Liturgy and the New Evangelization:
Practicing the Art of Self-Giving Love
by Timothy P. O'Malley
The gift of "real" love is something that each human being desires. We first know this love while gazing into the eyes of our parents. We seek authentic friendships, ones in which a communion of souls takes place. We desire romantic love, to encounter another human being whose beauty and goodness is transformative of our identity. We are made to love, to give ourselves away as a response to the gift we have already received.
Whatever the new evangelization is, it is incomprehensible outside the domain of love. Not simply the love of one human being for another, though such love is indeed very good. Rather, the church's mission of the new evangelization is coming to perceive a new the logic of self-giving love revealed in Jesus Christ; a revelation of divine love that expands our imaginations regarding the possibility of what human love could become when knit into the triune God's own life. A love made manifest in the life of the church, in those disciples filled with joy who have become members of the Body of Christ: "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:9-ll). The new evangelization, for this reason, is nothing less than a recommitment to God's own pedagogy of love as mediated through the church's ministries of proclamation, prayer, and mission.
Whatever the new evangelization is, it is incomprehensible outside the domain of love. Not simply the love of one human being for another, though such love is indeed very good. Rather, the church's mission of the new evangelization is coming to perceive a new the logic of self-giving love revealed in Jesus Christ; a revelation of divine love that expands our imaginations regarding the possibility of what human love could become when knit into the triune God's own life. A love made manifest in the life of the church, in those disciples filled with joy who have become members of the Body of Christ: "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:9-ll). The new evangelization, for this reason, is nothing less than a recommitment to God's own pedagogy of love as mediated through the church's ministries of proclamation, prayer, and mission.
Because the new evangelization is fundamentally a renewal of the church's eyes of love, it must be liturgical. Of course, this claim can easily be misunderstood. The liturgical context of the new evangelization is not simply an affirmation of the centrality of liturgy in the church's life. Instead, what I mean to propose is that the practices of the church's liturgical rites function in such a way that they are to inform every aspect of the church's mission of the new evangelization. For in liturgical rites, we do not only consider the love of God as a theoretical possibility but we participate in such love through visible signs and words. Our desires and hopes, our sorrows and tears, are taken up into God's own life and made into a spiritual offering.
In such moments, we allow God's own gift of love to be written upon the contours of our bodies, now given over to the world as a sacramental offering: "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect'' (Rom 12:1-2).
As long as the purpose of the new evangelization is humanity's partaking in the self-giving love of God, then liturgical prayer is integral to this "new evangelization." This book ultimately has three purposes relative to articulating the liturgical task of the new evangelization. First, it seeks to develop a liturgical and thus theological argument about the nature of the new evangelization. The new evangelization is not simply about the adoption of novel pastoral programs, the cultivation of small-group faith sharing, the strengthening of Catholic identity in schools and parishes, the use of social media in spreading the Gospel, or a renewed confidence in performing public professions of faith. These are instruments that are part of a larger narrative, one that
has yet to be fully articulated. As the Lineamenta for the Synod on the New Evangelization states:
Presently, in reviewing the dynamics of the "new evangelization," the expression can now be applied to the Church's renewed efforts to meet the challenges which today's society and cultures, in view of the significant changes taking place, are posing to the Christian faith, its proclamation and its witness. In facing these challenges, the Church does not give up or retreat into herself; instead, she undertakes a project to revitalize herself. She makes the Person of Jesus Christ and a personal encounter with him central to her thinking, knowing that he will give his Spirit and provide the force to announce and proclaim the Gospel in new ways which can speak to today's cultures.
The new evangelization becomes in this case a transformation of all culture, of all human existence, spurred on by an encounter with Christ himself. Indeed, in every generation, the church must perform a "new evangelization," seeking to incarnate the Christian faith anew, to recommence the divine-human exchange that has defined Christian history. And in this way, the grammar of liturgical prayer can help the church better understand how to carry out the new evangelization as a form of self-giving love.
