Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi. As we Worship, So we Believe, So we Live

By Deacon Keith Fournier
11/8/2010
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

There is a reciprocity between Worship and Life

Liturgical worship is not an "add on" for a Catholic Christian. It is the foundation of Catholic identity; expressing our highest purpose.Worship reveals what we truly believe and how we view ourselves in relationship to God, one another and the world into which we are sent to carry forward the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ. How the Church worships is a prophetic witness to the truth of what she professes. Good worship becomes a dynamic means of drawing the entire human community into the fullness of life in Jesus Christ. It attracts - through beauty to Beauty.

'Paying less attention at times to the rite of the Most Holy Sacrament constitutes a sign and a cause of the darkening of the Christian sense of mystery, such as when Jesus is not the centre of the Mass, but rather a community preoccupied with other things instead of being taken up and drawn to the only one necessary: their Lord..if the figure of Christ does not emerge from the liturgy . it is not a Christian liturgy' Pope Benedict XVI.

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CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - There is a Latin maxim that addresses the centrality of worship in the life, identity and mission of the Catholic Church; "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi". The phrase in Latin literally means the law of prayer ("the way we worship") is the law of belief ("what we believe"). It is sometimes expanded to as, "lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi", further deepening the implications of this truth - how we worship reflects what we believe and determines how we will live.

The Church has long understood that part of her role as mother and teacher is to watch over worship, for the sake of the faithful and in obedience to the God whom she serves. How we worship not only reveals and guards what we believe but guides us in how we live our Christian faith and fulfill our Christian mission in the world by manifesting the continuing presence of the Risen Jesus Christ.

How the Church worships is a prophetic witness to the truth of what she professes. Good worship becomes a dynamic means of drawing the entire human community into the fullness of life in Jesus Christ. It attracts - through beauty to Beauty. Liturgical worship informs and transforms both the person and the worshipping community which participates in it. There is reciprocity between worship and life.

I have spent decades in ecumenical work. Perhaps that explains why I find it odd that right when so many of our Christian friends in other confessions and communities are searching for a deeper encounter with the beauty of the Lord in formal worship; for sign, symbol and mystery, for a connection with the ancient Church in her divine worship, some parts of the Catholic Church are discarding the very treasures that make her formal liturgical worship so beautiful, full of mystery and so compelling and attractive to those seeking a deeper experience of worship and Christian life.

Sadly, what may have begun as a sincere effort to simplify, itself an invitation into beauty when properly achieved, often devolved into a form of liturgical minimalism. The liturgical minimalism I speak of begins when you enter what is sometimes called the "worship space" of some contemporary church buildings. There are very few symbols anywhere. There are few if any icons or images reflecting the heavenly touching the earth, drawing one into a transcendent encounter with the God who we receive and in whom we are invited to live and move and have our being.

On Sundays, before Holy Mass begins, this "worship space" is often filled with people conversing about the week - no screaming mind you, or irreverance, but little that sets it apart as the place where God Incarnate, Jesus, the Second person of the Most Holy Trinity, will manifest Himself and give Himself away, body, blood, soul and divinity, to we who are mere mortals invited into His throne room. The tabernacle, which in times past invited genuflection of both body and spirit in preparation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is now more often in a separate small nondescript room outside of the "worship space". Silence, which invites interior preparation, is hard to find.

I am not a "traditionalist" Catholic, although I understand and respect those who are. I am just a Christian who chooses to live my faith in its fullness, as a Catholic. I am a "revert", drawn back to that fullness of Christianity that is dynamic, orthodox, faithful Catholic life and practice. I have the utmost respect for my brethren who are Protestants in each of their various confessions and communities. However, I am not one, by choice. I do not want a Protestant looking church building or a stripped down Catholicism whose worship seems more protestant than Catholic. I do not want barren liturgy and symbol-less Catholicism.

Over the last two decades, some who purported to be liturgical experts too often stripped away the richness and the depth that draws so many to the treasure that is Catholic worship and life. Their numbers and influence are dwindling. The Catholic seminaries that are full (and their number is increasing) are filled with candidates who want the vibrant, symbolic, faithful, richly liturgical, devout fullness of Catholic faith and life.The movement toward dynamic, symbolic and beautiful Liturgy is not about going "backward" but forward and toward eternal worship.

The ecclesial movements are flourishing, drawing men and women who also want the fullness of Catholic worship, faith and life in all of its rich beauty. The new Catholics, coming ...

