewise
for more serious meditation on the life of the divine Redeemer and
guides us to profounder knowledge of the mysteries of faith where
we may draw the supernatural sustenance, strength and vitality
that enable us to progress safely, through Christ, towards a more
perfect life. Not only through her ministers but with the help of
the faithful individually, who have imbibed in this fashion the
spirit of Christ, the Church endeavors to permeate with this same
spirit the life and labors of men - their private and family life,
their social, even economic and political life - that all who are
called God's children may reach more readily the end He has
proposed for them.
35.
Such action on the part of individual Christians, then, along with
the ascetic effort promoting them to purify their hearts, actually
stimulates in the faithful those energies which enable them to
participate in the august [Eucharistic] Sacrifice of the Altar with better
dispositions. They now can receive the sacraments with more
abundant fruit, and come from the celebration of the sacred rites
more eager, more firmly resolved to pray and deny themselves like
Christians, to answer the inspirations and invitation of divine
grace and to imitate daily more closely the virtues of our
Redeemer. And all of this not simply for their own advantage, but
for that of the whole Church, where whatever good is accomplished
proceeds from the power of her Head and redounds to the
advancement of all her members.
36.
In the spiritual life, consequently, there can be no opposition
between the action of God, who pours forth His grace into men's
hearts so that the work of the redemption may always abide, and
the tireless collaboration of man, who must not render vain the
gift of God.(36) No more can the efficacy of the external
administration of the sacraments, which comes from the rite itself
(ex opere operato), be opposed to the meritorious action of their
ministers or recipients, which we call the agent's action (opus
operantis). Similarly, no conflict exists between public prayer
and prayers in private, between morality and contemplation,
between the ascetical life and devotion to the liturgy. Finally,
there is no opposition between the jurisdiction and teaching
office of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the specifically
priestly power exercised in the sacred ministry.
37.
Considering their special designation to perform the liturgical
functions of the Holy [Eucharistic] Sacrifice and divine office, the Church has
serious reason for prescribing that the ministers she assigns to
the service of the sanctuary and members of religious institutes
betake themselves at stated times to mental prayer, to examination
of conscience, and to various other spiritual exercises.(37)
Unquestionably, liturgical prayer, being the public supplication
of the illustrious Spouse of Jesus Christ, is superior in
excellence to private prayers. But this superior worth does not at
all imply contrast or incompatibility between these two kinds of
prayer. For both merge harmoniously in the single spirit which
animates them, "Christ is all and in all."(38) Both tend
to the same objective: until Christ be formed in us.(39)
38.
For a better and more accurate understanding of the sacred liturgy
another of its characteristic features, no less important, needs
to be considered.
39.
The Church is a society, and as such requires an authority and
hierarchy of her own. Though it is true that all the members of
the Mystical Body partake of the same blessings and pursue the
same objective, they do not all enjoy the same powers, nor are
they all qualified to perform the same acts. The divine Redeemer
has willed, as a matter of fact, that His Kingdom should be built
and solidly supported, as it were, on a holy order, which
resembles in some sort the heavenly hierarchy.
40.
Only to the apostles, and thenceforth to those on whom their
successors have imposed hands, is granted the power of the
priesthood, in virtue of which they represent the person of Jesus
Christ before their people, acting at the same time as
representatives of their people before God. This priesthood is not
transmitted by heredity or human descent. It does not emanate from
the Christian community. It is not a delegation from the people.
Prior to acting as representative of the community before the
throne of God, the priest is the ambassador of the divine
Redeemer. He is God's vice-regent in the midst of his flock
precisely because Jesus Christ is Head of that body of which
Christians are the members. The power entrusted to him, therefore,
bears no natural resemblance to anything human. It is entirely
supernatural. It comes from God. "As the Father hath sent me,
I also send you (40)...he that heareth you heareth me (41)...go ye
into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature; he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."(42)
41.
That is why the visible, external priesthood of Jesus Christ is
not handed down indiscriminately to all members of the Church in
general, but is conferred on designated men, through what may be
called the spiritual generation of holy orders.
42.
This latter, one of the seven sacraments, not only imparts the
grace appropriate to the clerical function and state of life, but
imparts an indelible "character" besides, indicating the
sacred ministers' conformity to Jesus Christ the Priest and
qualifying them to perform those official acts of religion by
which men are sanctified and God is duly glorified in keeping with
the divine laws and regulations.
