Liturgical Growth versus Liturgical Manufacturing: The Lasting Wisdom of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

+J.M.J.+

God be with you! I am inspired to write about the proper understanding of the nature of the Christian liturgy. To be more precise, I am particularly interested in discussing a perspective on liturgical origin and development on which I have recently been reflecting. Just today, I was continuing to read a wonderful cornerstone of modern Catholic liturgics: "The Spirit of the Liturgy." This masterpiece was written by, in my opinion, one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the then cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger. In the first chapter of the fourth part of the text, dedicated to the concept of liturgical rite, he describes the origin and shaping of the liturgy in a beautiful and unique fashion. He writes, "The liturgy can be compared, therefore, not to a piece of technical equipment, something manufactured, but to a plant, something organic that grows and whose laws of growth determine the possibilities of further development." (Joseph Ratzinger and Romano Guardini, The Spirit of the Liturgy -- Commemorative Edition (Ignatius Press, 2018), 179).

The liturgy, therefore, has intrinsic laws of growth that limit both the degree and kind of further developmental possibilities. Liturgy can neither be fully subjected to the human will nor, as a consequence of such a reality were it to be the case, be arbitrarily altered. For liturgy is truly "derived from divine revelation" (Ibid.) and possesses "independence from human control." (Ibid.). It is "anchored in the time and place of the event of divine revelation," (Ibid.) and thereby has an authority based in time and place. The Christian liturgy has been handed down in its essential form from the Apostles and has developed according to three principal sets of restrictions and guiding principles. Firstly, the essential core of the liturgy itself and the purpose for which the liturgy is offered shape the way in which it is performed. This end, namely, the public and official sacramental and sacrificial worship of God naturally requires that certain criteria be met in order for the liturgy to be valid, licit, fitting, and authentic or legitimate. Secondly, local liturgical norms, customs, and traditions that organically develop within the boundaries set by the intrinsic laws of growth of the liturgy likewise shape the way in which it is celebrated. Thirdly, the Petrine authority uniquely held by the bishop of Rome shapes the liturgy in a special fashion. As the "servant of [the liturgy's] lawful development and abiding integrity and identity" (Ibid, 180.) the pope ensures that the essential elements of the liturgy, its intrinsic and organic patterns and laws of growth, and the legitimate local ritual customs are respected and maintained. His papal authority is "not unlimited; it is at the service of sacred tradition" (Ibid.) and it is opposed to arbitrary alteration of the liturgy. For "the greatness of the liturgy depends... on its unspontaneity (unbeliebigkeit)." (Ibid.)

The liturgy, therefore, although shaped by mankind and human limitations and customs is not simply a man-made product. There is true, organic development of varying liturgical expressions but there is within the liturgy an essential element that transcends and unites individual rites or expressions of the Christian liturgy. This essential element is an orthodox expression of the Christian faith itself by which the liturgy participates in "the authority of the Church's faith in its fundamental form." (Ibid, 181.) It is a divinely inspired form of worship that although shaped by imperfect humans and their respective cultural realities has been instituted, safeguarded, and guided by God.

To close, the liturgy is truly like a plant! It is a plant that has a divinely inspired, apostolically derived, and certainly historical origin as its seed.

• This seed consists of the essential elements of the liturgy which are rooted in historical events expressed through scriptural language. God incarnated Himself, lived, spoke, and acted in a particular time and in particular places. Some making-present and repeating of the Last Supper narrative, for example, constitutes the most central portion of the Christian liturgy. This is a historical event and an act performed by God. In the liturgy this historical reality was and is continually re-performed and re-presented throughout time by the Apostles and all of their successors. These essential elements set natural limitations on the development of Christian liturgy.

• The inspiring sunlight, necessary water, and nourishing nutrients by which this plant is sustained consist of the divine will which both once inspired and continually directs and preserves the liturgical organism. God prunes and shapes the liturgy so that it may continue to worship Him rightly. He safeguards it from grave error while still allowing the acts of mankind to assist in its growth.

• Human cultures are the differing soils in which the substantially identical liturgical seed is planted. These soils certainly influence the particular way in which the liturgical plant grows but only so far as God permits. These soils are organic and natural and not the direct product of human wills. They are rather the temporal and spatial homes in which the liturgical seed takes root and proceeds to grow according to its set growth patterns.

• The blooming flower is a fully developed liturgical expression, i.e., rite. This is the ultimate natural destiny of the liturgical seed. It is a beautiful, natural result of the cooperation of God and man. God creates, provides, protects, and directs the liturgical seed and its growth. Man plants it in his own cultural soil and works to ensure its well-being.