MAIN FEATURES OF THE CSL

 

‘In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else; for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit’ (CSL 14).

 

The repetition of the phrase ‘active participation’ throughout the document can seem over-insistent, but it is intended to demonstrate that this central principle of the Liturgical Movement applies to every aspect of the mass. The aim of the reforms was to enable the faithful to participate ‘fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects’. This implies that previously the congregation could be characterized as largely unaware and passive, and that they consequently failed to benefit fully.

 

 Both the faithful and the priest are given new priorities here: it is not enough to be present, the congregation must actively collaborate, and it is the celebrant’s task to ensure that they can and do. These new priorities are to be reflected in the revised liturgy in the form of rubrics dealing with the words and actions of the people rather than exclusively with those of the priest. (CSL 31). This marks the end of the spirit of the Council of Trent and of the practices and priorities associated with it.

 

‘In order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects, it is necessary that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds should be attuned to their voices, and that they should cooperate with divine grace lest they receive it in vain.Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration. It is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects’  (CSL 11)

 

The document insists upon the central importance of the priest in enabling the faithful to participate: 

.. It would be futile to entertain any hopes of realizing this unless the pastors themselves, in the first place, become thoroughly imbued with the spirit and power of the liturgy, and undertake to give instruction about it. A prime need, therefore, is that attention be directed, first of all, to the liturgical instruction of the clergy.’ (CSL 14)

 

 

The context of the repeated requirement that the revised liturgy should be clearer and simpler, that the people should be able to understand it easily is to enable and encourage participation in a rite grown obscure. These paragraphs could be misinterpreted as favoring the desacralization and lack of mystery later complained of as characterizing the reformed mass. It should be noted therefore that participation as understood in the CSL explicitly includes inner attitude as well as external actions (CSL11 and 19), and gesture, posture and silence as well as speech (30), and that the liturgy is defined as ‘above all the worship of the divine majesty’ (33)

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‘21. Texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify; the Christian people, so far as possible, should be enabled to understand them with ease and to take part in them fully, actively, and as befits a community.’]

 

34. The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions; they should be within the people's powers of comprehension, and normally should not require much explanation.’

 

48 Christ's faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred action conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration…. .’

 

‘50. The rite of the Mass is to be revised in such a way that the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as also the connection between them, may be more clearly manifested, and that devout and active participation by the faithful may be more easily achieved..For this purpose the rites are to be simplified, due care being taken to preserve their substance; elements which, with the passage of time, came to be duplicated, or were added with but little advantage, are now to be discarded

 

‘Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as "a chosen race,  a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people” (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2:4-5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism…. ‘ (CSL 14).

 

It is often said that the CSL set the tone for the Council. It was able to do so because it was the first document to be considered and one of the best drafted. At the same time, the fact that it came first means that important aspects of its context were not fully available or apparent until later. This applies in particular to Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,[1]and its vision of the People of God in articles 9-17, which provides a rich scriptural and theological background to the CSL, including as it does all the baptized, whatever their further role or status within the church, whether pope, bishop, priest, deacon or layperson. Now we can see the whole picture, It is clear that it revolutionized thinking about the church and the place of the laity with

 

Thanks to baptism, all share in Christ’s royal priesthood (DCC 10), and all are called to holiness (DCC 42). This rebalances the exclusive focus on hierarchy and consequently on the ordained priesthood typical of the medieval and post-Trent church. It is reinforced by the recognition of specifically lay liturgical ministries. The celebrant’s role is to preside over and lead the liturgy, to preach and to pray the Eucharistic Prayer.  He no longer proclaims all the readings himself (indeed, he reads the gospel only in the absence of a deacon, whose role it properly is), and, we should add, no longer possesses the exclusive right of distributing Holy Communion: since 1973 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion can be added to the list in article 29.

 

‘ 28. In liturgical celebrations each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the principles of liturgy.

 

29. Servers, lectors, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function. …’

 

Although there has been a certain nervousness evident more recently in Vatican documents relating to lay ministries, reflected in an insistence on what separates them from the hierarchical priesthood, they arguably constitute the most dramatic single change of the whole reform. Above all, it was a spectacular breakthrough for women, who previously were not even allowed in the sanctuary Female altar servers have been permitted since 1994[2].