43.
In the same way, actually that baptism is the distinctive mark of
all Christians, and serves to differentiate them from those who
have not been cleansed in this purifying stream and consequently
are not members of Christ, the sacrament of Holy Orders sets the
priest apart from the rest of the faithful who have not received
this consecration. For they alone, in answer to an inward
supernatural call, have entered the august ministry, where they
are assigned to service in the sanctuary and become, as it were,
the instruments God uses to communicate supernatural life from on
high to the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Add to this, as We have
noted above, the fact that they alone have been marked with the
indelible sign "conforming" them to Christ the Priest,
and that their hands alone have been consecrated "in order
that whatever they bless may be blessed, whatever they consecrate
may become sacred and holy, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ"(43) Let all, then, who would live in Christ flock to
their priests. By them they will be supplied with the comforts and
food of the spiritual life. From them they will procure the
medicine of salvation assuring their cure and happy recovery from
the fatal sickness of their sins. The priest, finally, will bless
their homes, consecrate their families and help them, as they
breathe their last, across the threshold of eternal happiness.
44.
Since, therefore, it is the priest chiefly who performs the sacred
liturgy in the name of the Church, its organization, regulation
and details cannot but be subject to Church authority. This
conclusion, based on the nature of Christian worship itself, is
further confirmed by the testimony of history.
45.
Additional proof of this indefeasible right of the ecclesiastical
hierarchy lies in the circumstances that the sacred liturgy is
intimately bound up with doctrinal propositions which the Church
proposes to be perfectly true and certain, and must as a
consequence conform to the decrees respecting Catholic faith
issued by the supreme teaching authority of the Church with a view
to safeguarding the integrity of the religion revealed by God.
46.
On this subject We judge it Our duty to rectify an attitude with
which you are doubtless familiar, Venerable Brethren. We refer to
the error and fallacious reasoning of those who have claimed that
the sacred liturgy is a kind of proving ground for the truths to
be held of faith, meaning by this that the Church is obliged to
declare such a doctrine sound when it is found to have produced
fruits of piety and sanctity through the sacred rites of the
liturgy, and to reject it otherwise. Hence the epigram, "Lex
orandi, lex credendi" - the law for prayer is the law for
faith.
47.
But this is not what the Church teaches and enjoins. The worship
she offers to God, all good and great, is a continuous profession
of Catholic faith and a continuous exercise of hope and charity,
as Augustine puts it tersely. "God is to be worshipped,"
he says, "by faith, hope and charity."(44) In the sacred
liturgy we profess the Catholic faith explicitly and openly, not
only by the celebration of the mysteries, and by offering the Holy
[Eucharistic] Sacrifice and administering the sacraments, but also by saying or
singing the credo or Symbol of the faith - it is indeed the sign
and badge, as it were, of the Christian - along with other texts,
and likewise by the reading of Holy Scripture, written under the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The entire liturgy, therefore, has
the Catholic faith for its content, inasmuch as it bears public
witness to the faith of the Church.
48.
For this reason, whenever there was question of defining a truth
revealed by God, the Sovereign Pontiff and the Councils in their
recourse to the "theological sources," as they are
called, have not seldom drawn many an argument from this sacred
science of the liturgy. For an example in point, Our predecessor
of immortal memory, Pius IX, so argued when he proclaimed the
Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Similarly during the
discussion of a doubtful or controversial truth, the Church and
the Holy Fathers have not failed to look to the age-old and
age-honored sacred rites for enlightenment. Hence the well-known
and venerable maxim, "Legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi"
- let the rule for prayer determine the rule of belief.(45) The
sacred liturgy, consequently, does not decide or determine
independently and of itself what is of Catholic faith. More
properly, since the liturgy is also a profession of eternal
truths, and subject, as such, to the supreme teaching authority of
the Church, it can supply proofs and testimony, quite clearly, of
no little value, towards the determination of a particular point
of Christian doctrine. But if one desires to differentiate and
describe the relationship between faith and the sacred liturgy in
absolute and general terms, it is perfectly correct to say, "Lex
credendi legem statuat supplicandi" - let the rule of belief
determine the rule of prayer. The same holds true for the other
theological virtues also, "In...fide, spe, caritate
continuato desiderio semper oramus" - we pray always, with
constant yearning in faith, hope and charity.(46)
49.
