Liturgy Looking at His Face

Pope Francis on September 1 warned against “worldly” approaches to the liturgy, saying liturgy must be directed to the Mystery of Christ while remaining close to daily life. He told bishops “What keeps a bishop on his feet, is his people.” “I ask the bishops to be shepherds. Nothing more: shepherds. May this be your joy: “I am a shepherd.” It will be the people, your flock, who will support you. I recently read of a bishop who was told that on the subway at rush hour, and there was so many people that did not know where to put his hand to steady himself. Pushed to the right and left, he leaned on the people so as not to fall. And so he thought that, besides the prayer, what keeps a bishop on his feet, is his people.” Pope Francis was addressing the Italian Association of Professors and Practitioners of Liturgy on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the organization’s foundation. “Theology can and must have a synodal style.” He exhorted the bishops, “May nothing and no one will take away your joy of being supported by your people. As pastors you’re not preachers of complex doctrines, but heralds of Christ, who died and rose for us. Focused on the essential, namely the kerygma.” “It prompts the Church not to be humble, selfless and blessed”.

Liturgy seeing His face
The Pope said on Liturgy, “Let us look to Him. Jesus is our humanism”. “Looking at his face, what we see? Before everything else, (we see) the face of a God “emptied,” of a God who has assumed the condition of a servant, humbled and obedient even unto death (cf. Phil 2,7). The face of Jesus resembles that of many of our humiliated, enslaved, emptied brothers.” “Unless we lower ourselves we cannot see his face.”

Pelagian temptation
He spoke of Pelagian temptation within the church. “Often it leads us also to take a style of control, of hardness, setting the norm. The rule gives a Pelagian the security of feeling superior, to have a precise orientation. This is its strength, not in the lightness of the breath of the Spirit. Faced with the evils or the problems of the Church, it is useless to look for solutions in conservatism and fundamentalism, in the restoration of outdated conduct and forms that have not the ability to be even culturally significant. Christian doctrine is not a closed system incapable of generating questions, concerns, investigation, but it is alive, knows how to disturb, knows how to animate. It does not have a rigid face, it has a body that moves and develops, it has sensitive flesh: Christian doctrine is called Jesus Christ. The reform then of the Church – and the Church is always in need of reform – is alien to Pelagianism”.

A second temptation in liturgy Gnosticism
He spoke of a second temptation in liturgy to defeat is that of Gnosticism. “It leads to trust in logical and clear reasoning, which, however, loses the tenderness of the human flesh of a brother. The fascination of Gnosticism is to “a faith locked into subjectivism, with interest only in a particular experience or a series of arguments and knowledge that are held to comfort and enlighten, but where the person ultimately is closed in the immanence of his own reason or of his feelings” (Evangelii Gaudium, 94 ). Gnosticism cannot transcend.” “I urge on you also, in a special way, the capacity for dialogue and encounter. Dialogue is not negotiation. Negotiating is to try to get one’s own “slice” of the communal pie. That’s not what I mean. But it is to seek the common good for all. Discuss together, dare I say get angry together, think about the best solutions for all. Many times the encounter is found involved in conflict. In dialogue conflict occurs: it is logical and predictable that it is this way. And we should not fear it or ignore it but accept it.”
The Pope noted that fifty years corresponds to “the ecclesial season of this liturgical reform:” following the initial phase marked by the publication of new liturgical books, “we are now in a period of deepening acceptance of the reform.” This process, he added, requires not only time but also “passionate and patient care,” “spiritual and pastoral understanding,” and ongoing formation. The Pope encouraged members of the association to continue to pursue their work in a spirit of dialogue.

Listening key in liturgical study
In order to ensure that their efforts “are never separated from the expectations and needs of the People of God,” Pope Francis said, listening to the Christian communities is “indispensable.”
The Pope also noted that the academic work of liturgists cannot be separated from the pastoral and spiritual dimension of liturgy. Liturgical formation must reach the people of God, he asserted.

Progress rooted in tradition
Finally, the Pope insisted that progress in the understanding of the liturgy and the art of celebrating it “must always be rooted in tradition.” At the same time, he warned of a worldly spirit of going backward.
“Our times call us to live the problems as challenges, not as obstacles: the Lord is active and at work in the world.”
Going back to the roots, he said, does not mean going backward, but instead means allowing true tradition to lead one forward. He cautioned liturgists to carefully distinguish between tradition and “traditionalism,” warning that “today the temptation is ‘backwardness’ disguised as tradition.”
Concluding his address, Pope Francis reminded his audience that the study and promotion of liturgy “must be imbued with prayer and the living experience of the Church that celebrates, so that liturgical ‘thought’ might always flow, like a vital sap, from the lived liturgy.”