The Spirit of the Liturgical Movement: A Benedictine Renewal of Culture

Dom Virgil Michel, OSB, (1890–1938) was one of the leading figures of the liturgical movement in the United States.¹ When researchers consider the work of the liturgical movement, their focus is usually limited to the movement’s efforts related to the celebration of the liturgy. Oftentimes, what is overlooked is that one of the major concerns of the liturgical movement is the relationship between the liturgy and social action. This relationship is also generally overlooked by contemporary theology, which tends to focus either on liturgy or social action (more commonly known today as social justice). As a result of this separation, the social end of the liturgy is neglected and at the same time, the liturgical roots of authentic social action are ignored. At the extreme end of the spectrum, the study of the liturgy alone is reduced to mere aestheticism or rubricism, while the exclusive focus on social justice can become influenced solely by ideology instead of authentic charity. The Church advocates an inclusive and comprehensive understanding.

Michel’s thought offers a balanced view that represents the liturgical movement’s concern for the unity between liturgy and social action.² This harmony is expressed by Michel’s famous syllogism: “Pius X tells us that the liturgy is the indispensable source of the true Christian spirit; Pius XI says that the true Christian spirit is indispensable for social regeneration. Hence the conclusion: the liturgy is the indispensable basis of social regeneration.”³

The authentic renewal of culture cannot take place without the liturgy and social action. Fruitful social action flows from the love of God in liturgical prayer. More recently, Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, expressed the importance of this unity in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est: “A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented.”⁴ Michel and Benedict are interested in recovering the true spirit of the liturgy that fully blossoms in charity toward one’s neighbor. As a result of the liturgical movement’s influence, these two emphasize the unison between the love of God expressed in liturgical worship and the love of neighbor put into action through works of charity.

A key figure in the German liturgical movement, Romano Guardini (1885–1968), asserts that logos has precedence over ethos.⁵ For Michel, the logos of the Mystical Body of Christ precedes the ethos of social action. Similarly, one of Benedict’s major themes is that the logos of communio precedes the ethos of charity for one’s neighbor. There is a clear consonance between the thought of Michel and Benedict on this particular theme. First, it is important to outline briefly the main ideas and history of the liturgical movement, and it is imperative to underscore its emphasis on the union between liturgy and social action. Second, it is essential to highlight the themes of the incarnational life and the Mystical Body of Christ in the writings of Virgil Michel. Third, it will be necessary to show how the liturgy is the source for the renewal of culture. Finally, I will examine Dom Michel and Benedict’s shared interest in the organic relationship between the love for God that is expressed through the celebration of the liturgy and the love for neighbor that should flow from our Eucharistic worship.

Liturgical Movement

Changing the language in which the liturgy was celebrated from the exclusive use of Latin to the vernacular, shifting from the celebrant’s ad orientem position to a versus populum, or making evening Masses available, were not the primary concerns of the liturgical movement. These issues were of secondary importance compared to the fundamental goal of the liturgical movement as described by Alcuin Reid, OSB: to “return liturgical piety to its rightful place in the life of the Church.”⁶ The proper place of the liturgy as the source and summit of the Christian life was overshadowed by the prominence of popular piety (for instance, the rosary, and devotion to the Sacred Heart). In order fully to understand the work of Virgil Michel...