Beauty in the Sacred Liturgy According to the Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI

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BEAUTY IN THE SACRED LITURGY,ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF POPE

BENEDICT XVIMarch 19, 2011 :: Cardinal Raymond BurkeLeave a CommentNEDERLANDSE VERENIGING VOOR LATIJNSE LITURGIE ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING ARCHDIOCESE OF UTRECHT 19 MARCH 2011

BEAUTY IN THE SACRED LITURGY, ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF

POPE BENEDICT XVI

Introduction

First of all, I wish to thank His Grace, Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk, and the

Dutch Association for Latin Liturgy for the invitation to celebrate the Holy Mass

and to speak at the Annual General Meeting of the Association. In a special way,

I wish to commend the Association for all that it is doing to promote the

celebration of the Sacred Liturgy in Latin, the mother tongue of the Church, in

accord with the directives of the Second Vatican EcumenicalCouncil.[1]Your

dedication in the promotion of the Sacred Liturgy is especially important in

todays culture which has grown so secular and, therefore, forgetful of God and

of His living presence with us in the Church, especially through the celebration

of the Sacred Liturgy. It is my hope that my words, today, will confirm the work

of the Association and also offer some measure of inspiration to you in carrying

forward the same work. Above all, I hope that my words will, in some manner,

lead all of us to a more profound and grateful appreciation of our life in Christ

in His Mystical Body, the Church. There is nothing more beautiful in the world
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than the life of Christ within us through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,

especially in the Sacraments. I hope that our time together today will lift up our

minds to contemplate the extraordinary nature of our ordinary life in the

Church, informed by sound doctrine, nourished through the Sacraments and

their extension in our prayer and devotion, and lived in the practice of the

virtues. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Truth, Beauty and Goodness Incarnate. Living

completely and faithfully in Him, we encounter, especially through the sacredliturgy, the True, the Beautiful and the Good. Living in Christ, we live in

communion with each member of the Church, in every part of the world and in

every period of time. Indeed, we participate in the Communion of Saints. Like

Mary of Bethany, we, encountering the Lord living for us in the Church, wish to

offer to Him our worship; we wish to give glory to Him by the very best means

at our disposition.[2]His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI who is an extraordinary

teacher of the faith has devoted himself, both as a theologian and as a shepherd

of the flock, to teaching about the sacred liturgy, as the highest and best

expression of our life in Christ. His teaching is certainly a most fitting

instrument for our reflection today. In my exposition of his liturgical theology, I

wish, first, to present some philosophical principles on beauty and sacred art,

and then reflect on beauty in the sacred liturgy according to his teaching, with

special reference to sacred music.

Philosophical Principles

In the Catholic tradition, beauty is a metaphysical and ultimately theological

notion. The search of beauty has nothing to do with mere aesthetic sensibility or

a flight from reason, because, from the divine perspective, beauty, together with

truth and goodness, is a manifestation of being. God, the origin and sustainer of

all being is truth, beauty and goodness itself. In the language of metaphysics,

truth, beauty and goodness are the transcendentals. In other words, to the

degree that any reality participates in being and ultimately in the being of God,

that reality is true, beautiful and good. In the Compendiumof theCatechism of

the Catholic Churchwe find an extraordinary declaration which summarizes

the theological notion of beauty. It is especially noteworthy that the text in

question is found in the section of the Compendiumwhich treats the Eighth

Commandment: You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor. In

response to question no. 526, What relationship exists between truth, beauty

and sacred art?, the Compendium declares:

The truth is beautiful, carrying in itself the splendour of spiritual beauty. In
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addition to the expression of the truth in words there are other complementary

expressions of the truth, most specifically in the beauty of artistic works. These

are the fruit both of talents given by God and of human effort. Sacred artby

being true and beautiful should evoke and glorify the mystery of God made

visible in Christ, and lead to the adoration and love of God, the Creator and

Savior, who is the surpassing, invisible Beauty of Truth and Love.[3]

The beauty of sacred art is always a fruit of a deeper knowledge and love of God

in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Who is all beautiful.[4]In the

context of modern and contemporary western culture, it is precisely the

transcendent dimension of beauty, as interchangeable with truth and goodness,

which is contested. In the rationalist thinking which has exercised so strong an

influence in contemporary western culture, beauty has been stripped of its

metaphysical meaning; it has been emancipated from the order of being and

reduced to an aesthetic experience or indeed to a matter of feeling. Thedisastrous consequences of this revolution are not limited to the world of art.

