For noen dager siden leste jeg (på father Z’s blog) et lite utdrag fra et intervju med pavens nye seremonimester, Msgr. Guido Marini, der han forklarer litt av pavens tenkning rundt liturgien:
«I believe it is important, above all, to consider the orientation that a liturgical celebration is always called to have: I’m referring to the centrality of the Lord, the Savior crucified and raised from death. Such an orientation must determine the interior disposition of the entire assembly and, consequently, also the external mode of celebrating. The placement of the Cross on the altar at the center of the assembly is able to convey this fundamental content of liturgical theology. … In the Eucharistic liturgy we do not look at each other, but one looks to Him who is our East, the Savior. … … The liturgy of the Church, nay rather, her life as well, is made from continuity. I would say it is from development in continuity. This means the Church proceeds in her historical journey without losing sight of her own roots and her own living tradition: this can require, in some cases, also the recovery of precious and important elements which may have been lost along the way, forgotten, and that the passage of time has rendered less bright in their authentic meaning. It seems to me that the Motu Proprio [Summorum Pontificum] moves exactly in this direction: reaffirming with great clarity that in the liturgical life of the Church there is continuity, without rupture.»
Father Z. legger så til noen tanker som understreket dette:
The great German liturgist, the late Msgr. Klaus Gamber, who so influenced great liturgical theologians such as Joseph Ratzinger, thought that the single greatest damaging change in the post-Conciliar reform was the turning around of altars. This makes perfect sense. In the posthumous compilation entitled The Reform of the Liturgy (Roman Catholic Books, 1993) Gamber states:
«Liturgy and faith are interdependent. This is why a new rite was created, a rite that in many ways reflects the bias of the new (modernist) theology. The traditional liturgy simply could not be allowed to exist in its established form because it was permeated with the truths of the traditional faith and the ancient forms of piety. For this reason alone, much was abolished and new rites, prayers and hymns were introduced, as were the new readings from Scripture, which conveniently left out those passages that did not square with the teachings of modern theology—for example, references to a God who judges and punishes.» (p. 100)
… With great insight, Klaus Gamber wrote, «Real change in the contemporary perception of the purpose of the Mass and the Eucharist will occur only when the table altars are removed and Mass is again celebrated at the high altar; when the purpose of the Mass is again seen as an act of adoration and glorification of God and of offering thanks for His blessings, for our salvation and for the promise of the heavenly life to come, and as the mystical reenactment of the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross.» (p. 175)
What Pope Benedict is doing with the positioning of the Cross for his televised celebrations of Mass is of enormous importance.
Msgr. Gambers bok er en skatt av dimensjoner. Den var ute av trykken en god stund, til tross for daværende kardinal ratzingers forord til den engelske utgaven, men har nå kommet tilbake på trykk. Jeg har vært den heldige eier av et eksemplar (original engelsk med forordet) i noen år.