Sacramentum Caritatis: Interesting Bits
Reading through the new Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis now, I must admit I'm a bit disappointed -- not surprised, really, but not thrilled with it. But there are some bits that are interesting, so I thought I'd excerpt them here. Fellow Cornellians, please feel free to add anything you feel I've missed.
Also, be sure to read the comments offered by the inimitable New Catholic.
¶21.In this regard, it is important that the confessionals in our churches should be clearly visible expressions of the importance of this sacrament. I ask pastors to be vigilant with regard to the celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and to limit the practice of general absolution exclusively to the cases permitted, (61) since individual absolution is the only form intended for ordinary use. (62) Given the need to rediscover sacramental forgiveness, there ought to be a Penitentiary in every Diocese. (63) Finally, a balanced and sound practice of gaining indulgences, whether for oneself or for the dead, can be helpful for a renewed appreciation of the relationship between the Eucharist and Reconciliation. By this means the faithful obtain "remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven." (64) The use of indulgences helps us to understand that by our efforts alone we would be incapable of making reparation for the wrong we have done, and that the sins of each individual harm the whole community. Furthermore, the practice of indulgences, which involves not only the doctrine of Christ's infinite merits, but also that of the communion of the saints, reminds us "how closely we are united to each other in Christ ... and how the supernatural life of each can help others." (65) Since the conditions for gaining an indulgence include going to confession and receiving sacramental communion, this practice can effectively sustain the faithful on their journey of conversion and in rediscovering the centrality of the Eucharist in the Christian life.
¶42. Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed (130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).
¶51. Finally, I would like to comment briefly on the observations of the Synod Fathers regarding the dismissal at the end of the eucharistic celebration. After the blessing, the deacon or the priest dismisses the people with the words: Ite, missa est. These words help us to grasp the relationship between the Mass just celebrated and the mission of Christians in the world. In antiquity, missa simply meant "dismissal." However in Christian usage it gradually took on a deeper meaning. The word "dismissal" has come to imply a "mission." These few words succinctly express the missionary nature of the Church. The People of God might be helped to understand more clearly this essential dimension of the Church's life, taking the dismissal as a starting- point. In this context, it might also be helpful to provide new texts, duly approved, for the prayer over the people and the final blessing, in order to make this connection clear (154).
¶62. None of the above observations should cast doubt upon the importance of such large-scale liturgies. I am thinking here particularly of celebrations at international gatherings, which nowadays are held with greater frequency. The most should be made of these occasions. In order to express more clearly the unity and universality of the Church, I wish to endorse the proposal made by the Synod of Bishops, in harmony with the directives of the Second Vatican Council, (182) that, with the exception of the readings, the homily and the prayer of the faithful, such liturgies could be celebrated in Latin. Similarly, the better-known prayers (183) of the Church's tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible, selections of Gregorian chant should be sung. Speaking more generally, I ask that future priests, from their time in the seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute Gregorian chant; nor should we forget that the faithful can be taught to recite the more common prayers in Latin, and also to sing parts of the liturgy to Gregorian chant. (184)
This, apparently, offered to satisfy Sandro Magister ...
Eucharistic celebrations in small groups
63. A very different situation arises when, in the interest of more conscious, active and fruitful participation, pastoral circumstances favour small group celebrations. While acknowledging the formative value of this approach, it must be stated that such celebrations should always be consonant with the overall pastoral activity of the Diocese. These celebrations would actually lose their catechetical value if they were felt to be in competition with, or parallel to, the life of the particular Church. In this regard, the Synod set forth some necessary criteria: small groups must serve to unify the community, not to fragment it; the beneficial results ought to be clearly evident; these groups should encourage the fruitful participation of the entire assembly, and preserve as much as possible the unity of the liturgical life of individual families. (185)
¶69 In new churches, it is good to position the Blessed Sacrament chapel close to the sanctuary; where this is not possible, it is preferable to locate the tabernacle in the sanctuary, in a sufficiently elevated place, at the centre of the apse area, or in another place where it will be equally conspicuous.
Note the persistence of the bad English translation here:
Footnote (57) For example, the Confiteor, or the words of the priest and people before receiving Communion: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."
Footnote (150) Taking into account ancient and venerable customs and the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have asked the competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the sign of peace to another place, such as before the presentation of the gifts at the altar. To do so would also serve as a significant reminder of the Lord's insistence that we be reconciled with others before offering our gifts to God (cf. Mt 5:23 ff.); cf. Propositio 23.