Rather, along with the loss of beauty, we have also lost goodness and truth. The

good is now determined by what pleases the individual or group in power, such

that what I determine is good, according to my preference and convenience, can

mean destruction for another or for the world around. At the same time, there

is the pretense that the individual determines what is true for him, so that the

individual determines when human life begins or what constitutes marriage

and the family. One of the most painful results of the contemporary alienationof beauty from the good and the true is an aesthetics which rejects anything

beautiful as a deception and holds that only the representation of what is crude,

vulgar and low corresponds to the truth. A similar aesthetics has had an effect

on the sacred liturgy, as well as on sacred art and architecture. The great

tradition of Catholic art, architecture, language, music and gesture in which the

Churchs forms of prayer and worship have been expressed, are now often met,

even within the Church, with a similar distrust and suspicion. It has not been a

rare thing to hear that beauty is not an appropriate category of the Churchsworship. In the false interpretation of the liturgical reform mandated by the

Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, the destruction of beautiful altar pieces

and statuary, for example, in some parts of the Church was justified. I need not

dwell on what happened to sacred music in the post-Conciliar period. The

corrosion worked by such thinking in the Church seems to be a manifestation of

the perennial temptation of iconoclasm, which has beset the Church repeatedly

down the Christian centuries. According to such thinking, what is ugly appeals
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because of its honesty and simplicity. In an essay on beauty, written in 2002, the

then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger reflected on Psalm 44[45], which describes the

wedding of the King, his beauty, his virtues, his mission, and then becomes an

exaltation of his bride.[5]He goes on to explain:

[T]he Church reads this psalm as a poetic-prophetic representation of Christs

spousal relationship with his Church. She recognizes Christ as the fairest ofmen, the grace poured upon his lips points to the inner beauty of his words, the

glory of his proclamation. So it is not merely the external beauty of the

Redeemers appearance that is glorified: rather, the beauty of Truth appears in

him, the beauty of God himself who draws us to himself and, at the same time,

captures us with the wound of Love, the holy passion (eros), that enables us to

go forth together, with and in the Church his Bride, to meet the Love who calls

us.[6]

It is the same Christ to Whom the Church, remembering His Passion, applies the

words of Isaiah 53:2: He had neither beauty, nor majesty, nothing to attract our

eyes, no grace to make us delight in him. In the suffering Christ, we come to

know that the beauty of truth also embraces offence, pain, and even the dark

mystery of death, and that this can only be found in accepting suffering, not in

ignoring it. Hence Pope Benedict XVI speaks of a paradoxical beauty, which

implies not a contradiction but a contrast. The totality of Christs beauty is

revealed to us when we contemplate the disfigured image of the crucified

Saviour, which shows us his love to the end.[7]We, therefore, learn to

contemplate the redemptive beauty of Christ, crucified and glorified, which

shines forth with particular splendor in the saints and is also reflected in the

works of art the faith has generated. The great masterpieces of sacred art and

sacred music have the power to lift our hearts to higher things and lead us

beyond ourselves to God, Who is Beauty itself. It is the Holy Fathers conviction

that this encounter is the true apology of the Christian faith.[8]

Sacred Art and the Sacred Liturgy

For the Church, beauty is manifested most fully and perfectly in the sacred

liturgy, in the sacramental encounter with the living Christ Who dwells within

the Church through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pope Benedict, during his

visit to the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz in Austria in September 2007,

exhorted the priests and consecrated persons with these words:

I ask you to celebrate the sacred liturgy with your gaze fixed on God within the
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communion of saints, the living Church of every time and place, so that it will

truly be an expression of the sublime beauty of the God who has called men and

women to be his friends![9]

His words apply to all who have been brought to life in Christ and, therefore,

worship God the Father in spirit and truth.[10]Pope Benedict XVI emphasized

beauty in the sacred liturgy in his Post-synodal ApostolicExhortation Sacramentum Caritatisof 2007. He wrote:

This relationship between creed and worship is evidenced in a particular way

by the rich theological and liturgical category of beauty. Like the rest of

Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis

splendor. The liturgy is a radiant expression of the paschal mystery, in which

Christ draws us to himself and calls us to communion. As Saint Bonaventure

would say, in Jesus we contemplate beauty and splendor at their source. This is

no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of Gods love in

Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from

ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love. God allows

himself to be glimpsed first in creation, in the beauty and harmony of the

cosmos (cf. Wis13:5;Rom 1:19-20). In the Old Testament we see many signs of

the grandeur of Gods power as he manifests his glory in his wondrous deeds

among the Chosen People (Ex 14; 16:10; 24:12-18;Nm14:20-23). In the New

Testament this epiphany of beauty reaches definitive fulfillment in Gods

revelation in Jesus Christ: Christ is the full manifestation of the glory of God. In

the glorification of the Son, the Fathers glory shines forth and is communicated

(cf.Jn1:14; 8:54; 12:28; 17:1). Yet this beauty is not simply a harmony of

proportion and form; the fairest of the sons of men (Ps45[44]:3) is also,

mysteriously, the one who had no form or comeliness that we should look at

him, and no beauty that we should desire him (Is 53:2). Jesus Christ shows us

how the truth of love can transform even the dark mystery of death into the

radiant light of the resurrection. Here the splendor of Gods glory surpasses all

worldly beauty. The truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed

himself to us in the paschal mystery.[11]

In his treatise on the Sacred Liturgy, The Spirit of the Liturgy, the then Cardinal

Joseph Ratzinger addressed the incongruity of any form of art which is

completely free expression, that is, which is without reference to the objective

order of things. He declares: No sacred art can come from an isolated

subjectivity.[12]Sacred art at the service of the sacred liturgy is, therefore,
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fundamentally an expression of faith. I call to mind visiting, for the first time, a

cathedral constructed during the last decade, whose architect was, in fact a non-

believer. Concelebrating the Holy Mass within the cathedral, I was struck by the

peculiarity of a number of the furnishings in the sanctuary. The ambo seemed

especially peculiar to me. When I asked an Auxiliary Bishop from the diocese in

question about the furnishings, he responded that I needed to understand that

the principle of the architecture of the cathedral was asymmetry. He assuredme that my reaction was justified because everything in the building is meant

ultimately, in accord with the principle of asymmetry, to throw me off. I could

only comment that it seemed strange to me to construct a temple to the God of

order and harmony by employing an architecture of asymmetry. In truth, it

seems fundamentally unjust to ask an architect or artist, who does not enjoy the

gift of faith, to design a Catholic church or any of its furnishings. At best, he can

mechanically imitate the work of another who has the faith; at worst, his art

will express something other than faith and, even, perhaps contrary to the faith.

The then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote:

Without faith there is no art commensurate with the liturgy. Sacred art stands

beneath the imperative stated in the second epistle to the Corinthians. Gazing at

the Lord, we are changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another;

for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (3:18).[13]

He then urges that the Church, recognizing that sacred art is a gift which is

received and not manufactured by the artist, foster a faith that sees.[14]The

beauty of the liturgy is manifested concretely through material objects and

bodily gestures, which man a unity of soul and body needs to elevate himself

toward the realities of faith that transcend the visible world. This means that

sacred architecture and sacred art, including sacred furnishing, vestments,

vessels and linens, must be of such quality that they can express and

communicate the beauty and majesty of the liturgy as the action of Christ in our

midst, uniting heaven to earth. The Venerable, soon to be Blessed, Pope John

Paul II, in his last Encyclical Letter,Ecclesia de Eucharistia of 2003, recalled the

biblical foundation of the Churchs concern for the beauty of her divine

worship, namely, the account of the anointing of Jesus at Bethany:

A woman, whom John identifies as Mary the sister of Lazarus, pours a flask

ofcostly ointment over Jesus head, which provokes from the disciples and

from Judas in particular (cf.Mt 26:8;Mk 14:4;Jn12:4) an indignant response,

as if this act, in light of the needs of the poor, represented an intolerable


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waste. But Jesus own reaction is completely different. While in no way

detracting from the duty of charity towards the needy, for whom the disciples

must always show special care the poor you will always have with you

(Mt26:11;Mk 14:7; cf.Jn 12:8) he looks towards his imminent death and burial,

and sees this act of anointing as an anticipation of the honour which his body

will continue to merit even after his death, indissolubly bound as it is to the

mystery of his person.[15]

