Bishop Larry Silva’s

CATECHESIS ON THE LITURGY

Dear People of the Diocese of Honolulu:

The peace of the risen Christ be with you! Over the next year or two, our diocese will be embarking on a period of catechesis and renewal regarding the liturgy, particularly the celebration of the Eucharist. On May 31-June 1, the priests and deacons were invited to a workshop on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM). This is the document issued by the Vatican that governs our celebration of the Mass in all the Catholic churches of the Roman Rite. (There are Eastern Rite Catholics, fully in communion with the Pope, who celebrate the liturgy with a different rite.) The third edition of the GIRM was published in 2002.

It is my responsibility as the Pastor and Chief Liturgist of the diocese to assure that the liturgy is celebrated according to the proper form and with lively faith. As I visit the parishes, I am impressed that the vast majority celebrate the liturgy quite well. For most, this study and implementation of the liturgy will mean some fine-tuning and a few minor changes in the way liturgy is celebrated. For a few parishes, however, more extensive changes will be required. For all of us, the most important fruits of this catechesis should be our deeper understanding of the beauty of the liturgy and a renewal of the spirit in which we worship our Lord, especially in the Eucharist.

Each month we will take one aspect of the liturgy and ask everyone to study it and reflect upon it. There will be articles in the Hawaii Catholic Herald and postings on our diocesan website (www.catholichawaii.org). Two months before the topic is covered in the Herald, the priests and deacons will be referred to sections of the GIRM that will be the focus of the catechesis, and they will receive materials that can be copied as bulletin inserts or used in parish presentations. The two-month lead time will not only give them time to prepare for catechesis on the local level, but will also afford them the opportunity to discuss the issues in greater depth with their staffs, liturgy committees, and liturgical ministers. At the same time, any changes that need to be made to fully implement the GIRM can be suitably planned and executed.

Topics will include the following: General Norms; Liturgical Ministers and the Gathered Assembly; Sites and Symbols; Participation, gestures and postures; Introductory Rites; Liturgy of the Word; Liturgy of the Eucharist; Communion Rite; Concluding Rites; Review and overview of the Mass; Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults; Order of Christian Funerals; Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum; Rite of Penance, Form I; Rite of Penance, Form II; The Book of Blessings; Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside the Mass.

I should mention that the bishops of the English-speaking world are currently working on an updated English translation of the prayers and responses of the Mass. None of these is ready for implementation, but by the time we finish this planned catechesis, the translation should be ready. By then we will be accustomed to learning about the liturgy, so instructions on the new translations should flow nicely from our present endeavors.

I encourage all in the diocese to study the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. It is available through Pauline Books & Media (1143 Bishop Street, Honolulu, HI 96813; Oahu phone 521-2731; Neighbor Islands, toll free phone 1-866-521-2731; webpage www.pauline.org); or through the Publishing Office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org).

As we embark on this catechesis and renewal, I do want to emphasize some very important points.

The liturgy is a living encounter in which we worship the Father, through his Son Jesus, our risen Lord, in the Holy Spirit. It is the source and summit of our entire Christian life. It should therefore be celebrated well and according to the rites given to us by the universal community of the Church to which we belong. The rubrics, gestures, postures and words are extremely important. But what is most important is the attitude with which we approach the liturgy. We are God’s creatures, not creators. The structure is given to us to help us encounter the deeper spiritual reality of God-with-us. We can “perform” the liturgy flawlessly, following all the directives beautifully, and still have a very dead liturgy, if we do not remember that the liturgy is primarily prayer. While it has elements of drama that engage us and our deepest emotions, it is never simply a performance. We must put our hearts and souls into the celebration of the liturgy. Most of all, we must open our hearts to the incredible power of the Holy Spirit that works on us and in us in the liturgy.

Anyone who has worked on planning the liturgy knows that it is never as simple as it seems. It involves human beings with human limitations, so it is seldom, if ever, celebrated perfectly. While it is important that we better understand the reasons behind what we do, it is more important that we avoid the temptation to become “liturgical police,” criticizing anyone and anything that does not conform to the rules. Sometimes the temptation is only played out in the silence of our hearts as we privately criticize the unfolding of the liturgy rather than enter into the worship with praise and thanksgiving. It is true that we are in the process of critiquing our liturgies for the sake of improving them, but Satan can easily lead us to turn legitimate critique into resentment toward our brothers and sisters, thus undermining the real purpose of liturgy.

I also urge that we be very careful when we find ourselves saying, “We have always done it this way. We like it.” or “That is not supposed to be done.” On the one hand, we sometimes fall into bad habits. The fact that they are habits is not an excuse for holding on to them if they are not correct. On the other hand, I myself have occasionally said, “That is not supposed to be done,” and after double checking, I found that what I judged incorrect was actually quite permissible. We need to approach the liturgy with great humility, because it is in fact our way of approaching intimacy with the Lord himself, before whom we can only be humble.

