| |

Liturgy, Catechesis, and Conversion | Barbara Morgan
Print-friendly
version
Catechesis is the science of passing on the Faith and the art of planting
and cultivating faith for ongoing conversion in the heart of individual
believers. It is focused on beginning the process of conversion in an already
baptized child and deepening and developing the faith of individual believers
of any age. Facilitating ongoing conversion in the spiritual life is a major
concern of catechesis because "true participation in the mystery of
Christ is the final goal of all catechetical endeavor." [1]
It has that in common with preaching and both have their basis in the Scripture.
Catechesis for liturgy, i.e., instruction which draws the believer to the
"source and summit" of Catholic life, the Eucharistic liturgy,
includes prophetic proclamation of the teaching of Jesus, orientation to
the celebration of the feasts of the liturgical year, religious pedagogy
conveying the immense realities of the liturgy, encouragement and instruction
in worship which gives rise to zeal for the Lord, and catechesis which facilitates
conversion.
Receiving the Word on the Authority of God Revealing
Msgr. Eugene Kevane, premier catechist in the United States and founder
of Notre Dame Apostolic Catechetical Institute, points out that catechesis
is actually a work of prophecy. What is passed on is the Word of the Lord,
total and complete, just as Jesus, the Divine Teacher gave it to the fledgling
Church. He is the apex, the pinnacle of prophetic ministry. He came only
to do the will of the Father and to speak what the Father gave Him (John
12:49). "As the life of the Teaching Church reaches back to him for
the content and pattern and baptismal purpose of its teaching, so the prophetic
light shines forward toward him from Moses and the Prophets in the preparatory
Testament." [2]
What is taught is Christs revelation of the Father, of Himself and
of His Fathers plan for His creatures. Together those revelations
encompass the deposit of faith referred to in 1 Tim. 6:20 and 2 Tim. 1:14.
That deposit is the "instrument for witnessing" which the Church
has carried on for centuries. With the deposit of faith she prophetically
witnesses Christ to all peoples and at all times and, therefore, must carefully
preserve it. Pope Paul VI commented on this concern for the integrity of
doctrine:
The Catholic Church in the past and today, has given and gives much
importance to the scrupulous preservation of the authentic Revelation.
She considers it an inviolable treasure, and is sternly aware of her
fundamental duty to defend and transmit the doctrine of the Faith in
unequivocal terms. Orthodoxy is her first concern. [3]
The Church is passing on the "very Word of God" in catechesis,
transmitting only what she has been given by Jesus, just as He did with
His Fathers Word. This is the work of prophecy: to illuminate minds
and souls with light, in this case, the "Light of the World."
Teaching and prophesy are both facets of Jesus life, and teaching
Christ and His Gospel is intricately linked with prophesying in His Name.
In catechesis on the liturgy the prophetical ministry of the Word cannot
be overstated. Msgr. Kevane aptly puts it: "(Here) Catechesis (is)
the receiving of a word on the authority of the God revealing." [4]
The catechist receives the Word on Gods authority, speaks it on His
authority, and the believer hears it on the same authority. Thus, the analogy
with Isaiah 6:6-7 is apt: with lips cleansed by its fire the catechist must
handle the Word and pass it on, blazing, to the believer. Too often the
actual experience of the student/inquirer/believer is that the catechist
enters and leaves the room with faith, never passing it on! A catechist
burning with zeal for Gods Word must know how to give it away.
The liturgical context is the principle and normative means for that transmission.
Biblical-historical narrative of Scripture and reading and meditation based
on a study of the lessons from Sundays and Feast Days are the chief means
to this end. Here the Church proclaims the Divine Word in the context which
Christ entrusted to her, the re-presentation of His saving act, timeless
and true. There the Word prepares the way for the meeting with Christ, just
as it did on the road to Emmaus. The catechetical is intertwined with the
prophetical.
The priority of the liturgy over the Bible must be respected in light of
the Churchs mission but she cannot do the liturgy without Scripture.
