Pave Benedikt underviser de italienske biskopene

Liturgi, Paven /

Sandro Magister oppfatter pave Benedikts hilsen til de italienske biskopene nylig (som jeg nevnte her), som en kritikk av deres holdning til liturgien. Han skriver:

The Pope Rattles the Bishops: «Learn from Saint Francis»

He really knew what true liturgical reform is, writes Benedict XVI in a message that is a severe rebuke to the Italian Catholic hierarchy. Where, in the liturgical field, Ratzinger’s opponents continue to prevail.

The last two popes, on numerous occasions, have pointed to the Italian Church and its episcopate as a «model» for other nations. There is one field, however, in which the Italian Church does not shine. It is that of the liturgy.

This was made clear by the severe lesson that Benedict XVI gave to the Italian bishops gathered in Assisi for their general assembly from November 8-11, an assembly centered on an examination of the new translation of the Roman missal.

In the message that he addressed to the bishops on the eve of the assembly, pope Joseph Ratzinger did not limit himself to greetings and good wishes. He was the one to dictate the criteria of a «true» liturgical reform.

«Every true reformer,» he wrote, «is obedient to the faith: he does not act in an arbitrary manner, he does not appropriate any discretion over the rite; he is not the owner, but the custodian of the treasury instituted by the Lord and entrusted to us. The whole Church is present in every liturgy: adhering to its form is a condition of authenticity for what is celebrated.» …

… (a bishop) who distinguished himself by proclaiming a sort of protest «bereavement» when in 2007 Benedict XVI issued the motu proprio «Summorum Pontificum,» which liberalized the use of the ancient rite of the Mass.

In electing the members of the commission for the liturgy, the Italian bishops have always given preference to their colleagues of this tendency, whose inspiration comes from the architects of the liturgical reform following Vatican Council II, in particular Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro and the main conceptualizer and executor of that reform, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini.

The negative results of that reform are what Benedict XVI is working against. But Paul VI had already seen its abuses, and was so pained by them that in 1975 he removed Bugnini and sent him into exile in Iran as the apostolic nuncio there.

But the sentiment of the majority of the Italian bishops and clergy continues to be influenced by the «Bugnini line.» The excesses seen in other European Churches are rare in Italy, but the predominant style of celebration is more «assembly-focused» than «turned toward the Lord,» as pope Ratzinger wants it to be. …

Barnemesser – nyttige, eller gir de feil signaler?

Liturgi /


Jeg nevner dette uten kommentarer. Og vi tenker ikke på messer på katolske skoler eller i forbindelse med katekese (der må det selvsagt være messer for barna, selv om man gjerne må diskutere hvordan slike messer bør være), men hva slags plass har de om søndagene?

«In this week’s print edition of The Catholic Herald, Andrew M Brown argues that children’s liturgy might make badly behaved toddlers worse. … « Les mer om det her.

Laterankonsilet og Frans av Assisi om nattverden

Liturgi, Paven, Teologi /

De italienske biskopen har vært sammen i Assisi denne uka, og pave Benedikt sendte dem en hilsen, der han ikke bare hilste vennlig på dem, men også tok opp viktige liturgiske spørsmål. Zenit.org har oversatt brevet til engelsk, og her er litt av det:

… The Fourth Lateran Council itself, considering with particular attention the sacrament of the altar, inserted in the profession of faith the term «transubstantiation,» to affirm the presence of the real Christ in the Eucharistic sacrifice: «His Body and Blood are truly contained in the Sacrament of the altar, under the species of bread and wine, as the bread is transubstantiated into the Body and the wine into the Blood by the divine power» (DS, 802).

From attendance at Mass and reception with devotion of Holy Communion springs the evangelical life of St, Francis and his vocation to follow the way of the Crucified Christ: «The Lord — we read in the Testament of 1226 — gave me so much faith in the churches, which prayed simply thus and said: We adore you, Lord Jesus, in all the churches that are in the whole world and we bless you, because with your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world».

