ARCHDIOCESE OF PORTLAND IN OREGON

ISSUE 11 - AUGUST 2018

Segovia Cathedral, Spain

Divine WorshipNewsletter

Introduction

Welcome to the eleventh Monthly Newsletter of the Office of Divine Worship of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. We hope to provide news with regard to liturgical topics and events of interest to those in the Archdiocese who have a pastoral role that involves the Sacred Liturgy. The hope is that the priests of the Archdiocese will take a glance at this newsletter and share it with those in their parishes that are interested in the Sacred Liturgy. This Newsletter is now available as an iBook through Apple and always available in pdf format on the Archdiocesan website. It will also be included in the weekly priests’ mailing. If you would like to be emailed a copy of this newsletter as soon as it is published please send your email address to Anne Marie Van Dyke at amvandyke@archdpdx.org. Just put DWNL in the subject field and we will add you to the mailing list. All past issues of the DWNL are available on the Divine Worship Webpage and in the iBooks store.

We are excited about last June’s launch of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Handbook (ALH). It is available from the Office of Divine Worship webpage in a downloadable pdf format and for purchase as an eBook from the Amazon Kindle Store.

The winner of last month’s competition to identify Papal MC Msgr. Marco Agostini was Kate Whitfield of St. Ignatius Parish in Portland.

If you have a topic that you would like to see explained or addressed in this newsletter please feel free to email this office and we will try to answer your questions and treat topics that interest you and perhaps others who are concerned with Sacred Liturgy in the Archdiocese.

ii

In this Issue........Chapter 1 - Exposition & Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction are Recognized by the Church as part of the Church’s Official Liturgy

Chapter 2 - The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

September 14 Marks the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Chapter 3 - The Vesting Prayers

Prayers Recited by the Sacred Ministers as they don their Vestments

Chapter 4 - Preaching on the Holy Eucharist

Some Homily Hints for Eucharistic Preaching

Chapter 5 - Introduction

The New Translation of the Breviary Set for 2020 with Competition

Chapter 6 - Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults

When to Use the RCIA and Quick Reference Guide for the Sacraments

Chapter 7 - Order of Blessing a Married Couple

A Blessing for Married Couples within Holy Mass on the Anniversary of a Marriage

Chapter 8 - Introduction

The Concept of a Sacred Language and Vocabulary

CHAPTER 1Exposition & Benediction of the Most Blessed SacramentEucharistic Exposition and Benediction are recognized by the Church and not considered devotions, but rather a part of the Church’s official liturgy. Whereas in the past Benediction was frequently added on to the end of another service or devotion, this is no longer generally permitted. Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction is a complete liturgical celebration in its own right and is to be celebrated as such, as laid down in the current liturgical books. The norms for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction can be found in the 1973 document Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside of Mass (HCWEOM). It would be a welcomed addition to the Liturgical Rites to have this document updated to provide some structure for the proliferation of eucharistic adoration which has been one of the fruits of the Second Vatican Council.

The minister of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and of Eucharistic benediction is a priest or deacon. In special circumstances, the minister of exposition and reposition alone (without benediction) is the acolyte, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, or another person designated for this by the local ordinary. In the Archdiocese of Portland the precepts of the Archbishop on these matters are to be faithfully observed. In churches or oratories where it is permitted to reserve the Blessed Sacrament, there can be exposition with the ciborium or the monstrance; the norms prescribed in the liturgical books are to be observed. It is forbidden to expose the Precious Blood of Christ for Eucharistic adoration, either alone or together with the sacred host. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is not to be held in the same area of the church or oratory during the celebration of Mass.

Benediction, the blessing imparted with the Blessed Sacrament should be preceded by a suitable period of readings of the Word of God, hymns, prayers, and sufficient time for silent prayer. This Eucharistic blessing can only be administered by a bishop, priest or deacon.

