PROCLAIMING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LITURGY AS A GIFT WITH A HISTORY, CONTINUITY OVER TIME AND A PRESENT AND FUTURE….

There is a fine interview with Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth by Edward Pentin. Press the title for the entire interview. Below the title, I have an excerpt of what I feel is most important and so true.

Edward Pentin’s interview in the National Catholic Register:

‘The Liturgy Is a Gift’: Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth Steps Down After Navigating ‘Choppy Waters’ of New English Liturgical Translations

The British priest discusses his eventful 14-year tenure as the executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.

Pentin: What are your views on the current struggles over the liturgy, especially regarding Traditionis Custodes and the restrictions on the traditional Mass? How can bridges be built to prevent further alienation of those who attend the older liturgy?

We live from the liturgy — it is our deepest engagement in the mystery of Christ in this life; it shapes us and forms us. From our baptism until the last sacrament we receive, we are caught up both with the life of God and in communion with each other in the Body of Christ. 

When I became executive director in 2009, I settled on what I thought to be a relatively uncontentious formulation: The liturgy is a gift that we receive from God and do not make for ourselves. I soon found out that not everyone was happy with this concept.

Tradition comes to us from the past; it is the gift of those who came before us and those who have formed us. We are the recipients of this patrimony, and through us it lives in the present as we, in our turn, hand it on to others. 

I think everyone knows I have a great love for the older liturgical forms and their celebration has always been part of my life, although in my 33 years as a priest I have always served in situations where the post-conciliar liturgy was the norm. I have greatly benefited from an understanding of the older liturgy, not least because it sheds light on what we currently have, providing the all-important footnotes. 

Pentin: The coexistence of the reformed and old Latin Rite liturgy has been criticized, with some liturgists saying the new form is incompatible with the old. What is your view on this? Can they be mutually enriching, as Benedict XVI said in Summorum Pontificum, or not?

Because Tradition is such an important aspect of the unfolding of the Church’s life, a radical lack of continuity would seem to be undesirable. My understanding of Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum was not so much as a pastoral initiative, as some have suggested, but rather an attempt to allow the light of Tradition to shine on all our liturgical experience. 

As the Church permits a variety of styles of celebration, the unity of the Roman Rite is now specifically a textual unity: We use the same prayers and meditate on the same Scriptures. As any clinical psychologist will tell you, a person needs to make peace with their past. I do not believe the Church is currently doing well on this score, and there needs to be a far greater knowledge and experience of what we have received. 

The core of the Roman Rite is a body of the texts that date from the first millennium. In order for us to understand this patrimony, we need far more enthusiasm for the teaching and learning of Latin; even with an entirely vernacular liturgy, the principal sources of our liturgy are all in Latin. 

I would like to see a greater engagement with the culture that our liturgy has produced — the Roman Rite is the matrix of a civilization that has given us not only a liturgy, but music, art, architecture and literature. The principle of mutual enrichment is rooted in our history and so inevitably points us towards the future.