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RENEWAL CONTINUED
Sacraments Meant To Stress
Worship^ Corporate Action
BY FATHER
FREDERICK R. MCMANUS
(N. C. W. C. News Service)
The revolutionary constitut
ion on public worship enacted
by Vatican Council II not only
concentrates on reforms affect
ing the Mass, the principal
liturgy, but also provides for
renewal of all the sacraments.
Chapter III of the council’s
constitution is called 'The
Other Sacraments and the
Sacramentals.” It deals with
the sacraments other than the
Eucharist (to which Chapter 11
is devoted) and with the sacra
mentals or "lesser sacra
ments." It begins with a funda
mental explanation: 'The pur
pose of the sacraments is to
sanctify men, to build up the
body o f Christ, and, finally,
to give worship to God."
ALREADY THE spirit of
theological renewal is evident
in the words of the council.
The least instructed Catholic
sees in the sacraments sources
of God’s favor for himself ("to
sanctify men")—in fact, there
is always great danger of view
ing the sacraments exclusive
ly in this way, almost as
mechanical and routine sources
of infallible grace. The bi
shops of the council bring to the
fore two other notions: that
the sacraments, all the sacra
ments, have a social, corporate,
and public nature ("to build
up the body of Christ,” which
is the Church); that the sacra
ments require dedication, com
mitment, faith, and devotion
from those, who take part in
them ("to give worship to
God").
The idea of the sacraments
as channels of God's grace is
not harmed or lessened by the
council’s teaching. It is impor
tant to Insist also on the ven
erable phrase, "sacraments of
faith," and to sho'« how the sa
craments instru .. The sacra
ments (and the sacramentals
and indeed all liturgical rites
and deeds) are signs which
"the faithful should easily
understand." Anyone familiar
with the complex service of
Baptism will readily see how
much revision and simplific
ation is needed. In this and
other cases what should be the
most clearly expressed words
(the “form" of the sacrament),
with the greatest significance
and meaning to the people, have
been said up until now in a
language not understood by the
participants.
THUS THE Pope and the other
Fathers of the council decree a
reform and a revision, beginn
ing with the introduction of the
mother* tongues—to the extent
decided upon by the bodies of
bishops in each country or re
gion. The purpose of the re
form is simply expressed:
"With the passage of time there
have crept into the rites of the
sacraments and sacramentals
certain features which have
rendered their nature and pur
pose far from clear to the people
of today; hence some changes
have become necessan to adapt
them to the needs of our own
times."
The first matter taken up by
the council, after the use of the
vernacular languages, is the
preparation of local or regional
rituals for the celebration of
sacraments and sacramentals.
The principle at stake is an im
portant one: to correct the error
that the Chruch’s unity requires
uniformity of practice, or,
stated positively, to show the
special excellence in diversity.
Prayers and rites are thus in
tended by the bishops to reflect
the genius, customs, or re
ligious traditions of different
nations and peoples.
In Chapter Ill of theconstitu-
tion on the liturgy there are
eight articles or paragraphs on
Christian initation. They begin
with the plan to revive the
catechumenate, the period of
formation and preparation be
fore the Baptism of an adult.
Nowadays this period is often
considered merely as a time of
instruction, for acquiring in
formation. The council wishes
it to recover the character of
a period of spiritual formation
conversion of soul, prayer by
the whole community for the
candidate.
ALL THE rites related to
Baptism, the first of the sacra
ments, are to be reexamined:
for infants, for adults, for the
reception of converts, for the
first welcome of a child into
the parish church after he has
been received into the Church by
Baptism administered in an
emergency, etc. More impor
tant than these revisions is the
attempt to unite the three sa
craments of Christian initia
tion: Baptism, Confirmation,
the Eucharist.
Confirmation is rarely tho
ught of as completing Baptism
and leading to the celebration of
the Eucharist. The bishops now
propose that this meaning
should be brought out by the
renewal of baptismal promises
just before the rite of Confir
mation and by celebrating Con
firmation itself where pos
sible, during Mass.
In the United States most of
the candidates for Confirmation
have already received Com
munion for the first time, per
haps several years earlier.
Nevertheless even in these cir
cumstances it is still desirable
that the newly confirmed should
take part in Mass immediately
and receive Communion. At
least on that single occasion,
the fullness of Christian initia
tion would be evident: Baptism
completed by Confirmation,
Confirmation leading to the
eucharistic celebration.
ALL SACRAMENTS (and sa
cramentals, for that matter) are
dependent on the Eucharist and
flow from it. The Instinct of the
Church has always been to show
this relation—this is the reason
why the sacrament of Holy Or
ders is conferred during Mass.
Now the council wishes to allow
for, and encourage the cele
bration of Baptism, Confir
mation, Matrimony, religious
profession, etc., as a part of
Mass.
In the case of the Marriage
service, which is brief and
simple in itself, the council's
directive is clear: it will take
place during Mass after the
reading of the Epistle and Gos
pel and the preaching of the
sermon or homily; it will be
followed by appropriate prayers
of the people and by the re
mainder of Mass, in which the
bride and groom take part.
Still on the subject of the
Marriage rite, the constiturion
directs that, even when Mar
riage is celebrated apart from
Mass, the Epistle and Gospel
of the nuptial Mass should be
read beforehand and the nap-
tial blessing given. This bless
ing will be revised to Include
mention of the groom as well
as the bride, so that the equal
fidelity will be expressed and
taught.
