Hva aktiv deltakelse i messen er, og hva det ikke er

Jeg har tidligere nevnt F. Newman i USA, som hver søndag i fasten skriver om liturgien, og spesielt fokuserer på/ argumenterer for at presten og hele menigheten sammen skal vende seg mot Gud når messens fullkomne offer og alles takk bæres fram for Gud. Les hans stykker her.

Sist søndag skrev han om den misforståelsen at alle, eller i alle fall veldig mange, i kirken må delta på aktiv måte. I de engelske messene i vår menighet, og i noen barne- og ungdomsmesser kan man gå langt i denne retning også i Norge (og presten oppfordres kanskje også til å bli en entertainer), men jeg tror heldigvis ikke det skjer så ofte i våre tradisjonelle høymesser. Jeg angriper ikke det at noen har naturlige oppgaver i messen, det er når holdningen blir at det er absolutt nødvendig, eller i alle fall sterkt fokusert på, at det blir et problem – og fører til at den åndelige deltakelsen fra både prestens og alle troendes side lider skade. Les F. Newmans tekst:

One objective of the liturgical reforms of the 1960’s was to encourage the active participation of the Catholic people in the celebration of the sacred liturgy, in part by reminding them that they are participants in, not spectators of, offering the sacrifice of praise at the heart of all Christian worship. Unfortunately, in the years following the II Vatican Council, the Church’s desire that all the faithful participate fully in the sacred liturgy was too often rendered a caricature of the Council’s teaching, and misconceptions about the true nature of active participation multiplied. This led to the frenzied expansion of “ministries” among the people and turned worship into a team sport. But it is possible to participate in the liturgy fully, consciously, and actively without ever leaving one’s pew … the primary meaning of active participation in the liturgy is worshipping the living God in Spirit and truth, and that in turn is an interior disposition of faith, hope, and love which cannot be measured by the presence or absence of physical activity. But this confusion about the role of the laity in the Church’s worship was not the only misconception to follow the liturgical reforms; similar mistakes were made about the part of the priest.

Because of the mistaken idea that the whole congregation had to be “in motion” during the liturgy to be truly participating, the priest was gradually changed in the popular imagination from the celebrant of the Sacred Mysteries of salvation into the coordinator of the liturgical ministries of others. And this false understanding of the ministerial priesthood produced the ever-expanding role of the “priest presider,” whose primary task was to make the congregation feel welcome and constantly engage them with eye contact and the embrace of his warm personality. Once these falsehoods were accepted, then the service of the priest in the liturgy became grotesquely misshapen, and instead of a humble steward of the mysteries whose only task was to draw back the veil between God and man and then hide himself in the folds, the priest became a ring-master or entertainer whose task was thought of as making the congregation feel good about itself.

But, whatever that is, it is not Christian worship, and in the last two decades the Church has been gently finding a way back towards the right ordering of her public prayer. In February 2007 Pope Benedict XVI published an Apostolic Exhortation on the Most Holy Eucharist entitled Sacramentum Caritatis in which he discusses the need for priests to cultivate a proper ars celebrandi or art of celebrating the liturgy. … and an essential part of that work is removing the celebrant from the center of attention so that priest and people together can turn towards the LORD.

Accomplishing this task of restoring God-centered liturgy is one of the main reasons for returning to the ancient and universal practice of priest and people standing together on the same side of the altar as they offer in Christ, each in their own way, the sacrifice of Calvary as true worship of the Father. In other words, the custom of ad orientem celebration enhances, rather than diminishes, the possibility of the people participating fully, consciously, and actively in the celebration of the sacred liturgy.

Father Jay Scott Newman

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