Liturgy is “the public worship, which our redeemer as head of the church renders to the Father, as well as the worship which the community of the faithful renders to its founder, and through him to the heavenly Father. It is, in short, the worship rendered by the mystical body of Christ in the entirety of its head and members.” (Pius XII, Encyclical, Mediator Dei, 1947).
Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) realized that on 1947, there was a widespread scholarly interest in liturgy; probably he had in mind some of the authors of the liturgical movement that we have presented in this column: Lambert Beauduin, Maurice Festugière, Romano Guardini, Odo Casel among others. Pius XII welcomed some of their debates and initiatives, indicating that some of them brought productive results; while he expressed satisfaction from the results of the movement as a whole, he felt the duty “to give serious attention to this ‘revival’ as advocated in some quarters, and to take proper steps to preserve it at the outset from excess or outright perversion.” (Ibidem, 6) He would do that through the publication in 1947 of Mediator Dei, his encyclical on the sacred liturgy. With this document, he took up the project of liturgical reform, and gave it an impetus that years later would get its climax with Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the sacred liturgy.
Origin and nature of liturgy
Pope Pacelli begins his encyclical explaining the origin and nature of liturgy, through a summary of Christ’s redemptive work. Sin destroyed the relationship between God and man but Jesus Christ restored it, he is the Mediator between God and man (Mediator Dei et hominum). Jesus gave himself as a victim for the saving of the souls. The divine Redeemer willed that the priestly life he began, continued throughout the ages in his mystical body, the Church, who in obedience to her founder, prolongs the priestly mission by means of the liturgy.
Pius XII presents an itinerary of the life of the Mediator, Jesus Christ. As child he is presented in the temple; where he returns as a grown boy and very often afterwards to teach and to pray.
As a teacher, he enlightens every man; as shepherd, he watches over his flock. At the Last Supper, he celebrates the new Pasch and institutes its continuation through the Eucharist, the work of our redemption is continued in the august sacrifice of the altar; by so doing Jesus did not leave man alone. In that way he is present in his church, who was constituted by him as the pillar of truth, the dispenser of grace, “the church has, therefore, in common with the word incarnate the aim, the obligation and the function of teaching all men the truth, of governing and directing them aright, of offering to God the pleasing and acceptable sacrifice.” (Ibidem, 19)
To be continued in the Aug. 14 edition.