Liturgy

The Spirit of the Liturgy

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Considered by Ratzinger devotees as his greatest work on the Liturgy, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the "great prayer of the Church" will help readers rediscover the Liturgy in all its hidden spiritual wealth and transcendent grandeur as the very center of our Christian life. In his own foreward to the book, Cardinal Ratzinger compares this work to a much earlier classic of the same title by Romano Guardini because Ratzinger feels that his insights here are similar with what Guardini achieved in his time regarding a renewed understanding of the Liturgy. "My purpose here is to assist this renewal of understanding of the Liturgy. Its basic intentions coincide with what Guardini wanted to achieve. The only difference is that I have had to translate what Guardini did at the end of the First World War, in a totally different historical situation, into the context of our present-day questions, hopes and dangers. Like Guardini, I am not attempting to involve myself with scholarly discussion and research. I am simply offering an aid to the understanding of the faith and to the right way to give the faith its central form of expression in the Liturgy." "Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Sewn Hardcover

Rightly renowned for his articulation of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist by transubstantiation, St. Thomas deserves also to be regarded as a master of liturgics. As Berger shows, St. Thomas provides a supremely incarnational view of the Christian liturgy, in which man, as a body-soul unity, is drawn with the angels into Christ's redemptive sacrifice.

The History and the Future of the Roman Liturgy

Since the Second Vatican Council, the liturgy has become the source of conflicting opinions. This situation has given rise to disputes that continue to divide those who practice their faith. But what has created this state of affairs? Author Denis Crouan shows how the decisions made by Vatican II that aimed at restoring the Roman rite were presented poorly, applied incorrectly, and often not applied at all. ' In many places the Mass has been turned into a permanent work-in-progress, in which the objectivity of the liturgy yields to the subjectivity of those who take part in it. ' Where does the current unwillingness to apply the liturgical rules come from? Why have the directives of the last council been ignored or circumvented? This book offers answers to the questions asked by Catholics who want to understand their liturgy better, so as to put an end to deviant practices that threaten Church unity.

Looking at the Liturgy

A Critical View of its Contemporary Reform Aidan Nichols, O.P. This book attempts an assessment of the 20th century liturgical movement and the brave but flawed reform to which it gave birth from three converging viewpoints: the historian, the sociologist and the cultural critic, pinpointing the areas that need to be addressed if a more satisfactory liturgical life in Western Catholicism is to be achieved. A timely and important work which is certain to spark much discussion on the need for a critical assessment of liturgical reform. "Written in incredibly scholarly but readable fashion, this 'behind-the-scenes' look at the contemporary liturgy is a must read for any priest, seminarian, church musician, liturgist and anyone who truly loves the worship life of the Church." - Fr. Peter Stravinskas Sewn Softcover

Cosmic Liturgy

The Universe According to Maximus the Confessor Hans Urs von Balthasar Maximus the Confessor, saint and martyr, is the theologian of synthesis: of Rome and Byzantium, of Eastern and Western theology, of antiquity and the Middle Ages, reexcavating the great treasures of Christian tradition, which at that time had been buried by imperial and ecclesial censure. Von Balthasar was an authority on the Church Fathers"Irenaeus, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Evagrius Ponticus, Augustine, and above all, Maximus the Confessor. This masterpiece on Maximus broke new ground at that time. Subsequent editions included new material from decades of research. This is the first English translation of the latest edition of this acclaimed work. This book presents a powerful, attractive, religiously compelling portrait of the thought of a major Christian theologian who might, for this book, have remained only an obscure name in the handbooks of patrology. It is based on an intelligent and careful reading of Maximus's own writings. Here the history of theology has become itself a way of theological reflection. “The spirituality of Maximus is pithily summarized in what is probably the most profound scholarly book ever written about Maximus, Cosmic Liturgy, by Hans Urs von Balthasar.� "Jeroslav Pelikan, Author, Maximus Confessor: Selected Writings

The Organic Development of the Liturgy

How has the Liturgy of the Roman rite developed and changed in history before and after the Council of Trent? What principles have determined the boundaries of legitimate liturgical reform over the centuries? What was the Liturgical Movement? Did Guoranger, Beauduin, Guardini, Parsch, Casel, Bugnini, Jungmann, Bouyer and the Movement's other leaders know and respect these principles? And what is to be said of the not insignificant liturgical reforms carried out by Saint Pius X, Popes Pius IX and Pius XII and Blessed John XXIII in the course of the twentieth century? ' In The Organic Development of the Liturgy , Dom Alcuin Reid examines these questions systematically, incisively and in depth, identifying both the content and context of the principle of "organic development""a fundamental principle of liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium "making a significant contribution to the understanding of the nature of the Liturgical Movement and to the ongoing re-assessment of the reforms enacted following the Council.' '