Katolsk

Slik lyder bønner og antifoner i dagens messe, mandag i den stille uke (les alle tekstene her):

Inngangsvers
Herre, gå i rette med dem som går i rette med meg; strid mot dem som strider mot meg. Grip skjold og verge og kom meg til hjelp; si til min sjel: Jeg er din frelser.

Kollektbønn
Allmektige Gud, vi ber deg, at vi som er svake, må få ny kraft ved din enbårne Sønns lidelse, han som lever og råder…

Bønn over offergavene
Herre, ta nådig imot disse hellige mysterier, som du har gitt os for å ta bort den dom som hviler over oss. Vi ber deg, la dem bringe oss evig liv. Ved Kristus, vår Herre.

Pasjonsprefasjon II
I sannhet, det er verdig og rett, vår skyldighet og vår frelse,
at vi alltid og alle vegne takker deg,
Herre, hellige Fader, allmektige, evige Gud, ved Kristus, vår Herre.
Nå nærmer dagen seg for hans frelsende lidelse og seierrike oppstandelse,
den som knuser den gamle fiendes hovmot, og minner oss om vår gjenløsnings mysterium.
Ved ham priser englenes hærskare din majestet og gleder seg evig for ditt åsyn.
Vi ber deg, forén våre røster med dem, idet vi jublende istemmer:

Kommunionsvers
Skjul ikke ditt åsyn for meg på nødens dag. Bøy ditt øre til meg, skynd deg og svar meg når jeg roper.

Bønn etter kommunion
Herre, vi ber deg, se til ditt folk. Våk i din miskunn over de hjerter som dette sakrament hår helliget, og gi oss å verne om de midler du nådig har gitt oss til evig frelse. Ved Kristus, vår Herre.

Denne siste studieuka leser jeg også disse tre bøkene (som jeg alle i større eller mindre grad har lest tidligere), bøker som alle er kristiske til liturgirevisjonen etter konsilet.

Den første av disse bøkene er Turning Towards The Lord av Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, og Amazon skriver om den:

Turning towards the Lord presents an historical and theological argument for the traditional, common direction of liturgical prayer, known as “facing east”, and is meant as a contribution to the contemporary debate about the Catholic liturgy. Lang, a member of the London Oratory, studies the direction of liturgical prayer from an historical, theological, and pastoral point of view. At a propitious moment, this book resumes a debate that, despite appearances to the contrary, has never really gone away, not even after the Second Vatican Council. Historical research has made the controversy less partisan, and among the faithful there is an increasing sense of the problems inherent in an arrangement that hardly shows the liturgy to be open to the things that are above and to the world to come. … Without claiming to offer major new insights, Lang carefully presents the results of recent research and provides the material necessary for making an informed judgment. It is from such historical evidence that the author elicits the theological answers that he proposes.

Den andre boka er The Reform of the Roman Liturgy: Its Problems and Background av Klaus Gamber. Om denne skriver Alcuin Reid på Amazon:

The news that this book has been brought back into print by Roman Catholic Books is very good news indeed, for it is a seminal work which has done much to expose the extent of discontinuity in the post-conciliar reform. It stands alongside Archbishop Bugnini’s own book, The Reform of the Liturgy, as essential reading – though Gamber is certainly the more accessible of the two.

Gamber’s book is in fact two books. The first examines the overall work of the changes made to the liturgy in the 1960’s. He sees the question of whether or not the changes were an organic development as crucial. His conclusions speak for themselves: «Obviously, the reformers wanted a completely new liturgy, a liturgy that differed from the traditional one in spirit as well as in form; and in no way a liturgy that represented what the Council Fathers had envisioned, i.e., a liturgy that would meet the pastoral needs of the faithful» (p. 100). Gamber is clear and unequivocal: a large mistake has been made with regard to the liturgy, unprecedented in the Church’s history.

However, it would be wrong to align Gamber with traditionalists who draw a line at 1962, 1955, or even earlier, beyond which all change is anathema. Gamber is a critical liturgical historian, as shown by his precise and detailed discussion of the question of which way the liturgy should be celebrated, which comprises the second book in this volume.

Gamber’s concerns are historical, doctrinal and pastoral. He readily accepts the appropriateness of vernacular readings, and even of the pruning of some of the later accretions to the Traditional Roman Rite (Psalm 42 from the prayers at the foot of the altar, the Offertory prayers, the last Gospel). These prudential decisions can be argued about, as they were at Trent. But he staunchly defends traditions integral to the Roman Rite throughout its history, e.g., facing eastwards and the Roman Canon, and deprecates «the cold breath of realism [that] now pervades our worship» (p.13).

