Paix liturgique

The Magisterium of the Church, under the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, provides bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and all the faithful with various authoritative texts designed to help them gain a deeper understanding of God, the Faith, and the various issues related to the human condition. Every person is indeed called, in this life, to do good and avoid evil in order to reach Heaven at the end of their life.

While Popes Paul VI and John Paul II addressed the theme of the Eucharist (Mysterium Fidei in 1965 for the former; Ecclesia de Eucharistia in 2003 for the latter), only one encyclical letter, however, has been devoted specifically to the sacred liturgy. This is Mediator Dei, written by Pope Pius XII in 1947. This major text remains the most comprehensive document devoted to divine worship as a whole, and it is only natural that it contains a clear definition of what the liturgy itself is. According to the Holy Church, “The sacred liturgy is therefore the public worship that our Redeemer offers to the Father as Head of the Church; it is also the worship rendered by the community of the faithful to its Head and, through him, to the eternal Father: it is, in a word, the integral worship of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, of the Head and his members.”

This insight from Pope Pius XII is of paramount importance for anyone seeking to understand the liturgical chaos in which the Church finds itself today. It is also of paramount importance for anyone seeking to find a solution to it. Indeed, the liturgical crisis can be explained by a gradual loss of the sense of God that has been occurring for more than sixty years: the reality of worship is no longer in harmony with what should normally define it. By denying worship the direction that has been set for it, ministers of worship are mistreating their flock. Without a precise compass, we—pilgrims of eternity—run the risk of losing our bearings.

Let us be clear, as we take the time to revisit the definition of the liturgy cited above. Liturgy, Pius XII tells us, is worship offered to God. This worship is offered to God with dignity because it is performed by Christ, addressed to the Father in his name. This worship is dignified for a simple reason: the proportionality between the priest (Christ) and the one to whom the sacrifice is addressed (God). The liturgy retains all its propriety, “vere dignum et justum est,” insofar as it is thus offered to God by Christ the Priest himself. And by the community of the faithful through their priests, the latter rendering worship to God by acting “in persona Christi,” according to the established formula.

In other words, the liturgy is first and foremost an act of religion—that is, an act of filial piety, of gratitude, and of thanksgiving for God’s goodness and love for us. It is not a self-celebration of humanity, nor is it primarily a celebration intended for people. It is worship offered to God. In this sense, the liturgy is not primarily a missionary act, but a work of justice: giving to God what is due to Him.

Let us therefore guard against analyzing the holy liturgy primarily through the lens of numerical output or accounting results. With such an approach, might we not be led to believe that the youth Masses of the Frat’ or the traditional Masses of the Chartres pilgrimages operate on the same software? Yet, it must be acknowledged that two clearly distinct liturgical spirits animate these gatherings. The Divine Office recited by two clerics in their small country church, “with dignity, attention, and devotion / digne, attente ac devote,” as the prayer before the Office of the traditional breviary puts it, or the liturgy celebrated in the seclusion of the cloisters by monks in the early morning, have the same value as a solemn Mass celebrated, at the zenith of the sun, before a large gathering of people, on the occasion of a Pentecost pilgrimage. Each of these liturgies, because they are traditional and guided by the teachings of the encyclical *Mediator Dei*, shares the same spirit: divine worship is directed toward God and is carried out for the benefit of the universal Church. We will only come to understand the spiritual weight of this divine worship on the scales of eternity once we have passed to the other side.

That being said, “since the good is diffusive by its very nature,” as St. Thomas Aquinas explains, the work of justice accomplished by the holy liturgy brings with it its share of benefits for souls. The liturgy, provided it is celebrated with dignity and respect for the worship it is meant to render to God, bears inevitable fruit. One need only recall the missionary fruits of the incomparable liturgical ministry of the holy Curé d’Ars, always ready to beautify his church and to put into practice that intimate conviction which should dwell in every disciple of Christ (beginning with his ministers!): “Nothing is too beautiful for God.”

“God first,” Saint Joan of Arc used to say! Divine worship, when it puts God first (and not the microphone!), benefits the universal Church. We will therefore examine in a future letter the missionary reality of the traditional Mass. A secondary reality, not the primary one, as we have seen. But not a secondary reality, as is all too often the case.