Found also in this experience is the great deference that he had toward priests and the instruction to the friars to respect them always and in every case, «because of the Most High Son of God I do not see anything else physically in this world, but his Most Holy Body and Blood which they alone consecrate and they alone administer to others»

Given this gift, dear brothers, what responsibility of life issues for each one of us! «Take care of your dignity, brother priests,» recommended Francis, «and be holy because He is holy». Yes, the holiness of the Eucharist exacts that this mystery be celebrated and adored conscious of its greatness, importance and efficacy for Christian life, but it also calls for purity, coherence and holiness of life from each one of us, to be living witnesses of the unique Sacrifice of love of Christ.

The saint of Assisi never ceased to contemplate how «the Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, humbled himself to the point of hiding himself, for our salvation, in the meager appearance of bread», and with vehemence he requested his friars: «I beg you, more than if I did so for myself, that when it is appropriate and you regard it as necessary, that you humbly implore priests to venerate above all the Most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy names and words written of Him that consecrate the Body».

The genuine believer, in every age, experiences in the liturgy the presence, the primacy and the work of God. It is «veritatis splendor», nuptial event, foretaste of the new and definitive city and participation in it; it is link of creation and of redemption, open heaven above the earth of men, passage from the world to God; it is Easter, in the Cross and in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; it is the soul of Christian life, called to follow, to reconciliation that moves to fraternal charity. ….

Hva kan bevares i den protestantiske kirkelige tradisjonen?

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

La meg begynne med et eksempel som ligner en del: Når ortodokse kirker ønsker fullt fellesskap med paven og Den katolske Kirke, så må de forandre sine synspunkter på pavens plass, hvordan Kirken ledes, og underlegge seg dens struktur og disiplin. Men de kan beholde 100% av sin liturgiske tradisjon, teologi og sine biskoper. Når protestanter søker enhet med Den katolske Kirke (og nå tenker jeg mest på anglikanere og lutheranere), må de selvsagt oppgi en hel del mer, men det skulle også være mulig å la dem få beholde mye fra sin egen tradisjon.

Etter Vatikankonsilet var det samtalene med anglikanerne (bildet over er fra 1966) som kom raskest i gang (og man må nok i dag kunne si at man var overoptimistiske), mens samtalene med lutheranere kom mer gradivis, men ble etter hvert svært fruktbare. Og til noen anti-økumener som av og til kommeneter på denne bloggen: Man misforstår nok pave Paul VI når man tolker hans uttrykk «united but not absorbed» som noe annet enn det jeg har skrevet over – at man på alle punkter godtar den katolske lære, men samtaidig kan få beholde tradisjoner som er forenlige med denne lære.

Det er det jeg har har introdusert så langt, som William Oddie skriver om i et innlegg i The Catholic Herald:

Some cradle Catholics still just don’t get it. Why do they want their own little enclave: if they want to be Catholics, why don’t they just join? What is this stuff about an Anglican “patrimony”? Isn’t that just what they want to get away from?

The first thing to say about the usage of Anglican “patrimony” is that it wasn’t coined by an Anglican, but by Pope Paul, in the days before the aspiration of an eventual corporate reunion of Canterbury and Rome (always, with the benefit of hindsight, an impossible dream) had been rudely shattered by the Anglicans’ unilateral decision fundamentally to redefine their orders in a way impossible for Catholics ever to accept.

But in those days, the ordination of women seemed a very distant – and unlikely – possibility which many (I was one of them) chose to ignore. The way forward to reunion seemed to be open; the pace seemed to be quickening. At the beatification of the English and Welsh martyrs in 1970 (which offended many Anglicans at the time), Pope Paul went out of his way to make an overture to the Anglican tradition (of which he was a genuine admirer: he used to listen to LPs of Anglican church music in moments of relaxation). “There will,” he said, “be no seeking to lessen the legitimate prestige and usage due to the Anglican Church when the Roman Catholic Church … is able to embrace firmly her ever-beloved sister in the one authentic communion of the family of Christ…” He made it clear that what he called the “worthy patrimony” of Anglicanism would be preserved in a united Church. A few years later, he said that he believed that “these words of hope ‘The Anglican Church united not absorbed’ are no longer a mere dream”.