It gives her security and truth. She relies on it for the very words of
consecration. Dom Theodore Ghesquiere, O.S.B., Doctor of Theology and abbot,
explained it thus:
The message of the divine word, borne by the Church to all human
generations, becomes in the liturgy a living word, efficacious and up
to date, in which the people of the messianic times discover the secret
of their destiny in the light of the Holy Spirit. [5]
"Magnificent Unity / Sublime Manner"
In order to grow in participation in the mystery of Christ the Church
wisely arranges the liturgical year to cover all of the mighty acts of
God. The possibility for contemplation of all of the stages of Gods
salvific action in sacred history are there. The Church maintains the
important link between Gods promise and His oath: from the promise
of and subsequent longing for redemption in Advent; to the stupendous
realization of Gods Word in the Incarnation; to the depths of His
love in the events of Christs Pasch; to the establishment of His
Mystical Body, the Church, on Good Friday and Pentecost. The "sacraments"
of the Old Testament prefigure the sacramental order of the New Testament
and the promises which precede Christ are all fulfilled in Him.

   
Even more important in the scheme of the liturgical
year then the recounting of sacred history centered on Christological
events is the prime mystery of the Trinity, wherein lies the birth of
the plan for mankind: union with God in the Trinitarian family. There
is one Sunday set aside for celebration of the Triune Godhead but in reality
all of the feasts of the Church converge upon the feast of the Most Holy
Trinity.
This central mystery of the Faith is always presupposed and so must always
be freshly proposed, therefore the wisdom of the Church provides regular
opportunities to reconsider it. In fact, each liturgical event which the
Church celebrates has more and more depth to plumb. Dom Ghesquiere makes
the following point:
The great stages of the history of salvation are outlined in the
chain of their providential development: Israel, the Church on earth,
the Church in Heaven. Facts speak, events answer one another, the mysterious
links which God has willed are brought out by the conjunctions which
in themselves are worth more than any commentary. [6]
Catechesis should carefully shape itself around the mysteries found in those
events and remember that what is most crucial in the liturgical year is
that the faithful are called to live the celebrations of the feasts. In
Mediator Dei (no. 176) Pope Pius XII taught that:
... the liturgical year ...is no cold and lifeless presentation
of past events, no mere historical record. It is Christ Himself, living
on in His Church ... (The mysteries of His life) ... are still now consistently
present and active ... (and are) sources of divine grace for us by reason
of the merits and intercession of the Redeemer.
Preparation for these feasts is an integral factor in them not becoming
"lifeless presentations of past events." These mysteries should
"form the high points of biblical catechesis" according to Fr.
Hofinger. He emphasizes that believers will experience the mysteries in
the liturgy long before they may understand them. There they become "present
religious values" and not just historical narratives. [7] In fact,
it is often after the fact that at the practical level the liturgical year
becomes a principal means by which the effects of the mystery of Christ
are conveyed. It is a "magnificent unity" expressed in a "sublime
manner," which plunges the believer directly into the heart of Gods
plan.
Religious Pedagogy
The Word of God is only explicable by itself. God has set, within the limits
of His Revelation, the answers to its own questions. Explaining one Testament
by the other is religious pedagogy or the "law of pedagogy of revelation."
Fr. Oster comments, "The unique grandeur of the New Testament will
become apparent as well as its justification, not rational but
much deeper, interior justification which is rooted in Gods
fidelity and the wisdom of His plan." [8] The Old Testament will cease
to be just proscriptions and lists. It will be seen to contain hidden jewels
of the Fathers love and indomitable commitment to His covenant oaths.
Everything begins to make sense and wonder grows as His plan is revealed
more deeply.
This method of catechesis cannot be forsaken. The Eucharist, especially,
must be carefully taught. Helping the believer to see the Old Testament
and the New Testament meanings of the deepest mysteries of Christ unlocks
some of the mystery, transforming it from personal opinion or magic or a
"traditional belief system" to a reality whose sweetness and profundity
can be tasted and plumbed in the liturgical encounter, if not exhausted
and mastered. The Eucharistic presence is an astounding fact but if that
is the extent of understanding of the sacred liturgy and the meeting therein
it will not suffice to sustain the life of faith. To the question, "What
happens at Mass?" there must be more of an answer than, "God comes."
There must also be the understanding of "Why?" and "What
difference does it make?" Religious pedagogy uncovers the answers to
those questions.
Using the means of narrative reading and explication of Scripture, religious
pedagogy opens the way for a sense of the immense reality entered into in
the liturgy. The "marvelous things" which the Lord does, (Job
9:10; Ps. 118:23; Isa. 29:14), are summed up in the fulfillment of His covenant
promises: the Incarnation. On that occasion the Mother of God is known to
have exclaimed the ultimate realization of Gods "marvelous"
actions in sacred history: the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). This prayer, this
acclamation, is the prototype of the response stirred up in the human heart
on realizing the scope of this tremendous love worked out in the economy
of salvation or in the drama of the covenantal relationship with God.
