I am continuing to read liturgical scholar Joseph A. Jungmann, SJ. His work greatly influenced the reforms of the liturgy from the Second Vatican Council. Here are some thoughts that strike me from his writing in the early 1960s, before the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.
“Liturgy must become pastoral.” My jaw dropped when I read that sentence. I didn’t realize that a concern for being pastoral had marked the liturgical movement of the 20th Century before the Council. He says, “The essential action of this [liturgy] should be so designed that it is intelligible to the Catholic Christian of average education, who should be able also to take an active part in it. The type of Christian who merely ‘assists’ at Mass in a bored fashion must disappear.” We have come a long way in participation, but have we eliminated the “bored fashion” in some? More work is needed.
“Within the Christian people themselves must exist the proper atmosphere. Therefore, it is pastoral work which must prepare the way for a revival of the liturgy.” He calls for a reform of preaching and for catechesis on the Mass. He wants people to learn of the “redemptive powers” which permeate the liturgy, that the liturgy is Christ-centered, and that people grasp the profound sense of community in the liturgy. I think people do understand these ideas, but have they given suitable reflection on them in order to relate them to daily living outside of the Mass?
The people must no longer be “dumb witnesses at worship.” (I think he means “dumb” as in “unable to speak”). In some places, “Congregational singing has received a great stimulus. People have become aware that they constitute a genuine part of the Church’s worship.”
“Public Worship must become both an invitation and a help to real adoration ‘in Spirit and in truth’: it must become the support of a joyful awareness of Faith and of a Christian life in the harsh everyday world.”
When we come to Mass, we bring our whole selves – good and bad; confident and doubting; fearful and trusting. We bring the events of the week, both positive and negative. We express our gratitude and our needs. At the Mass, we listen; we learn; we grow. We receive the Body and Blood of Christ and become the Body and Blood of Christ. We bring Christ into our daily lives. We live out our everyday experiences knowing they are touched by Christ. We come back to Sunday Mass and repeat the process.
For each of us, based on the Collect (Opening Prayer) for this Sunday: Amid the uncertainties of this world, may our hearts be fixed on that place where true gladness is found in and through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Quotes above from Pastoral Liturgy by Joseph A. Jungmann, SJ, Chapter on Conservation and Change in the Liturgy. Italics above are mine.
