Father Bux to Cardinal Cupich: The Liturgy Must Elevate Us to Divine Truth and Beauty
Father Nicola Bux writes an open letter to Cardinal Cupich critical of his recent public criticism of the Traditional Latin Mass.
Here below is the full text of the open letter Father Nicola Bux has addressed to Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago.
A liturgical expert and former consulter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Father Bux was responding to an Oct. 22 Vatican Media article in which the cardinal had been critical of the Traditional Latin Mass, claiming it is a “spectacle” that prevents “active participation” of all the baptised.
Read the cardinal’s full article here.
Read my NCRegister article with reaction to the cardinal’s article here.
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To His Eminence Cardinal Blase Cupich
Your Most Reverend Eminence,
“For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.” (1 Cor 4:9). This statement of the Apostle describes the identity of Christianity, both as the proclamation of the Gospel and as the Church’s public worship. Focusing on the latter, it can rightly be said that the liturgy is the spectacle offered to the world by those who adore Christ, the one Lord of the cosmos and of history, to whom they belong and not to the world. This is recalled by the expression “liturgical service,” which is truly appropriate — unlike the term “animation,” now in vogue — as if worship were not already animated by Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit.
After the persecutions, this became evident, because Christians did not burn incense to the Roman emperor but to Jesus, the Son of God. Catholic liturgy therefore has regal and imperial characteristics — Eastern liturgies teach us this — because worship of God stands in opposition to any worship of the worldly rulers of the moment.
It is untrue that the Second Vatican Council desired a poor liturgy, since it asks that “rites should shine with noble simplicity” (Constitution on the Liturgy, 34), because they must speak of the majesty of God, who is noble beauty itself, and not of worldly banalities. The Church understood this from the beginning, both in East and West. Even Saint Francis prescribed that the most precious linens and vessels be used in worship.
What then is the “participation” of the faithful, if not to be part of and to take part in the “spectacle” of a faith that affirms God and therefore challenges the world and its profane spectacles — which are indeed spectacular: think of mega-conferences and rock concerts.The liturgy expresses the Sacred, that is, the Presence of God; it is not a theatrical performance. The participation desired by the last Council must be full, conscious, active, and fruitful (ibid. 11 and 14) — that is, a “mystagogy,” an entry into the Mystery that takes place per preces et ritus [through prayers and rites], which, as Saint Thomas reminds us, must elevate us as much as possible to divine truth and beauty (quantum potes tantum aude); or, in the words of then-Father Robert F. Prevost: “Our mission is to introduce people to the nature of the mystery as an antidote to the spectacle. Consequently, evangelization in the modern world must find adequate means to reorient the public’s attention, shifting it from spectacle toward mystery” (May 11, 2012). The usus antiquior of the Roman rite performs this function; otherwise it could not have withstood the secularization of the Sacred that entered into the Roman liturgy, to the point of making people believe that the Council itself wanted it. This is the identity and mission of the Church.
Finally, Your Eminence, I invite you to consider that the liturgy, since ancient times, was solemn in order to convert many to the faith, and for this reason it must also have an apologetic value and not imitate the fashions of the world, as Saint Cyprian reminds us (applause, dances, etc.), up to the “deformations at the limit of the bearable” that entered the novus ordo, as Benedict XVI observed. This is the authenticity of the “sacred liturgy”; this is the ars celebrandi, as demonstrated by the offertory of the Mass, which is performed for the needs of worship and for the poor.
Therefore, Your Eminence, I ask you to engage in a synodal dialogue for the good of ecclesial unity!
In the Lord Jesus,
Fr. Nicola Bux
Well-said, Father. Thank you for puncturing the Cardinal’s pretentious bubble.
There is nothing lackluster about God changing bread and wine into himself.