Dear Friends,
As we celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent, we cannot help but speak of Christmas. Mary becomes the obvious focal point of the 4th Sunday of Advent. With her great FIAT, i.e., her acceptance of God’s invitation conveyed by the Archangel Gabriel, Mary becomes the perfect model for each of us in doing the will of the Father: “May it be done to me according to your word.” With her decisive response, motivated entirely by love for her God, she has become the indispensable partner in His plan to forever change the course of humanity. Humanity is now certain to have God dwelling with us. He is no longer a distant force, a foreign agent, or an “obstacle” along the way to our fulfillment. He is Emmanuel, as St. John the Evangelist, our patron, so poetically proclaimed in his opening words (1:14): “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
On behalf of Fr. John Patrick, the Deacons and the Staff, I wish you all a blessed Christmas as we welcome the audaciously humble God who dwells among us!
Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
For this week, we shall reflect on paragraphs 51-52 of the encyclical, “Ecclesia De Eucharistia” (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist) by St. John Paul II on the vital role the Eucharist plays in the life of the Church. With these paragraphs we come to the end of the 5th chapter titled: THE DIGNITY OF THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION. Here Pope John Paul II is discussing about beauty of inculturation in the celebration of the Eucharist. However, he is also cautioning us of certain abuses which have become a source of suffering for many. Hence, he invites us to be faithful to the ecclesial nature of the Eucharist as it is a treasure of far greater importance.
- The development of sacred art and liturgical discipline which took place in lands of ancient Christian heritage is also taking place on continents where Christianity is younger. This was precisely the approach supported by the Second Vatican Council on the need for sound and proper “inculturation”. In my numerous Pastoral Visits I have seen, throughout the world, the great vitality which the celebration of the Eucharist can have when marked by the forms, styles and sensibilities of different cultures. By adaptation to the changing conditions of time and place, the Eucharist offers sustenance not only to individuals but to entire peoples, and it shapes cultures inspired by Christianity.
It is necessary, however, that this important work of adaptation be carried out with a constant awareness of the ineffable mystery against which every generation is called to measure itself. The “treasure” is too important and precious to risk impoverishment or compromise through forms of experimentation or practices introduced without a careful review on the part of the competent ecclesiastical authorities. Furthermore, the centrality of the Eucharistic mystery demands that any such review must be undertaken in close association with the Holy See. As I wrote in my Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia, “such cooperation is essential because the Sacred Liturgy expresses and celebrates the one faith professed by all and, being the heritage of the whole Church, cannot be determined by local Churches in isolation from the universal Church” ( No. 22: AAS 92 (2000), 485).
- All of this makes clear the great responsibility which belongs to priests in particular for the celebration of the Eucharist. It is their responsibility to preside at the Eucharist in persona Christi and to provide a witness to and a service of communion not only for the community directly taking part in the celebration, but also for the universal Church, which is a part of every Eucharist. It must be lamented that, especially in the years following the post-conciliar liturgical reform, as a result of a misguided sense of creativity and adaptation there have been a number of abuses which have been a source of suffering for many. A certain reaction against “formalism” has led some, especially in certain regions, to consider the “forms” chosen by the Church's great liturgical tradition and her Magisterium as non-binding and to introduce unauthorized innovations which are often completely inappropriate.
I consider it my duty, therefore to appeal urgently that the liturgical norms for the celebration of the Eucharist be observed with great fidelity. These norms are a concrete expression of the authentically ecclesial nature of the Eucharist; this is their deepest meaning. Liturgy is never anyone's private property, be it of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated. The Apostle Paul had to address fiery words to the community of Corinth because of grave shortcomings in their celebration of the Eucharist resulting in divisions (schismata) and the emergence of factions (haireseis) (cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34). Our time, too, calls for a renewed awareness and appreciation of liturgical norms as a reflection of, and a witness to, the one universal Church made present in every celebration of the Eucharist. Priests who faithfully celebrate Mass according to the liturgical norms, and communities which conform to those norms, quietly but eloquently demonstrate their love for the Church. Precisely to bring out more clearly this deeper meaning of liturgical norms, I have asked the competent offices of the Roman Curia to prepare a more specific document, including prescriptions of a juridical nature, on this very important subject. No one is permitted to undervalue the mystery entrusted to our hands: it is too great for anyone to feel free to treat it lightly and with disregard for its sacredness and its universality.