Prayers of a clearly Christocentric character should be publicly recited during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. In their private prayers the faithful should remember that during exposition everything should be so arranged that the faithfulcan devote themselves attentively in prayer to Christ our Lord.

Exposition ends with benediction by the priest or deacon. Since the Holy Eucharist is due the worship and adoration reserved to God alone it is important to solemnify any periods of exposition, no matter how long or short, with the appropriate rites.

The rite contained in HCWEOM reminds us that “For exposition of the blessed sacrament in the monstrance, four to six candles are lighted, as at Mass, and incense is used.” [85] The minister, if he is a priest or deacon, should vest in an alb, or a surplice over a cassock, and a stole. He should wear a cope and use the humeral veil. The structure of rite is as follows: Exposition Song; Exposition (Procession from the place of Reservation); Adoration with Readings, homily, prayers, songs ad libitum or Liturgy of the Hours; Benediction with Eucharistic Song Prayer and Blessing; followed by Reposition.

Traditionally the Hymns written by S. Thomas Aquinas for the Office of Corpus Christi are used for the Exposition Song (O Salutaris) and for the Benediction Eucharistic Song (Tantum Ergo), they are often kept in their Latin but their vernacular versions can be used.

The rite states that: “After the prayer the priest or deacon puts on the humeral veil, genuflects and takes the monstrance. He makes the sign of the cross over the people with the monstrance in silence.” [98] It continues: “After the blessing the priest or deacon who gave the blessing, or another priest or deacon, replaces the blessed sacrament in the tabernacle and genuflects. Meanwhile the people may sing or say an acclamation, and the minster then leaves.” Traditionally the Divine Praises are said or sung just before or during the reposition.

CHAPTER 2

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on September 14, recalls three historical events: the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine; the dedication of churches built by Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulcher and Mount Calvary; and the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem by the emperor Heraclius II. But in a deeper sense, the feast also celebrates the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. This instrument of torture, designed to degrade the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam’s Original Sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

According to tradition, first mentioned by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in 348, Saint Helena, nearing the end of her life, decided under divine inspiration to travel to Jerusalem in 326 to excavate the Holy Sepulcher and attempt to locate the True Cross. A Jew by the name of Judas, aware of the tradition concerning the hiding of the Cross, led those excavating the Holy Sepulcher to the spot in which it was hidden.

Three crosses were found on the spot. According to one tradition, the inscription Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”) remained attached to the True Cross. According to a more common tradition, however, the inscription was missing, and Saint Helena and Saint Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem, assuming that one was the True Cross and the other two belonged to the thieves crucified alongside Christ, devised an experiment to determine which was the True Cross. In one version of the latter tradition, the three crosses were taken to a woman who was near death; when she touched the True Cross, she was healed. In another, the body of a dead man was brought to the place where the three crosses were found, and laid upon each cross. The True Cross restored the dead man to life.

For some centuries this feast was celebrated on 3 May but in Jerusalem, however, the finding of the Cross was always celebrated from the beginning on September 14.

It’s easy to understand that the Cross is special because Christ used it as the instrument of our salvation. But after His Resurrection, why would Christians continue to look to the Cross?

Christ Himself offered us the answer: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The point of taking up our own cross is not simply self-sacrifice; in doing so, we unite ourselves to the sacrifice of Christ on His Cross.

When we participate in the Mass, the Cross is there, too. The “un-bloody sacrifice” offered on the altar is the re-presentation of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross. When we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we do not simply unite ourselves to Christ; we nail ourselves to the Cross, dying with Christ so that we might rise with Him.

“For the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Today, more than ever, non-Christians see the Cross as foolishness. What kind of Savior triumphs through death?

For Christians, however, the Cross is the crossroads of history and the Tree of Life. Christianity without the Cross is meaningless: Only by uniting ourselves to Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross can we enter into eternal life.

