Dom Mark Daniel Kirby er prior i det benediktinske klosteret Our Lady of the Cenacle i Tulsa, Oklahoma. 17/12 hadde han feiret messen ad orientem i fem år, og skriver om fordelene ved denne praksisen:

1. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is experienced as having a theocentric direction and focus.
2. The faithful are spared the tiresome clerocentrism that has so overtaken the celebration of Holy Mass in the past forty years.
3. It has once again become evident that the Canon of the Mass (Prex Eucharistica) is addressed to the Father, by the priest, in the name of all.
4. The sacrificial character of the Mass is wonderfully expressed and affirmed.
5. Almost imperceptibly one discovers the rightness of praying silently at certain moments, of reciting certain parts of the Mass softly, and of cantillating others.
6. It affords the priest celebrant the boon of a holy modesty.
7. I find myself more and more identified with Christ, Eternal High Priest and Hostia perpetua, in the liturgy of the heavenly sanctuary, beyond the veil, before the Face of the Father.
8. During the Canon of the Mass I am graced with a profound recollection.
9. The people have become more reverent in their demeanour.
10. The entire celebration of Holy Mass has gained in reverence, attention, and devotion.

Som mange vet er dagene fra 17. desember fram til jul spesielle, med egne lesnnger og bønner – og Å-antifoner. Slik er bønna for 18. desember:

Latin:
Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut, qui sub peccati iugo ex vetusta servitute deprimimur, expectata Unigeniti tui nova nativitate liberemur.

Norsk:
Allmektige Gud, fra Adams tid har vi trellet under syndens åk. Nå bervi deg: Sett oss fri ved din enbårne Sønns fødsel, som gir oss nytt håp, (han som lever og råder .. )

Den nye engelske oversettelsen:
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we who are weighed down by ancient slavery beneath the yoke of sin, may be set free by the long awaited new birth of your Only Begotten Son.

Også denne boka handler om liturgien (selvsagt), dens utvikling nærmere bestemt – og jeg begynte på den i går. Tittelen er The Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite, og den kan bestilles på Amazon her.

Slik beskrives boka hos Amazon:

This is a serious, scholarly of liturgy analysis combining historical, philosophical, musicological and liturgical. The volume, like the series, will be aimed at moving the debate about liturgy out of the narrow confines of either ‘pastoral liturgy’, ‘reform of the reform’ or nostalgia and bemoaning of the ruination of liturgical tradition to an entirely higher plane, of serious, scholarly, measured analysis combining historical, philosophical, musicological and liturgical. This book advances a provocative and controversial set of proposals for the development of future liturgical reform in its attempt to re-engage with a traditional sense of the Roman Rite. The author is uniquely placed to make the case he does. A mediaevalist and musicologist of unparalleled experience and breadth, Dobszay combines – almost uniquely – a profound knowledge of the history of the development of the Roman Rite – especially the Antiphonary – with a personal interest and passionate concern for the lived experience of the rite itself. The result is a lively and vigorous text based around the idea of the actual liturgical sense of the Roman Rite – meaning a respect for its integrity as an historical tradition that found multiform expression across Europe and also across at least 1600 years, combined with a sympathy for the fact that the rite is still a living entity with a long future ahead of it.

På s 48 i boka «Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy» beskrives msgr. Gambers syn på messens fokus på denne måten:

… The description of liturgy as worship corresponds to its traditional treatment in the documents of the Magisterium, as for instance in the encyclical Mediator Dei of Pope Pius XII. ‘The sacred liturgy … is the public worship which our redeemer, the head of the Church, offers to the heavenly Father, and which the community of Christ’s faithful pays to its founder, and through him to the eternal Father Pius XII accentuates the role of ordained priests to represent Christ as head of the Church before the heavenly Father and before the other faithful. The Second Vatican Council, when it describes the significance of ‘liturgy,’ bears witness to the priesthood of Christ: the priestly ministry embraces both public worship and sanctification; that is, it possesses equally the ‘katabatic’ dimension, by which God ‘sets out’ or descends to man, and the ‘anabatic’ element by which man ‘returns’ or ascends to God.