Gamber speaks frankly of the destruction of the Roman Rite after the Council, the last example of which can be found in the Ordo Missae promulgated in 1965 as the reform called for by the Council. Significantly, Archbishop Bugnini dismissed this 1965 reform as insufficient because its alterations were merely «peripheral», insisting that «radical» changes were what was needed.

It is Gamber’s brave, loyal `critical traditionalism’ that gives such importance to his writing. His theses are well documented, and his research is impressive. One hopes more of his writings will be made available in translation.

Den tredje og siste av disse kritiske bøkene er The Liturgy After Vatican II: Collapsing or Resurgent? av Denis Crouan. Om denne kan vi lese:

Crouan, the author of several studies on liturgical questions including the book The Liturgy Betrayed presents another penetrating work on the state of the Eucharistic Liturgy, the problems and errors that still exist, and how to correct these abuses. The responses Crouan has received to all of his writing and speaking on this topic from Catholics of every stripe show the weariness and confusion of many of the faithful regarding the Sacred Liturgy.

Crouan says that the great majority of Catholics need and want, not celebrations that are “pastorally correct”, but a Eucharistic liturgy that offers all the guarantees of Catholicity and leads them to an authentic contemplation of the mysteries being celebrated. He expresses the urgency needed to examine what is going on in parish churches, and to clarify matters by acknowledging the liturgical errors in order to establish a greater fidelity to the real teaching of Vatican II and the Roman Missal.

Erkebiskop Alexander Sample i Portland, Oregon (der jeg er nå) er nettopp blitt intervjuet, både om erkebispedømmet (i et av de mest kirkeløse delene av USA), om bispesynoden og om liturgien. Om det siste emnet sier han:

The Church teaches us that the liturgy is the “source and summit” of the Church’s life [in Sacrosanctum Concilium]. There is nothing more important that the Church does. All our apostolic works flow from it. It is the heart of who we are as the body of Christ.

I had the pleasure of attending a general audience with Pope Benedict. As a bishop, I had the opportunity to greet him personally afterward. In the few moments I had with him, I told him I had a great admiration for what he’d done to renew the sacred liturgy and thanked him for his leadership. He responded, “If we don’t have the liturgy, what do we have?” I took that message to heart.

I want to do what the Church wants us to do in regards to liturgy. It is not my take, or my style, but what the Church is asking of us. I want to be faithful to what the Vatican II Council intended.

The liturgy is not the personal possession of any priest or liturgical commission, but belongs to Holy Mother Church. We must celebrate it according to the mind and heart of the Church.

Videre sier han også:

I’m grateful to Pope Benedict for allowing the Extraordinary Form to flourish again in the Church. I have a great love and appreciation for the ancient liturgy. I wish every priest and seminarian would familiarize himself with the Extraordinary Form, which can help us to better understand the Ordinary Form.

Jeg leste om dette først hos Father Z.

Jeg er nå i gang med å lese The Liturgy in Medieval England: A History av Richard W. Pfaff, det er ei bok på nesten 600 sider, som det vil ta litt tid å komme gjennom. Amazon skriver om boka:

This book provides a comprehensive historical treatment of the Latin liturgy in medieval England. Richard Pfaff constructs a history of the worship carried out in churches – cathedral, monastic, or parish – primarily through the surviving manuscripts of service books, and sets this within the context of the wider political, ecclesiastical, and cultural history of the period. The main focus is on the mass and daily office, treated both chronologically and by type, the liturgies of each religious order and each secular ‘use’ being studied individually. Furthermore, hagiographical and historiographical themes – respectively, which saints are prominent in a given witness and how the labors of scholars over the last century and a half have both furthered and, in some cases, impeded our understandings – are explored throughout. The book thus provides both a narrative account and a reference tool of permanent value.

Boka går gjennom den ene tidsepoken etter den andre, bl.a. disse:

Early Anglo-Saxon England: a partly traceable story
Later Anglo-Saxon: liturgy for England
The Norman Conquest: cross fertilizations
Monastic liturgy, 1100-1215
Benedictine liturgy after 1215
The non-monastic religious orders: canons regular
The non-monastic religious orders: friars
Old Sarum: the beginnings of Sarum Use
New Sarum and the spread of Sarum Use
Exeter: the fullness of secular liturgy
Southern England: final Sarum Use
Regional Uses and local variety
Towards the end of the story

