Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

The Classical Roman Rite and its meaning for the Church

By Msgr. R. Michael Schmitz

(continued)

Historically, one can notice how the growth of the Rite is more a result of what we call theologically the already mentioned “sensus fidelium,” meaning the sense of true faith of all faithful under the guidance of the Holy Ghost not limited to one specific period of Church history only. Under the prudent and careful direction of the hierarchy, this “sensus fidelium” allows a continuous osmosis of liturgical elements during the centuries and guarantees the conformity of the Rite to its doctrinal base in Divine Revelation. Thus, the Rite becomes an ever more faithful visible form of the faith, especially when it comes to the Sacrifice and Eucharistic Presence of the Blessed Lord. Most recently, a book, again warmly welcomed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, has pointed out with renewed emphasis that the modeling of the Roman Rite can best be summarized by the word “organic.” In his recommendation, the then  Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now Pope Benedict XVI formulates: “Just as a gardener cares for a living plant as it develops, with due attention to the power of growth and life within the plant, and the rules it obeys, so the Church ought to give reverent care to the Liturgy through the ages, distinguishing actions that are helpful and healing from those that are violent and destructive.” The Classical Roman Rite shows the church and all her members cultivating the Liturgy with loving care through time and space. Thus, the Rite knows a continuity of meaning and ritual that has never been disrupted. It has not been “constructed” from ready-made blocks of concrete like a modern building, but has slowly and harmoniously grown in the soil of Revelation under the light of God’s grace like a plant which blossoms richer in the sun if deeply rooted in the ground.

As a necessary consequence of the above exposed organic structure in the liturgy, the Rite shows great continuity in its pattern and reflects a true concern for all detail. Even in human life everything that truly matters has an unchanging routine, and yet is always new and exciting. The expressions of deep love, the forms of respect, the civil ceremonies, even birth and death have their fundamental conventions but do never loose their greatness and awe. Repetition is boring only when it comes to banalities. The Rising sun, though, the incoming tide, the winds and storms, the seasons and many other natural phenomena are continuously repeated  displays of grandeur and never tire because they point to their author, the Almighty God. Likewise, the detail of a leaf, the wing of a butterfly, the symmetry of a crystal are always fundamentally the same according to the species they belong to, and it is just this faithfulness to the detail repeated over and over again that creates the breathtaking beauty of a forest, of a swarm of flying monarch   butterflies or of snowflakes falling from the wintry sky. Like God, its author, the perfect does not need change and its apparition gives always new delight.

For this reason, faithfulness to the liturgical pattern, the daily repetition of the identical words, movements and gestures, the reading of the same texts during the year, the recurring liturgical seasons and feast-days, the exactness of the rubrics indicating every detail of the Rite, the precise description of the altars, vessels, instruments, vestments and colors to be used show the perfection of a Rite matured through continuous molding by the Divine.  God is the ultimate author of the Liturgy. We know how very important detail is in a human relationship. A smile, the tone of a voice, the blinking of an eye, all the rituals of human affection are rubrics of friendship and love neglected only with grave consequences for our daily life. How much more detail matters in our relationship with God, not in the first place for Him, but for us! Can it be astonishing that He has shown His Church how to keep this fundamental relationship, on which all depends, whole and sound? Would He not have been aloof and distant leaving us alone with our            incapacity to find the right words and gestures which already has destroyed so many human bonds of love? Now, God is not distant and aloof. He became man to celebrate the definite gesture of redeeming love on Calvary, which He wants to have repeated in    sacramental form for all ages.

Thus, the form of the sacrament, all important for our salvation, has been instituted by Him in its fundamental pattern, and He has sent His Spirit to teach His Church how to penetrate all her gestures of worship with the same Divine perfection over the centuries. Hence, unchanging faithfulness to the general sacramental pattern and to the organic liturgical detail is not spiritual poverty or lack of creativity, but respect and love for the presence of the Divine in perfect human forms. The Rite has organically grown to greater perfection with the help of God and may still do so, but it does not need daily change or purely human innovation, for the Lord lives in it, “who is the same yesterday, today and in eternity.” Christ is always new and the same, and so is the Liturgy of His Church.

(to be continued in future bulletins)

UPCOMING EVENTS

FRIDAY, JUNE 5

Monsignor Gilles Wach and Monsignor R. Michael Schmitz will visit the Apostolate - High Mass at 6PM followed by Reception

FRIDAY, JUNE 12

ALL NIGHT ADORATION

SUNDAY, JUNE 14

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION