Saturday, December 13, 2003

Apostolic Letter on Sacred Liturgy

The Holy Father's Apostolic Letter on Sacred Liturgy on the 40th Anniversary of "Sacrosanctum Concilium" has been translated in English.
Some excerpts:
What is necessary, therefore is a liturgical pastoral program carried out in complete fidelity to the new orders.

An aspect that must be cultivated with greater commitment within our communities is the experience of silence.

The liturgical pastoral program, through the introduction to the various celebrations, must instill the taste for prayer.

By not respecting the liturgical norm, one arrives at times at even serious abuses that put in shadow the truth of the mystery and create disturbance and tensions in the People of God. Such abuses have nothing to do with the authentic spirit of the Council and are to be corrected by Pastors with an attitude of prudent firmness.

I suspect we will hear from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments soon as the Holy Father asked in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia.

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