Good to "see you" Des.
Today's Gospel [read by our celebrant], was modified as follows in red:
- "....the promise he made to our fathers, and mothers, to Abraham and his children forever."
Posted on 08/15/2004 11:42:32 AM PDT by ninenot
he Eucharist belongs to the entire church, universal as well as local. The dynamics of its structure are deeply rooted in the theology of God's grace and in the reality of human religious experience. The Eucharist, rooted in Scripture and Jewish prayer, has been shaped by centuries of tradition, and then reshaped as it was handed over from one culture to another.
As if to signal that its elements were not subject to the whim of individual congregations or presiders, the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy stipulated changes could only be made by those authorized to do so (§ 22). Thus, the liturgy, belonging to the whole church, should not be arbitrarily changed. Preserving its integrity is the duty of the individual presider.
At the same time, the Council decreed the guiding goal of full, conscious and active participation for all the baptized faithful (§14), each in his/her respective role. That means every effort should be made to tailor the celebration to the mentality, culture and needs of any given community. One sign of that obligation is the explicit exhortation regularly found in the rituals themselves that presiders say something "in these or similar words." Thus, in another sense, the church's liturgy belongs in a unique manner to the local gathering of faithful and must be adapted accordingly. This is also the duty of the individual presider.
Historically the official missals and rituals of the church have been published with directions on how the sacraments should be celebrated in small red print, called "rubrics" (from the Latin word, ruber meaning "red"), and the actual words to be said by presider or congregation printed in larger black type. Thus, the word "rubrics" has come to signal attentiveness to the directions in fine print which should be followed in any sacramental celebration.
Rubrics, as I indicated above, are important because they give direction, structure and purpose to the flow of the liturgical celebration. They help prevent serious lapses or deficiencies in the sacramental sign itself. The rubrics can protect the sanctity of the ritual. They serve to keep the individual celebration of each parish's liturgy in communion with the larger church, diocesan and universal.
When I use the word "rubricism," however, I mean such an obsessive and driven preoccupation with the directives in red print as to risk losing sight of the Eucharist's main purpose. The primary goal of sacraments, especially the Eucharist which is the source and summit of the church's life (§ 10), is sharing in the death and resurrection of the Lord and in Christ's praise of the Father which accomplished the new creation of God's people by divine grace and mercy.
While rubrics are important, they can also become obstacles to God's grace if taken out of context or given exclusive attention. For that reason the Council also included a solemn warning: "Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, more is required than the mere observance of the laws governing valid and licit celebration. It is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part knowingly, actively and fruitfully" (§ 11).
Now to the other part of my title for this column. Heresy is the deliberate and knowing denial of a divinely revealed truth. Like serious sin, formal heresy required full knowledge and a deliberate act of the human will.
There is also the type of heresy called "material," namely a de facto denial of God's truth which is not fully understood nor freely made. Such an act can be a denial of God's truth without the individual realizing it. Good and holy people can have seriously erroneous (namely, heretical) opinions. This latter sense is the notion I'm addressing, and that’s the reason for the title's use of the word in quotation marks.
There are two reasons for suggesting that total and narrowly exclusive preoccupation with the rubrics of the Eucharist might be heretical, that is, embodying a serious denial of a fundamental truth of our Catholic faith.
First of all, excessive and exclusive preoccupation with the directives governing the human actions of our Eucharistic worship could be heretical because it suggests that our salvation depends upon our own actions alone, not God's grace and mercy. The error of acting as if we can achieve our own salvation by our works, howsoever holy and attentive, is a serious one, called "Pelagianism" after its fourth century proponent.
Secondly, excessive and exclusive preoccupation with the rubrics might be heretical because it totters on the brink of indulging in magic. Whenever anyone thinks the blind recitation of certain words or the performance of physical actions themselves causes the effect, that is magic; hardly consistent with our faith or with our Christian recognition of God's sovereign power.
In Catholic tradition there is an historical recognition that an action can have its own immediate effect " ex opere operato " but that is by the promise of God, not the action of any human being as such.
