Project MUSE®: Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal.daily12026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 9 (2005) through current issueLatest Articles: Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical RenewalTWOProject MUSE®Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal1543-99331543-9925Latest articles in Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal. Feed provided by Project MUSE®From the Editor
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989111
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As Antiphon marks its thirtieth year of publication, the present issue gathers together contributions from the Society for Catholic Liturgy's conference on the liturgical legacy of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, held at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC in September 2025. It includes the addresses delivered at the conference, the homilies accompanying the liturgical celebrations, the two keynote lectures, and a selection of articles developed from papers first given in Washington. Together, these texts offer a representative, though necessarily limited, sampling of the scholarly and pastoral work shared during those days.It should be noted, however, that this issue does not constitute the full
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallFrom the Editor2026-05-05text/htmlen-USFrom the Editor2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®24052026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Presidential Address
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989112
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This year, 2025, marks the thirtieth anniversary of the foundation of the Society for Catholic Liturgy.1 The liturgy itself shows how anniversaries invite us to remember and to give thanks: thanks for what has been accomplished, thanks for those who have built the foundations upon which our work stands today, and thanks most especially to Almighty God, whose grace sustains our frail endeavors. It is fitting, then, that the celebrations for our thirtieth anniversary this evening began with that most perfect act of thanksgiving, the solemn celebration of the eucharistic sacrifice, in which we find (as Pope Benedict XVI recalled) "the gift that Christ made of himself, the gift of a Love stronger than death."2 To give
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallPresidential Address2026-05-05text/htmlen-USPresidential Address2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®98222026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05The First Thirty Years of the Society for Catholic Liturgy: A Tribute
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989113
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I am honored to have been asked to speak to you on this happy occasion, the thirtieth anniversary of the Society for Catholic Liturgy.1 It is hard to believe that our organization is now thirty years old. If the Society were patterned after the biography of Our Lord, this would be the year for it to start its public ministry.But of course, from its inception the Society has always had a public ministry, and that ministry has evolved over the years in marvelous ways. It started in 1995 at the behest of Msgr. Francis Mannion, then rector of the cathedral in Salt Lake City. Our president Fr. James Bradley told us earlier tonight that no one knows for how long our annual membership fees have been $75, but I can confirm
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallThe First Thirty Years of the Society for Catholic Liturgy: A Tribute2026-05-05text/htmlen-USThe First Thirty Years of the Society for Catholic Liturgy: A Tribute2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®160722026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Givenness: Homily at a Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus, Supreme and Eternal High Priest
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989114
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When I signed up some twenty years ago to go on a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, I did so with one distinct purpose in mind: to see Pope John Paul II.1 His life and priesthood had been a great inspiration to me, and he had played no small part in my decision to enter the seminary a few years earlier. When he died that April, just a few months before the World Youth Day, I was naturally disappointed. But that sad turn of events led to the wonderful opportunity to be present in the Church of St. Pantaleon in Cologne as the new Pope Benedict XVI spoke to hundreds of us seminarians about holiness and friendship with Christ. I could not have known at that time what a profound impact this new Roman
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallGivenness: Homily at a Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus, Supreme and Eternal High Priest2026-05-05text/htmlen-USGivenness: Homily at a Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus, Supreme and Eternal High Priest2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®133812026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Homily at a Requiem Mass for Pope Benedict XVI
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989115
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The Apostle Paul reminds us that our earthly dwelling is fragile, a tent destined for destruction, but he also assures us of an eternal dwelling, a home with God.1 Pope Benedict XVI lived as one who saw through the fragility of the earthly tent to the indestructible promise of eternal life in Christ.It is this eschatological horizon that shaped his life and thought. In his encyclical Spe Salvi, he wrote: "The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life."2 His entire theological work was animated by this hope: that in Christ crucified and risen, God has revealed Himself as Love, and this Love is stronger than death. Today, as we commend Benedict XVI to the Lord in
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallHomily at a Requiem Mass for Pope Benedict XVI2026-05-05text/htmlen-USHomily at a Requiem Mass for Pope Benedict XVI2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®158252026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Closing Remarks
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989116
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I became a member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1997, shortly after its founding; naturally that longevity gives me a certain historical perspective.1 I make these remarks both as a liturgical scholar, and as one who had some important contacts with Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI over the years.First an anecdote. I finished my doctorate in Rome in 1989. I had a great admiration for Cardinal Ratzinger and for the clarity of his thought. So, I went to the office of L'Osservatore Romano and got of photo of the cardinal, brought it back to the United States, and hung it in my faculty office, where I was teaching at the time. That gesture was not appreciated by my colleagues!In these closing remarks, I
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallClosing Remarks2026-05-05text/htmlen-USClosing Remarks2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®77772026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Ex oriente lux: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI on the Cosmic Dimension of Liturgy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989117
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Joseph Ratzinger (1927–2022) started his studies in theology at the beginning of 1946, eight months after the end of World War II.1 One of the first theological books he read in the seminary of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising was Vom Geist der Liturgie (1918) by Romano Guardini (1885–1968), published in the last year of World War I.2 Ratzinger mentions his reading of Guardini in the preface to his book Der Geist der Liturgie (2000), which was released in the last year of the twentieth century.3 The English translation came out in the same year.4 The two books by Guardini and Ratzinger became theological bestsellers. Together, they were released in 2018 by Ignatius Press with a foreword by Cardinal Robert
