Summary of the July 2022 issue of Worship
Worship is a peer-reviewed, international ecumenical journal for the study of liturgy and liturgical renewal. Founded in 1926 by Virgil Michel, OSB, and the monks of Saint John’s Abbey, Worship is published quarterly in Collegeville, Minnesota. Subscribe to Worship here.
THE AMEN CORNER
The Pandemic Push for Inculturation
Carmel Pilcher, RSJ
ESSAYS
Offering for Change: The Logic of Consecration that Unites Early Christian Anaphoras
Matthew S. C. Oliver
A debate that has continued amongst liturgical scholars is the euchological means by which the consecration of bread and wine is expressed. The debate is typically divided along the two axes of the recitation of Christ’s words of institution and the request for the Holy Spirit’s action upon the bread and wine. This article proposes that a close reading of the structure and texts of a range of representative anaphoras reveals a shared logic of consecration that unites the Roman Canon to the Eastern varieties: namely, that consecration occurs in the divine acceptance of the offered bread and wine. This approach not only saves us from the equally “magical” tendencies that over-emphases on either axis can produce. It also pushes us to interpret such anaphoras as a complex whole, attending to the fact that the act of offering is always within anamnetic memorializing of the historical actions of Christ.
Eternal Folds in Time: The Liturgical Realization of the Kingdom
Henry Shea, SJ
As a perpetuation of the mystery of Christ that furthers participation in its divinizing dynamism, the liturgy enfolds past and future in its present to advance the kingdom realized and presaged by the entrance of the eternal in time in the Word made flesh. As endowed with intersecting horizontal and vertical as well as objective and subjective dimensions, this liturgical integration of time serves as a privileged sacramental medium for an inclusive and realized eschaton. By furthering participation in the mystery that grounds and actualizes our hope, each liturgical celebration becomes a recirculative advance, however partial, toward the end that “God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
The Second Readings of the Sunday Lectionary: An Appreciation
Normand Bonneau, OMI
The second readings from the Apostolic writings in the revised lectionary for Sundays and Solemnities continue to be a challenge both for homilists and worshipping communities. Two main factors tend to hamper an appreciation of these readings: their setting in the overall design of the lectionary and their literary genre as letters (the vast majority of these readings are, in fact, drawn from the New Testament letters). After examining in some detail these two factors, the article proposes to reframe the second readings in their liturgical context, underscoring their function and significance, as a way to foster an enhance their valuing. The conclusion offers suggestions on how this aim might be achieved.
Eucharist in the “Wild West”: The Experience of Children at 10 a.m. Sunday Mass
Christopher M. O’Brien (Chris O’Brien)
In this article, I employ a combination of ethnographic study (participant observations and interviews), ritual theory, and theological reflection in an attempt to understand the experience of young children at 10 a.m. Sunday Mass. I focus my analysis on two specific rituals: the presentation of the gifts and the “cookie and juice ritual,” which entails the enjoyment of cookie and juice by children immediately after Mass. Both of these rituals facilitate physical, embodied experiences of participation for children. I conclude the study with implications for parents, worshipping communities, the Roman Catholic Church, and all who share the interest and responsibility of fostering the engagement of children in liturgical prayer. Though this 10 a.m. Mass might seem like “the Wild West” to an observer or adult participant, to a child it is an opportunity for embodied engagement and communal participation in the life of God and the life of the Church.
BOOK REVIEWS
Nicholas Denysenko reviews Timothy Brunk, The Sacraments and Consumer Culture (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2020), 212 pages, $24.95, ISBN: 9780814685082.
Robert Schreiter reviews Massimo Faggioli, The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis: Moving toward Global Catholicity (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020), xiii+205 pages, $27.00, ISBN: 9781626983687.
Richard S. Vosko reviews Catherine R. Osborne, American Catholics and the Church of Tomorrow: Building Churches for the Future, 1925-1975 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), 297 pages, $45.00, ISBN: 9780226561028.
Kyle J. Dieleman reviews Barbara Pitkin, Calvin, the Bible, and History: Exegesis and Historical Reflection in the Era of Reform (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), 250 pages, $99.00, ISBN: 9780190093273.
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