This story, above all, illustrates that care for the beauty of churches and for

everything employed in the Sacred Liturgy is a connatural expression of love

for God. Even in a place in which the Church does not have great material

resources, this should be a priority. In this regard, I refer to Pope Benedict XIV

(1740-1758), one of the great popes of the 18th century, who wrote these words

in his Encylical LetterAnnus Qui, dedicated to sacred music:

We do not intend, with these words, to insist on sumptuous or magnificent

accoutrements for holy buildings, nor on rich or expensive furnishings. We are

aware these are not everywhere possible. What we wish is decency and

cleanliness. These can go hand in hand with poverty and can be adapted to it.

[16]

The history of the Church is, in fact, rich with examples of great sacrifices made

by persons of modest economic means, so that they could provide for the

construction of truly beautiful churches, with sculptures in wood and marble,stained-glass windows, and vestments and linens of high quality. Faith that

sees is critical to the appreciation of the immense treasure of beauty, which

previous generations have left us in their remarkable works of sacred art and

architecture. The great cathedrals and churches all around the world are not

just cultural monuments. They are, first and foremost, testimonies of the

Catholic faith. The then Cardinal Ratzinger, in his masterwork, The Spirit of the

Liturgy, observed:

The great cultural tradition of the faith is home to a presence of immense

power. What in museums is only a monument from the past, an occasion for

mere nostalgic admiration, is constantly made present in the liturgy in all its

freshness.[17]

During his apostolic visit to France, Pope Benedict was inspired to a similar

reflection during his Homily for Vespers on September 12, 2008, in the

magnificent Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, which he described as a living
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hymn of stone and light in praise of that act, unique in the annals of human

history: the eternal Word of God entering our history in the fullness of time to

redeem us by his self-offering in the sacrifice of the Cross.[18]The Cathedral of

Notre-Dame is truly an architectural hymn in praise of the mystery of the

Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God in the Blessed Virgin Mary. As Pope

Benedict XVI recalled, it was in the same cathedral that the poet Paul Claudel

(1868-1955) had a singular experience of the beauty of God, during the singing

of the Magnificat of the Vespers of Christmas in 1886, which led to his

conversion to the Catholic faith.[19]It must not escape us that the via

pulchritudinis, the way of beauty, is a significant and irreplaceable way for the

proclamation of God to a culture beset by secularism and materialism. Sacred

Music and the Beauty of the Sacred LiturgyThe then Cardinal Ratzinger

places the discussion of sacred music in the Church in the context of the

relationship between the Church and contemporary culture, on which we have

already reflected in the consideration of philosophical principles. As I have

noted in the discussion of the philosophical principles, the growing division

between faith and culture, from the time of the Enlightenment, presents a

particular challenge for sacred music. The then Cardinal Ratzinger notes that,

notwithstanding the struggle with a growing secularism, especially during the

second half of the nineteenth century as well as at the beginning of the

twentieth century, great things were accomplished that can be placed beside

the main trend in culture at that time since they are of completely equal

rank.[20]Among those accomplishments, also reflective of the spirit of the

time, was the rediscovery and renewal of Gregorian chant and great

polyphonic church music.[21]He notes that art itself is destroyed in a culture

which has become completely secularized, for art is detached from beauty and

its source in God. He observes the phenomenon of music dividing itself into

two worlds that hardly have anything to do with each other any more: 1) the

music of the masses, which, with the label pop or popular music, would like to

portray itself as the music of the people; and 2) a rationally construed,

artificial music with the highest technical requirements which is hardly capable

of reaching out beyond a small, elite circle.[22]Noting that the Church must

engage in a dialogue with the cultural situation, Pope Benedict XVI rightly

observes that the dialogue must be true, that is, it must be two-way:

When people rightly call for a new dialogue between Church and culture today,

they must not forget in the process that this dialogue must necessarily be

bilateral. It cannot consist in the Church finally subjecting itself to modern
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culture, which has been caught up to a large extent in a process of self-doubt

since it lost its religious base. Just as the Church must expose herself to the

problems of our age in a radically new way, so too must culture be questioned

anew about its groundlessness and its ground, and in the process be opened to a

painful cure, that is, to a new reconciliation with religion since it can get is

lifeblood only from there.[23]

