Section 3: The Upper Room
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THE BEAUTY OF THE MASS
How wonderful that the faithful are asking for beautiful liturgies. St. Teresa of Calcutta reminded us that there is a “terrible hunger for love” in the modern world. We might also say that there is a terrible hunger for beauty. If for many decades and centuries truth was listed first among our “transcendental” desires, we may say that in our time beauty has come to the fore. Now, more than ever, it behooves us to “begin with the beautiful.”
It is no wonder, therefore, that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal exhorts the bishop to be “vigilant that the dignity of [the Eucharistic] celebrations be enhanced. In promoting this dignity, the beauty of the sacred place, of music, and of art should contribute as greatly as possible.” I urge my brother priests, in collaboration with your deacons and parishioners, to make your liturgies dignified and beautiful. And as we do so, let us remember a secret ingredient of beautiful liturgies given by Pope Francis – joyful evangelization:
Evangelization with joy becomes beauty in the liturgy, as part of our daily concern to spread goodness. The Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her renewed self-giving.
I always feel particularly privileged during the Easter Season to see firsthand in our parishes how joyful evangelization has become beauty in the Liturgy, as the faces of the newly baptized and confirmed adorn the Sunday assembly like new and precious “living stones” (I Pt 2:5).
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THE FORM OF THE MASS
One of the earliest revelations of the form of the Mass is given to us by the evangelist Luke in his account of the appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35). Many theologians, including Pope Benedict XVI, believe that Luke is offering a liturgical catechesis, the goal of which is to help the Christian community understand that the risen Christ is encountered ever anew in the Eucharistic worship.
The evangelist highlights two pillars of Christian worship: the interpretation of the scriptures (v. 27) and the breaking of the bread (v. 35). These correspond, then as now, to the two pillars of Catholic liturgy: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We have already said much – and will say more – about the Liturgy of the Eucharist. I would like to draw our priests’ attention to the Liturgy of the Word, because one of the goals of Second Vatican Council was to restore its proper dignity in the Mass, where the Council spoke of two tables: the “table of the Lord’s body” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium 48) and the “table of God’s word” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 51).
Regarding the latter, the Council says, “The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God’s word” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 51).
The recent publication of the synthesis of the consultation for the upcoming Global Synod on Synodality at the Vatican has revealed that the people of God across continents and cultures are hungering for “deeper homilies, centered on the Gospel” and relevant to daily life. 31 We who are privileged to preach need to ask ourselves, “Do I preach like Jesus?” That is to say, when I have explained all that is in the law, the prophets and the Gospels, do my people ask themselves, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us” (Lk 24:32)? This is an increasingly important question for all bishops, priests and deacons, and I urge all of us to invest more time into our homily preparation so that a hungering people may have “richer fare” and burning hearts. Rereading chapter three of Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium (“The Proclamation of the Gospel”) would go a long way in this regard. I invite you to make this a source of meditation during these years of Eucharistic Revival.
(Source: archspmmainsite/Synod_Pastoral+Letter)
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