The Liturgy and the New Evangelization

Not only does the liturgy compel the People of God to spread the Gospel to all nations, but it also gives them the grace to do so.

Jesus sending out the Apostles

The “reform of the reform” of the Roman Rite is still in its infancy.¹ Although specific U.S. parishes, largely in metropolitan areas, have fully implemented what Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., has referenced as the “Mass of Vatican II,”² many are unaware that liturgy was ever done another way. Certainly the problems within the liturgy are widespread: the clericalization of the laity, the misunderstanding of full, conscious, active participation,³ and a lack of directionality by the pilgrim Church on Earth to name a few. The catechesis of the faithful on the true purpose of liturgy, and our role in it, has only just begun. The implementation of this reform is, in many parishes and dioceses, only a dream. In the midst of this, however, the new evangelization is much more on the minds of Catholics. While its implementation is also in an early stage, especially considering mere statistics,⁴ catechesis on the new evangelization seems to be much more widespread. Certainly, it would be false to assume that the majority of the faithful in the pews have an understanding of evangelization, let alone a commitment to it. It would be true, however, to hold that those Catholics who are “Intentional Disciples” have some sense of the urgency of this new evangelization and are, at least, in their own families trying to bring it about. The ignorance of proper liturgical form, alongside a true sense of mission to modern man, leads to a unique problem in the Church today. Rightly, many people are taking up the call of Pope Francis to reform the Church according to a “missionary option,” that is, “a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures, can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.”⁵ Indeed, this option must be taken, and radically so, if we truly love our neighbor who is being led down the wide road to perdition. Without a proper understanding of the liturgy, however, this missionary option will make primary in the liturgy something which was never intended to be put first. Reforming the liturgy in this manner will not only destroy the proper purpose of liturgy, which is the perfect worship of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit, but also any missionary efficacy of the liturgy.

Rooted in the Second Vatican Council, Pope St. John Paul II called for the new evangelization. Since then, Popes Benedict XVI and Francis have continued to urge Christians to engage in the new evangelization. In fact, this urging has taken on such a primary role within papal teaching and exhortation that Pope Benedict chose the theme of the 2012 synod of bishops to be “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith,” while Pope Francis wrote what is to be believed his first properly penned papal document, Evangelii gaudium. The liturgy, of course, is a vital element in this new evangelization. Although its place in this mission is essential, mirroring its place in the Christian life as its source and summit,⁶ the liturgy should not be used as a means of primary or initial evangelization.⁷ With a proper grasp of the end of both liturgy and evangelization, one can see that while the liturgy prepares the faithful for mission, makes them efficacious missionaries, and is properly catechetical, it should not be used as, nor is its intended purpose to be, a means of initial evangelization.

Liturgy is at the heart of the life of the Church. Her worship is ordered towards God, who gave her the liturgy to enact this proper worship. Pope Benedict XVI makes concerted efforts to explain the liturgy as originating from, and being ordered towards, God. He states that liturgy “is not about our doing something, about our demonstrating our creativity, in other words, about displaying everything we can do. Liturgy is precisely not a show, a piece of theater, a spectacle. Rather, it gets its life from the Other.”⁸ Liturgy, rooted in divine revelation, is completely dependent upon God. In fact, as the Pope Emeritus states in his The Spirit of the Liturgy, it is only worship given by God that is proper worship and not a “self-generated cult” which ultimately collapses into “self-seeking worship.”⁹ True worship always involves some revelation and institution by God himself. His being totally other than any creature demands that he himself reveal how to worship him properly. In many ways, this takes the end and the ontology of liturgy out of the hands of man, and makes it completely dependent upon God’s supernatural revelation. Again, Pope Benedict states clearly that “the manner in which God is to be worshipped is not a question of political feasibility. It contains its measure within itself, that is, it can only be ordered by the measure of revelation, in dependency upon God.”¹⁰ The liturgy is, then, in a sense, timeless. It matters not what the needs of the moment or the place are. These needs are already taken up in the quasi-unchanging nature of liturgy as revealed. Knowing the liturgy of the Church is given to us by God, and ordered towards him, forces us to worship in a manner that acknowledges that it is not about ourselves.

