I am interrupting my series on Theophilus the Presbyter and the affect he had on the development Medieval art and technology with this post that just came in from the Catholic News Service/EWTN.
The following article is very important and relevant to our understanding of the significant role that his Holiness Emeritus Benedict XVI had in moving the Church forward while appreciating and applying the beauty of our faith, in all of its component parts, to our holy liturgy, prayer, and devotion to our Eucharistic Lord. This understanding contributes to our appreciation of what it means to be a member of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. The complete article appears below:
Beauty in liturgy the ‘great legacy’ of Benedict XVI
By Carl Bunderson
VATICAN CITY, March 1, 2013 (CNA/EWTN News) . Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be remembered in Church history for his work to recover the beauty of traditional liturgy, according to Bishop James D. Conley.
The head of the Lincoln, Neb. Diocese, who has been reading Benedict’s writings on liturgy for decades, said these works “will remain a great contribution to liturgical theology for years to come.”
“His great legacy,” Bishop Conley told CNA Feb. 27, “will be the re-discovery of the beauty of the traditional liturgy.”
Benedict awakened a “new way” of looking at the ordinary form of the Mass – the liturgy which came after the 1960s Second Vatican Council – “with a greater attempt to be more attentive to the rubrics.”
In the former pontiff’s view, Mass should be celebrated with beauty, dignity, and in continuity with the tradition of the Church, Bishop Conley noted.
Benedict’s liturgical legacy also includes his “blessing” of those “who have a great attachment to the old Mass” and who are in union with the Holy See, the bishop said.
In 2007, Pope Benedict released a directive titled “Summorum pontificum,” which in a “watershed moment,” gave every priest permission to say Mass using the 1962, or pre-Vatican II Missal.
“He made it one of his priorities to…introduce the ‘hermeneutic of continuity’, trying to show that the pre-conciliar liturgy of the 1962 Missal is the same liturgy as the Roman Missal of Pope Paul VI,” the bishop explained.
Pope Benedict “allowed the traditions to harmonize…so the cross-pollination could take place; so the very best of the reforms of the post-conciliar liturgy could be enhanced and influenced, by an open, unbiased acceptance of the Mass that preceded it.”
Bishop Conley believes that Pope Benedict has allowed the pre-conciliar liturgy to flourish alongside of the post-conciliar liturgy “in a hope that some of the transcendence, the beauty, the tradition, the Latin” will permeate the new liturgy.
The Pope’s own manner of celebrating Mass, including subtle “symbolic gestures” have “sent a message” and have had “a catechetical value” for both priests and faithful, said Bishop Conley.
These gestures include distributing Communion to the faithful kneeling; beautiful vestments and those which had fallen into disuse; ensuring a cross and candles are on the altar; and celebrating facing the same direction as the faithful, all elements of a “reform of the reform of the liturgy.”
“He even created a new way of looking at the two traditions,” reflected Bishop Conley, “the extraordinary form and the ordinary form.” Pope Benedict coined these terms in “Summorum pontificum,” to refer to pre and post Vatican liturgies respectively.
“They’re two parts of the same form, and of the same Roman rite: that’s what he really wanted to emphasize by that change in language.”
Transcendence and beauty
Pope Benedict has long been “trying to recover that sense of transcendence and beauty of the liturgy,” reflected the bishop.
Part of this effort was his involvement in the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal. Bishop Conley noted the former Roman pontiff’s concern that the Latin prayers be translated both accurately and “also with a sense of beauty in the language.”
The bishop also noted Pope Benedict’s creation in November of a “Pontifical Academy for Latin.” He sees this as tied to the Pontiff’s desire to increase the use of Latin in the Church’s life, including in her liturgy.
Bishop Conley also noted how Pope Benedict’s vision was shaped by the Liturgical Movement of the early 20th century, an effort that called for a reform of the Church’s worship, led largely by Benedictines.
“He knew the great players of the Liturgical Movement back before the Council,” the bishop said.
One of his major writings on the liturgy was his 2000 work The Spirit of the Liturgy. That publication hearkened back to a book of the same name by Father Romano Guardini, known as one of those “great players.”
In The Spirit of the Liturgy, Benedict – as a theologian writing before his rise to the papacy – encouraged a “New Liturgical Movement” that would recall the best elements of the first Liturgical Movement.
Benedict’s concern with beauty and liturgy is not one of mere aesthetics, Bishop Conley noted, but flows from a recognition that liturgical prayer is the “source and summit” of the Christian life, as the Second Vatican Council taught.
“A lot of people are talking about the impact that he’s had on the Church, and you certainly have to say that the liturgy is going to be one; primarily because he took such a personal interest in it and he believed that…everything flows from prayer,” said Bishop Conley.
“That’s what he said when he announced his resignation, that he made this decision after deep prayer. And now he’s going to a life of deep meditation and contemplation, and all that centers on the Eucharist, and the liturgical worship of the Church, which he very much has a profound love for.”