Let us all pray that this renewal of our liturgy will help us all to be more on fire with the love of Christ, so that we can truly be his Body in the world, to bring his light, healing and love to all.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

            Most Rev. Larry Silva

            Bishop of Honolulu

 

Give thanks and praise: a popular explanation of the Mass

Introduction

Sunday after Sunday, year after year, Catholics have come together to celebrate the Mass. This weekly gathering of the community is a hallmark of the Church. From the earliest days of Christianity coming together on the Lord’s Day has characterized the followers of Christ. We assemble for common prayer, to hear the scriptures proclaimed and explained, and to share in the Eucharist. This tradition of marking the Lord’s Day with common prayer is an essential part of our lives as a community of God’s people.

The development of a tradition

Having its origins in the meal celebrated by Jesus with his apostles at the Last Supper, the Christian Sunday celebration soon incorporated various ritual elements from Jewish and other cultural practices. Throughout the centuries the development of the Mass has varied according to diverse places and religious mentalities. While preserving a fundamental outline, this history followed many and often divergent paths, There were borrowings by local churches from other local churches. There were many additions to the ritual, some of which lasted for centuries while others were soon abandoned. There existed many popular understandings of the Mass which in turn influenced or were influenced by the manner in which the Mass was celebrated.

The reform of a tradition

Not all the historical developments of the Mass were happy ones. This is why the bishops at the Second Vatican Council called for a reform of the Mass that would bring out more clearly the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, the Connection between them, and would more readily achieve the devout, active participation of the faithful. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, no, 50)

This reform of the structure of the Mass has already been accomplished. The Church has provided us with a basic pattern for our Sunday worship. According to all reports the vast majority of Catholics are happy with the changes that have taken place. People are beginning to feel that the Mass is indeed their Mass, that they are called upon and have an opportunity to participate actively in its celebration,

A challenge for the future

Even though we have made considerable liturgical progress over the last two decades, our American bishops in 1983 issued a word of warning. We must not yield to complacency.

“There have been many significant liturgical gains in the past 20 years, but there remain many areas of unfinished liturgical business ... we must continue to make efforts to appreciate and open our hearts to the spiritual and prayerful dimensions of the liturgy.” (The Church at Prayer: A Holy Temple of the Lord, no. 46)

The purpose of this series is to help us respond to our bishops’ request that we continue to deepen our understanding and appreciation of the liturgy. We will explore what we are about when we gather for the celebration of Mass, How Is the Mass put together? Why do we do the things we do? Why do we do them at the time we do them? How can we pray more deeply with others? These are some of the questions we shall address in this series.

Major sections of the Mass

As Catholics we commonly refer to our Sunday gathering as the “Mass.” a word deriving from the Latin “missa,” a technical word for “dismissal,” i.e., the breaking up of a meeting, the Conclusion of an official assembly. From the fourth century the term was applied to the whole celebration.

Many of us remember the days when people spoke of the Mass as having three major parts, i.e., the “offertory, consecration, and communion.” If you missed one of these, you failed to fulfill your Sunday obligation. Today, however, we speak of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist as being the two key sections of the celebration. One might assume that these are two completely distinct and separate parts of the Mass.

Not so! Very early in the Christian experience the celebration of word and meal were seen as inseparable as wife and husband. One goes with the other. Both are liturgy. Each is of equal importance. Listening to God speak to us through the scripture readings is just as important as sharing at the table of the Lord. The conversation before the meal is as essential as the meal itself. Speech and meal. Word and Eucharist. One liturgy. One prayer of the church,

We speak of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Of Greek origin, the term “liturgy” describes any official public act of worship celebrated by the Church. The word thus refers not to individual prayer but to the prayer offered by the community according to the established norms of the Church. Every Mass is a liturgy, but not every liturgy is a Mass. Celebrations of baptism and marriage are also liturgies.

Every liturgy includes ritual, i.e., a traditional and commonly accepted way of doing things. These standard patterns of worship are described in liturgical books such as the Roman Missal which contains the prayers of the Mass and the Lectionary for Mass where the scripture readings and psalm responses are found,

We must remember that the ritual of the Mass is not composed of various individual elements following one another like boxcars in a freight train. There are major and minor moments of the celebration just as there are more intense and more relaxed moments of life in general, There are times of preparation and of conclusion, There are times for attentive listening, for vigorous dialogue, for enthusiastic singing, for reverent gestures and postures, for prayerful silence.

While all these elements coalesce to form a unified whole, there exists an ebb and flow which can be called the “rhythm” of the celebration. And once we enter into the celebration, we become part of this rhythm. We share in and contribute to the community’s multi-dimensional experience of prayer together,

"Give Thanks and Praise" ©1987, Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, 415 Michigan Aye, NE, Suite 70, Washington, DC 20017. Reprinted with permission.