It is evident that sacred music must play a central role in the questioning of the

culture by faith, in the new evangelization of culture. The then Cardinal

Ratzinger, in fact, sees sacred music as a part of the great challenge of the

Church today. He declares:

For this reason the issue of church music is really a very vital piece of a

comprehnesive task for our age which requires more than mere dialogue; it

requires a process of rediscovering ourselves.[24]

It, in no way, seems to be an exaggeration to believe that the service of sacred

music in the worship of God, in accord with the principles set forth perennially

in the Churchs teaching and discipline, indeed helps our culture to rediscover

itself. The Church, Mother and Teacher, witnesses, in our society, mans

profound hunger and thirst for God, his desire to know the ground of his being

in the act of boundless and ceaseless love of God for him, the love which has

reached its perfect and lasting expression in the Redemptive Incarnation of God

the Son, Who is alive for us in His Mystical Body, the Church. The signs of thehunger and thirst are manifold and sometimes quite surprising. I think, for

instance, of the great popularity of the compact disks of Gregorian Chant sung

by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey at Silos in Spain. I recall reading how

popular these CDs were among the motorcyclists of America. More than likely,

these devotees of motorcycling knew little about the music to which they were

listening, but it conveyed something to their souls which the rock or country

music, to which they may have usually listened, did not and could not.

The Biblical Norm for Sacred Music

In addressing the important service of sacred music in worship, Pope Benedict

XVI directs us to find the authoritative norm in the Sacred Scriptures, in

particular, in theBook of Psalms. He observes:

A first approach to the topic [of music in worship] presents itself if we recall

that the Bible contains its own hymnal: the Psalter, which was not only born


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from the practice of singing and playing musical instruments during worship

but also contains by itself in the practice, the live performance essential

elements of a theory of music in faith and for faith.[25]

Because of the unique function of the Psalter as a bridge between the Law and

the Prophets, as well as a bridge between the Old and the New Testaments, the

Psalms provide an authoritative key to an understanding of sacred music in ourtime. In fact, it is not by accident that the Psalms remain central to Christian

worship, for Christ brings to the fullness of expression these divinely-inspired

songs of King David. The Holy Father selects a verse of Psalm 47, which Saint

Jerome translated, psallite sapienter,as the starting point for understanding

the profound teaching on sacred music, which is inherent to the Psalms as a

living music offered for the worship of God and the sanctification of the singers.

After a thorough study of the verse and of the meaning of psallite, in general,

he is able to draw the following conclusions. First, the imperative to make apsalm wisely, which is found throughout the Sacred Scriptures, is the concrete

version of the call to worship and glorify God which is revealed in the Bible as

the most profound vocation of human beings.[26]Making a psalm refers, first

of all, to singing, but also to the use of instruments : in which, as it were,

creation is made to sound.[27]It is, in the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger,

necessary for responding to God, who touches us precisely in the totality of our

being.[28]Secondly, [t]he musical imperative of the Bible is therefore not

entirely unspecified but refers to a form that biblical faith gradually created foritself as the appropriate mode of its expression.[29]Here, one sees clearly the

contribution which the development of sacred music, in every time, is called to

make to the culture in which the Church finds itself. Since the Redemptive

Incarnation, sacred music serves the worship of God, worship through, with

and in God the Son Incarnate. Regarding his second conclusion, the then

Cardinal Ratzinger notes the definitive transformation of the Biblical

imperative, which makes it ever new in the Church:

But the truly new, which had hitherto been merely awaited, happened only

now, in the mystery of Jesus Christ. The new song praises his death and

resurrection and hence proclaims Gods new deed to the whole world: that he

himself has descended into the anguish of the human state and into the pit of

death; that he embraces all of us on the cross with his stretched-out arms and,

as the Risen One, takes us up to the Father across the abyss of the infinite divide

separating creator and creature, which only crucified love can cross. Thus, the


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old song has become new and must be sung as such over and over again.[30]

