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VOL.
43, NO. 5
In
His Light
Liturgical changes will enhance
our celebration of Eucharist
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
On the last Friday of February, I joined with the priests of our diocese
in attending a workshop on the ritual changes that have come about as
a result of Our Holy Father publishing a third edition of the Roman Missal,
revised in accordance with the directives of the Fathers of the Second
Vatican Council.
After this program for priests, there was a session for deacons, and this
will be followed by meetings for others with leadership responsibilities
for the liturgical life of our parishes and communities.
The Holy Father published the new version of the Missal in the spring
of 2001, and a very important part of the Missal is the General Instruction
found in the front. This General Instruction sets out the norms and directives
for the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist.
This revised edition is not radically different from the one in place
right now, the one we have grown so accustomed to since the late 1960s.
There are, however, some changes that will take getting used to. For example,
the congregation is to stand while saying the prayer: “May the Lord,
accept the sacrifice at your hand….”
As you would expect, in things that have to do with something so important
as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for a variety of reasons, it has taken
time for us locally to engage in a well-ordered implementation of these
changes.
A first phase of that effort was a series of workshops the year after
the General Instruction was published. Building on what was accomplished
then, we are moving into a second phase of examining what the norms require
and how we can in an orderly way go about putting them into practice in
our parishes.
The workshops I mentioned above are part of that effort. With these as
our background, I have asked the priests to use the time between now and
the first Sunday of Advent to accomplish two important goals: to explain
the changes the new edition of the Missal calls for and then to implement
those changes.
As part of my contribution in supporting our priests in this important
task, I offered them some reflections on the meaning of liturgical norms.
In what follows I would like to share some of those thoughts with you.
One of the parts of the Rite of Priestly Ordination is a very logical
place to begin. I have in mind here “The Handing Over of the Bread
and Wine.”
Before the bishop ordains a man to the priesthood he asks for and receives
from him a formal pledge that he will “celebrate faithfully and
reverently, in accord with the Church’s tradition, the mysteries
of Christ, especially the sacrifice of the Eucharist and the sacrament
of Reconciliation….”
Then, after the man is ordained, the bishop expresses his acceptance of
— “seals,” as it were — that solemn promise by
entrusting to the new priest the bread and wine for the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
Here the Liturgy makes clear that the priest’s role of presiding
at the Eucharist is a trust. The Eucharist is not his; we priests are
its stewards; we hold it in trust.
The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, in speaking about the priestly
ministry, make clear why this stewardship is so momentous: “The
most blessed Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth,
that is, Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread” (Decree
on the Ministry and Life of Priests, n. 5).
By ordination to the priesthood a man has been entrusted with the whole
and only heart’s desire of the Church: the sacrificial self-gift
to her of own beloved bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
This inestimable worth of the Eucharist is, as Pope John Paul II points
out, the answer to the question of “Why norms?”
Toward the end of his Encyclical on the Eucharist he writes: “The
‘treasure’ is too important and precious to risk impoverishment
or compromise through forms of experimentation or practices introduced
without a careful review on the part of the competent ecclesiastical authorities”
(n. 51).
The Holy Father is reminding us that what the Holy Spirit makes present
through the priest’s ministry is the Paschal Christ, as he has handed
himself over to the whole Church, the Church of every time and place.
The liturgical norms (and the texts as well, to be sure) are the ways
which the Church has recognized as true and accurate expressions of Christ
in his sacrifice to the Father and gift of self to us. Substituting other
modes of expression risks obscuring – or even leaving in absence
– what is expressed, that is, Christ in his saving deeds of sacrificial
love.
Thinking along with the Holy Father to understand the rationale for norms
and rubrics helps us understand the somewhat peremptory admonition from
the Fathers of Vatican II that “not even a priest may add, remove,
or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority” (Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy, n. 22.3).
It is important to realize that observing the norms for the liturgy is
not, by its nature a lapse into empty formalism. It is rather a way for
us priests faithfully to offer to you, God’s people, the gift he
desires to share with you.
We are these days, in the midst of what the Holy Father has proclaimed
as “The Year of the Eucharist” — a providential time
to renew our appreciation for this great gift, the gift of Christ himself.
I pray that all that we do in our communities to ensure a worthy and devout
celebration of this Mystery of Faith will bear great fruit in our lives,
the fruit of holiness: abundant works of faith, hope and love.
Bishop Vigneron’s Holy Week schedule
Bishop Allen Vigneron will celebrate Holy Week in various
parishes throughout the diocese.
On Palm Sunday, March 20, he will celebrate the 10 a.m. Mass at St. Edward
Church in Newark.
He will be at St. Anthony Church in Oakland for the Holy Thursday (March
24) liturgy, beginning at 7 p.m., and at St. Rose Church in Crockett for
the 5:30 p.m. liturgy on Good Friday (March 25).
He will celebrate the Easter Vigil at 8 p.m. at St. Michael Church in
Livermore.
The annual Chrism Mass, at which he will preside, will be celebrated at
St. Felicitas Church in San Leandro at 7 p.m. on March 17.
Previous "In His Light" Columns by Bishop Allen H. Vigneron
