Second Vatican Council: Liturgy is the church

Editor's note: In 1993, Bp. Aloysius Wycislo wrote a series of columns for The Compass to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the council's opening. Here is one of those columns.

By Bp. Aloysius Wycislo

On Dec. 4, 1963, the first document completed by the bishops of the Second Vatican Council, the Constitution on the Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), was made known to the universal church.

	Bishop  Aloysius J.  Wycislo  1908 - 2005  • More coverage

In putting into practice the renewal of the liturgy the council achieved in a special way the fundamental aim it had set for itself: "To impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions that are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of humanity into the household of the church."

Pope John Paul II, mindful of that fundamental aim of the council, on the actual anniversary date of the liturgy document said that "a very close and organic bond exists between the renewal of the liturgy and the renewal of the whole life of the church. The church not only acts but also expresses herself in the liturgy and draws from the liturgy the strength for her life."

Now that we have been able again to look back over the documents of Vatican II we can better understand why the Constitution on the Liturgy had such a great impact on the other fifteen documents of the Council and why the Holy Father speaks of the "bond that exists between renewal of the liturgy and renewal of the church."

For example, most of us, especially pre-Vatican II Catholics, have understood renewal as change and most of us have noticed change in the liturgy, although, as we have grown into the life of the council documents, we noticed other changes at the administrative level of our church relationships; that whole area of shared responsibility, dialogue through diocesan and parish councils and so on.

By the way, the bishops of Vatican II did not use the word change, their work of renewal was undertaken in accord with Pope John XXIII's wish that the principles of fidelity to tradition and openness to legitimate development be followed. He said it this way: "The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of our faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another."

So, for instance, the Mass is the same. The document on the liturgy clearly states that it is the re-enactment of the Pascal Mystery of Christ because "it was from the side of Christ as he slept upon the cross that there issued forth the sublime sacrament of the whole church."

But the way we celebrate and participate in the Mass today is different. Why? The Council document on the liturgy stresses that liturgical celebrations are not private acts but "celebrations of the church, the sacrament of unity. The liturgy belongs to the whole body of the church."

Before Vatican II the shape of the liturgy of the Mass was fixed, rubrical and clerically-oriented. The congregation was largely passive and only the choir punctuated the priest's silent recitation of his Mass prayers. Essentially what the Constitution on the Liturgy did was to move away from that model of liturgy to one which would take seriously the participation and involvement of the worshiping community.

Today, the liturgy is again understood as a central part of the activity of the parish, the diocese and of the whole church. No longer are Catholics mere spectators at the church's highest act of worship. They now actively participate along with the priest and the other ministers in the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy, the Mass.

Speaking of "other ministers," the same Constitution on the Liturgy and some 25 post-conciliar documents that provided instruction for implementing the Constitution, offered direction not only for the revision of Liturgical Rites and Books but provided for duly installed lay persons who would have a more intimate participation in the liturgy of the Mass and other sacraments.

For most Catholics the change from Latin to the use of vernacular languages in the Mass and other sacraments was the most obvious. But then came the decree on Communion under both species of bread and wine, an instruction on the manner of distributing Communion, of concelebration of Mass by a number of priests, an instruction on music in the liturgy, Masses for special groups, a declaration on First Confession and First Communion and a note on the obligation to use the New Roman Missal.

Briefly then, the whole purpose of the Constitution on the Liturgy was to restore both the texts and rites of the Mass and other sacraments in such a way that they would express more clearly the holy things they signify, and do that in such a way that the Christian people would be able to understand them with ease and take part in them fully, actively, and as a community.