Superfluum / Gift of Superabundance
The overflowing of the heart which is evident in the Virgin Marys
Magnificat is a further example of the aim of liturgical worship and catechesis
for liturgy. Man was made for the glory of God, he was made to receive the
fullness of divine life: to be filled to the maximum with God and to flood
those around him with his excess of Gods life and love. This is exactly
what happened when Marys prayer burst forth from her lips.
Catechesis for liturgy must aim at "rousing amazement in the soul"
[9] much the same as that found in the Psalms, (especially Pss. 111, 135,
and 136). This "mirari," wonder and amazement, contains an element
of fear and of attraction, as well as exultation which engenders praise.
Consider the reactions of those who had encountered the works of the living
God in the New Testament. For example, after Jesus calmed the storm at sea,
"they were filled with awe and said to one another, Who then
is this, that even wind and sea obey Him?" (Mark 4:41 and Matt.
8:27) (cf. John 7:46; Luke 8:56; Luke 5:8-9; Luke 7:16; Mark 7:37 as cited
in Oster.)
Dr.
Dietrich von Hildebrand, eminent Catholic philosopher and ethicist,
recounts the importance of the response of astonishment and wonder in the
believer during the liturgy. He uses the term superfluum or gift
of superabundance which comes to the believer from the Holy Spirit in the
context of the worship.
Thus the deepest and most organic transformation of man in the spirit
of Christ is found precisely at that point where we purely respond to
values, in the giving up of ourselves to Gods glory, in the glorifying
of God performed as divine service, in the abiding Coram ipso, (in standing
before Him), in the rejoicing in Gods existence, in the Gloria
Domini, (the glory of the Lord), in the magnalia Dei, (the
great deed of the Lord). As we pray and sacrifice liturgicallyand
this means through Christ, with Christ, and in Christglorifying
God, the Spirit of Christ is imprinted upon us, Induere Christum,
as the liturgy proclaims. [10]
It cannot be emphasized enough that this response of the heart and soul
to the action of the Holy Spirit during worship is not a particular spirituality
or a matter of personal preference. Rather, liturgy is the work of Gods
people, who were made for "the praise of His glory" (Eph.1:12).
And more than this, the face of Christ is revealed in the liturgy: it is
Christ praying. To learn the fundamental dispositions embodied in the liturgy
means to penetrate more deeply into the great mystery of the adoration of
God, which is Jesus Christ. [11]
Catechesis for the sake of liturgy affects the mind. Liturgical worship
affects both mind and heart, directing the soul both to God and back to
catechesis for more of His Word.
Be Reconciled to God
The message of the Gospel succinctly is: God loves you, repent and turn
to Himto Jesusthe Savior of your soul, turn away from all else,
join yourself to His Body on earth and receive the promises He has for you
(cf. Acts 2:14-39). Conversion, continual conversion, is the basis of the
Christian life. All that God does is designed to woo man to turn away from
everything but Him and claim the love and inheritance that has been set
aside for him from the beginning of time. The sacred liturgy includes a
powerful attraction for the heart and soul of man because he is made in
the image and likeness of God and for the "praise of His glory."
Nevertheless, participation in the Eucharistic liturgy presumes a conversion
of heart and mind to God which must be prepared for by evangelistic Biblical
catechesis.
In the case of the unbaptized adult Fr. Hofinger describes conversion as,
"That decisive change of mind by which man admits the basic insufficiency
and error of his accustomed view of the world and of life, and willingly
accepts Gods message as the basis for the life he has determined to
start." [12] Of course, the Christian life includes many similar re-turnings
to God but that initial decision which sets the course of a mans life
is pivotal and crucial. After that he can learn how to return and knows
the peace and joy of life in Christ, the "hope of glory."
Fr. Hofinger further refers conversion to those faithful who are catechized
but not truly converted:
Have they in their hearts truly broken with Satan and the world
as they solemnly promised to do before baptism? For those who have never
done so, or who have unfortunately turned back to the "flesh pots
of Egypt" after a first surrender to God, religious formation must
of necessity possess a function similar to that of prebaptismal catechesis.
It must discover and remove obstacles and prepare the way for a sincere
and complete conversion. [13]
Read
Part 2 of "Liturgy, Catechesis, and Conversion"
| | | |