The Natural Direction of Liturgy

The November 2004 issue of Mass of Ages reprinted an intriguing Traditionally-minded article from L'Osservatore Romano by the then Papal Nuncio in Indonesia, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. In December 2005 the archbishop was recalled to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI to become Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. Meanwhile a book by London Oratorian Fr Michael Lang - Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer - published in 2004 with a preface by the then Cardinal Ratzinger (reviewed in Mass of Ages, February 2005) has been causing great interest as a possible building block in any 'reform of the reform' which Pope Benedict might propose. All these elements came together in Rome on Wednesday 27 April when Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith spoke at the public presentation of the Italian translation of Fr Lang's book. Here is the text of his address.

Dear Fr Michael Lang, Fr Nicola Bux, representatives of Cantagalli Editions of Siena and dear friends: first of all I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to Cantagalli Editions for inviting me to participate as principal speaker at this public presentation of the Italian translation of the volume, Turning Towards the Lord. I am very honoured by this invitation.

I want to thank Fr Lang for this important study. This book traces the reasons and the praxis of the Church, since the first centuries, on the direction of liturgical prayer.

Its objective and lucid approach will certainly make it a valid instrument for anyone who wants to deepen his knowledge on this subject. The book demonstrates how the direction of the liturgical prayer in the post Conciliar reforms does not reflect the former praxis, and this is surprising.

In fact, in the Foreword to this book, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, at that time Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, affirms that "to the ordinary churchgoer, the two most obvious effects of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council seem to be the disappearance of Latin and the turning of the altars towards the people. Those who read the relevant texts will be astonished to learn that neither is in fact found in the decrees of the Council. The use of the vernacular is certainly permitted, especially for the Liturgy of the Word, but the preceding general rule of the Council text says, 'Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites' (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.1). There is nothing in the Council text about turning altars towards the people; that point is raised only in post-conciliar instructions."

Sacrosanctum Concilium

In fact, Sacrosanctum Concilium did not promote hasty attitudes in this matter, but rather an objective and reflective behaviour on the reform. Indeed the liturgical reform was not started by the Second Vatican Council, but really it was initiated by Pope Pius X. It was understood that both within the reform process that took place before the Council and later on too, as the Council itself wished, changes in liturgical matters had to emerge organically (cf. SC 23) and not hastily. But, unfortunately, things did not happen that way. And now some are talking about corrections to that situation or about a reform of the reform.

Whether it is the reform of the reform or the rehabilitation of the Tridentine rite, the book by Fr Lang can be considered an important stimulus towards a further improvement of the current liturgical praxis of the Church.

So, Turning Towards the Lord, as I see it, will have an important influence on the future orientations of liturgy in the Church. Perhaps that is why the Pope, in his Foreword, calls for an authentic, objective and passionate study on this subject. According to him, considerations concerning the ends rather than the means have to lead us in this research. The general criterion has always to be the one of choosing what increases the dignity and the salvific efficacy of what is celebrated. It is necessary to be able to evaluate positively what happened in the past, hearing everyone, even those who do not agree, without becoming partisans labelled 'pre-conciliar', 'post-conciliar', 'conservative' or 'progressive'. Objectivity is the key. In this research it is necessary, most of all, to be able to catch the ontological and internal direction of liturgy itself that differentiates it from the other aspects of ecclesial life and that confers on it, its own natural identity. Pope Benedict XVI affirms this aspect when he states: "The quest is to be achieved…by listening to the internal guidance of liturgy itself."

The Church has always been aware that what it does through its liturgical life is always action that is oriented towards the Lord and so implies a deeply mystic atmosphere. It is starting from this truth that we have to seek the answers. So, instead of a spirit of 'free fall' that leaves everything to creativity and to innovations without roots or depth, it is necessary to put ourselves on the same wavelength as the aforesaid mystic direction and to bring it to its full flowering. It involves a sense of responsibility towards what we really ought to do in liturgy. Even the innovations can't leave this fact out of consideration. If it is not so, it could fall into banality and superficiality.

Versus Deum

The Pope indicates the central direction of this dimension when he affirms that the natural direction of liturgical prayer is "versus Deum, per Jesum Christum" even if in fact the priest turns himself towards the people. This orientation belongs to the very core experience of liturgy. It is not a matter of form but of substance. Of its own nature liturgical prayer is an action of thanksgiving versus Deum.

This book by Fr Lang shows us the very importance of this consideration and how the Church in the past centuries has always clung to this praxis, insisting on its centrality.

Turning Towards the Lord, really is a scientific presentation of the question with an accurate historical analysis. It shows how the Church considered, during its long history, the importance of directing its prayer both in content and in gestures always towards God.