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallEx oriente lux: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI on the Cosmic Dimension of Liturgy2026-05-05text/htmlen-USEx oriente lux: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI on the Cosmic Dimension of Liturgy2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®1015902026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05God First: The Priority of God as the Key to Joseph Ratzinger's Liturgical Legacy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989118
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"To whom is the Eucharistic prayer addressed?" My professor's question hung in the air, generating nervousness and even a little fear among me and my classmates. I was a few weeks into my first semester of doctoral work and was quickly realizing how little theology I knew. The professor teaching this seminar on the Trinity was accomplished and formidable—and could be forbidding when she wanted to be. No one wanted to say the wrong thing and make a fool of himself.I forget now which, if any, of my classmates responded or what was said, but thirty years later I remember my own utter lack of certainty or even direction. And panic! "Jesus?," I immediately thought to myself. Well, the prayer certainly seems centered on
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallGod First: The Priority of God as the Key to Joseph Ratzinger's Liturgical Legacy2026-05-05text/htmlen-USGod First: The Priority of God as the Key to Joseph Ratzinger's Liturgical Legacy2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®1099462026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05The Liturgy, Privileged Setting for the Word of God: Impulses of Pope Benedict's Verbum Domini for and from the Liturgy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989119
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The very name of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (hereafter as VD)1 refers to the liturgy. For it is with these words—translated as "The word of the Lord"—that the lector concludes the reading in the Latin liturgy. Unlike in English, the deacon also says "Verbum Domini" at the end of the Gospel. Liturgy plays an essential role in the document, especially in the second part, "Verbum in Ecclesia." Here, the central statement is found in the introduction: "the liturgy is the privileged setting in which God speaks to us in the midst of our lives; he speaks today to his people, who hear and respond" (VD 52).With this document, Pope Benedict XVI provided impulses for the liturgy and the liturgical
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallThe Liturgy, Privileged Setting for the Word of God: Impulses of Pope Benedict's Verbum Domini for and from the Liturgy2026-05-05text/htmlen-USThe Liturgy, Privileged Setting for the Word of God: Impulses of Pope Benedict's Verbum Domini for and from the Liturgy2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®780752026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Mutatur non tollitur? A Juridical-Liturgical Study of the Obsequies of Benedict XVI as a Key to Understanding the Role of Pope Emeritus
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989120
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The death of Benedict XVI at the age of ninety-five on December 31, 2022, marked the end of a long life, which began in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria on April 16, 1927.2 Baptized on the same day in his parish church, Joseph Alois Ratzinger was later ordained a priest before undertaking an academic career for almost a quarter of century, during which he served as a theological consultant to Cardinal Josef Frings of Cologne (1887–1978) at the Second Vatican Council. In 1977, Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and ordained to the episcopate on May 28 of that same year, before being made a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church by Pope Paul VI two months later. In 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallMutatur non tollitur? A Juridical-Liturgical Study of the Obsequies of Benedict XVI as a Key to Understanding the Role of Pope Emeritus2026-05-05text/htmlen-USMutatur non tollitur? A Juridical-Liturgical Study of the Obsequies of Benedict XVI as a Key to Understanding the Role of Pope Emeritus2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®1108462026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05The Church of God Receives You with Great Joy: The Liturgical Expression of the Ontological Priority of the Universal Church in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989121
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Two weeks before announcing his resignation from the papacy, Pope Benedict XVI held an audience with the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (hereafter as CDWDS), Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera. During that meeting, the pontiff prescribed a slight yet significant change to the typical edition of the Order of Baptism of Children. The modification was promulgated by a decree of the CDWDS dated February 22, 2013, just six days before the Chair of Peter became vacant. What liturgical revision was deemed significant enough to be among the final acts of the resigning pontiff?At the beginning of the Order of Baptism of Children, during the Rite of Receiving the Child
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallThe Church of God Receives You with Great Joy: The Liturgical Expression of the Ontological Priority of the Universal Church in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI2026-05-05text/htmlen-USThe Church of God Receives You with Great Joy: The Liturgical Expression of the Ontological Priority of the Universal Church in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®1228382026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05The Expressive Form of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's Integral Vision of Liturgy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989122
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St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote:
Our noblest theologian is not one who has discovered the whole—our earthly shackles do not permit us the whole—but one whose mental image is by comparison fuller, who has gathered in his mind a richer picture, outline, or whatever we call it, of the truth.1
Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI certainly merits to be numbered among these "noblest" of theologians. Ratzinger's works consistently and clearly communicate an integral vision of the faith; it is as if every text is a sketchpad, filled with rich expressions of the truth as he was given to see it.2 As is well-known, Ratzinger completed sketches, so to speak, of almost every area of theological study, from biblical interpretation to
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallThe Expressive Form of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's Integral Vision of Liturgy2026-05-05text/htmlen-USThe Expressive Form of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's Integral Vision of Liturgy2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®1018242026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05Vicarious Representation in The Spirit of the Liturgy: A Key Category in Joseph Ratzinger's Theology
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/989123
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Stellvertretung (vicarious representation) is a theological category to which Joseph Ratzinger devoted consistent attention throughout his work.1 The German theologian addresses this theme both in his major writings—such as Introduction to Christianity, Eschatology, and Jesus of Nazareth—and in many minor contributions. However, it is in The Spirit of the Liturgy that he offers the most comprehensive and mature systematic treatment of the concept.2There are, in my view, two principal reasons for this. First, Ratzinger explicitly recognizes the origin of this category in the sphere of worship.3 Second, throughout his life he developed a broad understanding of the liturgy—following an Augustinian view—that
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/708/image/coversmallVicarious Representation in The Spirit of the Liturgy: A Key Category in Joseph Ratzinger's Theology2026-05-05text/htmlen-USVicarious Representation in The Spirit of the Liturgy: A Key Category in Joseph Ratzinger's Theology2026-05-052026TWOProject MUSE®1064952026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-05-05