CHAPTER 3

The Vesting PrayersThe vestments used by the sacred ministers in liturgical celebrations derive from ancient Greek and Roman secular clothing. In the first centuries the raiment of persons of a certain social level (the ‘honestiores’, persons of rank with property) was adopted for the Christian liturgy and this practice was maintained in the Church, even after the peace of Constantine. As we see in some Christian writers, the sacred ministers wore the best clothing, which was most probably reserved for liturgical use.[Cf. St. Jerome, Adversus Pelagianos, I, 30. ] While in Christian antiquity the liturgical vestments were distinguished from secular clothing, not by their particular form but by the quality of the material and their special decorum, in the course of the barbarian invasions the customs and, with them, the vesture of new peoples were introduced into the West and brought about changes in profane clothing. But the Church kept, without essential alteration, the vestments used by the clergy in public worship; in this way the secular use of clothing was distinguished from the liturgical use. Finally, in the Carolingian epoch (which began in roughly the 8th century), the vestments proper to the various degrees of the sacrament of orders, with a few exceptions, took on their definitive form, which they retain to this day.

Beyond the historical circumstances, the sacred vestments had an important function in the liturgical celebrations: In the first place, the fact that they are not worn in ordinary life, and thus possess a “liturgical” character, helps one to be detached from the everyday and its concerns in the celebration of divine worship. Furthermore, the ample form of the vestments, the alb, for example, the dalmatic and the chasuble, put the individuality of the one who wears them in second place in order to emphasize his liturgical role. One might say that the “camouflaging” of the minister’s body by the vestments depersonalizes him in a way; it is that healthy depersonalization that de-centers the celebrating minister and recognizes the true protagonist of the liturgical action: Christ. The form of the vestments, therefore, says that the liturgy is celebrated “in persona Christi” and not in the priest’s own name. He who performs a liturgical function does not do so as a private person, but as a minister of the Church and an instrument in the hands of Jesus Christ. The sacred character of the vestments also has to do with their being donned according to what is prescribed in the Roman Ritual.

A copy of the Vesting Prayers in both Latin and English is available in a pdf format (8.5 x 14) can be downloaded HERE. If printed on heavy stock it can be nicely framed and could become an elegant addition to any sacristy.

In the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, the putting on of the liturgical vestments is accompanied by prayers for each garment, prayers whose text one still finds in many sacristies. Even if these prayers are no longer obligatory (but neither are they prohibited) by the Missal of the ordinary form promulgated by Pope Bl. Paul VI, their use is recommended since they help in the priest’s preparation and recollection before the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice. As a confirmation of the utility of these prayers it must be noted that they are included in the “Compendium Eucharisticum”, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.[2009].

It is hoped that there is a renewed interest in learning and praying the vesting prayers by the sacred ministers as they prepare to go to the altar of God.

CHAPTER 4

Preaching on the Holy EucharistSome priests have indicated that in the build up to showing the Archdiocesan Video regarding the reverent reception of Holy Communion they would like to preach expositional homilies on the Holy Eucharist. Below we highlight two documents which could help.

Since the Second Vatican Council there have been many important documents issued by the Church regarding the Most Holy Eucharist and the foundation of Holy Mass in the Christian life. Some of the more recent are those by Pope St. John Paul: Dies Domini and Ecclesia de Eucharistia; and the post-synodal document Sacramentum Caritatis of Pope Benedict XVI.

One of the least known but perhaps one of the most important documents written about the Holy Eucharist is the 1965 encyclical of Blessed Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei. This encyclical was issued just as the closing session of the Second Vatican Council was beginning. Written in a perturbed and troubled tone, its purpose was to counter certain theological movements which Blessed Paul perceived were gaining ground in the Church. Using terminology such as “pastoral concern” and “anxiety”, the letter sends a direct and unequivocal message to the Church regarding the Eucharist. The Pope clearly feared that certain novel and unorthodox teachings were threatening the Eucharistic piety which had marked the Catholic Church since the earliest centuries. To emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist in the Church, the Pope echoed the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch, referring to the Blessed Sacrament as the “medicine of immortality”. The Pope acknowledged that there were many “real” presences of Christ, but that in the Communion bread this presence is real and “substantial”.

