Cardinal Sarah Teaches Clearly

From the Pastor:    Cardinal Sarah Teaches Clearly

   Cardinal Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has, once again, spoken of the priest celebrating Mass facing in the same direction as the people as a good thing--as a means of helping bring conversion to the people! Although people who attend Epiphany are already familiar with the priest facing “liturgical east” (our church building is not aligned east/west, so “liturgical east” is toward the tabernacle rather than a compass heading) while addressing the prayers of the Mass to God our Father, many people in other parishes have never seen this. They believe that the priest should be speaking to them (praying to them, as it were) while he offers the Holy Sacrifice. People really get up in arms against the very notion that the priest would “turn his back on the people” and, without really thinking about it, prefer that the priest turn his back on God. The older ones claim that “Vatican II taught that Mass is only good if they can see the priest’s face” during the entire Mass. Cardinal Sarah, God bless him, tells what Holy Mother Church really teaches! The following is from a May 30 article by Carl E. Olson, writing for Catholic World Report. It is not only a good read but also great for sharing with others who may not be aware of this. Note carefully: he is speaking of the Novus Ordo Mass, not the Traditional Latin Mass!

   Asked how we, as Catholics, can put God "back at the center" of the liturgy, Cardinal Sarah emphasizes that the liturgy "is the door to our union with God. If Eucharistic celebrations turn into human self-celebrations, there is a great danger, because God disappears. We have to start by placing God back at the center of the liturgy. If the man is the center, the church becomes a merely human society, a simple NGO, as Pope Francis said."
   What is the remedy? Cardinal Sarah first emphasizes the necessity of "a true conversion of the heart." He then states: "Vatican II insisted on a major point: in this area, the important thing is not what we do, but what God does. No human work will ever be able to accomplish what is found at the heart of the Mass: the sacrifice of the cross." The liturgy, the Prefect notes, "allows us to go outside the walls of this world. Rediscovering the sacredness and beauty of the liturgy therefore requires a work of formation for the laity, the priests and the bishops. I am talking about an interior conversion." As he has done before, notably in a detailed reflection published earlier this year, Cardinal Sarah emphasizes the importance of silence: "In order to put God back at the center of the liturgy, silence is necessary too: the ability to be quiet so as to listen to God and his word. I maintain that we only meet God in silence and by pondering his word in the depths of our heart."
   This insistence on conversion—which is "to turn toward God"—and contemplative silence leads to the recognition "that our bodies must participate in this conversion." And the best way to realize this bodily participation is by facing liturgical East (ad orientem) in worship:
The best way is certainly to celebrate with the priests and the faithful all turned in the same direction: towards the Lord who comes. It is not a matter of celebrating with one’s back to the faithful or facing them, as you sometimes hear. That is not where the problem lies. It is about turning together towards the apse, which symbolizes the East, where the cross of the risen Lord is enthroned. By this way of celebrating, we will experience, even in our bodies, the primacy of God and of adoration. We will understand that the liturgy is first of all our participation in the perfect sacrifice of the cross. I have experienced it personally; by celebrating in this way, the assembly, headed by the priest, is as though drawn in by the mystery of the Cross at the moment of the elevation.
   Cardinal Sarah is asked if this way of celebrating is allowed. Yes, he responds, it is indeed "lawful and in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the Council." He notes that in a June 2015 article that he wrote for L’Osservatore Romano, "I proposed that the priests and the faithful turn toward the East at least during the Penitential Rite, during the singing of the Gloria, the Prayers of the Faithful and the Eucharistic Prayer."
   Naturally, Cardinal Sarah is asked about Vatican II and the "change in orientation of the altar". He makes a point that has been made countless times but still seems to go unheard by many Catholics: "More than fifty years after the close of Vatican II, it becomes urgent for us to read its documents! The Council never required celebrating Mass facing the people! This question was not even addressed by the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium..."

With prayers for your holiness,
Fr. Edwin Palka