Alas, he was wrong. The wholesale reunion of Canterbury and Rome was always a mere dream; and soon it was brutally shattered. But Pope Paul’s vision of an Anglican “patrimony” united with the Catholic Church but (like the Eastern Catholic patrimony) not wholly absorbed, were not forgotten, either in Rome (where Cardinal Ratzinger remembered them) or by those Anglicans who for nearly two decades have been talking, firstly to him at the CDF, and then to his successors at the CDF who have remained in charge of the process throughout: it was their decision, entirely justified, that the English bishops should not be consulted, since they would have done everything they could to wreck it, as they had once before in the 1990s.

William Oddies bok: The Roman Option

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

Dr. William Oddie skriver i The Catholic Herald og ga i 1997 ut en bok som heter The Roman Option, som forteller om hva som skjedde etter at hundrevis av anglikanske prester i England ble katolikker (og mange av dem deretter katolske prester) i 1992. Skulle disse måtte glemme alt de hadde gjort tidligere i livet og fra første stund bli helt vanlige engelske katolikker (også sosialt og liturgisk), eller skulle man i større grad ønske velkommen deler av den anglo-katolske tradisjonen (ting som ikke bryter med katolsk lære)? Jeg leste boka da den var ganske fersk, og den gjorde ganske sterkt intrykk på meg siden jeg opplevde lignende ting selv i Norge fra 1994.

Vatikanet, representert først og fremst ved kardinal Ratzinger vil gjerne være generøse, og ville la disse personene ta med seg fruktbare ting fra sin egen tradisjon. I England virket det som bare kardinal Hume støttet en slik holdning, men han måtte gi seg da nesten alle andre biskoper og katolske prester i England ikke var enige. Og det er med denne historiske kunnskapen i bakhodet at Dr. Oddie skriver om det som nå holder på å skje i England for andre gang – med veldig mange nye konvertitter.

På Amazon kan man lese mer om denne boka, og bl.a. se denne anmeldelsen:

… … The book actually has quite a different object: to discuss the circumstances in which bodies of Anglo-Catholics might move collectively to Rome rather than having to convert one by one. In Oddie’s view there were serious possibilities of such collective conversions following 1992 but the opportunity was lost, mainly through the timidity of English Roman Catholics. The great appeal of this book is the nuanced way in which Oddie sketches the many and various versions of, and perspectives on, the so-called «Roman Option»; he keeps all the balls in play with considerable skill, using them to form a narrative that gradually builds (as the Roman Option appears more and more likely) before reaching an impasse that the reader knows from the start will eventually block further progress. To maintain our interest in a somewhat arcane subject matter when the denouement is thus predetermined would be impossible were Oddie’s writing not commendably precise and energetic at the same time.

It helps, of course, that his real story moves quickly away from the specific issue of women’s ordination to embrace such central issues as authority within the church and such questions as the meaning of Catholicism itself. That Oddie is so helpful on these huge topics, whilst keeping their coverage within bounds as a framework for his main narrative, is another tribute to his skills.

I have described the story of this book as being that of the Roman Option following the decision of 1992, but Oddie is at pains to place this story within the context of a broader «realignment of English-speaking Christianity»: one in which those of Catholic mind enter into full communion with Rome, but also one in which mainstream English non-conformism reunites with a Church of England that, in Oddie’s view, is now irreconcilably Protestant (if, for the moment, reluctant to see itself in such terms).

Hvor vennlig blir protestanter mottatt i Den katolske Kirke?

Økumenikk /

Den engelske teologen (og tidligere anglikaner), Dr. William Oddie, skrev i The Catholic Herald nylig om hvordan anglikanerne som nå konverterer kan regne med å bli mottat i Den katolske Kirke. Godt i Kirken som helhet, håper han og regner han med, men ikke så greit blant engelske biskoper og prester:

… We have in fact seen all this before, in the case of two parishes in the Anglican diocese of London and Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster. Until they were without notice brutally closed down, these Anglican convert parishes existed successfully for around two years in the early 90s, in the aftermath of the C of E’s original decision to ordain women; both stayed happily in their original church buildings.