It is Christ Himself, by the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation, Who makes

possible the encounter of His Mystical Body with culture in such a way that a

song ever new is sung to the Father in the Church. Thirdly, the qualifier,

sapienter, that is wisely or with reason, means that sacred music expresses the

Word spoken by God, both in creation and through the living Tradition of theChurch. The form of sacred music, in other words, must be coherent with the

Word of God. The then Cardinal Ratzinger observes:

There is an art form corresponding to God, who, from the beginning and in each

life, is the creative Word which also gives meaning. This art form stands under

the primacy of logos; that is, it integrates the diversity of the human being from

the perspective of this beings highest moral and spiritual powers, but in this

way it also leads the spirit out of rationalistic and voluntaristic confinement

into the symphony of creation.[31]

Put simply, sacred music must be coherent with the Word of God handed on to

us in the Church. The word, sapienter, is also understood to mean with art,

in other words, sacred music demands the exercise of mans highest abilities,

so that his art, according to the extent of [his] ability, corresponds with the

complete dignity of the beautiful, the height of true art.[32]The biblical

analogue of sacred music is found in the teaching on the construction of the

sacred tabernacle in theBook of Exodus. [33]Three elements are identified inthe instruction. First of all, [a]rtistic creation reproduces what God has shown

as model, or, in other words, it is not the invention of man. In the words of the

then Cardinal Ratzinger, artistic creativeness in the book of Exodus is seeing

together with God, participating in his creativity; it is exposing the beauty that is

already waiting and concealed in creation.[34]Secondly, artists are described

as people to whom the Lord has given understanding and skill so that they can

carry out what God has instructed them to do.[35]The work of the artist is,

therefore, a supreme act of obedience, conforming his gifts to the instruction

given to him by God. Finally, theBook of Exodustells us that every sacred artists

heart was stirred.[36]In other words, the Spirit of God is at work in the mind,

heart and hand of the artist to give glory to God and to edify His sons and

daughters. The then Cardinal Ratzinger concludes his analysis with these

words:

For church music this means that everything the Old Testament has to say
https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_36https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_35https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_34https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_33https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_32https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_31https://catholicaction.org/2011/03/beauty-in-the-sacred-liturgy-according-to-the-teaching-of-pope-benedict-xvi/#footnote_30


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about art its necessity, its essence, and its dignity is concealed in the bene

cantare of the psalms.[37]

Sacred music, that is, music written for the sacred work of giving worship to

God and sanctifying the faithful, by definition, must be a work which begins in

obedience to Gods Word and is brought to conclusion with the help of His

grace.

Conclusions for Sacred Music Today

The then Cardinal Ratzinger draws, from his study of the relationship of the

Church to culture in what pertains to sacred music, three practical conclusions

for today. First of all, sacred music must avoid any form of aestheticism, that is,

a notion of music which excludes service of the glory of God and the salvation

of souls. Cardinal Ratzinger declares regarding aestheticism:

The philosophy at work here belies the creaturely determination of the human

being; it would like to elevate the human person to the level of a pure creator.

But in this way it leads the human person into untruth, into contradiction with

his or her own nature; untruth, however, always drifts into the disintegration of

what is creative.[38]

According to the Christian understanding, however, it belongs to the essence of

human beings that they come from Gods art, that they themselves are a part of

Gods art and as perceivers can think and view Gods creative ideas with him

and translate them into the visible and the audible.[39]The norms of sacred

art and architecture, set forth in theBook of Exodus, therefore, always apply to

any art at the service of the worship of God and the sanctification of the faithful.

Music, for example, which does not serve the articulation of the texts of the

sacred liturgy cannot be truly sacred music. Music which may have a certain

integrity and beauty but which distracts from the inherently sacred action of

the liturgy, drawing attention to itself alone or directing itself to human

sentiments and emotions which distract from the worship of God cannot be

sacred music. Secondly, pastoral pragmatism, which is only looking for

success, is also incompatible with the mission of Church music.[40]The then

Cardinal Ratzinger specifically mentions rock music which has been introduced

into the sacred liturgy through a certain pragmatic approach, noting that its

radical anthropological opposition to both faiths image of human beings and

its cultural intent has been amply and competently elucidated by

others.[41]The then Cardinal Ratzinger concludes:


