DD PART V

To face the problem of our unawareness of the symbolic, Pope Francis thinks there should be a 
focus on what is called the ars celebrandi, or the art of celebrating. This has special responsibility 
for presiders, but it also has a great deal to do with the entire assembly. To repeat the Holy Father in #36: “Let us always remember that it is the Church, the Body of Christ, that is the celebrating subject and not just the priest.” We’re not talking here about “rubrical mechanism,” nor 
“imaginative—sometimes wild—creativity without rules.” “The rite is a norm, and the norm is never an end in itself, but it is always at the service of a higher reality that it means to protect” (#48).
Francis is clear that the “art of celebration is not something that can be improvised. Like every 
art, it requires consistent application. For an artisan, technique is enough. But for an artist…there 
has also to be inspiration…” (#50). What supplies the “inspiration”? This must come from conviction, from the heart, from prayer (on the part of presider and congregation). It requires us to be 
sensitive to the transcendent. Is this possible? I think it is, even if it takes concentration and not 
an automatic response. Let me expand on the comment from last time about bread and wine.
My favorite book on sacramental theology is The Little Prince. Of many other quotes, I can offer 
this one, which everyone (after a few seconds’ reflection, would assent to): “It is only with the 
heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” To offer perhaps a 
too-crude example: even a dirty diaper can be a cause for joy, if it is your child. A wedding ring is 
not just a piece of precious materials. And the Eucharist is not just a wafer and wine. Where are 
the eyes of our hearts?
The pope wants to emphasize two aspects of worship that he sees as central: “Everybody doing 
together the same gesture, everyone speaking together in one voice…” (#51), but also the times 
when “…silence occupies a place of absolute importance” (#52). It is why we have silence before 
the confession of sins. I pause after saying, “Let us pray” before the Collect or Post-Communion 
prayers. It’s why we have silence after the “Lamb of God” and after Communion. These are times 
for reflection that can move us “…to sorrow for sin…a readiness to hear the Word...to adore the 
Body and Blood of Christ…It suggests to each one, in the intimacy of communion, what the Spirit 
would effect in our lives…” (#52).
In all this, Francis realizes that there is a terrible danger: a “heightened personalism…which at 
times expresses a poorly concealed mania to be the centre (sic) of attention (#54). What are 
some examples of this? “…rigid austerity or exasperating creativity, a spiritualizing mysticism or a 
practical functionalism, a sloppy carelessness or an excessive finickiness, a superabundant 
friendliness or priestly impassibility” (#54). This last one, I often am afraid, can apply to me (at the 
end of Mass with “Good News” and “Welcome to Visitors”). Do I dilute the impact of the Liturgy by 
those gestures? I worry…
Next time—Pope Francis’ (and my) conclusions.
-Fr David