These are things I as a bishop worry about, given today's increasing focus on correct rubrics as if they were the means to salvation, rather than an occasion for God's loving mercy. Keep an eye on the mystery, not merely the pathway to it.
Papal Masses are perfect examples where "local customs" and "in these or similar words" are observed.
If you spend your Masses dwelling on where, and when, a priest deviates from rubrics, you ought to find yourself a Mass where you don't have to do that.
Well, see, the rubrics should be so ingrained that they are reflex - at least, that's the way it is for me. It's very jarring when something goes wrong or isn't there. They tell us it's just external trappings, but every Mass I attend with no bells, just seems to be lacking something.
I realize that the rubric infractions at my parish are minor, but still...
There's any number of bishops that can go to Iran.
Red letters it is, but usually it is the big red letter at the top of the chapter.
Such as the T missing from the top of this article.
I have never described myself as such, nor has The Roman Catholic Church declared I am a sedevacantist.
No, that doesn't line up. It's not supposed to be kosher, but what can you do? In the heat of the moment, there isn't much you can do.
The Mass I attended yesterday had it's share of the little "fixes" and it was said by our auxiliary. He gave a good homily, but there were enough little things that were changes, to make me uncomfortable.
The consecration is valid, but not LICIT. That is, transubstantiation is effected, but the deficiency in the chalice means that there is something wrong in the rubrics.
See your FReepmail.
"Father, someone from CCC was telling me the other day that Catholics don't believe in transubstantiation any more but we believe in consubstantiation now. Is that right? What exactly is consubstantiation?"
An excellent suggestion, but NWU better have oxygen handy, because he may not like the answer he gets.
I am absolutely convinced that at least one active pastor up here simply does not believe in transubstantiation.
Good analogies indicate that you have good higher-order thinking skills.
My wife had no such delusions--thus she remains sane. Now she merely sends notes about the position of the toilet seat.
Pronounce it SKIL-bah, or, if you prefer, Minor Leader of the Grand American Resistance to Authority.
Were he a doctor, he'd be a quack. Just like Gumbleton of Detroit--
He's a jerk, and it's well known that he is the MAJOR cross for Abp. Dolan to carry up here.
Infantile is a good word, by the way. Like Rembert, he's a member of the 'arrested development' group which still holds sway in most Chanceries in this country.
Manhood evades him.
[With a great sense of irony, Sinky brings up Jesuits in the same sentence as 'rubrics.']
The point, again, my dear Sink, is that Sklba's making this stuff up. I will concede that there may be some 5 or 10 individuals in this Archdiocese who have a fixation--that is, they are pathological on the subject--but S. wants us to take a different lesson: laissez-faire.
He's creating a straw man to knock down ANY rational discussion.
When he throws the "heresy" bomb, it's comparable to using "Hitler" on an internet post.
Uhhhnnnhh, if we accept the literal meaning of your screen-name, your sensitive and kindly priest said that to make YOU feel included and welcome. WHY do you resent his improvement on the Word of God?
"Sicut locutus est ad patros nostros Abraham et semini ejus in saecula" is the Latin. Obviously, Mary forgot about the mothers..../sarcasm.
Are you certain? Pinging some legal beagles.
IIRC, m4629 was able to quote documentation which does not support your theory--rather, it tends to dis-prove it.
LOL
Who are these people who are taking obedience to a heretical level? This is a straw-man.
This is a poorly argued excuse for looking the other way when priests abuse the liturgy.
There are no significant group of people who believe that the rubrics are saving works or "magic."
I frankly question whether there are any such people, but you can just about always find one oddball somewhere.
This bishop is slandering people who are simply trying to realize their right to proper liturgy. It's frankly despicable that a bishop would right such a thing.
Our Holy Father in "Ecclesia De Eucharistia" wrote: "Liturgy
is never anyone's private property, be it of the celebrant
or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated...
Priests who faithfully celebrate Mass according to the liturgical norms, and communities which conform to those norms, quietly but eloquently demonstrate their love for the Church."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.