Vatican City – As part of the formation course for new Bishops organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization , this year dedicated to the theme “Servants of Communion in the Church,” Aurelio García Macías, Titular Bishop of Rotdon and Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, delivered a presentation on September 4 entitled “The Liturgy in the Episcopal Ministry. Continuity and Newness in the Liturgy in the Context of First Evangelization,” addressing the 49 newly appointed Bishops gathered at the Pontifical Missionary College St. Peter the Apostle.
Recalling the opening words of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, according to which “this sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change” , the Bishop recalled that “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” . The liturgy, he explained, “does not belong to the priest who celebrates it, to the group that prepares it, or to the particular community that takes part in it. The liturgy belongs to Christ and to the Church,” reaching us today, as the Council teaches, per ritus et preces.
The heart of his presentation concerned liturgical inculturation, an issue which, for many of the Churches entrusted to the new Bishops, “is not a theoretical problem, but a daily pastoral concern.”
For inculturation, “introducing a dance is not enough”
The Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stressed that inculturation “does not simply mean introducing elements of local culture into the liturgy.” It is not enough to “add a traditional song, introduce a dance, use a local musical instrument or translate a text.”
Inculturation, he explained, takes place almost “by osmosis,” when the mystery being celebrated truly encounters a culture”: the Gospel takes on what is “authentically human, true, good and beautiful” in that culture, while at the same time purifying and transforming it, because “no culture is the Gospel.”
“This applies to African, Asian, Latin American and Oceanic cultures, but it also applies to European culture,” he added, recalling that “every culture needs to be evangelized. Every culture contains the semina Verbi, but every culture also bears the wounds of sin. For this reason, the Gospel welcomes and purifies, embraces and transforms, confirms and corrects, elevates and, when necessary, calls for a break.”
Three risks to avoid
The prelate identified three risks to be avoided: unnecessary innovation, recalling that according to Sacrosanctum Concilium no innovations should be introduced “unless a genuine and proven benefit to the Church requires it” ; syncretism, “particularly sensitive issue in areas where traditional religions remain culturally very much alive”; and folklore, since “the liturgy is not a cultural performance” and “a cultural element is incorporated into the liturgy not because it is picturesque, but because it can serve the mystery being celebrated.”
Quoting the 1994 instruction Varietates legitimae, he reiterated that “the first significant measure of inculturation is the translation of liturgical books into the language of the people” , while emphasizing that every translation “must be faithful to the original text.”
The Undersecretary recalled that inculturation “cannot be improvised; it cannot be decided on the basis of a single successful celebration, nor can it depend on the enthusiasm of a bishop/priest or a group. It requires study, prayer, experience, evaluation and growth in faith.”
The Spanish Bishop stressed that it is always necessary to bear in mind that “when we celebrate the Eucharist in the smallest village of a missionary diocese, that celebration is an action of the universal Church. That small community is not isolated: it is in communion with its own Bishop and, through the Bishop, with the College of Bishops and with the Successor of Peter, as expressed in the Eucharistic Prayer when the Pope and the bishop are mentioned. The liturgy makes this communion visible.”
The Bishop is not the “liturgical policeman”
With regard to the liturgy and processes of inculturation, García Macías clarified that the Bishop’s task is not to be the “liturgical policeman,” but rather to be himself “the «liturgo» of the diocese and, precisely for this reason, the one primarily responsible for the liturgical life of his Church; to “have the courage both to promote what is genuinely beneficial and to curb what is not yet mature,” because “not all prudence is fear, and not all innovation is courage.”
Inculturation can become one of the most beautiful forms of
evangelization, “when it enables a people to recognize that Christ is no stranger to them,” he added. “The does not destroy what is authentically human, but brings it to its fullness.
Precisely for this reason, inculturation requires pastors capable of discernment. We must not be afraid of cultures, neither must we idealize them. We must not be afraid of diversity, neither must we sacrifice communion. We must not stifle the authentic creativity of the Spirit, neither must we confuse it with arbitrariness. We must not turn the liturgy into a museum of immutable forms, neither must we turn it into a permanent laboratory.”
Between these “extremes,” Bishop García Macías concluded, lies “the difficult and beautiful task of the Bishop.” It requires “prudence,” “expertise” and “communion,” but above all “faith.” For, “ultimately, the liturgy is not our own doing. It is Christ who continues to act within his Church.”
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