Franciscan at Home

Catechists need to teach the language of the signs used in the sacraments and show how these unveil the inner reality of God’s actions.

The more Catholics are catechetically assisted to have a genuine understanding of the dynamics of the sacramental life, the more meaningful and ‘active’ will their sacramental participation be. And, the more the Catholic faithful participate in the sacraments fully conscious of what is taking place, the more they will be ‘plugged into’ the sacramental power to radically live the life of Christ in the world today. Using dramatic language, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that the power of sacramental grace present through the Eucharist is not a force which may be blandly domesticated but instead has the potential to transfigure the world:

‘The substantial conversion of bread and wine into his body and blood introduceswithin creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of ‘nuclear fission,’ to use an image familiar to us today, which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the point where God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28).’[i]

And yet, so many Catholics in the pew seem to be unaware of the true importance of the part they play in the sacramental life. This is, I believe, the liturgical-catechetical crisis of our time.

Taking our cue from the General Directory for Catechesis, we can say that a key principle for re-invigorating sacramental living is a catechetical methodology which regularly ‘unpacks’ liturgical signs in the catechetical process.[ii]

The artwork chosen to introduce section one of part four of the Compendium, on prayer, is, unexpectedly, an icon of liturgical feasts. One expects an image relating to liturgy for part two of the Compendium since the subject for this part is liturgy and sacraments; but it may be less obvious why a liturgical icon has been used for the fourth part, on prayer.

As usual, we can turn to the text of the Compendium which is placed on the reverse side of the picture. This explains this intimate link that exists between prayer and liturgy:

‘All times are good for prayer. The Church, however, proposes special times to the faithful to stress and nurture continual prayer’.

In other words, coming together for liturgical celebrations nourishes personal prayer, and is a continual reminder to pray as one moves through the liturgical year. The important point for us to bear in mind for our catechesis, therefore, is not to separate public liturgical prayer from private devotional prayer. They belong together to nourish our life in Christ.

We can draw attention, also, to the title of section one which is placed over the image. The title is not just ‘prayer’; it is prayer in life and in a baptized life in particular. When we look at this icon we are looking at prayer in Christian life because it is the prayer which characterises those who have been baptized into Christ’s life. We learn, then, that the life of Christ is expressed through the Church, and that the great moments of the life of the Church are always liturgical events. Personal prayer is impoverished if it is not united to, and fed by, the liturgical life of the Church, since this is where prayer in the Christian life is centred.

James Pauley asks how we can overcome the liturgical indifference of so many we catechize.

I have the privilege and honor of teaching many of the young adults who come to Franciscan University of Steubenville to study Theology and Catechetics—and these young people love the Church’s liturgical life and are enthusiastic to cultivate liturgical understanding and liturgical living in the Catholic laity whom they will someday teach. When I ask my students to identify adjectives which describe their personal experience of the Church’s liturgical life, words like ‘beautiful,’ ‘mysterious,’ and ‘irreplaceable’ are often mentioned. Of course, if we were to ask this question of the typical cradle-Catholic fourteen-year-old boy, he might use a different word to describe what he thinks of the Mass and the sacraments. The word he might use starts with a ‘b’ and ends with ‘o-r-i-n-g’ – certainly not a favorite word of catechists!

Pope John Paul II described the sanctifying value of the sacraments for human beings in this way: ‘it is in the sacraments, and especially the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for our transformation.’[i] Of course, the transformation John Paul wrote of does not come about through mere liturgical attendance, but only through the ‘full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy.’[ii] If our fourteen-year-old boy is bored and uninterested in the liturgical realities set in motion before him, it is highly unlikely that his transformation will result merely from his presence.

In my opinion, this is the great liturgical-catechetical crisis of our era. Severely limited in their understanding of what is happening in the liturgical drama and therefore in their capacity to fruitfully participate, many today are essentially cut off from the sacramental power to actually live the life of Christ in the world. How do we begin to break through the liturgical indifference which plagues so many today? This is an important question, to be sure.

Carole Eipers carefully explores the complementary work of liturgy and catechesis in the mission of the Church.

