"The Council did not itself reform the liturgical books, but it ordered their revision, and to this end, it established certain fundamental rules. Before anything else, the Council gave a definition of what liturgy is, and this gives a valuable yardstick for every liturgical celebration. Were one to shun these essential rules and put to one side the normae generales which one finds in numbers 34-36 of the Constitution De Sacra Liturgia (SL), in that case one would indeed be guilty of disobedience to the Council! It is in the light of these criteria that liturgical celebrations must be evaluated, whether they be according to the old books or the new. It is good to recall here what Cardinal Newman observed, that the Church throughout her history, has never abolished nor forbidden orthodox liturgical forms, which would be quite alien to the Spirit of the Church. An orthodox liturgy, that is to say, one which express[es] the true faith, is never a compilation made according to the pragmatic criteria of different ceremonies, handled in a positivist and arbitrary way, one way today and another way tomorrow. The orthodox forms of a rite are living realities, born out of the dialogue of love between the Church and her Lord. They are expressions of the life of the Church, in which are distilled the faith, the prayer and the very life of whole generations, and which make incarnate in specific forms both the action of God and the response of man. Such rites can die, if those who have used them in a particular era should disappear, or if the life-situation of those same people should change. The authority of the Church has the power to define and limit the use of such rites in different historical settings, but she never just purely and simply forbids them! Thus the Council ordered a reform of the liturgical books, but it did not prohibit the former books. The criterion which the Council established is both much larger and more demanding; it invites us all to self-criticism! But we will come back to this point."
"On the other hand, it is considered essential [by those attached to the pre-Conciliar liturgy] for a celebration according to the old rite to be in Latin, with the priest facing the altar, strictly and precisely according to the rubrics, and that the faithful follow the Mass in private prayer with no active role. From this viewpoint a particular set of externals is seen as essential to this or that liturgy, rather than what the liturgy itself holds to be essential. We must hope for the day when the faithful will appreciate the liturgy on the basis of visible concrete forms, and become spiritually immersed in those forms; the faithful do not easily penetrate the depths of the liturgy."
"The contradictions and oppositions which we have just enumerated originate neither from the spirit nor the letter of the conciliar texts. The actual Constitution on the Liturgy does not speak at all about celebration facing the altar or facing the people. On the subject of language, it says that Latin should be retained, while giving a greater place to the vernacular 'above all in readings, instructions, and in a certain number of prayers and chants' (SL 36:2). As regards the participation of the laity, the Council first of all insists on a general point, that the liturgy is essentially the concern of the whole Body of Christ, Head and members, and for this reason it pertains to the Body of the Church 'and that consequently it [the liturgy] is destined to be celebrated in community with the active participation of the faithful'. And the text specifies 'In liturgical celebrations each person, minister or lay faithful, when fulfilling his role, should carry out only and wholly that which pertains to him by virtue of the nature of the rite and the liturgical norms' (SL 28). 'To promote active participation, acclamations by the people are favoured, responses, the chanting of psalms, antiphons, canticles, also actions or gestures and bodily postures. One should also observe a period of sacred silence at an appropriate time' (SL 30)."
"These are the directives of the Council; they can provide everybody with material for reflection."
"On the other hand [the Cardinal having first considered issues with the revised liturgy], it must be admitted that the celebration of the old liturgy had strayed too far into a private individualism, and that communication between priest and people was insufficient. I have great respect for our forefathers who at Low Mass said the 'Prayers during Mass' contained in their prayer books, but certainly one cannot consider that an ideal of liturgical celebration! Perhaps these reductionist forms of celebration are the real reason that the disappearance of the old liturgical books was of no importance in many countries and caused no sorrow. One was never in contact with the liturgy itself. On the other hand, in those places where the Liturgical Movement had created a certain love for the liturgy, where the Movement had anticipated the essential ideas of the Council, such as for example, the prayerful participation of all in the liturgical action, it was those places where there was all the more distress when confronted with a liturgical reform undertaken too hastily and often limited to externals. Where the Liturgical Movement had never existed, the reform initially raised no problems. The problems only appeared in a sporadic fashion, when unchecked creativity caused the sense of the sacred mystery to disappear."
"This is why it is very important to observe the essential criteria of the Constitution, which I quoted above, including when one celebrates according to the old Missal! The moment when this liturgy truly touches the faithful with its beauty and its richness, then it will be loved, then it will no longer be irreconcilably opposed to the new Liturgy, providing that these criteria are indeed applied as the Council wished."
The full text of this address by Cardinal Ratzinger may be found at this location on the American website of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The Institute indicates that the translation is by Father Ignatius Harrison of the London Oratory at Brompton and that it is used by courtesy of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.
Another posting may be found here on the website of Adoremus, the Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy.
BLOGGER'S OBSERVATIONS
These words of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI, provide us with very clear statements of his thoughts on how the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy ("Sacrosanctum Concilium") (SC) applies to celebrations of the Mass under the Extraordinary Form. From his comments, one may conclude that he believes:
- The essential teachings of Sacrosanctum Concilium apply to the celebration of the Mass both under the 1962 Roman Missal and under the 1970 Roman Missal and its subsequent editions. -- How could this not be the case? Vatican II was an ecumenical council of the Universal Church, duly convened by a validly elected Pope; its documents, adopted by majorities of the bishops assembled, were confirmed and promulgated by a validly elected Pope. (The final vote on Sacrosanctum Concilium was 2,147 in the affirmative and 4 in the negative.) Every faithful Catholic is bound in conscience to give "religious respect of intellect and will" to the Council's teachings and must "take care to avoid whatever is not in harmony with that teaching." Canon 752 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
- Failure to observe the essential teachings of Sacrosanctum Concilium in celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form is an act of disobedience to the Second Vatican Council.
- Celebration of the Sacred Liturgy with the full, conscious, and active participation of the faithful is an essential teaching of Sacrosanctum Concilium. -- In Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Council expressly teaches that "the Church earnestly desires that all the faithful [are] to be lead to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy" and that "in the reform and promotion of the liturgy, this full and active participation by all of the people is the aim to be considered before all else." (SC, no. 14) "With zeal and patience", pastors must promote active participation in the liturgy by the people, "both internally and externally"; "by so doing, pastors will be fulfilling their chief duties as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, and in this matter they must lead their flock not only by word but also by example." (SC, no. 19)
- The silent-spectator form of Low Mass that existed prior to the Council "had strayed too far into private individualism" and the degree of "communication between the priest and people was insufficient." Low Mass with the people not responding to the priest and not joining with him where appropriate but silently reading prayers cannot be considered "an ideal of liturgical celebration." -- If not the silent Low Mass, then what? The Council teaches that "the Church earnestly desires that Christ's faithful, when present at this mystery of faith [that is, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass] should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred service conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full involvement." (SC, no. 48) Norms for the Dialog Mass were established by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1958, and these provisions were expressly incorporated by reference in Blessed Pope John XXIII's revision of the Rubrics of the Roman Missal in 1960. The Council recognized that the these developments from the liturgical movement were "a sign of the providential dispositions of God in our time, a movement of the Holy Spirit in his Church." (SC, no. 43) It expressly mandated that "steps should be taken enabling the faithful to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass belonging to them. (SC, no. 54, para. 2) It made clear that active participation included the people taking part "by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bearing." (SC, no. 30) Surely, now, after the Second Vatican Council, for Low Masses in the Extraordinary Form, the ideal to be striven for is the highest degree of the Dialog Mass that a congregation can celebrate with a priest celebrant.
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