Cardinal Ratzinger rejects a self-absorbed, anthropocentric view of liturgy, and explicates how the liturgy has as its primary aim to glorify the God who made it. He explains:

Cult, liturgy in the proper sense, is part of this worship, but so, too, is life according to the will of God; such a life is an indispensable part of true worship. … Ultimately, it is the very life of man, man himself as living righteously, that is the true worship of God, but life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God. Cult exists in order to communicate this vision and to give life in such a way that glory is given to God.¹¹

Worship of God, then, consists of cult, that is, an ordered liturgy, and the righteous life of man that glorifies him. Liturgy in itself, accomplished as God has revealed to man, glorifies God. The liturgy also brings man into an encounter with God and brings order and a focus on God to the life of man. This leads to the secondary aim of liturgy which is the sanctification of man.¹² The liturgy of the Church ultimately seeks to glorify God, first, through itself and, subsequently, through the transformation and sanctification of man, allowing men to glorify God with their entire lives.¹³

Pope Benedict XVI speaks greatly of this transformative power of the liturgy as an essential part of what makes the liturgy important for efforts in the new evangelization. When speaking of catechesis on the liturgy, he states that individuals “must be led toward the essential actio that makes the liturgy what it is, toward the transforming power of God, who wants, through what happens in the liturgy, to transform us and the world.”¹⁴ When man’s life is correctly ordered towards and coming from God in the liturgy, he allows God to transform himself and the world, and so the goal of the liturgy to sanctify man is better achieved. When man becomes holy, when he becomes a saint, God is glorified all the more.¹⁵ It is only through the liturgy, especially in the Eucharistic sacrifice which is the “source and culmination of the Christian life,”¹⁶ that this is able to transpire.

It is this secondary aim of liturgy, the sanctification of man, which brings about the proper link between the liturgy and the new evangelization. The new evangelization seeks to spread the good news not only among those who have never heard of Christ, but also those who have rejected him, or never sufficiently embraced him, when he was presented to them in the past. In Redemptoris missio, Pope St. John Paul II identifies three specific groups to whom mission is directed: first and foremost, the missio ad gentes, that is, those in cultures who have never heard the Gospel; second, those who are fervent in their faith who need “ongoing evangelization”; and third, those who are the truest object of the new evangelization: Christian peoples and nations who have lost faith, never having fully embraced Christ. St. John Paul II explains this third category in the following manner:

Particularly in countries with ancient Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the baptized have lost a sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case, what is needed is a “new evangelization” or a “re-evangelization.”¹⁷

In much of Western culture, there are many who have heard of Christ, who know his name, yet, have rejected him, even if largely unknowingly, and turned to the ways of the world in their search for fulfillment. These persons are, in many ways, similar to the first category, ad gentes, in that they require a primary proclamation. They are distinct in that this proclamation may find itself more difficult given their previous experience with Christianity, in whatever misinformed or partial form. Overcoming this obstacle of scandal, or false notions of Christianity, proves the greatest difficulty in the new evangelization.

How, then, can we understand the way in which the liturgy gives life to the new evangelization? In Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization, the bishops of the United States outline two directions of evangelization: outward and inward. As they explain, “Outwardly, evangelization addresses those who have not heard the Gospel or, having heard it, have stopped practicing their faith, and those who seek the fullness of faith.”¹⁸ It is these individuals who are in need of initial evangelization proclaimed with zeal and charity by those Christians who seek to follow Christ’s command to spread the Gospel. The General Directory for Catechesis defines this initial evangelization as “primary proclamation … addressed to non-believers and those living in religious indifference. Its functions are to proclaim the Gospel and to call to conversion.”¹⁹

Yet, before this primary evangelization can be accomplished efficaciously, the evangelizer must first, and continually, be evangelized and catechized himself. This is the inward direction of evangelization. The bishops of the United States define this second direction of evangelization in the following manner: “Inwardly, {evangelization} calls for our continued receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our on-going conversion both individually and as Church. It nurtures us, makes us grow, and renews us in holiness as God’s people.”²⁰ Long after initial evangelization and conversion of heart, the faithful must continually seek metanoia, and so continue to be further evangelized. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the relator of the 2012 Synod on the New Evangelization, explains: “The New Evangelization is about deepening our own faith, gaining confidence in the truth of that faith, and then sharing it with others.”²¹ The new evangelization, then, begins with the renewal of the Christian and the Church and, only then, is able to go forth fruitfully to evangelize others.²²

