a Grateful Response
winter 2008
liturgy & the life of the church
T
Architecture projects the structure of the Mass he medieval arrangement for monastic churches typically placed the altar against the wall at the far East end of the church. From the altar the long rows of choir stalls stretched deep into the church and were arranged such that the monks on one side faced those on the other side of church. Thereafter, the laity occupied the nave and looked through the monastic choir to the distant altar. When the Jesuit order was founded, its members were dispensed from saying the daily hours of prayers together, that they might be free for active ministry. Accordingly, Jesuit churches such as Il Gesù in Rome have no choir, and the nave was brought right up close to the altar. This allowed the laity far more immediate access to the altar than the medieval monastic arrangement. When our Abbey Church was built in 1957 it anticipated the liturgical reform that was soon to be mandated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The altar in our church is placed between the choir and the nave, giving a new centrality to the altar. In many ways our altar is more like the free standing altars from Christian antiquity in the major basilicas of Rome. Another way our church anticipated the coming renewal was by placing the tabernacle in its own chapel, in close proximity to the altar, yet in an area as distinct as the eucharistic liturgy is related to yet distinct from the reservation of the consecrated bread. The way in which we use our church, moreover, has developed, as monks no longer fill the choir stalls, and we are able to welcome all our guests to join us in the choir stalls for our weekday celebrations of the Eucharist. The way in which we use our church for weekday and Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist, furthermore, is subtly attuned to the liturgical renewal following Vatican II. In fact, the model we use parallels that used in the latest papal chapel to be dedicated in the Apostolic Palace, at the Vatican. That chapel, called the Redemptoris Mater, or Mother of the Redeemer, chapel is arranged like our choir, with the chairs in parallel rows facing the center aisle so that the people on one side face those on the other. In that chapel, the freestanding altar is placed at the far end of the center aisle, as it is placed relative to our monastic choir. In that chapel the lectern is placed in the center of the choir seating, so that the Word of God is The Redemptoris mater Chapel in the Aposproclaimed from the tolic Palace in Vatican City midst of the assembly, and the presidential chair is placed at the opposite end of the choir and facing toward the lectern. The arrangement of our choir for the celebration of the Eucharist is similar in that the lectern is placed in the center aisle of the choir, but at one end so as to form the hinge-pin between the choir and the altar. Our presidential chair is also located opposite the altar and facing the lectern.
In both arrangements, the presider sits or stands at the chair in the midst of the assembly to listen to the readings proclaimed from the lectern. Thus, there is a direct relationship between the lectern Father Daniel McCarthy and the assembly, and between the lectern and the presidential chair. The altar, then, is located beyond this choir arrangement for the liturgy of the Word, as the eucharistic liturgy is both distinct from the liturgy of the Word, yet so intimately related to the liturgy of the Word as to form one liturgy. The arrangement of both the new papal chapel and our monastic chapel agrees with statements made by the Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, which say: “There is to be a revision of the way the mass is structured, so that the specific ideas behind the individual parts and their connection with one another
Father Maurice Haefling reads the Gospel at Mass in the Abbey Church.
can be more clearly apparent, and so that it becomes easier for the people to take a proper and active part” and “The two parts which in some way go to make up the mass, namely the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist, are so closely bound up with each other that they amount to one single act of worship” (nº 50, 56 Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vol., ed. N. Tanner, Georgetown UP, Washington DC 1990). Thus, the structure of the architecture in both chapels expresses the structure of the Mass itself. When the renewed order of Mass was developed after the Council by the Consilium appointed by Pope Paul VI, one of the first principles established was that the two parts of the Mass are better distinguished by celebrating them in distinct yet related places, the liturgy of the Word at the chair and lectern and the Eucharistic liturgy at the altar. As we celebrate the Eucharist, the rite itself unfolds as first the assembly gathers, ministers proclaim the Word of God and the assembly responds, we offer our prayers, and then proceed to the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated at the altar. After the celebration of the Eucharist, the remaining consecrated bread is taken to the blessed sacrament chapel where it is reserved in the tabernacle. Each place is distinct as are the rites proper to each, yet all are as intimately connected, as the liturgy is one. 9