The suddenness of – and total lack of consultation surrounding – the Archdiocese of Westminster’s suppression of these convert parishes was scandalous; it is a precedent, indeed, which does something to explain why the potential Anglican converts do not wish, this time, to be under the direct authority of the English hierarchy. They do not trust our bishops; and I do not blame them.

One of these parishes in particular, St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road, was pastorally immensely successful. Relations between the two congregations using the building were excellent. The new Catholic parish grew to over twice its original size; in the end, only about one third were members of the original parish. It had become an accessible way into the Church, not only for former Anglicans, but for lapsed Catholics to return.

I believe that this model could become normal; and my confidence that the Ordinariate will be an immensely fertile and creative pastoral enrichment of the life of the Church in this country is not based only on wishful thinking. It has happened before. And I am sure it will happen again, many times. The convert Anglicans have a great deal to learn, of course; that goes without saying. But they also have a great deal to teach. …

Om Israelsfolkets stilling i Guds frelsesplan – igjen

Katolsk, Teologi /

En erkebiskop skapte mye oppstyr helt på slutten av bispesynoden for Midt-Østen, som nylig gikk av stabelen i Vatkanet. Denne artikkelen i First Things tar opp skaden som skjedde, og er overrasket over at ikke noen har prøvd å korrigere uttalelsen. (Men aller siste nytt er at erkebiskop Bustros selv har presisert hva han mente – se her.)

The Archbishop for Greek Melkites in the United States, Cyril Salim Bustros, declared at the end of the synod that the biblical concept of a promised land for the Jews “cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel” because the original promise made by God to the children of Israel “was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people.”

Bustros seemed to be trying to reverse the positive momentum in Jewish-Catholic relations of the last forty years. Though speaking for himself and not the Vatican, he was reverting to the first days of the Vatican’s relations to modern Israel that Rome might rather forget. On May 14, 1948, the semi-official Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, declared, “Modern Israel is not the heir to biblical Israel. The Holy Land and its sacred sites belong only to Christianity: the true Israel.”

The attitude to Israel changed over the next fifteen years as the church began to refine its understanding of the Jewish people. In the years following the Holocaust both Catholics and Protestants realized they had failed to recognize the radically Jewish character of Jesus, Paul, and Christianity itself. ….. “These three chapters (Rom. 9-11) emphatically forbid us to speak of the church as having once and for all taken the place of the Jewish people.” …

Partly stimulated by this new scholarly discussion of the Jewish covenant Paul calls “irrevocable” (Rom 11.27-29), the Second Vatican Council proclaimed in Nostra Aetate that “the Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers, for He does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the call He issues.” Pope Paul VI famously declared the Jews “our fathers in the faith” in a trip to the Holy Land in 1964. John Paul II spoke of the Jews “as our elder brothers in the faith,” and insisted in Crossing the Threshold of Hope that “this extraordinary people continues to bear signs of its divine election.”

…. Pope Benedict has also affirmed this continuing Jewish covenant. In Many Religions—One Covenant, he writes that Jesus’ mission was to transform the history of Israel into the history of all, but “without the abolishment of the special mission of Israel.” Jews are still “the Chosen People,” but now because of Jesus the nations “become People of God with Israel through adherence to the will of God and through acceptance of the Davidic kingdom.” …

Pave Benedikts: Verbum Domini

Katolsk, Paven, Teologi /

Vi har nå (endelig, etter to år) fått pave Benedikts POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION VERBUM DOMINI OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAY FAITHFUL ON THE WORD OF GOD IN THE LIFE AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH.

Dokumentet kan leses i sin helhet HER (pdf-fil) på engelsk, og de ca 200 sidene avlsuttes slik:

… I remind all Christians that our personal and communal relationship with God depends on our growing familiarity with the word of God. Finally, I turn to every man and woman, including those who have fallen away from the Church, who have left the faith or who have never heard the proclamation of salvation. To everyone the Lord says: “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).