A continuing influence
Doctor Horst Buchholz, director of music at the St. Louis archdiocese, told CNA Feb. 25 that Pope Benedict has offered such a wealth of teaching on the liturgy that his influence has yet to come to full fruition.
“There has been no Pope since Pius X, or even before, with such a fervent love for liturgy and Sacred Music like Benedict XVI…We still have to accept, digest, and adapt many of Benedict’s thoughts and directives on liturgy and Sacred Music,” he said.
Buchholz commended Pope Benedict’s example of including the use of the Gradual at his recent Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Gradual is an ancient form of singing the psalm between the readings that may replace the responsorial psalm.
“The Gradual is rarely, rarely ever sung, so that is a very good sign, that people are even aware that there is an option like that,” largely through the example of the Pope’s Masses.
Illustration, not imposition
Jeffrey Tucker, publications director for the Church Music Association of America, agreed that Pope Benedict has led by example in liturgy.
“I knew he would show us the beauty of the Roman rite in a way people hadn’t seen it before, and inspire people through example,” he said to CNA Feb. 20.
Tucker called Pope Benedict a liberal, “in the best sense of that term.” The Roman Pontiff provided “a kind of license” for the pre-conciliar liturgy, he said, and integrated “the reformed Mass into the tradition of the Roman rite more generally.”
“The reforms at St. Peter’s Masses and (papal) liturgy generally have been astonishing, extraordinary, especially from a musical standpoint,” Tucker said.
He pointed particularly to the use of the Introit, the official text from the psalms meant to be sung at the beginning of Mass, at every large Mass said at St. Peter’s recently.
“He’s worked to make the Roman rite more true to itself, which is very encouraging for those of us at the grass roots level, because now we can point to papal liturgies as a useful example of what we’re seeking to accomplish in our own parish lives.”
Tucker praised the fact that while Pope Benedict did make minor changes in liturgical laws, he recognized that “beauty itself, once it’s liberated, compels belief in a sense.” He described the Pope as working not through imposition, but with “inspiration, illustration, example – putting beauty on display and creating a kind of global hunger for solemnity and seriousness, and ritual.
Charles Cole, director of the schola at the London Oratory, told Vatican Radio Feb. 24 that “under the pontificate of Benedict XVI there has been a particular focus on the relationship of the liturgy and music and this remarkable heritage and its grown to ever greater prominence.”
In 2007 Pope Benedict wrote an apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, “Sacramentum Caritatis,” cementing some of his teachings on the liturgy into the Magisterium.
Writing for The Catholic Herald, Dom Alcuin Reid, a Benedictine monk, said that “his conviction expressed therein, that ‘everything related to the Eucharist should be marked by beauty,’ was reflected in papal liturgies. These became master classes on how to celebrate the modern liturgy in continuity with tradition, where the best of the old and of the new serve to raise our minds and hearts to God.”
Bishop Conley concluded with CNA by remembering the Pope’s constant example of reverence and beauty in celebrating the liturgy.
“When I first came to Rome in 1989 as a priest-student, on Thursday mornings he would celebrate Mass in a chapel of the proto-martyrs inside the Vatican.”
“It would be a Latin Novus Ordo mass, always Novus Ordo, but always celebrated very reverently and with a great sense of transcendence. So not only by his writings, but by the way he celebrated Mass, he was teaching.”
The flickering flame of the candle is the primary source of light. It is soft, calm, inviting, strong, and supersedes the light of an ordinary candle. It keeps the menacing darkness away. It illuminates her face and her heart—primarily her heart—to show that she has focused on the core of who she is, and subtly shows the love that she has felt that day. Yet it also shines on the mirror and on her robes and on her jewels—the light of Christ has begun to enlighten everything in her life. It is the power of the Holy Spirit through which all true conversion and penance is inspired.
The Fra Angelico Institute for Sacred Art 
“Paul, your protestations begs the question, do pagans go to Heaven? If so, why? If not, why not?” from Bernard Gallagher
These are excellent questions.
Before I attempt to answer them my readers should understand that I am a committed and Traditional Roman Catholic. His questions will be answered through the lens of the teachings of my Faith. That Faith is based on a foundation of Holy Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and two thousand years of Catholic scholarship.
Allow me to also mention that we need to understand that two Councils of the Church, the Councils of Orange and Trent (1000 years later), are critical in forming a correct answer to Mr. Gallagher’s questions. The Councils of Orange are significant (both of them were held in the city of Orange in Southern France, AD 441 and 529). The more important Second Council of Orange’s episcopal deliberations were sent to Rome and approved by Pope Boniface II in AD 531. That Council specifically proclaimed that everyone (who has reached the “age of reason”) is given sufficient Grace to be saved from eternal damnation. God will give, and has given all people, Actual Grace. If a person accepts and acts on that Grace, they will be saved.
