Music in the Liturgy, Part Three: Sacrosanctum Concilium

Greetings,

Last Week we looked briefly at the rationale for the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. This week, we continue in the same document mindful of the central importance of The Mass: “...the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10).  In short, everything we do flows toward the Eucharist and our activity flows from the Eucharist and into the world.

Priests are called to “realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of
the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects” so that the faithful “come to it with proper dispositions…lest they receive it in vain” (SC, 11).  The Council expresses this in its desire that “that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. (SC, 14). More than just “doing something” at Mass for its own sake, this involves discerning the movements of our hearts at Mass so that it matches what’s going on with our mouths and bodies.

There is a popular misconception that in order to be fully “active and conscious” in participation means that one must aspire to be a Lector, or Extraordinary Minister, or Choir member; rather, the participation that the Council is concerned with is coming to understand the movements of the liturgy and joining in a unified expression of worship with the Church all over the world.  To that end, there is a particularity to the Mass in our TriParishes, but it also is called to align with those of our brother and sister Catholics throughout the world.

And so, the Council establishes universal general norms since “regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See [that is, the pope] and, as laws may determine, on the bishop” (SC, 22). Because of this the Church teaches that “no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the
liturgy on his own authority” (SC, 22 º3). This is sometimes ignored, even by priests, in favor of innovation or a so-called “more pastoral approach”. The Mass does not belong to the priest, the bishop, the pope, or the people.

Properly understood, we serve the Mass because when we do so, we worship God. “Servers, lectors commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function. They ought, therefore, to discharge their office with the sincere piety and decorum demanded by so exalted a ministry and rightly expected of them by God's people. Consequently they must all be deeply imbued with the spirit of the liturgy, each in his own measure, and they must be trained to perform their functions in a correct and orderly manner” (SC, 29).  Whether a minister of the liturgy or a layperson in the pew, all are encouraged to take part by “acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes. And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence” (SC, 30).

In this way, the “full, active, and conscious” participation in the Mass called for by the council can even be achieved when the priest and faithful may be using a language other than English. The Fathers of the Council hoped that the common liturgical language would continue, and so a norm that remains to this day is that “…the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites” (SC, 36). Technically, because we are Roman Catholics, we are all “Latin rite” Catholics, which is what this means.  The document then acknowledges that the “mother tongue” or vernacular “frequently may be of great advantage to the people” and so extends permission for the use of English (in our case) to other parts of the Mass: “This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants…” (SC 36 º2). There is also permission for adaptation within the liturgy, “so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit” (SC, 37). This always must be submitted to the bishop, and in many cases the pope, first.

With this understanding, we will look specifically at the chapter on Sacred Music in Sacrosanctum Concilium next week.