May every day of our lives thus be shaped by a renewed encounter with Christ, the Word of the Father made flesh: he stands at the beginning and the end, and “ in him all things hold together ” (Col 1:17). Let us be silent in order to hear the Lord’s word and to meditate upon it, so that by the working of the Holy Spirit it may remain in our hearts and speak to us all the days of our lives. In this way the Church will always be renewed and rejuvenated, thanks to the word of the Lord which remains for ever (cf. 1 Pet 1:25; Is 40:8). Thus we too will enter into the great nuptial dialogue which concludes sacred Scripture: “ The Spirit and the bride say: ‘Come’. And let everyone who hears say: ‘Come!’ ” The one who testifies to these things, says: ‘Surely I am coming soon!’. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ”. (Rev 22:17, 20).

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 30 September, the Memorial of Saint Jerome, in the year
2010, the sixth of my Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Verdens største røkelseskar

Katolsk, Paven /

Jeg har skrevet lite om pave Benedikts besøk i Spania sist uke, men her er han foran det berømte røkelseskaret i St Jakobs kirke i Santiago de Compostela.

Eldre messekort

Liturgi, TLM /

Jeg nevnte sist uke at vi hadde funnet noen messekort fra ca 1960 i et gammelsk skap i vår menighet – og spurte om noen vet hvordan disse kortene i praksis ble brukt, uten å få noe skikkelig svar. Men vi fant også andre og eldre kort av samme type, og nedenfor kan man ca 1/3 av disse.




Pave Leo I

Katolsk, Liturgi /

I går feiret vi minnedagen for pave Leo I – pave fra 440-461. Les mer om ham på katolsk.no, bl.a.: «Leo ble pave i en krisetid både for Kirken og keiserriket. Han var en energisk og målbevisst pave, og selv hans motstandere betegnet ham som en av tidenes beste paver, «løven (=Leo) av Juda stamme». Hele hans politikk og alle hans uttalelser var fylt av hans overbevisning om at den øverste og universelle autoritet i Kirken, opprinnelig gitt av Kristus til Peter, hadde blitt overført til enhver etterfølgende biskop av Roma. Leo påberopte seg da Matt 16,18. Som apostelens arving overtok paven Peters funksjoner, fulle autoritet og privilegier. …»

Han har sitt eget sidealter i Peterskirken, som vi kan lese mer om på NLM-bloggen, bl.a. følgende:

On the Calendar of the Ordinary Form of Roman Rite, November 10 is the feast of Pope St. Leo I, who died on this day in the year 461; his reign of slightly more than 21 years is the tenth longest in the history of the Papacy, and certainly on of the most important. His relics are in one of the altars of the Basilica of St. Peter, which faithfully maintains the tradition of decorating the various side altars on the feasts of the saints to whom they are dedicated. Over the altar stands the extraordinary relief sculpture of Pope Leo putting Attila the Hun to flight, one of the last works of Alessandro Algardi, a great rival of Bernini.

Konverterer med positiv begrunnelse

Økumenikk /

En av de fem anglikanske biskopene som nylig gjorde kjent at vil gå av og at han vil bli katolikk, biskop Keith Newton, skriver at han konverterer med en positiv begrunnelse – ikke negativ, ikke pga problemene i den anglikanske kirke:

… I am sure it will be said that I am leaving because of the issue of the ordination of women to the episcopate. While it is true that this has been an important factor in my thinking it is not the most significant factor. The publication of the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, just one year ago, came as a surprise and has completely changed the landscape for Anglo Catholics. Since the inception of the ARCIC process, set up by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in the 1960s, most of us have longed and prayed for corporate union with the Catholic Church; union which in our own time has seemed less likely because of the new difficulties concerning the ordination of women and other doctrinal and moral issues affecting the Anglican Communion.

