The goal - Prayer

In December of next year, the Catholic Church will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY.


To appreciate the importance of the Council’s statement that “every liturgical celebration… is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church” (#7), it is necessary to recall the situation prior to the Council. In the parish where I attended elementary school, the pastor offered a “Missa Recitata” on the first Saturday of each month. This was a Mass at which the congregation was permitted to answer the responses together with the servers. When I entered the seminary in 1954, the students were permitted to do this three mornings week. One morning a week we were permitted to sing four songs (entrance, offertory, communion, recessional).


Mass was the act of the priest. In “The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described,” by Fortesque and O’Connell which was a standard manual for priests to ensure the proper celebration of the liturgical rites, there is no listing in the index for assembly, community, laity or people. The rubrics of the pre-counciliar Missal governed only the actions of the priest.


It was a major sift on the part of the Council Fathers to describe the liturgy in terms of “Christ the priest and of His Body the Church.”


The Council document then states that “Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people’ is their right and duty by reason of their baptism. In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else.” (#14)


Fully conscious and active participation has almost become a mantra of those involved with liturgy. At times, in my experience, it has almost become synonymous with activity. However the Council Fathers explain this aim when they direct that “Pastors of souls must… ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.” (#11) Fully aware, actively engaged, and enriched is another way of describing the goal. I believe this is a way of saying that the celebration of the liturgy is meant to be the prayer of the entire Church, not simply of the priest.

It is surprising how seldom the Council Fathers actually use the word prayer when speaking of participation. I don’t that this was an oversight but, rather, an assumption that all the terms used in the document, in fact, referred to prayer.

However, I think that the time has come for the goal of active participation to be clearly stated as prayer. I think that each liturgical minister needs to ask him/her self “Is what I am doing and the way I am doing it eliciting and aiding the prayer of those gathered here?”

While the goal is full conscious active participation, this is not simply activity; it is mean to be prayer. If it does not lead to prayer, it fall short.