Francis on Liturgical Practice

 On Friday, January 20, Pope Francis gave a brief three- page address to a course that was formed to help implement his liturgical vision outlined in the Apostolic Letter

DESIDERIO DESIDERAVI ON THE LITURGICAL FORMATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD

That eighteen-page letter is frankly overly theoretical whereas this is Francis in his down to earth no-nonsense practicality.

ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE COURSE "LIVING LITURGICAL ACTION FULLY"

Some of his "zingers' and my comments follow.

This liturgical vision should be put into the context of what has become clearly Francis plan for bring his pontificate to a conclusion. Synod of bishops sessions in 2023 and 2024 clearly aimed at providing the church with a more synodal style of governing. Recentering the Church on the program of Vatican II by studying its major documents in preparation for the Jubilee Year of 2023.  Right now, he is emphasizing the importance of the reform of the Liturgy at Vatican II.

Liturgy is “primary source of that divine exchange in which the life of God is communicated to us; it is the first school of our soul” (Allocution of Paul VI for the closing of the Second Session of Vatican Council II, 4 December 1963). Therefore, the liturgy cannot be fully possessed, it is not learned like notions, crafts, human skills. It is the primary art of the Church, that which constitutes and characterizes her.

In other words, we learn to do liturgy by experiencing liturgy, especially good liturgy. In today's virtual world, I think that includes improving our art of celebrating liturgy by experiencing especially good (particularly diverse) liturgies on the internet. I think discussing various recorded liturgies, good and bad, should become a normal part of pastoral planning and evaluation. It means discussing those liturgies both with people who attend them and those who do not.

Today we no longer talk about the “master of ceremonies”, that is, the one who takes care of “sacred ceremonies”; rather, the liturgical books refer to the master of celebrations.

We should read the large section that Francis devotes to the MC in terms of his own experience with his own MC whom he inherited from Benedict. That Monsignor became famous for all the papal attire that he dressed Benedict in, as well as the great variety of laced surplices which he used himself. Surely an MC that was front and center; the antithesis of what Francis wants.

Rumor has it that as the MC began to dress Francis for his first appearance on the balcony of Saint Peters, Francis turned to him and said "Carnival time is over." Many thought that meant the end of the MC, but Francis desired conversion. The monsignor changed his ways and recently left the MC position to become bishop of a small diocese in Italy.

Francis went out on the balcony dressed in his white habit with no additional vestments, addressed the people, asked them to pray over him, and then assumed ONLY the stole to give his first blessing as Pope.  Right at the beginning of his papacy, he taught us about true liturgical leadership which begins with meeting the needs of the people, both inside and outside the church.

I think his comments about MC applies to everyone who has liturgical leadership: bishops, priests, deacons, pastoral associate, music ministers, etc.  

One of the cardinal principles of Vatican II returns here: we must always keep the good of the communities, the pastoral care of the faithful (cf ibid., 34) before our eyes, to lead the people to Christ and Christ to the people. It is the primary objective, which must be in first place also when you prepare and guide the celebrations. If we neglect this, we will have beautiful rites, but without strength, without flavor, without meaning, because they do not touch the heart and the existence of the people of God.

 “A celebration that does not evangelize is not authentic” (Desiderio desideravi, 37). It is a “ballet”, a beautiful ballet, aesthetic, beautiful, but it is not an authentic celebration.

One of the most complex aspects of the reform is its practical implementation, or rather the way in which what was established by the Council Fathers is translated into daily life.

 This is done primarily by celebrating. How did we learn how to serve Mass as children? By watching our older friends do it. It is that formation from the liturgy that I wrote about in Desiderio desideravi. Decorum, simplicity and order are achieved when everyone, gradually throughout the course of the years, attending the rite, celebrating it, living it, understand what they must do. 

When the head of celebrations accompanies the bishop in a parish, it is good to highlight the celebratory style that is lived there. It is pointless to put on a nice “parade” when the bishop is there, and then to return to how it was before. Your task is not to arrange the rite for one day, but to propose a liturgy that is imitable, with those adaptations that the community can embrace in order to grow in the liturgical life. In this way, gradually, the celebratory style of the diocese grows.

Indeed, going to the parishes and saying nothing in the face of liturgies that are a little slapdash, neglected, badly prepared, means not helping the communities, not accompanying them. Instead, delicately, with a fraternal spirit, it is good to help pastors reflect on the liturgy, to prepare them with the faithful.

One of the fundamental problems of liturgical renewal has been that we have great liturgies for Christmas, Holy Week, Easter, Confirmation, but have slapdash, badly prepared liturgies for the ordinary Sundays of the year.  The Evangelicals get a lot more people to come Sunday after Sunday because they emphasize the Lord's Day as the primordial feast day.

And finally, I urge you to cultivate silence. In this age, we talk, we talk… Silence. Especially before the celebrations – a moment that is at times taken for a social gathering. We talk: “Ah, how are you? Is everything going well? Why not?”. Silence helps the assembly and concelebrants to concentrate on what is to be done. Fraternity is beautiful; greeting one another is beautiful, but it is the encounter with Jesus that gives meaning to our gathering, to our coming together. We must rediscover and cherish silence!

We could learn a lot from the Orthodox about how to have both silence and reverence with a lot of community. The local parish always has silence and reverence, but people greet each other, let young kids run around the church, share the child- caring with each other.

And here I will say something that is linked to silence, but for priests. Please, the homilies: they are a disaster. At times I hear someone: “Yes, I went to Mass in that parish… yes, a good lesson of philosophy, forty, forty-five minutes… Eight, ten, no more! And always a thought, a sentiment and an image. Let people take something home with them. In Evangelii Gaudium I wanted to emphasize this. And I said it many times, because it is something that we end up not understanding: the homily is not a conference, it is a sacramental. 

Francis is tireless in his critique of the curia, clericalism, and poor homilies. But I am disappointed that laity are not taking up his chant. Why in with all this emphasis upon getting people back to Mass, are we not focusing upon better liturgies like Francis is doing. I see all this concern about transubstantiation simply as a way to avoid facing our real problems.