Jeg fortsetter her (her er første innlegg) å sitere litt fra Michael Davies bok om hvordan prestene rundt 1970 ble bedt om å engasjere menigheten når de feiret messen – heller enn å fokusere på å lede menigheten i frembæringen av messens hellige offer.
… Father Hovda makes no secret of the fact that the new style of celebration is linked with a new theology of the Eucharist, and that the former theology left much to be desired: “At no point will the demands of good style and presence weigh more heavily on the president than in the proclaiming of the Eucharistic prayer now totally in English. This will be a kind of test. If he comes through here he will be marvellous elsewhere. For in the canon he must overcome not only careless manners, but also a Eucharistic theology and piety which leave much to be desired.”
The celebrant is referred to consistently not as a sacrificing priest but as a … «president” … Father Hovda tells us that: «Presiders must become familiar with current writing on eucharistic theology» and that the «presiding minister» is «the one who preaches, sums up the prayers of the faithful, proclaims the canon, initiates the peace-greeting and makes sure that all the faithful present are served at the holy table.» This is a description of the function of a Protestant minister.
Father Hovda explains that Article 11 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy stated that it is the duty of pastors to insure that the faithful «are actively engaged in the rite.» «It is,» he claims, «the end of rubricism, the end of an era. And a completely different outlook is required of all who lead the worshipping assembly.» The priest has thus been reduced from the celebrant of Mass to the leader of a worshipping assembly. Father Hovda is as loath to refer to the Mass as he is to the priesthood. Interestingly, and perhaps hopefully, English-speaking Catholics have clung to the term «Mass.» In France, outside traditionalist circles, it has been virtually replaced by the term «Sunday Assembly.»
Father Hovda’s president is a communicator rather than a consecrator. «By ‘communication’ I mean the will, the desire to communicate, a passion for ‘coming through,’ ‘getting across,’ finding the right wavelength so that everyone in the assembly can say, ‘I hear you loud and clear brother’.»
Father Hovda is in no doubt about the style he is aiming at: «Good public worship will be relevant and gutsy, like the songs of Simon and Garfunkel, with their rich symbolism and their enduring capacity to interest and intrigue the mind.»
The Mass is the making present of Christ’s sacrifice upon the altar-can any renewal of Calvary not be relevant? As for rich symbolism, every gesture of the traditional Mass has some rich symbolic association which, with due respect to Father Hovda, is of a somewhat more enduring quality than the songs of Simon and Garfunkel. …
Det fins forøvrig et eksemplar av Hovdas bok om akkurat dette; en litt senere bok (1976) av ham om samme tema: Strong, loving and wise: presiding in liturgy, by Robert W. Hovda – på Menighetsfaktultetets bibliotek.
En god prest kan da engasjere menigheten ved å feire messen som hellig handling i seg selv. Kjærlig, tydelig og evne til å få en til å tenke litt etter (prekener blant annet). Men tok meg selv i å tenke igår at man må fokusere enda mer på selve messen som handling og offer fremfor celebranten.