Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, this volume assembles the liturgical documents needed by students and pastoral ministers to understand the theological, historical, and pastoral significance of this influential liturgical document.
This book presents the basics of liturgy for parish liturgy committees and planning teams, liturgical ministers, and anyone interested in learning more about the way we worship. It offers planners and ministers a way to gain a sense of all the ways liturgy expresses the life of a parish. Whether read from beginning to end or simply selected by a particular topic, these articles assist with teaching and learning about the liturgy. Discussion questions and helpful quotations from a variety of sources are available for individual use or group study. The new revision includes updated quotes from liturgical documents and texts as well as revised study questions and sidebar quotes.
Thousands of readers have found Fr. Mark Boyer’s The Liturgical Environment: What the Documents Say to be a useful compendium of the church’s law and guidelines on the liturgical environment. Rooted in the norm of active participation as the guiding principle for all liturgical celebration, each chapter considers the ecclesial documents that pertain to the particular objects under discussion, the theology found in the documents, and the praxis that flows from the theology. Now in its third edition, The Liturgical Environment has proven to be an essential resource for all those involved in planning, building, renovating, decorating, and worshiping in a sacred environment. This new edition is significantly expanded and revised to take into account important material from the Third Edition of the Roman Missal, the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Pope Benedict’s apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, and the Vatican’s Instruction on the Eucharist, Redemptionis Sacramentum. Additional material has been added on celebrating the parish feast day, principles involved in decorating, and fakery in the liturgical environment. New information on the font and various baptismal scenarios for the Easter Vigil is also included. Three new chapters focus on celebrating marriages, funerals, and anointing the sick; on the concept of progressive solemnity in the liturgy; and on liturgical furniture for conference use when Mass is not celebrated in a church. Finally, new discussion questions present opportunities for reflection and discussion.
This pastoral resource assembles in one convenient volume the essential and current liturgical documents needed to prepare and learn about liturgical celebrations for Sunday. Pastoral overviews explain the theology, purpose, and authority of each of the included documents.
Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, this volume assembles the liturgical documents needed by students and pastoral ministers to understand the theological, historical, and pastoral significance of this influential liturgical document.
This pastoral resource assembles in one convenient volume the essential and current liturgical documents needed to prepare and learn about liturgical celebrations for Sunday. Pastoral overviews explain the theology, purpose, and authority of each of the included documents.
The Word of the Lord at Mass: Understanding the Lectionary is an inviting introduction to the book from which Catholics hear Scripture proclaimed throughout the year. It explains what a Lectionary is, how it developed over time, how our current Lectionary grew out of the Second Vatican Council and differs from previous ones, and how, in harmony with the liturgical year, it presents Bible selections that unfold Christ’s Paschal Mystery. This book will enrich liturgical ministers and anyone interested in the role of the Bible in Catholic life.
Authenticity is a value difficult to define but impossible to ignore in contemporary life. The desire for authentic experience pervades art, music, food, dating, marketing, and politics. Worship is no exception: Vatican documents, megachurch websites, pastors, and liturgy planners all make competing claims to offer the genuine article. But what makes liturgy authentic? What distinguishes real celebration from artificial spectacle, heartfelt prayer from empty ritualism, a living tradition from both stagnation and gimmickry? Can today's Christians perform the liturgy so that it is not a mere performance but a sincere offering of their whole selves? In this book, Nathaniel Marx argues that the defining characteristic of authentic liturgy is harmony. Authentic liturgy happens when the minds of participants are in tune with their voices. The call for worshipers to harmonize their inward and outward offerings of prayer is discernible in the Bible, in the history of Christian prayer, and in diverse efforts to invigorate communal worship today. Marx's argument unfolds the meaning of this call to authentic worship through a provocative and wide-ranging study incorporating scriptural exegesis, liturgical history, anthropology of ritual, and philosophy of action. He argues that authenticity is not a modern buzzword but an ancient virtue essential to worshiping in a spirit of communion.