Vocation: Sister Disciples Of The Divine Master

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A Pauline Centenary Pastoral Tool

ALBERIONE AND THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT, n. 13

A Doctoral Thesis Presented at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute ***

THE FEATURES OF BLESSED ALBERIONE’S TEACHINGS ON THE LITURGY

“The Pastoral Aspect of the Liturgy”

Christ the “leitourgos”, living on in the Church, continues to fulfill his teaching, pastoral and sanctifying office especially in the liturgy, until the Church reaches the ends of the earth, forming one flock under one shepherd. For Blessed Alberione, the pastoral orientation is an intrinsic character and a fundamental dimension of the liturgy. Our beloved Founder described pastoral work as the action of Jesus Christ and the Church for the salvation of souls. It is the ministry which Jesus Christ himself desired to carry out in Palestine: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Moreover, it is the same ministry Jesus wanted to be undertaken by persons to whom he addressed the words: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (Jn 20:21). The pastoral spirit is the communication of Jesus Christ, the way, truth and life, to souls. And this means to elevate and sanctify the entire person: mind, will and heart through dogma, morals and worship.

I. The LITURGY as a Pastoral Imperative

In part 2 of his book, L’apostolato dell’edizione, Blessed Alberione asserted that the liturgy, as the “book of the Holy Spirit” became a closed book for too many people and likewise, delineated the effort of the Church, especially through the Liturgical Movement, to open this book again and bring it back within their reach. Our Founder stressed the necessity of instruction that is not just limited to an elite group who restricts the field of action to Catholic associations and religious confraternities. He asserted, moreover, that the liturgy, universal as the Gospel of which it is a commentary and application, should extend its beneficial action to all people and have its field of operation closest to the people: the parish.

The conviction that the parish should be the most immediate field of operation of the liturgical ministry impelled Blessed Alberione to develop a liturgical apostolate more directly related to the parish community. One of the periodicals that he founded was the Bollettino Parrochiale Liturgico, intended for the spread of the treasures of the liturgy through a capillary diffusion at the parish level. Moreover, it is interesting to note that in establishing the congregation Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, he gave them as one of their tasks, precisely that which concerns the practical accomplishment of the sacred worship in the parish. The liturgical service rendered directly to the parish and in collaboration with pastors is truly a valuable and efficient means of collaboration in Christ’s mission of saving souls.

Though our Founder realized the importance of a pastoral liturgical action carried out in the parish ambit, his understanding of the concept of “parish” expanded and reached out to the ends of the earth. He said: “The whole world may be compared to an immense parish, the parish of the Pope.” Indeed, Alberione’s entire pastoral action was directed towards a unique apostolic vision of Christ conforming and recapitulating all things to himself: “one parish gathered around one pulpit, one table – the Eucharist, and one guide: everyone conformed to the image of the Son of God and coheirs of Christ.”

Blessed Alberione believed that all Christians, nay, the whole mankind, as children of God and as members of the human society, have the right and duty to know about worship. He felt intensely the pastoral imperative to popularize the liturgy which he considered the book of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus Christ. Imbued with the spirit of the Liturgical Movement at work in the Church, he realized that the people should be led to the liturgy and the liturgy should be brought to the people. He gave this as a specific apostolic mandate to the PDDM congregation, though not exclusively, but also to the entire Pauline Family. Among his frequent exhortations to the Pious Disciples were: “Know the treasures of the liturgy. Diffuse whatever serves the liturgy. Live the liturgy in accordance with the spirit of the Church.”

II. Participation of the Faithful in the LITURGY

Blessed Alberione’s understanding of the importance of the sacraments for the life of union with Christ and for living the life of Christ induced him to consider the problem of the participation of the faithful in the liturgy. He stated in his book, L’apostolato dell’edizione: “The participation should be the concern not just of the clergy, to whom devolves the accomplishment of tasks reserved for the ordained priesthood, but also of the laity, in whose name and for whose sake the priest exercises, in union with them the most elevated function proper to his ministry. It should neither be limited to an empty formalism, nor a mere quest for exterior means, archaic traditions or aesthetic elements; but should rather be an intelligent, living and loving participation.”

Explicitly citing Pope Pius X’s celebrated statement that the primary and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit is the active participation of the faithful in the sacred mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church, our Founder, writing in 1955, asserted the imperative of a good understanding and participation in the holy Mass. And as he would assert in one of his conferences in 1960, the more complete form of participation in the Mass is when the faithful respond liturgically to the presiding priest, almost “dialoguing” with him and saying loudly the parts proper to them. He further stated that an even more complete form is when the celebrant reads and explains the text of the Gospel and the Epistle. Indeed, Blessed Alberione’s ideas on liturgical participation anticipated the basic statements of Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium on the promotion of liturgical instruction and active participation of the faithful.

III. An Integral Liturgical Formation

One of the notable characteristics of Blessed Alberione’s thoughts on the liturgy was his insistence on the need for an effective and integral liturgical formation. Writing in 1952 regarding the liturgical formation of religious, he stated that liturgical studies, song and ceremonies are an important part of the novitiate. He remarked, moreover, that the historical and technical parts of liturgical formation are useful. Nonetheless, he indicated as foremost the three aspects to be stressed in the liturgical formation: faith, morals and worship.

Our Founder’s idea of an integral formation based on the trinomial: faith, morals and worship can be grasped better in the context of his understanding of a Christian formation. It is the formation of the alter Christus, the future citizen of heaven. He asserted that the formation of a Christian is not equivalent to “cognition”, but rather, the real “constitution” of a person into a “new being”. He noted, moreover, that no Christian is educated and formed unless he/she possesses faith, behaves according to the evangelical morals and lives the supernatural life. The true teacher is Jesus Christ and the formation of the perfect Christian occurs precisely in Christ, the way, truth and life. He remarked: “Jesus Christ made himself our teacher and in the elevation, Christianization and divinization of a person, he is a unique teacher.” The Church is, likewise, our true teacher in as much as she is Christ’s mystical body. The Church, who is a teacher of faith, morals and prayer carries out and perfects the education and formation of a person so that he/she may become a worthy member of Christ the Head.

Furthermore, the liturgy which he considers as the “book of the Holy Spirit” is an excellent means towards the formation of a true Christian. Commenting on how the Church exercises her teaching and formative ministry through the liturgical year, Blessed Alberione, who was writing in 1952, explained:

The liturgical year presents Jesus Christ to us: Christmas season, Lenten season, Passiontide, Easter season. The season from the manger to the Ascension includes the private life, public ministry, redemption and glorification of Jesus Christ. It lasts about six months of the Church year. Then comes the season after Pentecost, about six months: in it the Church presents and explains to us the teaching, example and means of grace offered us by Jesus Christ: so that faith may be awakened in us, so that we may be trained to live according to Jesus Christ, so that we may use the means of grace he established.

Indeed, Blessed Albeirone realized and fully harnessed the formative value of the liturgical year. He asserted: “Every year we listen to a new lesson – instruction about Jesus Christ in order to grow increasingly in the knowledge, imitation of, and sharing in his life: a continual elevation up to the fullness of the maturity of Christ.”

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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