Although we must still pray for sacramental and ecclesial unity between our Churches that now seems a much more distant hope. The creation of Personal Ordinariates within the Catholic Church provides an opportunity for visible unity between Anglicans and the Catholic Church now, while still being able to retain what is best in our own tradition which will enrich the Universal Church. This is a hope which has been expressed many times by Forward in Faith and many others within the catholic tradition of the Church of England So I hope you will understand that I am not taking this step in faith for negative reasons about problems in the Church of England but for positive reasons in response to our Lord’s prayer the night before he died the ‘they may all be one.’ …

Fem anglikanske biskoper blir katolikker

Økumenikk /

Det blir stadig klarere at det vil bli en forholdsvis stor gruppe anglikanere som vil bli katolikker og kunne beholde noe av sin lturgiske tradisjon, slik pave Benedikt har tilbudt dem i dokumentet Anglicanorum Coetibis. I går ble en pressemelding fra fem anglikanske biskoper – Bishops Andrew Burnham (Ebbsfleet), Keith Newton (Richborough), John Broadhurst (Fulham), Edwin Barnes (assisant bishop, Winchester) and David Silk (assistant bishop, Exeter) – offentliggjort. Der sier de bl.a.:

Like many in the catholic tradition of Anglicanism, we have followed the dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics, the ARCIC process, with prayer and longing. We have been dismayed, over the last thirty years, to see Anglicans and Catholics move further apart on some of the issues of the day, and particularly we have been distressed by developments in Faith and Order in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years.

The Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum cœtibus, given in Rome on 4th November 2009, was a response to Anglicans seeking unity with the Holy See. With the Ordinariates, canonical structures are being established through which we will bring our own experience of Christian discipleship into full communion with the Catholic Church throughout the world and throughout the ages. This is both a generous response to various approaches to the Holy See for help and a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians, the unity for which Christ himself prayed before his Passion and Death. It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter.

As bishops, we have even-handedly cared for those who have shared our understanding and those who have taken a different view. We have now reached the point, however, where we must formally declare our position and invite others who share it to join us on our journey. We shall be ceasing, therefore, from public episcopal ministry forthwith, resigning from our pastoral responsibilities in the Church of England with effect from 31st December 2010, and seeking to join an Ordinariate once one is created. …

Les mer om dette HER og HER.

Pave Benedikts (nye) fokus i økumeniske relasjoner

Paven, Økumenikk /

Professor Christopher Ruddy skriver en lang artikkel om økumenikken i tidsskriftet America, der han presenterer en ny vektlegging, et nytt fokus på dette viktige temaet:

… (Noen kritiserer pave Benedikt) … Others, of whom I am one, argue that the pope sees the primary contemporary ecumenical questions to be not ecclesial but cultural, philosophical, spiritual and, most radically, Christological. Holding that there is an ongoing realignment not only among, but also within Christian communities, he has centered his energies on causes that are transconfessional: a call for Christian communities to witness together to longstanding moral and cultural values in a time of upheaval, particularly in the West; insistence on the liberating and unitive power of truth over that liberalism of religion as subjective taste decried by John Henry Newman upon his creation as a cardinal; and, above all, a renewed ecumenism and evangelism centered on a personal encounter with the risen Christ. One sees this Christocentric commitment in the time he has devoted as pope to completing the two volumes of Jesus of Nazareth, in his celebration of the Year of St. Paul and even in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s shift of activity from the ecclesiological and ethical disputes of the 1970s and 1980s to the Christological debates of the 1990s and the 2000s.

One need only recall Pope Benedict’s insistence, in the introduction to “Deus Caritas Est,” that “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” So, too, are ethics and doctrine ecumenically central but not primary. The encounter with the person of Christ is the primary ecumenical reality. It gives direction to still-necessary ethical and doctrinal dialogues. One might speak of the “audacity of Pope” in fostering this recentering on the person of Christ, both within Catholicism and in Christianity as a whole. ,,,

Reaksjoner på messen feiret ad orientem

Liturgi /

Presten jeg nylig siterte, som hadde feiret messen vendt mot Gud, skriver om du uilike rekasjoner på det han gjorde – egne reaksjoner, og rekasjoner fra menigheten:

Hans egne reaksjoner – presten ber sammen med menigheten til Gud:

I, however, wish I had not said Mass facing away from the congregation, and not because of the anger directed at me. I am a Catholic priest. I am used to people being angry with me. I wish I had not said Mass in what I believe to be the posture assumed by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, because it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my priestly life. You cannot imagine what it was like to say words like “we” and “our Father” and “us” while standing at the head of a congregation that was turned together in a physical expression of unity. No matter how one might argue to the contrary, it is impossible to say “we” while looking at 500 people and not be speaking to them.

