The Theo-Centric Character of Catholic Liturgy

347 The Thomist 75 (2011): 347-64 THE THEO-CENTRIC CHARACTER OF CATHOLIC LITURGY RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura T O SPEAK ABOUT the theo-centric character of ecclesiology, of the Church, and, specifically, of the Sacred Liturgy, as the highest and most perfect expression of the life of the Church, could seem to be a redundancy. Is not the Church, by its very nature, divine, that is, called into being and sustained in being by God, and, therefore, centered in God? A fortiori, are not the Church herself and the Church’s worship, by definition, directed to God? Otherwise, she would end up in some form of idolatry. Why is it necessary to devote attention to the truth that the Sacred Liturgy is centered in God, that it is, in fact, the action of God the Son Incarnate, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father and, at the same time, active in the Church, on our behalf, for the salvation of the world? What has happened, in our time, to make it necessary to address the God-centered character of the Sacred Liturgy? In canonical terms, why is the discussion of the ius divinum, of the divine right of God to be worshiped by us in the manner in which He wishes to be worshiped, so seldom taken up in our day? I. CONTEXT To speak of the theo-centric character of the Sacred Liturgy or of the ius divinum and the Sacred Liturgy is, in simple terms, to speak of the right relationship between God and His creation, especially man, the only earthly creature created in the image of RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE 348 God Himself. Clearly, such a conversation has to do, first of all, with the Sacred Liturgy as the highest and most perfect expression of the relationship between God and man. There is no other aspect of the life of the Church in which the truth about God’s relationship with man should be more visible than the Sacred Liturgy. Such a conversation, however, if I am not mistaken, has been rarely engaged in recent years, so that it causes wonder to speak of the relationship between God and man and the Sacred Liturgy, the relationship between the ius divinum and the Sacred Liturgy. In the time since the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, but certainly not because of the teaching of the council, there has been an exaggerated attention on the human aspect of the Sacred Liturgy, which has overlooked the essence of the Sacred Liturgy as the encounter of God with us by means of sacramental signs, that is, as the direct action of the glorious Christ in the Church giving us the grace of the Holy Spirit. I wish to offer an initial reflection on the theo-centric character of Catholic liturgy which I hope to be able to develop and expand in the future. In light of my background as a canonist, I focus the discourse on the ius divinum and the Sacred Liturgy. It should be clear, however, that the canonical perspective is necessarily securely grounded in the theological reality of the Church. First, I will take up the subject in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Magisterium, and then its manifestation in canonical discipline. Since the canonical order is at the service of the objective order of our life in Christ in the Church, it is fundamental to understand, at least in its essentials, the objective relationship of the ius divinum and the Sacred Liturgy, in order also to understand the deepest significance of the canonical norms that govern the Sacred Liturgy. The liturgical law of the Church, after all, is at the service of the theo-centric nature of Catholic worship. II. SACRED SCRIPTURE When God offered the covenant to His chosen people, to repair the covenant destroyed by the sin of Adam and Eve, He THEO-CENTRIC CHARACTER OF CATHOLIC LITURGY 349 1 Gen 2:17; cf. Gen 3:3. Translations of Scripture are taken from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. 2 Gen 3:4-5. 3 Exod 20:2. 4 Exod 20:3. 5 Exod...