In such moments, we allow God's own gift of love to be written upon the contours of our bodies, now given over to the world as a sacramental offering: "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect'' (Rom 12:1-2).
As long as the purpose of the new evangelization is humanity's partaking in the self-giving love of God, then liturgical prayer is integral to this "new evangelization." This book ultimately has three purposes relative to articulating the liturgical task of the new evangelization. First, it seeks to develop a liturgical and thus theological argument about the nature of the new evangelization. The new evangelization is not simply about the adoption of novel pastoral programs, the cultivation of small-group faith sharing, the strengthening of Catholic identity in schools and parishes, the use of social media in spreading the Gospel, or a renewed confidence in performing public professions of faith. These are instruments that are part of a larger narrative, one that
has yet to be fully articulated. As the Lineamenta for the Synod on the New Evangelization states:
Presently, in reviewing the dynamics of the "new evangelization," the expression can now be applied to the Church's renewed efforts to meet the challenges which today's society and cultures, in view of the significant changes taking place, are posing to the Christian faith, its proclamation and its witness. In facing these challenges, the Church does not give up or retreat into herself; instead, she undertakes a project to revitalize herself. She makes the Person of Jesus Christ and a personal encounter with him central to her thinking, knowing that he will give his Spirit and provide the force to announce and proclaim the Gospel in new ways which can speak to today's cultures.
The new evangelization becomes in this case a transformation of all culture, of all human existence, spurred on by an encounter with Christ himself. Indeed, in every generation, the church must perform a "new evangelization," seeking to incarnate the Christian faith anew, to recommence the divine-human exchange that has defined Christian history. And in this way, the grammar of liturgical prayer can help the church better understand how to carry out the new evangelization as a form of self-giving love.
The second purpose of this book relates to the renewal of both liturgical practice and formation. In the postconciliar years, a kind of positivism has developed relative to the formative nature of liturgical prayer. Simply, we have assumed that the performance of rites and subsequent reflection upon liturgical practice will lead to certain intellectual and spiritual dispositions. The one who participates in the liturgy will have a solid grasp of the salvific narrative manifested in the Bible, of the spiritual practice of psalmody, of a robust theology of baptism, etc. Often, as liturgists, we have allowed ourselves to shape specific decisions regarding liturgical practice in order to communicate an idea, a principle, which we view as essential to the Christian life. Against such a claim, I hope to demonstrate that the "formative" potential of liturgical prayer in the modern context remains a rather elusive reality.
For example, few ritual activities within Catholicism are more exemplary of this complicated process of liturgical formation than the rite of infant baptism. This rite performs certain theological and cultural claims of Catholicism regarding this sacrament. The preferred place and time of baptism is within the Easter Vigil or Sunday eucharistic liturgy so as to bring out the paschal quality of the sacrament. The theological imagery surrounding infant baptism within the rite is becoming a child of God, being enlightened, as well as washing away the effects of original sin. The responsibility for the developing faith of the infant is placed in the hands of the parents and godparents, and the gathered assembly. Yet, as any pastoral minister is aware, the cultural meaning "communicated" through the rite of baptism is not necessarily the same act of meaning created by its participants. The presider of the sacrament may choose one series of prayers within the rite over another, emphasizing a baptismal theology that resonates with his preferred interpretation of the sacrament.
For example, few ritual activities within Catholicism are more exemplary of this complicated process of liturgical formation than the rite of infant baptism. This rite performs certain theological and cultural claims of Catholicism regarding this sacrament. The preferred place and time of baptism is within the Easter Vigil or Sunday eucharistic liturgy so as to bring out the paschal quality of the sacrament. The theological imagery surrounding infant baptism within the rite is becoming a child of God, being enlightened, as well as washing away the effects of original sin. The responsibility for the developing faith of the infant is placed in the hands of the parents and godparents, and the gathered assembly. Yet, as any pastoral minister is aware, the cultural meaning "communicated" through the rite of baptism is not necessarily the same act of meaning created by its participants. The presider of the sacrament may choose one series of prayers within the rite over another, emphasizing a baptismal theology that resonates with his preferred interpretation of the sacrament.