Seeing that evangelization’s purpose is to bring others to Christ, and so to glorify God, both by the very participation in the conversion of sinners, and in the converted sinners’ volitional adoration of God, we see how evangelization and liturgy are closely united. While liturgy is an important part of evangelization in the inward direction, it should not be used as a means of primary and initial evangelization in the outward direction because its end does not lie directly in this action. The Sacred Liturgy is essential to evangelization as it brings about the sanctification of man, and equips the faithful with the grace and impetus required to evangelize those who need to hear the Gospel. In St. John Paul II’s ad limina visit with the bishops of the United States in 1998, he made this exact point, discussing the role of the parish in evangelization, including the parochial liturgy. He said to the bishops:

A parish will be involved in many activities. But none is as vital … as the Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist. Through regular and fervent reception of the sacraments, God’s people come to know the fullness of the Christian dignity that is theirs by baptism; they are elevated and transformed. … That experience, in turn, becomes a powerful motive for evangelization.²³

Pope John Paul II saw the liturgy as essential in the Church’s efforts of evangelization, giving the faithful this “powerful motive for evangelization” and commanding them to evangelize in the dismissal as well. In a later visit, he reflected upon the Roman Rite’s emphasis on mission: “This is why it is comparatively brief: there was much to be done outside the church; and this is why we have the dismissal “Ite, missa est,”which gives us the term “Mass”—the community is sent forth to evangelize the world in obedience to Christ’s command.”²⁴ In the encounter that the people have with God during Mass, and in the closing words of the liturgy, the faithful are prompted and moved to proclaim the Gospel with all those they meet.

Not only does the liturgy compel the People of God to spread the Gospel to all nations, but it also gives them the grace to do so. “The history of Evangelization across the centuries witnesses that the great missionaries were also great people of prayer,”²⁵ rooted in a love for the liturgy and the Eucharist, shown through Eucharistic adoration, explains Bishop Dominique Rey. Pope John Paul II also points to prayer and the Eucharist as sources of grace for evangelization and mission: “It is from the Eucharist, in fact, that the Church, and every believer draw the indispensable strength to proclaim and bear witness, before all, to the Gospel of salvation.”²⁶ The graces received from the liturgy are immense, and include the grace to evangelize. The United States bishops see the grace God gives us when we are rooted in prayer and the liturgy as essential to our ability to evangelize. “At Mass, in the Liturgy of the Hours … we must ask unceasingly for the grace to evangelize. The moment we stop praying for the grace to spread the Good News of Jesus will be the moment when we lose the power to evangelize.”²⁷ The inward evangelical power of the liturgy leads to outward mission and is essential to it.

This distinction, that the liturgy is evangelistic in nature, is manifest in the teaching of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis. John Paul II explains:

The Eucharist is a “missionary” sacrament not only because the grace of mission flows from it, but also because it contains, in itself, the principle and eternal source of salvation for all. The celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is, therefore, the most effective missionary act that the Ecclesial Community can perform in the history of the world.²⁸

St. John Paul II’s claim that the Eucharist is the “most effective missionary act” is something that merits meditation. He is certainly not claiming that public Masses in town squares will automatically bring conversion to the inhabitants, or that such Masses should be organized by all missionaries. Instead, the Eucharist is the source of salvation and missionary efficacy, particularly in the transformation and “eucharistization”²⁹ of the missionaries themselves. Pope Francis echoes this when he says that “the Church evangelizes, and is herself evangelized, through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization, and the source of her renewed self-giving.”³⁰ This is the inward dimension of evangelization which is meant for those who have already been converted. It is in the liturgy that they continue to encounter God, for “the Liturgy moves the faithful whom it has heaped with the delights of ‘the paschal sacraments’ to be ‘of one mind in the service of God.’”³¹

Without an initial acceptance of the Gospel, and understanding of the Paschal Mystery, the liturgy may be beautiful and intriguing, stirring up the deep desires of man’s heart, but he is not able to know the Gospel, and understand the liturgy taking place, without the Good News being explained with charity and zeal first. It is clear in Sacrosanctum Concilium that there must be an initial evangelization outside of, and before, active participation in the liturgy. The Council Fathers state:

Before men can come to the Liturgy, they must be called to faith and conversion. … The Church, therefore, proclaims to unbelievers the message of salvation to the end that all men may come to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, and may repent and turn from their own ways.³²

The faithful must give this message to others before inviting them to liturgy. Simply inviting a person to liturgy, with no explanation beforehand, or, worse, to adapt and change the liturgy in an effort to attract and present individuals with an initial evangelization, is a perversion of the purpose of liturgy, and is not an effective means of evangelization. It may be true “that for most parishioners, ‘the Mass will be their only contact with the parish or the Church,’”³³ but that does not mean that the Mass is the vehicle by which the parish should be seeking to proclaim the Gospel for the first time to non-believers, and those who have fallen away, or were never initially converted to the Lord.