Moreover, I believe that in order to be able to grasp deeply the spiritual and effective value of the liturgical life of the Church, what is needed is not only a spirit of scientific or theologico-historical research, but also, and above all, an attitude of reflection, prayer and silence. Those who study the historical path of liturgy and commit themselves to the cause of its development must humbly 'listen' to the evolution of the liturgical traditions within the Church over the centuries, the important role of Ecclesial Magisterium, and also the gradual development, often within the ecclesial community itself, of these traditions and provide themselves with a spirit of intense prayer and adoration of the Lord. A real liturgist is always a man of prayer, someone always ready to hear the voice of the Lord. Because what happens in the celebration of praise of the Church, is not only an earthly and human reality but much more a mystical experience. And if these mystic aspects are fully realised, everything will become a cause of edification instead of disorientation and confusion. Arbitrariness, haste and emotional considerations have no role in such research. This is what the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, affirmed, when it stated:

"That sound tradition may be retained, and yet the way remains open to legitimate progress. Careful investigation is always to be made into each part of the liturgy which is to be revised. This investigation should be theological, historical, and pastoral. Also the general laws governing the structure and meaning of the liturgy must be studied in conjunction with the experience derived from recent liturgical reforms and from the indults conceded to various places. Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing." (SC 23).

For this reason the Constitution itself offers cogent and clear norms on who is really competent in leading liturgical innovations, affirming also that "therefore, no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority." (SC 22).

This great sense of reverence towards what is celebrated springs not only from the centrality of liturgy in the life of the Church, affirmed by the principle, 'lex credendi, lex orandi', but also from the conviction that liturgy is not just a human act, but a reflection of what is happening, as Sacrosanctum Concilium itself says "in that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem towards which we journey as pilgrims" (SC 8]).

Liturgy as gift

Liturgy is also what is given as a gift to the ecclesial community, the Spouse of Christ and the Celestial Jerusalem.

Unfortunately for different reasons, sometimes even for well-intentioned reasons, we notice, priests and even bishops introducing all kinds of experimentation or change of an ad hoc nature, lessening the sacred and the mystical sense of what is represented in the liturgical celebrations of the Church. The temptation to become protagonists in the front line of divine mysteries and to try to control even the action of the Lord is strong in a culture that glorifies man. Man's wishes to control God or even consider himself God. In some countries the situation becomes or is becoming really dramatic. Often, any sense of the sacred disappears in these so called liturgies.

In the Orient grows a flower called the lotus, one of the most beautiful flowers of our region. But it grows in muddy and swampy waters. Even if mud is not so nice, the flower itself sprouts and orients itself towards the sun, bringing out its petals, and adding beauty to nature. I can see here a similarity with human life. What really frees man is not what keeps him plunged in the mud of his weaknesses and limited choices, but that capability he achieves to liberate himself from them and turn his life towards infinity and toward his Creator. It is not by lowering the sense of the divine to human level but by trying to raise it to the level of the supernatural that we will be able to somehow draw from the riches of the divine mysteries.

Liturgy, in this sense, is not what man determines, but what the Lord makes to grow in him, an attitude of adoration towards his creator and Lord, freeing him from his slavery to sin. If then it loses its mystical and celestial dimension, what will help man to free himself from the mud of egoism and slavery to sin? If the Church does not insist on these mystical and deeply spiritual dimensions of life and of life's celebration, who is going to do it? Isn't this our duty, in a world that is closed in on itself, and more and more disoriented, insecure, a prisoner of itself?

True liberty

True liberation does not come from a lowering of divine reality to a human level, trying to make the Lord tangible and controllable by our mind or by cultic acts made comprehensible to man, but by elevating our heart and mind to the level of the divine.

This way man will draw from the source of real liberty a sense of everlasting joy and peace. If man pretends to understand everything the Lord does, it is not God who would lead human history but man himself. Isn't it the old idolatry denounced by the prophets?

The Church which has to reflect the constant presence of Christ in the world, is at the service of human kind to help it to free itself from the imprisonment of being closed in on itself, rediscovering its vocation to fullness of life in the Lord and opening itself to the joyful embrace of infinity in Him. The intimate communion of the Church with its Spouse, reflected upon and enriched especially through its liturgical life, becomes a powerful manifestation of the infinite freedom which humanity can always attain through it.

So, preserving and enriching the spiritual mysticism of the liturgy is not an option for us, but a duty. If the world falls into the pit of a closed in outlook where human self-sufficiency alone is glorified and yet the thirst for infinity is felt more intensely, the Church has to offer its own experience of the sense of freedom and fullness it finds in Christ as the way in which mankind can be truly elevated to the level of the infinite. Thus, it is not by bending to superficiality that liturgy will motivate us to reflect the values of infinity to the world, but by affirming more and more those mystical and divine dimensions. Today, more than ever, this becomes very much a vital expression of the prophetical role of the Church.

I thank you Fr Lang for this book which will help us more and more to turn our eyes towards the Lord.

Translation by Mgr Ignacio Barreiro.

Turning Towards the Lord by Fr Michael Lang (Ignatius Press) is available from Family Publications at £8.50. (Tel: 0845 0500 879).

[Taken from "Mass of Ages" August 2006, The Latin Mass Society's quarterly magazine]