Begynner på Louis Bouyers bok EUCHARIST
Jeg begynner nå å lese p Louis Louis Bouyers bok EUCHARIST, der han i løpet av nesten 500 sider går gjennom utviklingen og forståelsen av messen. Bouyers stil er veldig annerledes enn Jungmanns, som var svært saklig og lite kritisk kommenterende til andre forskeres bidrag. Bouyer har en ganske annen kontroversiell og aktuell stil. Slik begynner han f.eks. forordet, som han skrev i juni 1966 og januar 1968 (2. utgave):
This book is the result of more than twenty years of research. It is appearing at a moment when the understanding of the traditional Eucharistic prayer, and especially the canon of the Roman mass, is more timely than ever. On one hand it has been a very long time since we have seen such lively and widespread desire in the Catholic Church to rediscover a “eucharist” that is fully living and real. Yet, unfortunately, there has also never been a time when we have been so confidently presented with such fantastic theories that, once put into practice, would make us lose practically everything of authentic tradition that we have still preserved. May this volume contribute its part towards promoting this renewal and discouraging an ignorant and pretentious anarchy that could mean its downfall. …
I 1968 har messen og holdningene til den allerede forandret seg en del, og på s 10 skriver Bouyer ganske skarpt om resultatet av enkelte forandringer:
… we may congratulate ourselves on our discovery of the collective sense of the eucharistic celebration through a return to notions of the eucharistic sacrifice that imply our own participation. But it is already a very bad sign that the values of adoration and contemplation, which yesterday focused on a eucharistic devotion that was in fact foreign to the eucharist, seem hardly to have come back to our celebration of it, but have rather simply vanished into thin air …
Han referer her til at eukaristisk tilbedelse (utenom messen) ikke er en særlig sentral praksis, i forhold til selve messefeiringen, selve frembæringen av messens offer. Men når man motarbeider gamle, fromme tradisjoner, uten å erstatte dem med noe nytt, blir jo resultatet ganske katastrofalt.