The Mass is a prayer addressed to the Father, and despite our best intentions, we clergy address it to the congregation at whom we are looking. You cannot help it. The human face is a powerful thing. Last Saturday night I realized for the first time that I was part of a family of faith directed toward the same heavenly Father. I felt as if I was part of a church at prayer. It was not my job. It was my church. I never realized how very lonely it is to say Mass facing the people. I am up there looking at you. I am not part of you. For 13 or 14 minutes. You weren’t looking at me. We were looking at God. …

Menighetens reaksjoner – noen positive og noen negative:

After Mass, comments were varied. Some people loved it, most didn’t like it, some were infuriated. In particular I got angry fingers in the face, from someone who said that “the Pope had sent a letter to all priests telling them that they had to face the people.” How do you prove something that never happened? Rome has never said anything about having to face the people during Mass. One must do so only six times. It is one of the great mysteries of our times why, overnight, most of the altars in Catholic Churches were turned around.

Presten skriver også litt om hva tradisjoner har vært på dette området – ad orientem har vært det opprinnelige:

… According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, the custom of facing away from the people originated among the Frankish clergy in around 700 or 800 AD. I would like to know why they write this.

For two reasons, I doubt that the Mass was ever said completely facing the congregation. Facing east, which usually means facing away from the people is the usual posture in liturgical prayer of the Byzantine, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian traditions. It is still the custom in most of the Eastern rites, at least during the Eucharistic prayer. They have done this from time immemorial and still do. They wouldn’t have changed it just to accommodate the Frankish barbarians of the west, 700 years after Christ. This custom of congregation and clergy facing the same direction in prayer was universal until about 1967. The first Christians were Jews for a century after Pentecost, at least according to sociologist Rodney Stark. Facing a sacred direction and not a congregation was normal in the synagogue services from which the Mass developed. Orthodox Jews still face east, or more precisely toward Jerusalem, away from the congregation for much of the service. It is a natural gesture. …

En prest har feiret messen ad orientem – og forteller om det

Liturgi /

En prest skriver slik om en messe han nylig feiret:

For the Offertory, Canon and Our Father I faced the altar, not the congregation. I said the opening prayers form the presider’s chair, where I remained for the readings. I wore a microphone as usual. I then read the Creed and the prayers of the faithful, went down to receive the offerings of bread and wine, and then went to the altar directly, not going around behind it. The deacon and I turned to the congregation at the prayer “Pray brethren..” I next turned to the congregation at the sign of peace and then again at the “Lord, I am not worthy…” After the distribution of Holy Communion I returned to the presider’s chair and finished the Mass as usual. The music was very simple, very little organ, mostly plain chant in English, some Latin used in the ordinary parts of the Mass, all prayers and readings in English. I had warned the congregation that I would do this one time only as part of the conference that we were having at the parish. I faced away from the congregation for about 14 of 55 minutes, all told.

I did it as an experiment. I suspect that the Council Fathers of Vatican II never envisioned Mass facing the people. I wanted to know what the Mass of Vatican II would really be like, some English, some Latin, Gregorian chant, unaccompanied singing and a balance of facing toward people when addressing them and facing the altar with them when addressing the Father. I think this is what is called in the rubrics of the Missal when it indicates that the priest should face the people six times during the Mass:

1)When giving the opening greeting (GIRM 124). [Norsk GIRM 1969 – nr. 86]
2)When giving the invitation to pray at the end of the offertory, «Pray brethren» (GIRM 146). [norsk nr. 107]
3)When giving the greeting of peace (GIRM 154). [norsk nr. 112]
4) When displaying the Host and Chalice before Communion and saying: «Behold the Lamb of God» (GIRM 157). [norsk nr. 115]
5) When inviting the people to pray before the post communion prayer (GIRM 165). [norsk nr. 122]
6)When giving the final blessing (Ordo Missae 141). [norsk nr. 142]

The fact that these rubrics exist, seems to assume that the priest is facing away from the people at some time during the liturgy.

