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The Inseparable Link Between Holiness and Worship1 Cassian Folsom, O.S.B. What do these terms “holiness” and “worship” mean? Holiness can be considered objectively and subjectively. Objectively, holiness is the state of being set apart exclusively for God’s service. Subjectively, holiness means having personal moral qualities of virtue and sanctity. Worship includes the Liturgy of the Hours, sacramental life and personal prayer; but in this context I would like to focus primarily on the Eucharist. What is the link between holiness and the Eucharist? When we hear the word “holiness” we almost always think of the second definition, not the first. But the first one has priority for a very good reason. Holiness in this sense means set apart for God’s service—in an exclusive way—and the person (or thing) becomes, as it were, “contaminated by God”—in a word, “holy.” The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, is full of references to people or things being consecrated to God and therefore removed from general circulation. They become “other;” they become “sacred.” If we use this understanding of holiness as a criterion, then it means that our liturgy, our celebration of the Eucharist should place us in a world that is different from the ordinary, different from daily life: different time, different space (a holy space), different vesture, different music, different gestures and bodily postures, different words (sacred words). That is to say, liturgical celebrations should be “other.” If they resemble the ordinary things of our day-to-day world, they are not holy but profane. Let me give a couple of examples of a “holy” liturgy. (I have been blessed to experience many such celebrations.) Some years ago, I was in the Republic of Georgia with an official delegation that included the Bishop of Spoleto-Norcia. On Sunday morning, after a perfunctory recited Mass with the delegation at the nunciature, I took a taxi to the recently built Orthodox cathedral. Upon entering the church, I was met with a wall of sound: measured, dignified Slavonic-style chant. 1 This is an edited version of the author’s acceptance speech given upon receiving the Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award, presented by the Institute on Religious Life on 14 April 2012 at the University of St Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois. Antiphon 16.2 (2012): 82-85 83 The Inseparable Link Between Holiness and Worship There was a barrier in the nave so as to set apart the sacred ministers who needed extra space for a pontifical service. The chant was sung with great enthusiasm. The patriarch himself was the celebrant, surrounded by priests and deacons, all of whom were performing their sacred actions with a calm sense of purpose while this deep chant pulsed through the church. The people—outside the barrier—participated by listening, by lighting candles, by simply milling about. It was very beautiful, and for me it was an experience of the heavenly liturgy. My second example takes us from the Georgian Byzantine Rite to the Roman Rite. There is a traditional Benedictine monastery in Provence called Le Barroux. You may have heard of it. The church is Romanesque. Over the free-standing altar is a sculptured crucifix in the Romanesque style, on which Christ crucified is dressed in royal robes of victory. In the apse is a fresco imitating the style of the Rublev Trinity. The message is very clear: it is through the Paschal mystery of Christ that we enter into Trinitarian life. I participated in a Solemn Mass there on one occasion: the procession was stately, the chant exquisite, the sacred ministers absorbed in their tasks, the texts reverently proclaimed, the priest focused on God. It was breathtaking —another experience of the heavenly liturgy. There are many other examples. No doubt, you have had experiences of both profane and sacred celebrations of the Eucharist. What, then, are the elements that make for a “heavenly” liturgical celebration? Is it the words, the texts? It can be. I have had sublime experiences of the Roman Canon and the orations. In terms of the Scriptures, there is the well known story of St Anthony as a young man, going into...

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