Mysterium Fidei was a prophetic encyclical in which Bl. Paul VI addressed the worrying trends of the time and warned of the dire consequences that would prevail if his warnings were not heeded. In some ways its approach was carried forward to his final encyclical Humanae Vitae issued three years later. For anyone who wishes to have a clear exposition of Church teaching with regard to the Holy Eucharist, they do not have to go much farther than Mysterium Fidei.

“Given the importance of the word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved. The homily is “part of the liturgical action”, and is meant to foster a deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear fruit in the lives of the faithful. Hence ordained ministers must “prepare the homily carefully, based on an adequate knowledge of Sacred Scripture”. Generic and abstract homilies should be avoided. In particular, I ask these ministers to preach in such a way that the homily closely relates the proclamation of the word of God to the sacramental celebration and the life of the community, so that the word of God truly becomes the Church’s vital nourishment and support. The catechetical and paraenetic aim of the homily should not be forgotten. During the course of the liturgical year it is appropriate to offer the faithful, prudently and on the basis of the three-year lectionary, “thematic” homilies treating the great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the four “pillars” of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the recent Compendium, namely: the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis

Shortly after the publication of his Encyclical Mysterium Fidei, the Sacred Congregations of Rites (later The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) in 1967 published under Bl. Paul’s guidance an Instruction on Eucharistic Worship, Eucharisticum Mysterium. This document was obviously intended to reinforce the teaching found in the encylcical Mysterium Fidei.

The Instruction begins with the words “The mystery of the Eucharist is the true center of the sacred liturgy and indeed of the whole Christian life. Consequently the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, continually seeks to understand and to live the Eucharist more fully.”

It is a very useful document for those who wish to catechize concerning the Holy Eucharist as it lays out the general principles on the Mystery of the Eucharist. In the first part of the document the major documents of the day regarding Eucharistic faith are summarized; these include the Second Vatican Council document on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, the encyclical of Pius XII, Mediator Dei and of course the encyclical of Bl. Paul VI Mysterium Fidei. The Instruction highlights the need for for the Church to retain an overall view of the teaching contained in these ‘recent’ documents.

Among the doctrinal principles concerning the Eucharist formulated in these aforementioned documents of the Church, the following are noted as having a bearing upon the attitude of Christians toward this mystery, and, therefore, are reemphasized in the section on noteworthy doctrinal themes. The document then highlights eight major doctrinal principles which will be helpful as a guide to those who are preaching or teaching on this topic.

a) Hence the Mass, the Lord’s Supper, is at the same time and inseparably: A sacrifice in which the Sacrifice of the Cross is perpetuated; A memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, who said “do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19); A sacred banquet in which, through the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, the People of God share the benefits of the Paschal Sacrifice,

renew the New Covenant which God has made with man once for all through the Blood of Christ, and in faith and hope foreshadow and anticipate the eschatological banquet in the kingdom of the Father, proclaiming the Lord’s death “till His coming.”

b) In the Mass, therefore, the sacrifice and sacred meal belong to the same mystery-so much so that they are linked by the closest bond.

c) The celebration of the Eucharist, which takes place at Mass, is the action not only of Christ but also of the Church.

d) Hence no Mass, indeed no liturgical action, is a purely private action, but rather a celebration of the Church as a society composed of different orders and ministries, in which each member acts according to his own order and role.

e) The celebration of the Eucharist in the sacrifice of the Mass is the origin and consummation of the worship shown to the Eucharist outside Mass.

f) There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that all the faithful ought to show to this most holy sacrament the worship which is due to the true God, as has always been the custom of the Catholic Church.

g) The mystery of the Eucharist should therefore be considered in all its fullness, not only in the celebration of Mass but also in devotion to the sacred species which remain after Mass and are reserved to extend the grace of the sacrifice.