(Etter tips fra Father Z.)

De hellige makkebeermartyrene

Liturgi /

I den tradisjonelle latinske messen blir de sju brødrene fra 2. Makkabeerbok fortsatt minnet (ekstra, ikke som hovedfeiring) hvert år 1. august. Og de regnes fortsatt som hellige av Kirken, selv om de ikke lenger (etter 1970) skal feires over hele verden – men jeg kunne ikke finne noe om dem på katolsk.no.

Disse martyrene feires fortsatt av de ortodokse kirkene, 1. august, og vi kan lese dette om dem:

They all suffered for the purity of the faith of Israel under King Antiochus, called by some «Epiphanos,» the «enlightened one» and by others «Epimanis» the «insane one.» Because of the great sins in Jerusalem and especially the vying over priestly authority and crimes committed during the occasion of this struggle, God permitted a great calamity on the Holy City. After that, Antiochus wanted by any means to impose upon the Jews the idolatry of the Hellenes in place of their faith in the one living God and he did everything toward this goal. Assisting Antiochus in his intention were some treacherous high priests and other elders of Jerusalem. On one occasion, King Antiochus himself came to Jerusalem and ordered that all Jews eat the meat of swine, contrary to the Law of Moses, for eating pork was an apparent sign that one has disowned the faith of Israel. The elder Eleazar, a priest and one of the seventy translators of the Old Testament into the Greek language [the Septuagint] would not partake of pork. Because of that, Eleazar was tortured and burned. Returning to Antioch, the king took with him the seven sons called the Maccabees and their mother Solomonia. The seven Maccabean brothers were called: Avim, Antonius, Eleazar, Gurius, Eusebon, Achim and Marcellus. Before the eyes of their mother, the wicked king tortured the sons, one by one, ripping the skin from their faces and, afterward, casting them into the fire. They all bravely endured torture and death but they did not disown their faith. Finally, when the mother saw her last son, the three-year old in the fire, she leaped into the flames and was consumed in the fire rendering her soul to God. They all suffered honorably for the faith in the one living God about one hundred eighty years before Christ.

Lesning fra Makkabeerbøkene også i søndagens messe

Katolsk, Liturgi /

Første lesning i denne søndagens messe (les alle tekstene her) er også tatt fra Makkabeerbøkene:

2 Makk 7, 1-2. 9-14
Verdens Konge skal reise oss opp igjen til en evig oppstandelse av livet

I de dager ble syv brødre arrestert sammen med sin mor. Kongen lot dem torturere med pisker og remmer for å tvinge dem til å spise av svinekjøttet i strid med Guds lov. En av dem grep ordet på vegne av alle og sa: «Hva vil du forhøre oss om? Hva vil du vite? For vi er rede til å dø heller enn å bryte våre fedres lover.» Idet han trakk sitt siste åndedrag, sa den andre: «Du, din usling, kan nok skille oss fra dette liv; men verdens Konge skal reise oss opp igjen til evig liv fordi vi er gått i døden for hans lover.» Etter ham ble den tredje utsatt for behandlingen deres. Med en gang det ble forlangt, rakte han tungen ut, og modig strakte han frem hendene og sa: «Himmelens Gud har gitt meg disse lemmer. Hans lover betyr mer for meg enn lemmene, og av ham håper jeg å få dem tilbake igjen.» Både kongen selv og mennene hans måtte undre seg over den unge mannens sjelsstyrke, for han brydde seg ikke om smertene. Etter at også han hadde forlatt dette liv, mishandlet og torturerte de den fjerde på samme måten. Da slutten nærmet seg, sa han: «Når man skilles fra livet blant menneskene, er det godt å kunne sette sitt håp til Guds løfter om at han skal reise oss opp igjen. Men for deg fins det ingen oppstandelse til liv.»

Dette er bare en liten del av 7. kapittel i 2. Makkabeerbok, som er langt og svært dramartisk, og som jeg gjengir her: …

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