What is Actual Grace? Actual Grace is an admonition by God for a person to correct their way of life, desire, search after, and make the sincere effort to obtain the Sanctifying Grace provided by the Catholic Church. The key action which achieves salvation and eternal life with God is the Holy Sacrament of Baptism. This allows the person to enter into God’s family. The Sacrament of Baptism removes Original Sin from an individual’s soul and enables it to receive additional Sacramental Sanctifying Grace. All Grace enables a person to become holy in God’s eyes. The other six Sacraments flow from the waters of Baptism. Pope Pius 9th (papal reign 1846 -1878) proclaimed that it would be extraordinary for an unbaptized person to achieve the eternal salvation and reward of Heaven.
First principle,
a) The Roman Catholic Church, the ethnic church Rites that are in union with Rome, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches, and some of the Protestant churches say that Jesus Christ, is the Word of God, the Son of the Father, begotten not made and consubstantial with Him. He is the Messiah, the Savior. His human life, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection redeemed mankind from their sins. His divinity is expressed through His position as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
b) He is known to mankind through the historical Gospels and Epistles of the Apostles, the witness of His Mother, the Virgin Mary (especially at her apparition at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. When asked what sin was most harmful and condemned unrepentant people to Hell she responded: ‘The sins of impurity are one of the major reasons why men and women are condemned to Hell.'” We cannot ignore our sins or consider them unimportant because of the current worldview. Also, the erudition of the Catholic Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church, Saints, and the historical teaching authority of the Church have all provided the scholarship and analysis that is sufficient for humanity to understand God’d Revelation and laws.
c) He is also known through the extraordinary scholarship of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. The teaching authority of the Church, (as found in its Magisterium), is the Church’s responsibility to give to the world an authentic interpretation of the Revelation of God as found in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
d) Additionally, let us not forget the importance of the testimony of the angels found in Holy Scripture, and the saints, of whom Jesus’ Mother Mary is the greatest of saints. All of these facts contribute to mankind’s understanding and witness of our Savior Jesus Christ.
e) Jesus commissioned His Apostles (the first bishops) to make known the free gift of His Redemption and graces. These critical graces are found in the Seven Sacraments of the Church, beginning with the keystone Sacrament, Baptism.
Second, let’s refer to what Jesus Christ says in response to Nicodemus’ questions concerning eternal life in the Gospel of St. John, John 3: 1-21: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus continues to question Him, and Jesus responds, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…You must be born again.”
The great significance of the necessity of Baptism into the Christian faith is again stressed in another passage of the Gospels. The Gospel of St. Matthew, in its very last passage deals with the commissioning of the Apostles which occurred after His resurrection and before His Ascension back to the Father. Jesus emphasizes that combined with their preaching and works they must baptize faith-filled individuals because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Humanity’s broken relationship with God must be healed. It was healed through the death and resurrection of the Father’s Son Jesus the Christ. Jesus death, on our behalf allowed the formation of the Church and the Sacraments to be instituted to provide the grace to a broken humanity. Baptism is the Sacrament that makes this happen. It makes an individual’s body and soul a member of God’s family. Matthew 28: 18-20: “Jesus drew near and spoke to them saying, “all power in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
Third, it appears, within the Christian faith, that we can come to specific conclusions that will provide a springboard for my response to Mr. Gallagher:
Fourth, so, are pagans going to Heaven or Hell?
In a nutshell, I would never presume to know God’s mind, except from that which He revealed through Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition. I would never make a judgement on another person’s soul as he or she are seen by God at the time of their death and individual judgement. Unknown to the world, even a great sinner may suddenly, in their last moments, repent of their sins and ask for God’s mercy. But, make no mistake about it, Scriptural Revelation, and the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church and specifically the words of Jesus in the Holy Scriptures, states that there is a Hell (Matthew 10: 28; 22: 13. Luke 16: 26; etc.); there is a Heaven, and, damnation into Hell for all eternity.
It is believed that there is also a place of natural happiness called Limbo. It is not within Heaven, nor is it in the fires of the Hell of the Damned. It is a state of natural happiness and joy. It is not supernatural happiness because its inhabitants do not have the Beatific Vision (see additional discussion in the Summa Theologica, Supplement 1, 3rd part article 2, by Fra Rainaldo da Piperino). The question of what happens to infants who die without the Sanctifying Grace of Baptism is a much debated issue. Many Traditionalists support the idea of Limbo; however, contemporary scholarship supports the idea that God, in His mercy, would not withdraw the vision of His glory to unbaptized infants who have died.
Some additional issues:
Copyright © 2011- 2019, Deacon Paul O. Iacono – All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint must be obtained (through the Comments section below) from the author in writing. Students, and those interested, may quote small sections of the article as long as the proper credit and notation is given. Thank you