The couple baptizing their child may miss this subtle theological move by the priest or deacon, instead conceiving of baptism as a formal acknowledgement of new life, a rite of passage performed by the church but ultimately about family and tradition. One pair of grandparents may express gratitude that their grandchild has been rescued from the flames of hell, while the other may see some sadness upon this occasion, since their once-Jewish daughter has promised to raise her child within the church. The assembly will have a similar range of meanings, from a sense of paschal joy at seeing new members entering into the Body of Christ, to boredom and annoyance that yet another interruption to Mass has occurred. If the ministers within the church desire a fruitful reception of the sacrament on the part of the infant, one that involves both an understanding of the official theology of the rite by the parents and godparents, as well as a way of life that has become baptismal within the family and the assembly, the ministers will need to be cognizant of the official theology of the rite; the presumed dispositions necessary for fruitful reception and participation within the sacrament by the various parties; and, the already acquired dispositions that act as lens through which the official meaning of the sacramental rite must pass. Thus, if one is to perform a liturgical education that is evangelical, transformative of history, culture, and each individual life, then the church must dedicate itself to discerning anew that savoir faire necessary for teaching Christians the art of liturgical prayer in our own age. Catholicism's new evangelization is an opportune time to examine practices of formation in light of present cultural realities (some of which are opposed to the pedagogy of divine love performed in the church's liturgical rites). Liturgical formation in the new evangelization will include much more than reflection upon one's own experience of a specific rite. Instead, such liturgical formation will enable one to engage in liturgical activity; to participate in liturgical prayer in such a way that one's very attitude toward human life itself is transformed.
Lastly, this book attends to the wisdom implicit in the liturgical practice of the church. That is, while liturgical prayer may not immediately instill certain intellectual and spiritual dispositions, such prayer does seek to gradually form us in a liturgical approach to human life: to work and marriage, to art and beauty, to education and leisure, to politics and justice. As Jean Corbon notes in his classic text, The Wellspring of Worship:
If the liturgy is the mystery of the river of life that streams from the Father and the Lamb and if it reaches us and draws us when we celebrate it, then it does so in order that it may water our entire life and render it fruitful. The eternal liturgy in which the economy of salvation reaches completion "is accomplished" by us in our sacramental celebrations in order that it may in turn be accomplished in us, in the least fibers of our being and of our human community.
When we begin to understand how liturgical practice transfigures our imaginations, our desires, everything that it means to be human, then we will begin to see the concrete ways that the wisdom of liturgical prayer may overflow into our own existence here and now. How participation in the liturgical rites of the church gradually inspires the Christian toward a mysticism of the ordinary, to an offering of the return gift of our very lives as an act of love.
If the liturgy is the mystery of the river of life that streams from the Father and the Lamb and if it reaches us and draws us when we celebrate it, then it does so in order that it may water our entire life and render it fruitful. The eternal liturgy in which the economy of salvation reaches completion "is accomplished" by us in our sacramental celebrations in order that it may in turn be accomplished in us, in the least fibers of our being and of our human community.
When we begin to understand how liturgical practice transfigures our imaginations, our desires, everything that it means to be human, then we will begin to see the concrete ways that the wisdom of liturgical prayer may overflow into our own existence here and now. How participation in the liturgical rites of the church gradually inspires the Christian toward a mysticism of the ordinary, to an offering of the return gift of our very lives as an act of love.
From the Introduction to
Liturgy and the New Evangelization: Practicing the Art of Self-Giving Love
by Timothy P. O’Malley, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2014.
Images from Unsplash and Pixabay. Used under license/with permission.
Liturgy and the New Evangelization: Practicing the Art of Self-Giving Love
by Timothy P. O’Malley, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2014.
Images from Unsplash and Pixabay. Used under license/with permission.