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by Ambrosius @ 3/13/2007 08:13:00 AM
11 comments
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, ora pro nobis
St. Joseph, ora pro nobis
St. Ambrose of Milan, ora pro nobis
St. Dominic, ora pro nobis
St. Francis (and St. Clare), orate pro nobis
St. Catherine of Siena, ora pro nobis
St. Alphonsus Ligouri, ora pro nobis
St. John Chrysostom, ora pro nobis
11 Comments:
As long as people will be shaking hands during the sign of peace, I like the idea of moving it before the Offertory. Also, the Pope proposes that one shake hands "soberly" and with only those in one's immediate vicinity. Hopefully that rules out priests leaving the sanctuary to shake hands, as the Eucharist sits on the altar.
But is this "exhortation" in any way binding?
"Let us pray, therefore, for greater religious freedom in every nation, so that Christians, as well as the followers of other religions, can freely express their convictions, both as individuals and as communities."
What are we to make of this?
We can make of it this: more of the liberalism that's going to doom Europe.
Whether or not pluralist societies are a good idea or a permissible state of things or whatever, the contingent reality is that Europe is done for by walking down this road.
As Bernard Lewis says in The Crisis of Islam, radical Mohammedans believe in the one man, one vote principle, too; it's just that their version of it is: you get to vote for but one man, just once. Then, you have the Caliphate for the rest of time.
Pluralism in Europe means the end of Europe in the long run. (Or it's not the fault of pluralism at all, just simple demographics: being a single faith society won't help any if you have no people left who adhere to that faith or can fight to defend it. At any rate, in either case, Muslims win.)
I think if we remember the above quotation was placed in the context of the paragraph on persecuted Christians it becomes less acute, but it is still part and parcel of the problems with the Decree on Religious Liberty from V II. The Exhortation can only really be viewed as compromise; we ought to look on the bright side however - indulgences, some mention of Latin and Gregorian chant (especially in regarding to it being taught in seminaries) and also the suggestion of the sign of peace being moved back to its proper place. It is a shame it is more of a 'suggestion' than an Exhortation...
I'll probably - almost certainly, in fact, - write more about this later. There are so many funky translation questions, even in the first few paragraphs of this document. But for the time being, I'll throw this out there:
Can someone explain to me this sentence (from the second paragraph):
Iesus Christus namque Veritas est quae Persona facta est, quae mundum ad se trahit.
This sounds like heresy to me - the English translation completely glosses over the strangeness of the Latin expression. The French is faithful to the Latin.
What gives?
Perhaps it's a gender-inclusive rendition of "homo factus est"?
The English translator clearly noticed the problem.
No, the gender isn't the issue. It's the "facta est" that's the issue. Unless I'm missing something in the nuances of fio or facio, the sentence is saying that Christ, the Truth, became a Person. "Is" a Person is what we want to see, not "became" a person.
The English completely misses the Latin, which is why I also pointed to the French, which says "faite Personne" - something like that.
So I was looking for suggestions about non-heretical ways to construe that "facta est".
(I looked in the OLD just now, but I didn't find anything helpful.)
I'm sorry, Jason the Bold, I also should have said: what I'm thinking is that it's fine to say that Christ became a man (homo), that he took on human flesh. Great. But he has been a Person from all eternity.
So maybe Benedict means "person" as in the face-to-face kind of personhood of a human being. (The divine persons tend to be rather veiled from our sight; they certainly remained rather obscure under the dispenstion of the old law.)
But there would have been far less confusing ways of saying this.
I could hazard guesses, but I don't really know these languages: what does the Italian and German say? Those are the languages which are really relevant these days in the Vatican, not Latin.
Maybe it has to do with the late JP the Fair's "personalism" and/or phenomenology?
"Let us pray, therefore, for greater religious freedom in every nation, so that Christians, as well as the followers of other religions, can freely express their convictions, both as individuals and as communities."
What are we to make of this? --Jason the bold
This is my belief, too. I'm Catholic.
The religious freedom thing is very poorly expressed. The focus on 'free expression of religious convictions' obscures the traditional distinctions between private religious practice and public expressions of religious belief, and between true and false religious beliefs. The public expression of false religious beliefs will frequently be contrary to the common good, and so should be suppressed by the state. When did we stop believing that?
These include the kind of aggressive anti-Catholic proselytism which even post-VII bishops condemn, notably in the Latin American context.
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