In the years after Vatican II, however, many liturgists preferred a more sociological description which characterizes the liturgy as the ‘worshipping assembly of God’s people’. This definition fails to distinguish between the ministry of ordained priests and that of the lay faithful; here the element of worship is relegated to the background. Gamber, on the contrary, affirms that the ‘primary’ or chief sense of divine worship’ is to ‘offer to God due adoration and thanksgiving’. The earthly worship of God is an image of the heavenly liturgy. ….

The Canons Regular of John Cantius i Chicago gjør mye godt arbeid. Bl.a. har de et nettsted der prester rundt i hele verden kan lære å feire den gamle messen – HER. Nå har de også gjort tilgjengelig en video der en av hjelpebiskopene i Chicago feirer en høy tidelig medd, Novus ordo, på engelsk, og bruker det store høyalteret i kirken. Videoen kan sees her.

Jeg har lenge vært opptatt av at messen er et offer som blir båret fram for Gud, og opplever at dette ofte er utydelig i mange katolske messer i dag. Veldig mye av fokus her ligger på kommunionen, måltidet, fellesskapet – som selvsagt skal være med, med som ikke er det eneste som skjer i messen. Det virker også på meg som fokuset i den eukaristiske bønn ligger på selve forvandlingen, og ofte svært lite på at dette Kristi fullkomne offer bæres fram for Gud. I boka «Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy» liker jeg godt måten msgr. Gamber uttrykker denne tematikken på – på s 38:

… In the next contribution, Gamber studies the ‘essence’ of the Holy Mass: ‘The Sacrifice of the Mass – Since When?’ Gamber cites the witness of the New Testament and of the church fathers according to whom the Mass was considered ‘from the beginning both meal and sacrifice.’ The meal manifests itself principally in the distribution of Communion and the sacrifice in the great Eucharistic prayer recited by the priest. ‘Certainly it was no aberration’ that also the ‘presentation of the gifts of bread and wine’, together with other parts of the Mass, had been ‘considered under the title of sacrifice’. Thus the rediscovery of the communitarian aspect of the Mass must not lead to its overemphasis. …

Jeg leser som jeg nevnte boka «Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy», og har begynt på et kaåittel om den kjente msgr. Klaus Gamber. På s 32 kan vi lese at Gamber i 1966 var ganske optimistisk med tanke på den nye liturgien:

In 1966, Gamber published with Herder a much-noted treatise, Liturgie Übermorgen (Liturgy on the Day after Tomorrow). In this book the author summarizes his views on the historical developments that affected the liturgy, and then presents his own vision for the liturgy of the future Gamber already expresses some regrets, but he still reflects great optimism …

The first part of Liturgy on the day after tomorrow treats ‘The celebration of the Lord’s Supper.’ … The author investigates the development of the celebration of the Eucharist until the time of Constantine. The title ‘Lord’s Supper’ implies the relationship between the Eucharist and the agape, and underscores the sacramental meal, whereas Gamber, in his later publications, would stress the doctrine of Eucharistic sacrifice. In 1966, Gamber the liturgical theologian maintained (likely following the views of Romano Guardini) that the basic structure of the Eucharistic celebration’ is the meal, whereas the ‘idea of sacrifice’ became only later on ‘the dominant factor in the Mass’. … The author intentionally overlooks developments that occurred in the Middle Ages as well as in the modern era precisely in order to describe his utopian ideals for the future.

Men på s 36 kan vi så lese at Gamber i 1972 hadde snudd helt om:

… Although Gamber, in 1966, was still following the mainstream of the day, … the situation changed radically over the course of the next few years. He himself noted, shortly before his death twenty-three years later, that in writing Liturgy on the day after tomorrow, he had laboured away full of optimism for the renewal of Roman Catholic worship in the near future … The outcome, then, was very quick … and entirely different from what I had expected.’ Gamber describes the decline of the faith that ensued after Vatican II even as the greatest catastrophe in the entire history of the Church. …