Jeg har lest ferdig boka The Holy Eucharist – The World’s Salvation, der forfatteren, Joseph de Sainte-Marie, OCD, er nokså kritisk til praksis som har kommet etter 1970 mht konselebrasjon av messen. Han er ikke mot konselebrasjon, og finner det bl.a. naturlig at prester konselebrerer med sin biskop ved spesielle anledninger, men han finner det ikke naturlig at mange prester skal konselebrere messer til stadighet, heller enn å feire egne messer. Han tar opp spørsmål som; blir ett eller flere messeoffer båret fram når mange prester konselebrerer en messe? Og han skiller tydelig mellom seremenoiell konselebrasjon (når f.eks. en biskop feirer messe med assisterende diakoner og en MC), og sakramental konselebrasjon (når flere prester deltar i konsekrasjonen).

Prof. Peter Kwasniewski har skrevet en grundig og positiv anmeldelse av boka på The New Liturgical Movement, og han åpner anmeldelsen slik:

Let me begin with the bottom line. This is the most important book ever to appear in English on the subject of concelebration. It ought to be read by every bishop, priest, religious, teacher of liturgy, and seminary formator, and absolutely anyone with a desire to learn about this complex and sometimes contentious issue.

Fr. Joseph de Sainte-Marie (1931–1985), a professor and specialist in Carmelite spirituality at the Pontifical Theological Faculty ‘Teresianum’ in Rome, published this substantial collection of his writings in 1982, only a few years before his death. One may regret that it has taken over 30 years for an English translation to appear — or better, one may rejoice that it has finally come out for the benefit of those who do not read French. Lest a nearly 600-page tome prompt any dismay, I hasten to repeat that this is a gathering together of a dozen finely-chiseled essays on the Mass and the Holy Eucharist, with special attention to concelebration. …

Har tar også med innholdfortegnelsen til boka:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction (xi)
Foreword (xvii)

Part I: A Disputed Question
1. Reflections and Questions on the Subject of Concelebration (3)
2. A Critical Note on a ‘Theology of Concelebration’ (29)
3. Concelebration: Sensus Fidei and Theology (81)

Part II: The Historical Inquiry
4. Concelebration: The History of a History (123)
5. Concelebration: An Historical Summary (179)
6. Eucharistic Concelebration in the Magisterium of the Second Vatican Council (203)
7. ‘Useless and Superfluous Masses’ (273)
8. The Church Asks for the Multiplication of Masses (297)

Part III: Theological Reflection
9. ‘Sacrificium Missae’ (323)
10. The Liturgy: Mystery, Symbol, and Sacrament (355)
11. The Mass: Meal, ‘Blessing’, Congregation, or Sacrifice? (425)
12. The Celebration and Multiplication of the Sacrifice (483)

Conclusion (539)

Jeg har begynt å lese boka The Holy Eucharist – The World’s Salvation, av Joseph de Sainte-Marie, OCD. Den handler om konselabrasjon av messen; hvordan det har foregått gjennom tidene, og hvorvidt det er en god praksis eller ikke.

Amazon skriver om boka bl.a.:

The present book, originally published in French, and now in English with a new foreword by Dom Alcuin Reid OSB, is a splendid example ante litteram of the task of the Hermeneutic of Continuity so courageously undertaken by Pope Benedict XVI. Without calling for a change in the post-Conciliar discipline of the Latin Church, the author offers a complete and trenchant historical and dogmatic critique of the recent neglect of the individually celebrated Mass in favour of concelebration.

The discipline of the church after Sacrosanctum Concilium, up until the 1982 Code of Canon Law and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the third edition of the Missal of Paul VI, has always asserted the freedom of priests to celebrate individually, yet the liturgical and theological atmosphere of seminaries and religious communities has rarely favoured this freedom.

Here is a careful discussion of the value of the multiplication of celebrations of the Eucharist, in the light both of the nature of the Eucharistic Sacrifice itself and of the theology of its fruits. A meticulous study of the history of the practice of concelebration shows that the present practice of daily concelebration, especially among simple priests without their Ordinary presiding, far from being a return to an ancient norm, is in fact a new development.

The author concludes with a carefully nuanced set of practical proposals which, while giving to concelebration its due place, would serve to make better use of the infinite riches contained in the Holy Sacrifice. This conclusion may be summed up by the ancient prayer over the gifts found in both forms of the Roman Mass and quoted in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council: As often as the memorial of this Victim is celebrated, the work of our redemption is accomplished. May the careful examination of this beautifully reasoned study lead to a renewed sense of the efficacy of the Church’s Offering and of its frequent and devout celebration by her priests.