The Second Vatican Council not only calls for the faith to be shared before men come to the liturgy, but the Council Fathers also call for the faithful to continual catechesis about the end, and various aspects, of the liturgy. They insist “the Church takes very special care to see that the faithful do not assist at this mystery of faith like strangers or dumb spectators. On the contrary, she wants them to have a good understanding of the mystery through the rites and prayers and, thus, to take an intelligent, devout, and active part in the sacred action.”³⁴ This understanding of the liturgy is not built into liturgy itself. It must come from without.

Both Popes Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II saw in their lifetime that this catechesis was not always done successfully, leading to a deplorable situation, and even scandal. In 2000, Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “True liturgical education cannot consist in learning and experimenting with external activities. … Liturgical education today, of both priests and laity, is deficient to a deplorable extent. Much remains to be done here.”³⁵ A year before this, Pope John Paul II had noted the lack of catechesis since the Second Vatican Council saying: “…not all changes have, always and everywhere, been accompanied by the necessary explanation and catechesis; as a result, in some cases, there has been a misunderstanding of the very nature of the liturgy, leading to abuses, polarization, and sometimes even grave scandal.”³⁶ Pope Benedict XVI, even before his pontificate, saw this lack of catechesis and, thus, called for “a new liturgical education” which would make clear that the liturgy:

…exists in order to introduce us into feast and celebration, to make man capable of the mystery. Here, we ought to learn not just from the Eastern Church, but from all the religions of the world, which all know that liturgy is something other than the invention of texts and rites, that it lives precisely from what is beyond manipulation.³⁷

Certainly, this liturgical catechesis is still needed desperately today, and cannot be given if the liturgy is transformed to serve the function of primary evangelization, or to accomplish this catechesis itself. Instead, such a transformation will destroy the faithful’s ability to truly enter into the mystery.

Since liturgy cannot be used as an initial method of evangelization, the Council Fathers call upon pastors to ensure, by proper education, that the people can engage in this full participation. They explain that “this active taking part is the first, indeed, it is the necessary, source from which the faithful may be expected to draw the true Christian spirit. Therefore, by proper education, it is to be zealously sought after by the shepherds of souls in all their pastoral work.”³⁸ In order for parishioners to participate actively and fully, it must be recalled that the purpose of liturgy is the glorification of God, and sanctification of man. Pope Benedict explains that the action of the liturgy is the Eucharistic prayer, but he says that this oratio “is really more than speech; it is actio in the highest sense of the word. For what happens in it is that the human actio … steps back and makes way for the actio divina, the action of God.”³⁹ The true action of the liturgy then is accomplished by God himself. Man must only actively allow God to bring forth the transformation of hearts. This active passivity is the prayer of the Church in the liturgy. Pope Benedict points out that this is the action for both the laity, and the priest, in the liturgy. He says in The Spirit of the Liturgy: “In this real ‘action’, in this prayerful approach to participation, there is no difference between priests and laity.”⁴⁰ When people do not understand the Gospel, and what the liturgy is, they cannot participate in the action of the liturgy. It is on account of this reality that the Council Fathers and Popes Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI so strongly call for an initial sharing of the Gospel message, and further catechesis on the liturgy.

St. John Paul II held that “all baptized Christians must commit themselves to evangelization.”⁴¹ Because of the great link between evangelization and liturgy, it is essential that all Christians also commit themselves to the liturgy, and true, active participation. Efforts of evangelization are ordered towards the liturgy in the sense that all missionary efforts are directed towards the sacraments. Ultimately, however, the liturgy is the end of missionary effort since it is the perfect worship of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. This liturgy is given to us by God, and directed towards him. It is from liturgy and prayer that the grace is received to engage effectively in the new evangelization. It is essential, then, that the liturgy is not used as a method of primary and initial evangelization to those who do not know Christ but, instead, for the missionaries to become Christ, who alone draws all men to himself. Father Michael White and Tom Corcoran’s words in explaining the misunderstanding of the mission of a parish, and the Church as a whole, are just as applicable to a misunderstanding of the purpose and roles of liturgy and evangelization: “When we get this wrong, it’s more than just a mistake, it’s a corruption. Corruption results in breaking and destroying something by using it for a purpose other than the purpose intended.”⁴² The Church in the world today will succeed in her mission as sacrament of salvation when her liturgy is allowed to act according to its divine design, as the source of missionary zeal, and the summit of conversion.