From time immemorial the ecclesiastical hierarchy has exercised
this right in matters liturgical. It has organized and regulated
divine worship, enriching it constantly with new splendor and
beauty, to the glory of God and the spiritual profit of
Christians. What is more, it has not been slow - keeping the
substance of the Mass and sacraments carefully intact - to modify
what it deemed not altogether fitting, and to add what appeared
more likely to increase the honor paid to Jesus Christ and the
august Trinity, and to instruct and stimulate the Christian people
to greater advantage.(47)
50.
The sacred liturgy does, in fact, include divine as well as human
elements. The former, instituted as they have been by God, cannot
be changed in any way by men. But the human components admit of
various modifications, as the needs of the age, circumstance and
the good of souls may require, and as the ecclesiastical
hierarchy, under guidance of the Holy Spirit, may have authorized.
This will explain the marvelous variety of Eastern and Western
rites. Here is the reason for the gradual addition, through
successive development, of particular religious customs and
practices of piety only faintly discernible in earlier times.
Hence likewise it happens from time to time that certain devotions
long since forgotten are revived and practiced anew. All these
developments attest the abiding life of the immaculate Spouse of
Jesus Christ through these many centuries. They are the sacred
language she uses, as the ages run their course, to profess to her
divine Spouse her own faith along with that of the nations
committed to her charge, and her own unfailing love. They furnish
proof, besides, of the wisdom of the teaching method she employs
to arouse and nourish constantly the "Christian
instinct."
51.
Several causes really have been instrumental in the progress and
development of the sacred liturgy during the long and glorious
life of the Church.
52.
Thus, for example, as Catholic doctrine on the Incarnate Word of
God, the Eucharistic Sacrament and Sacrifice, and Mary the Virgin
Mother of God came to be determined with greater certitude and
clarity, new ritual forms were introduced through which the acts
of the liturgy proceeded to reproduce this brighter light issuing
from the decrees of the teaching authority of the Church, and to
reflect it, in a sense so that it might reach the minds and hearts
of Christ's people more readily.
53.
The subsequent advances in ecclesiastical discipline for the
administering of the sacraments, that of penance for example; the
institution and later suppression of the catechumenate; and again,
the practice of Eucharistic Communion under a single species,
adopted in the Latin Church; these developments were assuredly
responsible in no little measure for the modification of the
ancient ritual in the course of time, and for the gradual
introduction of new rites considered more in accord with
prevailing discipline in these matters.
54.
Just as notable a contribution to this progressive transformation
was made by devotional trends and practices not directly related
to the sacred liturgy, which began to appear, by God's wonderful
design, in later periods, and grew to be so popular. We may
instance the spread and ever mounting ardor of devotion to the
Blessed Eucharist, devotion to the most bitter passion of our
Redeemer, devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the
Virgin Mother of God and to her most chaste spouse.
55.
Other manifestations of piety have also played their
circumstantial part in this same liturgical development. Among
them may be cited the public pilgrimages to the tombs of the
martyrs prompted by motives of devotion, the special periods of
fasting instituted for the same reason, and lastly, in this
gracious city of Rome, the penitential recitation of the litanies
during the "station" processions, in which even the
Sovereign Pontiff frequently joined.
56.
It is likewise easy to understand that the progress of the fine
arts, those of architecture, painting and music above all, has
exerted considerable influence on the choice and disposition of
the various external features of the sacred liturgy.
57.
The Church has further used her right of control over liturgical
observance to protect the purity of divine worship against abuse
from dangerous and imprudent innovations introduced by private
individuals and particular churches. Thus it came about during
the 16th century, when usages and customs of this sort had become
increasingly prevalent and exaggerated, and when private
initiative in matters liturgical threatened to compromise the
integrity of faith and devotion, to the great advantage of
heretics and further spread of their errors - that in the year
1588, Our predecessor Sixtus V of immortal memory established the
Sacred Congregation of Rites, charged with the defense of the
legitimate rites of the Church and with the prohibition of any
spurious innovation.(48) This body fulfills even today the
official function of supervision and legislation with regard to
all matters touching the sacred liturgy.(49)
58.
