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| Bishop Speaks | ||||
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| May 6, 2004 Edition | ||||
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Liturgical instruction:
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Dear Friends,
As I promised I would like to begin reflecting with you about the new instruction from the Vatican entitled Redemptionis Sacramentum, The Sacrament of Redemption, which was issued recently. The document was jointly issued by two Vatican offices but it is clear that this document was first presented to our Holy Father who ordered its publication, so that it is an act of our Holy Father's teaching authority. It is also the case that any customs or norms which have been in place prior to the promulgation of this document are no longer in force if they are in any way in conflict with or contrary to the norms in the present instruction. Thus the instruction is to be taken very seriously.
In this first reflection I do not intend to go into great detail about the specific norms in the instruction - in fact our Director of the Office of Worship, Dr. Patrick Gorman, has indicated rightly that the changes in behavior that the document will necessitate in the Diocese of Madison are generally minor.
What I do want to reflect with you about is my growing realization that this instruction is at its core an examination of conscience for all of us who worship according to the liturgy of the Roman Church about our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and in the ordained priesthood.
Solidarity, not conformism
Some have already complained about this instruction, seeing it as an effort to enforce some rigid conformism on those who participate in the Divine Liturgy of the Roman Church. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. The instruction repeatedly insists that this kind of conformism is empty and certainly not the goal of our Holy Father in issuing this instruction.
The Holy Father in his own philosophical writings has distinguished between conformism and solidarity as ways of relating to a community and the behavior of that community. Conformism is empty and without value in itself. We are all called to be in solidarity and more than that, in communion with the whole Church, that is all believers on earth, the angels and saints in heaven, and the souls in purgatory. Ours is truly a Divine Liturgy. This instruction challenges us to be inclusive, in the widest sense. The reason for observing certain liturgical behaviors and avoiding others is none other than this solidarity and communion in our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Reverence for real presence of Christ
For example the avoidance of pouring the precious blood after the consecration is one way to promote reverent communion.
With every good intention, it has often happened that the precious blood has been accidentally spilled at the altar or even more problematically in various areas of the church building when chalices which had been emptied by the faithful were being refilled. The precious blood has dripped down the side of those chalices onto the hands of the one receiving or even onto the floor and in crowded and large group situations, there is often little to be done about this. But such situations do not give the impression that the contents of the chalice are really the blood of Christ. One is almost encouraged when one sees such situations to think less of the real presence, despite every good intention.
Distributing Eucharist to homebound
The instruction also raises some questions about various practices of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion who bring the Eucharist to the sick or the homebound.
I know from personal experience that it has happened that an extraordinary minister will take the sacred host at the morning Mass from the parish church with the intention of actually giving communion to the one receiving early in the evening on the way home from work or during lunch time. This would mean that the consecrated host, the body of Christ, would spend hours perhaps in a coat pocket, perhaps in a purse, perhaps in a glove compartment, amid all the activities and distraction of the secular world and without much recognition, again despite every good intention and even certain good reasons.
If the consecrated host is so reserved, this cannot help but diminish one's faith in the real presence of Christ. It has also happened that an extraordinary minister might become so busy that he or she were actually unable to visit the person desirous of communion so that the consecrated host would remain on a shelf or dresser or wherever in someone's home overnight which cannot really be defended in terms of reverent behavior toward the Eucharist.
Examination of conscience
It would be easy to point to certain features of this instruction and see them as a kind of knit-picking that could make rigid rather than genuine the worship of Christ at Mass. But this is not the intent of the Holy Father in authorizing this instruction at all. I believe that at the core this is meant to be as I have said, an examination of conscience about our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Recognize parts reserved to ordained
In closing let me say that the instruction also challenges our faith in the real presence of Christ in the ordained priest. The instruction insists again and again that those parts reserved to the ordained priests are to be performed by them alone.
To be ordained as in the person of Christ genuinely sets one aside for the special service of God's people. It does not make the priest better or superior to others. Being better or superior is a matter of the holiness in the priest's heart which only the Lord can read. But it is not surprising that vocations have suffered a decrease where so many of the aspects of a strong priestly identity have been blurred or even suppressed, for example when extraordinary ministers are invited to distribute Holy Communion despite the presence of a large number of priests who are seated nearby at the time observing the ministry which is in fact ordinary to the priests being performed by others.
The instruction makes it clear that the full active and fruitful participation of the lay faithful in the Mass is not at all a matter of "getting into the act in the sanctuary." Our young men, in order to hear the call of Christ to ordained priesthood, need to observe and to understand clearly the identity of the priest, and those things which might obscure that identity are surely to be avoided.
About Eucharist, priesthood
So this new instruction from my point of view is at its core about faith in the Eucharistic presence and faith in the presence of Christ in the ordained priesthood - what could be more basic? Before getting too involved with the details of this particular instruction regarding our behavior at the liturgy, to which we will surely move, let us strive to see the bigger picture and to examine our own individual consciences.
Thank you for reading this. God bless you! May the peace, the joy, the hope, and the mercy of the Easter season continue to be with you and yours! Praised be Jesus Christ!
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