As God’s grace continually invites us to deeper conversion and a more intimate embrace of Jesus Christ, liturgy and catechesis play interrelated roles. The National Directory for Catechesis says, “What the Christian faith confesses, the Christian sacraments celebrate and the Christian life animates. Christ calls his disciples in every age to live lives ‘worthy of the gospel.”1 Liturgy and catechesis form God’s people for living lives worthy of the gospel, for the dance of discipleship -- the mission of Jesus Christ carried on by his Church. In this context of mission we see liturgy and catechesis as complementary and concentric-focused on Jesus Christ—but not coterminous.
Evangelii Nutiandi reminds us the Church ‘exists in order to evangelize.’2 Within this mission are both liturgy and catechesis, for evangelization ‘Is the totality of the Church’s efforts to bring the Good News into all strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new.’3 The dance of discipleship is one of witness and proclamation—witnessing to our beliefs, proclaiming Jesus Christ.
Fidei Depositum refers to our Catholic Beliefs and practices as the ‘symphony’ of the faith. We dance to the symphony of the faith. Oriental dancer Morocco wrote, “The audience’s ears hear the music and their eyes see you being the music. Dance is the music made visible. You are the music.’ How do liturgy and catechesis enable disciple-dancers to embody the beliefs that we hold and celebrate?

If we catechize well about the Liturgy, we will find that the Liturgy itself will catechize well.

‘Every form of catechesis necessarily leads to the sacraments of faith.’[i] These are the words of Pope John Paul II, written in the first year of his pontificate, and they are crucial for our understanding of catechesis. The relationship between liturgy and catechesis is a theme John Paul II chose to carefully develop in his apostolic exhortation to catechists.
The liturgical-catechetical relationship is a subject alluded to by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The purpose of that document was to renew and reform the Church’s sacramental life, and the Constitution makes clear the importance of the relationship between liturgy and catechesis in the Church’s mission.

The phrase from Sacrosanctum Concilium which has become perhaps the best-known and most prolifically quoted in these subsequent decades is the call for ‘full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations’ on the part of the People of God.[ii] The Council set in motion a period of substantial renewal of the Church’s liturgical life in order to facilitate this level of participation on the part of the faithful. While many believed that ‘active participation’ was possible only through an adaptation of the liturgy to the capacities of the faithful (for example through a restoration of the use of the vernacular language), it is clear that in the minds of the Council Fathers, the heightening of liturgical understanding was also understood to be necessary.

I shall begin with a confession. Of all the miracles and divine manifestations in the New Testament, I often experienced awkwardness when I encountered the Transfiguration. For a number of years, I complacently listened to, and read, the passage, tiptoeing around the event, not wishing to disturb it, because I did not know how to grapple with its mystery.

My complacency was shattered when I read Jean Corbon’s The Wellspring of Worship. Originally a Parisian and a Roman Catholic, Father Corbon became a priest of the Greek-Catholic eparchy of Beirut.
When I encountered Corbon’s Eastern Catholic exegesis on the Transfiguration in The Wellspring of Worship, I imitated St. Peter - I did not know what to say! I was aware that my literal reading of the Transfiguration had been shallow, and now I was meeting, through Corbon, the patristic tradition, which gave me completely new insights, particularly in respect to who was transfigured. Corbon quotes from St. John Damascene’s Second Homily on the Transfiguration: Christ ‘was transfigured, not by acquiring what he was not but by manifesting to his disciples what he in fact was; he opened their eyes and gave these blind men sight.’

This liturgical meditation is reprinted from Romano Guardini's book, Sacred Signs.
Man has many powers. By knowing them, he can seize upon all things around, stars and mountains, seas and rivers, trees and animals, and all manhood which surround him, and he can draw them all into himself. He can love them; but he can also hate them and repel them from him. He can set himself against them, or he can long for them and draw them to him. He can grasp and transform the world round about him according to his will. Waves of all kinds pass through his heart, of joy and longing, of sorrow and love, of peace and excitement.

But his noblest power is that of recognising that there is a higher Power above him, of reverencing this Power and of dedicating himself to It. Man can acknowledge God above him, he can adore him and give himself to Him, ‘so that God be glorified.’

We are to let our souls be lit up with God’s greatness: we are to adore that greatness, we are not to remain selfishly enclosed within, but we are to stride beyond ourselves and set ourselves to the task of glorifying God in the highest. This giving of ourselves is sacrifice.

The right use of images remained a concern of the Church’s pastors in the centuries after Trent, and one of the most significant documents was Pope Benedict XIV’s Brief Sollicitudini Nostrae of 1745, which provided a concise summary of current questions. However, it was only in the twentieth century that the Supreme Magisterium of the Church made general pronouncements about sacred art and its relationship with the sacred liturgy.

‘On the Spot’ aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. [cf I Peter 3:15]
Amette Ley looks at the benefits—and challenges—of using the church building as a focus for catechesis.