The Instruction summarizes its purpose: “The particular purpose of these rules is not only to emphasize the general principles of how to instruct the people in the Eucharist, but also to make more readily intelligible the signs by which the Eucharist is celebrated as the memorial of the Lord and worshipped as a permanent sacrament in the Church.”

It might be appropriate to remind those involved in teaching and preaching of these words of this Instruction: “Suitable catechesis is essential if the mystery of the Eucharist is to take deeper root in the minds and lives of the faithful.”

7

CHAPTER 5Update on the New Breviary Translation

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 13-14, 2018. Among their agenda items were two liturgical entries: first on texts relative to liturgical celebrations for St. Mary Magdalene, St. John XXIII, and St. John Paul II; and, second, on the next round of translations for the next English-language edition of the Liturgy of the Hours. Archbishop Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and Chair of the Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, presented the items to the body of bishops on June 13, 2018. A transcript of the presentation and discussion about the Liturgy of the Hours, minimally edited for clarity, follows. The entire discussion can be viewed on-demand at the USCCB website, www.usccb.org.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory: Dear brothers, you have before you an action item from the Committee on Divine Worship, the “Liturgy of the Hours: Proper of Time.” As you know, in 2012 we approved a scope of work that outlined a plan for producing a new edition of the Breviary. That plan is starting to come to fruition. We’ve already approved components of that book, namely, new translations of the Psalter and the Canticles that are at the heart of the Liturgy of the Hours. Meanwhile, ICEL [International Commission on English in the Liturgy] has been busy working on new translations of the non-scriptural parts of the Breviary, and we have the chance to review and comment on the early drafts of this material. ICEL has now finalized several groups of texts for a new edition of the Breviary, and the Committee on Divine Worship is bringing them forward for the vote of the full body of bishops. Your documentation contains translations of most of the Benedictus and Magnificat antiphons and the intercessions for the seasons of the liturgical year. Future votes will focus on other material, such as the hymns, the Proper of Saints, and the Commons. We anticipate that all the voting might be completed by 2020 at the earliest. The bishops of the Committee on Divine Worship feel that the translations are more precise than the texts we are currently using, and also that ICEL has done a very fine job of making them conducive to recitation and chanting. The action item is amendable and approval of this text requires an affirmative vote by two-thirds of the members of the Latin Church members of the USCCB and subsequent confirmatio of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The Latin Church members of the USCCB voted the next day 175-6-2 in favor of the ICEL Gray Book translation of the Liturgy of the Hours: Proper of Time for use in the dioceses of the United States..

These two famous brothers are seen here praying the Breviary together. In his interview with Peter Seewald published in the book “Last Testament” in 2016 Pope Benedict said that in his retirement: “I can now pray the breviary deeply and slowly, and thereby deepen my friendship with the Psalms, with the Fathers of the church.”

The first person to tell us where Pope Benedict and his brother celebrated “Unser Erstlingsopfer” will win a copy of this book edited by Peter Seewald: “Benedict XVI - Last Testament in His Own Words”. Answers to amvandyke@archdpdx.org.

CHAPTER 6 Rite of Christian Initiation of AdultsFrom the time of the Apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey of Initiation in several stages. The pace of the journey for a given individual may vary, but it involves certain essential elements: the proclamation of the Word; the acceptance of the Gospel through conversion; the profession of faith; Baptism itself; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and admission to Eucharistic Communion.

The image of the journey of faith is clearly evident in the Church’s ritual for the Christian Initiation of adults and older children. Both for those just coming to faith in Christ and those already baptized in Christ who seek to enter the Catholic Church, there is a journey to make, and it is made in the midst of the Catholic community of faith. It is a holy journey made in response to the grace of God, and is centered in the Church’s life of liturgical celebration, being sometimes marked with special rites.

