We at Goodreads Catholic Thought book club spent a few weeks back in October of 2022 reading Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, Desiderio Desideravi, the letter which explained his insistence on the Novus Ordo¸ and against the Tridentine Mass, commonly referred to as The Latin Mass (TLM). Pope Francis’ squashing TLM was controversial, first with his vocal opposition to it, then with the motu proprio, Traditionis custodes in July of 2021, and finally with his explanatory (as to why he does not want to encourage TLM) Letter nearly a year later in June of 2022. If you wish to know why, stay with these posts. You’ll also get my thoughts as well.
The Letter has 22 pages (with citations) and 65 paragraphs. I divide the Letter into four sections, paragraphs 1-15, 16-26, 27-45, 46-60. This is not a hard division; others may divide it in other ways. Given it is only 22 pages, you should read it yourself, and you can find the English translation at the Vatican website, here.
The Letter is more than just an explanation of why he promotes the Novus Ordo. The Letter allows Pope Francis to off meditations on the Mass, what makes liturgy beautiful and meaningful, why symbolism is at the heart of liturgy, and why unity is important in worship. Fr. Timothy Eck at the online magazine, Homiletic & Pastoral Review provided a good background to Desiderio Desideravi as well the general themes.
###
Summary of Section 1, paragraphs 1 through 15.
Par. 1: Introduction providing the central thesis: a modest “reflections on the Liturgy.”
Pars. 2-9: Provides a succinct origin of the Liturgy, culminating that the Liturgy through the sacraments is how we meet Christ.
Pars. 10-13: The Liturgy guarantees our “encounter with Christ,” starting with baptism, which initiates us, but then through the rest of the sacraments.
Pars. 14-15: Without such an encounter, which can only be through the Liturgy, which can only come through the Church, and without the Liturgy there is no possibility of living the fullness of the worship of God.
While there might a digression or two, I think the trajectory of Pope Francis’ argument in this first quarter of the document is to start from the origin of the Liturgy and state that Christ’s intention for its continuance is to bring us in contact with Him and the Divine. So the first quarter impresses on the significance and importance of the Liturgy.
###
Some key quotes from this section:
From paragraph 4:
He knows that he is the Lamb of that Passover meal; he knows that he is the Passover. This is the absolute newness, the absolute originality, of that Supper, the only truly new thing in history, which renders that Supper unique and for this reason “the Last Supper,” unrepeatable. Nonetheless, his infinite desire to re-establish that communion with us that was and remains his original design, will not be satisfied until every man and woman, from every tribe, tongue, people and nation (Re 5:9), shall have eaten his Body and drunk his Blood. And for this reason that same Supper will be made present in the celebration of the Eucharist until he returns again.
From paragraph 5:
We must not allow ourselves even a moment of rest, knowing that still not everyone has received an invitation to this Supper or knowing that others have forgotten it or have got lost along the way in the twists and turns of human living. This is what I spoke of when I said, “I dream of a ‘missionary option’, that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.” (Evangelii gaudium, n. 27). I want this so that all can be seated at the Supper of the sacrifice of the Lamb and live from Him.
From paragraph 7:
If we had not had the Last Supper, that is to say, if we had not had the ritual anticipation of his death, we would have never been able to grasp how the carrying out of his being condemned to death could have been in fact the act of perfect worship, pleasing to the Father, the only true act of worship, the only true liturgy.
From paragraph 10:
Here lies all the powerful beauty of the liturgy. If the resurrection were for us a concept, an idea, a thought; if the Risen One were for us the recollection of the recollection of others, however authoritative, as, for example, of the Apostles; if there were not given also to us the possibility of a true encounter with Him, that would be to declare the newness of the Word made flesh to have been all used up. Instead, the Incarnation, in addition to being the only always new event that history knows, is also the very method that the Holy Trinity has chosen to open to us the way of communion. Christian faith is either an encounter with Him alive, or it does not exist.
From paragraph 11:
The salvific power of the sacrifice of Jesus, his every word, his every gesture, glance, and feeling reaches us through the celebration of the sacraments. I am Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, the man possessed by demons at Capernaum, the paralytic in the house of Peter, the sinful woman pardoned, the woman afflicted by hemorrhages, the daughter of Jairus, the blind man of Jericho, Zacchaeus, Lazarus, the thief and Peter both pardoned. The Lord Jesus who dies no more, who lives forever with the signs of his Passion continues to pardon us, to heal us, to save us with the power of the sacraments. It is the concrete way, by means of his incarnation, that he loves us. It is the way in which he satisfies his own thirst for us that he had declared from the cross. (Jn 19:28)
From paragraph 14:
As Vatican Council II reminded us (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 5), citing the scriptures, the Fathers, and the Liturgy — the pillars of authentic Tradition — it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth “the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.” [4] The parallel between the first Adam and the new Adam is striking: as from the side of the first Adam, after having cast him into a deep sleep, God draws forth Eve, so also from the side of the new Adam, sleeping the sleep of death on the cross, there is born the new Eve, the Church.
From paragraph 15:
Without this incorporation there is no possibility of living the fullness of the worship of God. In fact, there is only one act of worship, perfect and pleasing to the Father; namely, the obedience of the Son, the measure of which is his death on the cross. The only possibility of being able to participate in his offering is by becoming “sons in the Son.” This is the gift that we have received. The subject acting in the Liturgy is always and only Christ-Church, the mystical Body of Christ.
###
My Comment:
I don't think there is anything revolutionary in any of those quotes, but it does allow Pope Francis do display his poetic kills. Some of that is quite beautiful.
I think it should be pointed out that the "perfect and pleasing" to God the one act of worship in paragraph 15, that is the crucifixion is what we represent in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Eucharist is the non bloody representation of the sacrifice on Calvary.
Kerstin Commented:
Pa. # 13 is one of the paragraphs that I found rather beautiful. Pope Francis makes the connection:
God created water precisely with Baptism in mind.
The symbolism of water goes very deep - pun intended. For one, water, and especially the sea, is synonymous with disorder and chaos in the Old Testament. But Creation is not disordered, quite the contrary, it is highly ordered. Jesus takes this symbol of chaos and transforms it into order with Baptism.
My Comment:
It seems like the Vatican II document Sacrosanctum Concilium is important to understanding this dispute over Latin and vernacular. You can read about it at Wikipedia here:
Or you can read the document itself here:
It looks like it's twice the length of Desiderio Desideravi.
No comments:
Post a Comment