Liturgical Spirituality

“I am increasingly convinced that the decisive question that demands an answer from us is not so much how believers experience the liturgy, but whether believers live from the liturgy they celebrate.”With these few words Goffredo Boselli captures the essence of this present work. Believers can celebrate the liturgy throughout their lifetimes without ever really drawing their lives from it. And this is true of all believers—laity, clergy, or monastics. More than a century after the start of the liturgical movement and half a century after the start of the postconciliar liturgical reform, we must ask the difficult question of whether the liturgy has or has not become the source of the spiritual life of believers. For only by living from the liturgy can they receive the nourishment necessary to maintain a life of faith in today’s world. In The Spiritual Meaning of the Liturgy, Goffredo Boselli—one of Europe’s foremost liturgical theologians—offers an accessible and important guide for both scholars and interested laypeople to understand the meaning that permeates the liturgy and its implications for daily living. Readers will find here a resource to help understand the liturgy more fully, interiorize it more effectively, and live it more authentically.

Well-known liturgical scholar and writer Philip Pfatteicher turns his attention in this book to "liturgical spirituality" as distinct from "liturgy and spirituality," which assumes two essentially separate disciplines."Liturgical spirituality" is a holistic concept, bringing together both liturgy and spirituality with reference to the interior life of the spirit that is formed and nurtured by the church's liturgy. Pfatteicher acknowledges that there are other kinds of spirituality that appear to flourish apart from and in addition to the liturgy: for example, the spirituality of the desert ascetics of the early centuries of christianity, the devotion of the Religious Society of Friends, and many forms of meditation and spiritual discipline such as the Spiritual Exercise of Ignatius Loyola. The focus of the present volume, however, is on the spiritual life as formed by the liturgy, the ordered form of Christian worship, East and West, Catholic and Protestant.In addition to the form of worship one might experience on a Sunday morning, Liturgical Spirituality guides the reader through and into the experience of daily prayer, the Easter Vigil, the Church Year, the Eucharist, hymns and music, Baptism, and even church architecture as "hallowing space."In 1955 Louis Bouyer published an admirable study entitled Liturgical Piety, written before Vatican II and its far-reaching reforms that fundamentally changed the entire Western church. Philip Pfatteicher has now taken up the challenge of expanding upon Bouyer with a current and invigorating study not of "liturgical piety" but of "liturgical spirituality."Philip Phatteicher is Professor of English at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, a frequent writer and lecturer on liturgical issues, and author of A Dictionary of Liturgical Terms and The School of the Church: Worship and Christian Formation, both published by Trinity Press.

We are here on earth not to guard a museum but to cultivate a garden flourishing with life and promised to a glorious future, John XXIII exhorted the Church at the dawn of the Second Vatican Council. In an age when some skeptics suggest that the reformed liturgy has lost the wonder and spiritual depth of previous ages, Standing Together in the Community of God affirms that we need not look back; the Sacred Mysteries are already in our midst. Their wellspring and summit is the heart of God, shared in the Trinity's own communion, announced now as pure Gift. Praising God for God's saving acts in Jesus, as Vatican II reminded us, we encounter Christ's sacramental presence in four modes: in the person of the priest who gathers the community into communion, in the elements and actions of the sacraments, in the word proclaimed and preached, and in the assembly praying and singing (SC #7). In rhythm and harmony, these modes invite us to encounter the multivalent depth of the Mysteries that announce Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Together they proclaim the Risen One among us, the totus Christus, hope for a hungry world. Allowing each mode its respect as a bearer of the sacred, these focal words and actions in the liturgy echo a communion song that announces Christ's real presence to us and for us and with us. Beginning deep within, this is a spirituality and piety for the twenty-first century, ever ancient and ever new.

New Softcover Edition with Index! Considered by Ratzinger devotees as his greatest work on the Liturgy, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the "great prayer of the Church" will help readers rediscover the Liturgy in all its hidden spiritual wealth and transcendent grandeur as the very center of our Christian life. Among the many liturgical issues that he covers in this work, Cardinal Ratzinger discusses fundamental misunderstandings of the Second Vatican Council's intentions for liturgical renewal, especially the orientation of prayer at the Eucharistic sacrifice, the placement of the tabernacle, and the posture of kneeling. Other important topics he discusses include the following: the essence of worship; Jewish roots and new elements of the Christian Liturgy; the historic and cosmic dimensions of the Liturgy; the relationship of the Liturgy to time and space; art, music, and the Liturgy; active participation of all the faithful; gestures, posture, and vestments. "My purpose here is to assist this renewal of understanding of the Liturgy. Its basic intentions coincide with what Guardini wanted to achieve. The only difference is that I have had to translate what Guardini did at the end of the First World War, in a totally different historical situation, into the context of our present-day questions, hopes, and dangers. Like Guardini, I am not attempting to involve myself with scholarly discussion and research. I am simply offering an aid to the understanding of the faith and to the right way to give the faith its central form of expression in the Liturgy." - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, from the preface

