Liturgy

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What is the Goal of these Changes?

In the previous article you were given a brief history of the document that regulates how Mass is celebrated, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. This is the third edition of this document since 1969. The changes that have occurred since 1969 all represent the evolution of the liturgy since the days of the early church. This is not the first set of changes, nor will they be the last.


What is the Goal of these Changes?

The purpose of these changes is the same as what prompted the Second Vatican Council to allow Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular (English) instead of Latin: worshippers actively involved in and engaged by the Mystery which gathers us together in faith.

At the Second Vatican Council, the bishops of the world declared in 1963: “Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the Christian people, ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people’ (1 Peter 2:9, 4-5) have a right and obligation by reason of their baptism” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 14).

Revised General Instruction Echoes the Council

Chapter One of the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal underscores and echoes this sentiment from the Council:

“The celebration of Mass, as the action of Christ and the People of God. . . is the center of the whole Christian life for the Church . . . . In it is found the high point both of the action by which God sanctifies the world in Christ and of the worship that the human race offers to the Father, adoring him through Christ, the Son of God, in the Holy Spirit. In it, moreover, during the course of the year, the mysteries of redemption are recalled so as in some way to be made present. Furthermore. . . all the activities of the Christian life are bound up with it, flow from it, and are ordered to it. . . .

This will best be accomplished if. . . the entire celebration is planned in such a way that it leads to a conscious, active, and full participation of the faithful both in body and in mind (GIRM 16- 17).

Body and Mind

We are not disembodied spirits. Our spirit is not only housed within but it is part and parcel of the physical.

So, not only are the words we write and speak important in our communication—so too is our bodily posture. Every aspect of ourselves and how we communicate—speaking, singing, standing, bowing, kneeling, sitting, touching, eating, drinking and processing—contributes to our heightened prayer during the liturgy.

Therefore, we will continue to school ourselves in these changes so as to deepen our conscious, active and full participation!