Snapd
ragon
THE
P RTAL
November 2016
Page 5
The past, the present,
and the future
I
t is only really now, six years after Anglicanorum Coetibus, that it is finally becoming
apparent what the treasures are that the Anglican tradition has to share with the Church.
We have had to wait for work on the
new Missal to be completed, and then
for the approval of the CDW and CDF,
and then for our clergy to assimilate it;
and it has, to those of us in the pews,
seemed interminable. We don’t work
in the context of eternity: we have to
operate in the world with its pressures and expectations.
And five years in the life of the Church is a lot less than
the blink of an eye. Nevertheless, there is some catching
up to do: people’s lives have moved on, and we need to
be able to demonstrate that the Ordinariate is distinctive
and brings something worthwhile to the Church.
Needless to say, Divine Worship: The Missal is the
treasury at the centre of the worship and liturgy in
the Ordinariate. It unites us with the Church of the
earliest English saints and it draws on the work of past
liturgists in which the Holy Spirit can be discerned. The
language, the structure and the options available show
the heritage of our Mass and, despite what people may
think are its roots, how it is firmly set in the Western
Rite of the Church, just as the English Uses of Sarum,
York and the others were before it.
Perhaps we are fortunate that the Reformation
liturgists faithfully translated a great deal of the
Latin they inherited. While the defective form of the
Communion service had to be corrected — and this
was attempted even within the Church of England well
before Series Two in 1965 — the resonant words they
created have served Christians in this land and others
well for 450 years, and continue to do so.
But it is absolutely necessary not to wallow in
the past! Many of the Ordinariate may remember
Series Two, Merbecke and Shaw, and many diocesan
Catholics will remember the Interim Rite, but this isn’t
an exercise in comfortable nostalgia. Every celebration
of the Eucharist is a re-creation of the Sacrifice of the
Mass: Christ’s One Sacrifice united through space,
time and eternity for all believers. Although modern
language is certainly easily understood and relevant to
today, using language which is out of time can help to
show the eternal too. It is the calling of the Church to
teach the unchanging Faith anew to every genera tion,
and the Use we have been given for the celebration
of the Mass is - perhaps counterintuitively - a fresh
expression of worship.
We must not forget other treasures: one was
experienced in St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham
recently. Evensong and the other offices are something
which can truly be shared. In permitting the Customary
to be published and used by the Ordinariate, the
Catholic Church has embraced something which is
truly new, even if it is four hundred years old.
Cranmer was an innovator: he created something
novel. But in the case of Morning and Evening Prayer
it was an evolution, not a revolution. The offices build
on the monastic offices of the Church; they aren’t a
repudiation of them. Each has an arched structure,
with the readings, canticles and creed supported by
prayers and responses. The innovation, of course, was
to combine two monastic offices into one: Matins and
Lauds in the morning and Vespers and Compline in
the evening; and yet still produce something coherent.
If it’s possible to match a cathedral choir like
Birmingham’s, singing William Smith’s responses
and Stanford in C, that’s great. But if it isn’t, we can
still offer Evensong, or perhaps the Customary’s
version of Compline, to our brothers and sisters. The
plainsong settings are straightforward, but even a said
service is beautifully worthwhile. There is something
noble about “Brethren, be sober, be vigilant, for your
adversary the devil walketh abroad, seeking whom he
may devour; whom resist, steadfast in the faith.” Try
it! Reduce the lighting, bring out a cope from the back
of the cupboard, pray that the Lord may preserve us
while waking and guard us while sleeping.
Much of what the new publications contain may be
new to members of the Ordinariate used to the Novus
Ordo, and will certainly be new to Catholics outside
the Ordinariate. None must be afraid to use it; but
not hasty to judge, either. To become familiar with
liturgy can easily take a number of months of prayerful
experience. We do need to trust that the Church has it
right. But how can we do anything else? Embrace what
has been entrusted to us!