Of particular interest to scholars and practitioners across the Anglican Communion with contributions from a wide breadth of scholars. Liturgical Spirituality is a collection of Anglican reflections on the spirituality of the liturgy, inviting readers into the Church’s patterns of prayer, seasons of the year, and sacramental action. With contributions from all over the world, from the North Atlantic to Australia, the collection helps develop a comprehensive understanding of contemporary Anglican spirituality.

Daily spiritual practice takes dedication and discipline, and we often wonder where to start and how to keep it from feeling like yet another task on our to-do list. In this grounded, practical book, author Derek Olsen uses The Book of Common Prayer for a template to a deeper spiritual life. Olsen explains the purpose and intention of the prayer book with fresh insight, offering practical applications for daily living.

In Living a Liturgical Spirituality, acclaimed author, teacher, and speaker, Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS, offers an in-depth exploration of the transformative power of the radical encounter with Christ in the Church’s liturgy. Zimmerman elegantly illustrates how encountering the paschal mystery in liturgy informs and shapes the way we live; it animates our personal spirituality and is at the heart of living out our baptism. As an essential resource for all liturgical ministers, Zimmerman’s book helps the reader understand that a “liturgical spirituality is about falling in love; it is about inviting us to love God, each other, and self ever more deeply.” It will enrich and deepen the spiritual lives of any disciple, especially those involved in liturgical ministries. The included appendix is a vital tool, inviting ministers to contemplate more sincerely the spirituality of each unique liturgical ministry.

The Forum Essays series is a cooperative effort of The North American Forum on the Catechumenate and Liturgy Training Publications. The purpose of the series is to provide a forum for exploring issues emerging from the implementation of the order of Christian initiation. They are a great resource for anyone involved in initiation ministry, and especially for pastors and RCIA directors.

Beyond the dramatic drop in seminarians and the declining numbers of priests, beyond the sexual misconduct scandals shaking the confidence and trust once readily given to priests, a spiritual deepening and maturing is renewing the spirit and confidence of the diocesan priest. In this collection of essays, twelve priests (including four bishops) reflect on the spirituality of the diocesan priest from their personal and pastoral experience. Have diocesan priests finally transcended the monastic and religious order spiritualities that have shaped their prayer and interior lives for centuries? Is a spirituality particular to the diocesan priest emerging precisely at a time when the priesthood is under such close scrutiny? The contributors - pastors, theologians, poets, and bishops - grapple with the maturing of the diocesan priest's soul, touch the mystery of the priesthood, and unveil personal, often moving, dramas of grace. Contributors and their articles include Tenders of the Word" by Donald B. Cozzens, "Personal Symbol of Communion" by Denis Edwards, "Confessions of a Pilgrim Pastor" by William Hammer, "A Kindled Heart" by Frank McNulty, "A Glorious and Transcendent Place" by Robert F. Morneau, "The Conciliar Documents and the 1983 Code" by Edward G. Pfnausch, "Ruminations of a Canonist" by James H. Provost, "Heralds of the Gospel and Experts in Humanity" by Sylvester D. Ryan, "Servant of the Servants of God" by Robert Schwartz, "Speaking Out for the Inside" by William H. Shannon, "Paul of Tarsus: A Model for Diocesan Priesthood" by Richard J. Sklba, and "Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest: Using the Wrong Measure?" by Kenneth Untener.

A perennial problem for spiritual traditions of all sorts is dualism—either a positing of a false distance between the Divine and the created or a rejection of creation and the human body. Many contemporary spiritual seekers have sensed this problem and sought to remedy it through myriad solutions drawn from various spiritual traditions and secular wisdom, both Eastern and Western. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam, explores Christianity’s contribution to the discussion. He offers a revisioning and rearticulation of this teaching, based on the prophetic seminal work of Bede Griffiths, toward a practical and integral spirituality that reverences all aspects of our being human—spirit, soul, and body.