The complete Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults must be used in the following circumstances:a. The Baptism of adults.b. The Baptism of children who have reached catechetical age (about the age of seven).c. The preparation of baptized but uncatechized adult Catholics for confirmation and/or First Holy Communion.d. The Reception into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church of non-Catholic adults and children of catechetical age, ande. The preparation of candidates for Reception into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church who have never been catechized.

In the circumstances described above, no other rite or pastoral procedure is to be used. The permitted options for pastoral adaptation of the rites, including adaptation for exceptional circumstances are given in the liturgical book itself. The National Statutes for the Catechumenate have the status of particular law for the dioceses of the United States and are to be observed in the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.

The above Quick Reference Chart for the Administration of the Sacraments in the RCIA can be downloaded from the

Office of Divine Worship webpage: HERE.

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults - (RCIA)

? = YES

RIT

E O

F EL

ECT

ION

RIT

E O

F C

ALL

ING

TO

C

ON

TIN

UIN

G C

ON

VER

SIO

N

AT

RIT

E O

F EL

ECT

ION

SCR

UTI

NIE

S

SAC

RA

MEN

T O

F PE

NA

NC

E

EAST

ER V

IGIL

: BA

PTIS

M,

CO

NFI

RM

AT

ION

& H

OLY

EU

CH

AR

IST

EAST

ER V

IGIL

: CO

NFI

RM

AT

ION

&

HO

LY E

UC

HA

RIS

T

CO

NFI

RM

AT

ION

BY

PR

IEST

CO

NFI

RM

AT

ION

BY

BIS

HO

P

HO

LY E

UC

HA

RIS

T A

T S

UN

DA

Y M

ASS

CATECHUMEN Unbaptized 7+ Years ?� � ?� � ?� � ?� � �

CHRISTIAN CANDIDATE Baptized Non-Catholic

� ?� � ?� � ?� ?� � �

CATHOLIC ADULT Baptized/Uncatechized � ?� � ?� � � � ?� �

CATHOLIC ADULT Baptized/Catechized � � � ?� � � � ?� �

CATHOLIC CHILD Baptized/Uncatechized

Under 14 Years � � � ?� � � � ?� ?�

1. Uncatechized refers to those Catholics who have never prepared for or received First Holy Communion. 2. The Rite of Calling to Continuing Conversion is optional but strongly encouraged and celebrated usually with

the Rite of Election. 3. Orthodox Christians’ reception into the Church would usually involve a profession of faith and no liturgical

rites however consultation should be made with the Chancery or Office of Divine Worship.

CHAPTER 7

Order of Blessing a Married CoupleIn the new Rite of the Order of Celebrating Marriage (2016) appendix III contains a Blessing for Married Couples within Holy Mass on the Anniversary of a Marriage. For many years pastors have responded to requests from Married Couples for some recognition of major anniversaries with various different responses. Often there was a request for the renewal of vows which has not so far been included in previous Blessings of Married Couples (Cf. Book of Blessings Chapter 1-III). In the new blessing if the couple wish to renew their commitment publicly a formula is provided:

The husband: Blessed are you, Lord, for by your goodness I took N. as my wife.

The wife: Blessed are you, Lord, for by your goodness I took N. as my husband.

Both: Blessed are you, Lord, for in the good and the bad times of our life

you have stood lovingly by our side. Help us, we pray,

to remain faithful in our love for one another, so that we may be true witnesses

to the covenant you have made with humankind.

On the main anniversaries of Marriage, as for example, on the twenty-fifth, fiftieth, or sixtieth anniversary, it is fitting to hold a special remembrance of the Sacrament by means of the celebration of the proper Mass with the prayers indicated in The Roman Missal (Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, [11]. On the Anniversaries of Marriage). In the Liturgy of the Word, the readings may be taken either from the Lectionary For the Celebration of Marriage(s), or from the Mass For Giving Thanks to God from the Lectionary for Masses for Various Needs (cf. The Roman Missal, Lectionary for Mass,) in accord with the norm of the rubrics. After the reading of the Gospel, in a homily based on the sacred text, the Priest should expound the mystery and the grace of Christian married life, keeping in mind, however, the various circumstances of individuals.