It follows from this that the Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys the
right to recognize and establish any practice touching the worship
of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify
those he judges to require modification.(50) Bishops, for their
part, have the right and duty carefully to watch over the exact
observance of the prescriptions of the sacred canons respecting
divine worship.(51) Private individuals, therefore, even though
they be clerics, may not be left to decide for themselves in these
holy and venerable matters, involving as they do the religious
life of Christian society along with the exercise of the
priesthood of Jesus Christ and worship of God; concerned as they
are with the honor due to the Blessed Trinity, the Word Incarnate
and His august Mother and the other Saints, and with the salvation
of souls as well. For the same reason no private person has any
authority to regulate external practices of this kind, which are
intimately bound up with Church discipline and with the order,
unity and concord of the Mystical Body and frequently even with
the integrity of Catholic faith itself.
59.
The Church is without question a living organism, and as an
organism, in respect of the sacred liturgy also, she grows,
matures, develops, adapts and accommodates herself to temporal
needs and circumstances, provided only that the integrity of her
doctrine be safeguarded. This notwithstanding, the temerity and
daring of those who introduce novel liturgical practices, or call
for the revival of obsolete rites out of harmony with prevailing
laws and rubrics, deserve severe reproof. It has pained Us
grievously to note, Venerable Brethren, that such innovations are
actually being introduced, not merely in minor details but in
matters of major importance as well. We instance, in point of
fact, those who make use of the vernacular in the celebration of
the august Eucharistic Sacrifice; those who transfer certain
feast-days - which have been appointed and established after
mature deliberation - to other dates; those, finally, who delete
from the prayer books approved for public use the sacred texts of
the Old Testament, deeming them little suited and inopportune for
modern times.
60.
The use of the Latin language, customary in a considerable portion
of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity, as well
as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth. In
spite of this, the use of the mother tongue in connection with
several of the rites may be of much advantage to the people. But
the Apostolic See alone is empowered to grant this permission. It
is forbidden, therefore, to take any action whatever of this
nature without having requested and obtained such consent, since
the sacred liturgy, as We have said, is entirely subject to the
discretion and approval of the Holy See.
61.
The same reasoning holds in the case of some persons who are bent
on the restoration of all the ancient rites and ceremonies
indiscriminately. The liturgy of the early ages is most certainly
worthy of all veneration. But ancient usage must not be esteemed
more suitable and proper, either in its own right or in its
significance for later times and new situations, on the simple
ground that it carries the savor and aroma of antiquity. The more
recent liturgical rites likewise deserve reverence and respect.
They, too, owe their inspiration to the Holy Spirit, who assists
the Church in every age even to the consummation of the world.(52)
They are equally the resources used by the majestic Spouse of
Jesus Christ to promote and procure the sanctity of man.
62.
Assuredly it is a wise and most laudable thing to return in spirit
and affection to the sources of the sacred liturgy. For research
in this field of study, by tracing it back to its origins,
contributes valuable assistance towards a more thorough and
careful investigation of the significance of feast-days, and of
the meaning of the texts and sacred ceremonies employed on their
occasion. But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything
to antiquity by every possible device. Thus, to cite some
instances, one would be straying from the straight path were he to
wish the altar restored to its primitive table form; were he to
want black excluded as a color for the liturgical vestments; were
he to forbid the use of sacred images and statues in churches;
were he to order the crucifix so designed that the divine
Redeemer's body shows no trace of His cruel sufferings; and lastly
were he to disdain and reject polyphonic music or singing in
parts, even where it conforms to regulations issued by the Holy
See.
63.
Clearly no sincere Catholic can refuse to accept the formulation
of Christian doctrine more recently elaborated and proclaimed as
dogmas by the Church, under the inspiration and guidance of the
Holy Spirit with abundant fruit for souls, because it pleases him
to hark back to the old formulas. No more can any Catholic in his
right senses repudiate existing legislation of the Church to
revert to prescriptions based on the earliest sources of canon
law. Just as obviously unwise and mistaken is the zeal of one who
in matters liturgical would go back to the rites and usage of
antiquity, discarding the new patterns introduced by disposition
of divine Providence to meet the changes of circumstances and
situation.
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