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

Pam
2 years ago
Excellent Article - Between the abortion problem we have in our beloved country and the minimalizing of God "worship" in many, if not most, of our Catholic Churches these days we are in a big mess! Our hedonistic culture has crept into our manner of even celebrating the Mass--What we "get out of it" is the main criteria; what Jesus once "did," which is renewed on the Altar at every Mass appears secondary; in many cases, it is hardly even realized on our part due to poor catechesis.... We have to get back to teaching and living in accord with the basics on all fronts: our christian principles as a nation (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness) and the study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, so we "know" what we mean when we say "I believe" in our Churches, or we won't survive the mess we are in! The de-construction and decor of our Churches these doesn't facilitate a turning of one's heart and mind toward heavenly realities, either. The "signs of the times" are rather apparent; the reality is incredibly sad--even alarming! Let us pray, do penance and offer our sufferings in union with the sufferings of Christ (as St. Paul put it in Col 1:24)--for our conversion and return to really being: "One Nation, Under God, Indivisible...!"
jh
2 years ago
Deacon, your comments are most apt.

Our Lord has shown us the way to worship, and He gives Himself to us in the Sacrifice of the Mass.
TedofWindsor
2 years ago
Dear Deacon Keith, your article is very good. I agree 100% with Fr. Thomas that you should not be afraid of calling you 'traditionalist'... "Because whether we like it or not all catholics are traditionalists since we follow a tradition of more than 2000 years."
As a practising Catholic ('traditionalist') I always believed that the Sacrifice of Calvary is renewed on the altar at the Holy Mass. By means of the sacrificing priest, the bread and wine is changed into the very Body and Blood of Our Lord at the moment of the Consecration. The words that the priest says at this moment constitute the Transubstantiation, a change of substance. If we introduce the abolition of the sacrificial character of the Mass – We have a man-made liturgy in which mention of the Sacrifice of Calvary has been insistently removed, as well as any sacrificial tone, and only the notions of praise and thanksgiving retained therefore the Mass will be mainly a banquet, and not a SACRIFICE.
Our Pope Benedict XVI presents his discussion of the Holy Eucharist from the perspective of the Eucharist as “the food of truth,” God’s greatest gift to mankind, necessary for eternal life. He encourages the faithful to enthusiastically renew their commitment to the Eucharist, the sacrament of charity. He seeks to help Christians develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between the Eucharist, the liturgy and spiritual worship through an historical and theological discussion of the Eucharist as the very source of faith.
Deacon Keith, your article touched my heart, "Thank You". I do agree that we need more attention to what we are actually receiving at Mass, the magnificent gift that is given to us at each Mass."Mass Is Church's Life and Breath". "The liturgy is the heart of the Church." If the Church doesn't pray, it doesn't live. The liturgy is the respiration of the life of the Church. The Church was born to adore God, to honor and praise him. The Mass is the highest act that the Church can perform; there is nothing higher. The ars celebrandi should foster a sense of the sacred and the use of outward signs which help to cultivate this sense, such as, for example, the harmony of the rite, the liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the sacred space. The eucharistic celebration is enhanced when priests and liturgical leaders are committed to making known the current liturgical texts and norms, making available the great riches found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Order of Readings for Mass.
Equally important for a correct ars celebrandi is an attentiveness to the various kinds of language that the liturgy employs: words and music, gestures and silence, movement, the liturgical colours of the vestments. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that "the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love" . The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. (Generic improvisation of the liturgy should be avoided). In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost.
Janine Johnson
2 years ago
Law of prayer = Law of Faith
New Law of prayer = New Faith
New Law of prayer = New Mass (novus ordo)
New Mass does not equal Old Mass
New Faith does not equal Old Faith

Hence, New Church in extreme peril.
s lefler
2 years ago
Fr thomas I totaly agree with you I have been searching for 10-15 yrs to get back to the catholic churches of old. When they stripped our churches of the symbols and signs I lost myself and now I am back, but still searching at times. In todays world we need tradition and history more than ever
fr.thomas
2 years ago
Very good article. But deacon Keith do not be afraid of calling you 'traditionalist'. Because whether we like it or not all catholics are traditionalists since we follow a tradition of more than 2000 years. This doesn't mean that we should not be open for change but we have to be very careful while moving away from any tradition. Now we see the result of the so called reformists of the church. As you expressed here the symbols, and signs which denoted the heavenly life are completely destroyed from the life of catholics. Let us pray that a meaningful revival of the church may come and the catholics may realise the values and pride of being catholics. God bless us.

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