Such changes require a future
correctoin of ritual texts. This
is not the case, however, with
the council's strong teaching on
the sacrament of Anotlntldg. In
theory, the faithful are already
instructed to summon the priest
at the beginning of a serious
illness and not to delay. But
many things have conspired
against a proper understanding
of the sacrament of healing: the
expression "last rites,"theof
ficial name "Extreme Unct
ion,” the practice (of many cen
turies) of administering anoint
ing after Viaticum. Even
priests sometimes demand
proof of the seriousness of the
illness or of the imminence of
death before feeling free to ad
minister this sacrament.
THE COUNCIL has tried to
change all this, by the better
name for the sacrament; 'The
Anointing of the Sick,” by mak
ing clear that the Eucharist it
self, Communion as Viaticum,
is the "last" sacrament, and
by explaining: Anointing "is not
a sacrament for those only who
are at the point of death. Hence,
as soon as any one of the faith
ful begins to be in danger of
death from sickness or old age,
the fitting time for him to re
ceive this sacrament has cer
tainly already arrived."
Finally, the revision of the
sacramentals, blessings, pro
cessions, etc., should be ment
ioned. This must, in the words
of the council, "take into ac
count the primary principle of
enabling the faithful to partici
pate intelligently, actively, and
easily; the circumstances of
NEW YORK (RNS>—Protes
tant churches were urged to ob
serve Reformation Sunday —
October 25 — with prayers for
Christian unity in order that the
entire Christian Church nrght
minister to the needs of the
world.
A Reformation Sunday mes
sage to American Protestant
and Orthodox churches was is
sued by Dr. Ralph M. Holde-
man, associate executive di
rector of the National Council
of Churches* Central Depart
ment of Evangelism.
"IF WE are to be true to this
Reformation we are called to
pray and work for unity for the
sake of our witness to the
world," he said. "Our eyes,
our faces, our life, our witness
our own time must also be con
sidered."
Of special interest is the de
cision of the council to provide
sacramentals which may be ad
ministered by lay people, for
example, the blessing of child
ren or of the home by a father
or mother; blessings to be glvdh
by catechists in the absence of
a priest; specific blessings
which may be prepared for lay
religious superiors or for those
incharge of schools.
The changes in the sacra
mental rites which the council
has decreed are lmportant.The
council's teaching of doctrine
is more Important; The liturgy
of sacraments and sacramen
tals gives the faithful access
to the power of Christ’s Easter
passage from death to life.
IT’S DEFINITE
Bombay
VATICAN CITY (NC)—Pope
Paul has announced he will go
to India for the International
Eucharistic Congress being
held in Bombay from Nov. 28
to Dec. 6.
The announcement was made
at the end of his address during
the canonization of 22 African
martyrs of Uganda in St. Peter’s
basilica (Oct. 18).
THE POPE revealed no de
tails of his trip except to say
that it would be "very brief
and simole." It is expected that
the Pope will go to Bombay forf
the closing ceremonies in the
congress on Dec. 6.
After his tribute to the Ugan
da martyrs, Pope Paul an
nounced that he intended to go
to India "to bring to them our
sincere message of Christian
faith. . .
'This is the second time we
have occasion to announce in
this basilica that we are about
to make a journey abroad,
something which hitherto has
this suypA y
must be turned toward the
world."
Observing that "today, the
spirit of reformation is alive
among all faiths,” the Protes
tant leader praised both the in
tent and the results of the Sec
ond Vatican Council.
'The very calling of the Vat
ican Council itself and especial
ly the events of this past month
have certainly proclaimed to the
world a new willingness on the
part of Roman Catholics to un
dergo thorough reformation and
renewal. It has also proclaim
ed a new willingness to engage
in fellowship, service and in
some cases, actual worship and
communion with Protestant and
Orthodox churches."
In Protestantism today, Dr.
KLDKMT CARDINAL AT
COUNCIL— Francesco Car
dinal Mora no, 92, attends
council sessions dally. A
priest for 67 years. Cardinal
Morano has served the Holy
See In various scientific and
administrative posts since
1900.
Congress
been completely outside the or
dinary scope of the papal apos
tolic ministry." The first time
was on Dec. 4, 1963, when the
Pope announced, at the close of
the second session of the ecu
menical council, that he was
going as a pilgrim to the Holy
Land in January, 1964.
‘THE POPE is becoming a
missionary, you will say. Yes,
the pope is becoming a mis
sionary, which means a witness,
a shepherd, an apostle on the
move. . .
'Our journey, though very
brief and simple and limited to a
single stopping place, where
solemn homage is paid to Christ
present in the Eucharist, is in
tended to be a testimonial of
gratitude for all missionaries of
yesterday and of today who have
consecrated their lives to the
cause of the Gospel, for those
especially who, following in the
footsteps of St. Francis Xavier,
have *planted the Church^
with so much self-sacrifice and
success, in Asia and particular
ly in India."
Renewal
Holdeman said, reformation "is
calling for a greatre respon
siveness to the needs of the
world in the racial revolution,
the war on poverty, the popula
tion explosion, automation,
leisure and education."
MARTIN Luther’s proclama
tion in 1517 of his 95 theses,
which Reformation Day cele
brates, was an attempt to bring
understanding of what he felt
were basic Christian doctrines
rather than to launch "a move
ment", Dr. Holderfian said.
Luther saw the Christian Gos
pel "as the disclosure of God'a
freely forgiving love in Christ
that must be apprehended by
faith and not by works." the
Protestant official said.
Reformation Sunday
Pope Will Visit