Although this new Order of Blessing is intended to take place on the significant anniversary itself within the context of a Proper Mass from then Roman Missal, it would seem pastorally appropriate to administer the Blessing at the conclusion of other Masses (e.g. Sundays) and other gatherings of the faithful (Cf. BB 116).

The Order of Blessing a Married Couplewithin Mass on the Anniversary of MarriageAppendix III: Order of Celebrating Marriage

CHAPTER 8The Language of Liturgical Celebration

Language is not only an instrument that serves to communicate facts, which it seeks to do in the most simple and efficient way, but it is also the means to express our mind in a way that involves the whole person. Consequently, language is also the means by which we express thoughts and religious experiences.

Christine Mohrmann, the great historian of the Latin of Christians, affirms that “sacred language” used in divine worship is a specific way of "organizing" the religious experience. In fact, Mohrmann maintains that every form of believing in supernatural reality, in the existence of a transcendent being, leads necessarily to the adoption of a form of sacred language in worship, whereas radical secularism rejects any form of it.

In this connection, Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, explained in an interview to the Italian daily La Repubblica in July 2009 that “the use of sacred language is a tradition in the whole world. In Hinduism, the language of prayer is Sanskrit, which is no longer in use. In Buddhism Pali is used, a language that today only Buddhist monks study. In Islam, the Arabic of the Koran is used. The use of a sacred language helps us to live the sensation of the beyond.”

The use of a sacred language in the liturgical celebration is part of what St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae calls the “solemnitas.” The Angelic Doctor teaches: “What is found in the sacraments by human institution is not necessary to the validity of the sacrament, but confers a certain solemnity, useful in the sacraments to exercise devotion and respect in those who receive it” (Summa Theologiae III, 64, 2; cf. 83, 4).

Sacred language, being the means of expression not only of individuals, but rather of a community that follows its traditions, is conservative: it maintains the archaic linguistic forms with tenacity. Moreover, introduced in it are external elements, in so far as associated to an ancient religious tradition. A paradigmatic case is the Hebrew biblical vocabulary in the Latin used by Christians (Amen, Alleluia, Hosanna, etc.), as St. Augustine already observed (cf. “De doctrina christiana,” II, 34-35 [11, 16]).

Each month we publish an extract from various studies commissioned by the Pontifical Office of Liturgical Celebrations under the guidance of Msgr. Guido Marini, which will be of interest to those who are concerned with Sacred Liturgy.

In the course of history a wide variety of languages has been used in Christian worship: Greek in the Byzantine tradition; the different languages of the Eastern traditions, such as Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Coptic and Ethiopic; Paleo-Slavic; the Latin of the Roman rite and of the other Western rites.

Found in all these languages are forms of style that separate them from the “ordinary” or popular language. Often this separation is the consequence of linguistic developments in the common language, which then are not adopted in the liturgical language because of its sacred character.

However, in the case of Latin as language of the Roman liturgy, a certain separation has existed since the beginning: Romans did not speak in the style of the canon or of the prayers of the Mass. As soon as Greek was replaced by Latin in the Roman liturgy, a highly stylized language was created as a means of worship, which an average Christian of Rome of late antiquity would have had difficulty in understanding. Moreover, the development of Christian  “latinitas”  could have rendered the liturgy more accessible to the people of Rome or Milan, but not necessarily to those whose mother tongue was Gothic, Celtic, Iberian, or Punic. Nevertheless, thanks to the prestige of the Church of Rome and the unifying force of the papacy, Latin became the singular liturgical language of Christianity, and subsequently one of the foundations of culture in the West.