Ratzinger om liturgien i 1998: Konsilet og den tradisjonelle liturgien

I andre del av min gjengivelse av kardinal Ratzingers foredrag om liturgien i 1998, ser vi at han snakker om at det ikke er feil i forhold til Vatikankonsilet å fortsette med den tradisjonelle liturgien:

The two most often heard are the lack of obedience to the Council which reformed the liturgical books and the rupturing of unity which must necessarily follow, if one allows other different liturgical forms to continue. It is relatively easy to refute in theory these two arguments. The Council itself did not reform the liturgical books but rather ordered their revision. To that end it laid down some fundamental rules.

Primarily the Council defined what liturgy is and this definition gives valid criteria for every liturgical celebration. If one wishes to scorn these essential rules and to put aside the normae generales which are bound at numbers 34 to 36 of the Constitution «De Sacra Liturgia», then one violates obedience to the Council! One must judge liturgical celebrations, whether they be according to the old or the new liturgical books, based on these criteria. It is good to remember here what Cardinal Newman realized when he said that the Church in all her history has never abolished or defended orthodox liturgical forms (forms which express the true faith) which would be totally foreign, to the spirit of the Church.

An orthodox liturgy (a liturgy which expounds the true faith) is never a compilation drawn up according to the pragmatic criteria of diverse ceremonies, of which one can dispose positively and arbitrarily, this way today, that way tomorrow. The orthodox forms of a rite are living realities, born of the dialogue of love between the Church and Her Lord. They are the expressions of the life of the Church where the faith, the prayer and the very life of generations is condensed and where at same time the action of God and the response of man is enfleshed in a concrete form. If the subject which has borne certain rites historically disappears or if the subject is transplanted into another environment, these rites can perish. The authority of The Church can define and limit the use of rites in different historical situations. She never forbids them purely and simply! The Council, therefore, ordered a reform of the liturgical books but it never forbade the previous books. The criterion which the Council enunciated is both vaster and more demanding. It invites everyone to self-criticism! We will return to this point.

Hele foredraget kan leses her.

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