The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Just a reminder on this holy night of that passage from the great Dom Prosper Guéranger regarding the silent canon: After these words [ viz . the Sanctus ] commences the Canon, that mysterious prayer in the midst of which heaven bows down to earth, and God descends unto us. The voice of the Priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the Altar, all is silence. It was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, in the quiet of silence, and while the night was in the midst of her course, that the Almighty Word came down from his royal throne (Wis 18.14-15). Let us await him in a like silence, and respectfully fix our eyes on what the Priest does in the holy place. I wrote previously about Ratzinger and Guéranger on the silent Canon

Somebody anonymous asked "Why do you avoid creative liturgy?" It was a comment on my post on comments and I don't really want to have comments on those posts so I'll answer it here. In any case, it is a good question. First, the list in the sidebar of "Things I don't like very much at all and would really rather avoid wherever possible" is obviously meant to be a little flippant and "Creative Liturgy" is used as a label for the kind of celebrations that involve liturgical dance, picking coloured beads out of glass bowls, listening to whale or panpipe music etc. I do appreciate that some people find this terribly moving but it makes me want to run shrieking into the night. I am not alone in this. When I think of the builders, electricians and plumbers in my parish club and the "creative liturgy" I have seen, it is painfully clear why the Church is failing to attract men to its worship. Secondly, to address the question more seriously,...

One of the most noticeable differences between the new rite of Mass and the old rite, especially for those who attend the old rite for the first time, is that many of the prayers we are accustomed to hearing aloud, are said silently - particularly the Canon of the Mass. In The Spirit of the Liturgy (1999), the then Cardinal Ratzinger said: It really is not true that reciting the whole Eucharistic Prayer our loud and without interruptions is a prerequisite for the paricipation of everyone in this central act of the Mass. He had suggested, in 1978, that the priest might say the first words of the various prayers out loud so that each person could, in his silent prayer, bring his personal prayer into the communal prayer and the communal prayer into his personal prayer. (He notes that this suggestion annoyed many liturgists.) He went on to say, Anyone who has experienced a church united in the silent praying of the Canon will know what a really filled silence is. It is at once a loud and...

Guéranger's On the Holy Mass is a spiritual commentary on the prayers of the Mass. His love for the Roman Rite is evident throughout, as indeed we would expect: he spent much time persuading various dioceses in France to abandon corrupt local rites in favour of the Roman Rite. At the end of the book is the Ordinary of the Mass. I decided to read through this once I realised that in addition to the text, there are some comments interspersed. However, I also noticed something that I believe is significant. The two columns are arranged as if they are original and translation. For parts of the Mass, this is indeed the case - for example the Gloria and the Creed . However for most of the texts, Guéranger does not give a translation but something which varies between a paraphrase and a spiritual reflection. For example, the text of the Quam oblationem can be translated as follows: (let's just not bother with the old ICEL nonsense) Which oblation we beseech You, O God, deign in eve...

I recently received two books that have been re-published by the St Michael’s Abbey Press run by Farnborough Abbey : On the Holy Mass and On the Immaculate Conception by Dom Prosper Guéranger. Beautifully printed and bound, they can be ordered from The Abbey Shop . I intend to write a number of posts on Guéranger’s commentary on the Mass because it does seem relevant to the project of the "Reform of the Reform." The fact that Guéranger is regarded as the founder of the modern Liturgical Movement makes his observations all the more valuable. The cause for Guéranger’s beatification has recently been opened by the Diocese of Mans. For biographical information, there is an article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia although it betrays the lack of imagination of the time by judging that his work “evokes mediocre interest”. His magnum opus “The Liturgical Year” has also recently been republished. I do not yet have a copy of this but intend to acquire one. Guéranger includes in the w...

The Faith Magazine for July-August 2006 is now online. This issue is really outstanding. The editorial is on the impact of infallibility and the future of Catholicism. Fr Linus Clovis has finally got his talk on Slavery and the Gospel of Life onto paper. One of the sisters from St Cecilia's, Ryde has a first-rate article on Guéranger and Mgr Keith Barltrop piece on re-awakening the Catholic imagination is hard-hitting and very much to the point. Lots more - all available for free download.

Having said the old rite at St Mary's, I said the new rite yesterday morning at the Monastery of St Cecilia which is also in Ryde. The photo above is taken from the public part of the chapel. The grille on the right of the sanctuary marks off the enclosure. So the priest saying Mass faces the community with the visitors to his right. The feast of St Joachim and St Anne is a special day for the community because it is the anniversary of Dom Prosper Guéranger's taking his vows. Guéranger founded the original Ste Cécile community of which St Cecilia's in Ryde is a direct descendant. To be honest, I find it terrifying saying Mass for the sisters. The view from the sanctuary of the community in choir is most impressive: as indeed is their execution of the chant. The standard of their Liturgy is so perfect that I feel a bit like a country bumpkin parish priest lumbering into the Papal Court. They are always very kind, of course but I made an awful hash of intoning the Gloria whic...