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Is it a pastoral success when we are capable of following the trend of mass

culture and thus share in the blame for its making people immature or

irresponsible? The medium of communication and the communicated message

must stand in a meaningful relationship with each other. Trivializing faith is

not a new inculturation, but the denial of its culture and prostitution with the

nonculture. [42]

The then Cardinal Ratzinger distinguishes pop music from folk music which is

able to provide a service to the Sacred Liturgy, if it is purified and elevated, in

accord with the essential qualities of sacred music, as set forth by Pope Saint

Pius X, in accord with the constant tradition of the Church, that is, the qualities

of holiness, beauty and universality.[43]Finally, the Church must embrace the

challenge presented by contemporary culture with confidence and with a

steadfast adherence to the faith and what it demands of us. The then Cardinal

Ratzinger observed that, first of all, the conversation between the Church andthe culture in the matter of sacred music will certainly be challenging, even as

the dialogue with culture, in general, presents, in our time, many and difficult

challenges. He reminds us, however, that we are not in the situation of the early

Church which found it necessary to reduce church music to the Psalms,

because in the intervening centuries an infinitely larger trove of music that is

really appropriate has become available.[44]The fact of the trove of Gregorian

Chant, Sacred Polyphony and worthy hymnody should give us courage in

striving for the most worthy music possible in the service of the worship of Godand the sanctification of the faithful. The then Cardinal Ratzinger reminds us

that the courage to address the challenge of sacred music in our time must,

however, be accompanied by an asceticism, by what he called the courage to

contradict.[45]As he clearly observes, such steadfast asceticism is the

condition of the possibility of a true creativity in authoring sacred music in our

time. It is the asceticism, I suggest which keeps ever before our eyes the

essential qualities of sacred music, that is, holiness, beauty and universality.

The then Cardinal Ratzinger encouraged us with these words:

We are sure, however, that the creative potency of faith will suffice right up to

the end of time: until all of the dimensions of the human state have been

traversed.[46]

Conclusion

I hope that this modest study of beauty in the sacred liturgy and specifically in


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sacred music, according to the teaching of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has

made clear the connaturality of beauty with the sacred liturgy. Following the

example of the first disciples who were attentive to the worthy celebration of

the sacred liturgy, as Saint Paul, for example, gives witness in theFirst Letter to

the Corinthians,[47]and also our ancestors in the faith, throughout the Christian

centuries, who were dedicated to provide for the most worthy and most

beautiful celebration of the sacred liturgy, also at the cost of great sacrifices, we

must dedicate ourselves tirelessly to the reform of the reform of the sacred

liturgy, in order that it may be always more perfectly the worship of God and

procure always more surely the sanctification of the faithful. The constant

effort to sing with wisdom, for example, is at the heart of the worship of God

and leads to always greater holiness of life. As the then Cardinal Ratzinger

teaches us, we must take up the way of the reform of the reform with

steadfastness and confident joy. If we keep before our eyes the true nature of

the sacred liturgy, as worship of God and sanctification of the faithful, and the

essential qualities of the art which is at the service of the sacred liturgy, that is,

holiness, beauty and universality, we will continue giving faithful and

efficacious witness to the Mystery of Faith, to the mystery of the living presence

of the Son of God Incarnate in our midst. The way will remain always

demanding as it has been throughout the entire history of the Church,

especially in times of iconoclasm. The education of children, young people and

adults in the true nature of the sacred liturgy and the irreplaceable service of

sacred art and specifically of sacred music in the celebration of the sacred

liturgy is essential. Regarding sacred music, it is essential to cultivate the great

patrimony of Gregorian Chant, of Sacred Polyphony and of worthy hymnody.

The teaching of sacred music should be accompanied by the experience of its

most outstanding manifestations. In a special way, the formation of priests

should include an education in the arts which are always at the service of the

sacred liturgy. Seminarians, for example, ought to be introduced to sacred

music which is truly at the service of the sacred liturgy. As priests they will be

critically involved with sacred music both through the involvement of their

own voices and through the direction which they give to ecclesial musicians.

Seminarians, when they are introduced to the rich patrimony of liturgical

music, will, as priests, be duly attentive to the service of sacred music in the

worthy celebration of the Mystery of Faith. Finally, I cannot conclude without

noting the solemn responsibility of Bishops, as true shepherds of the flock, in

communion with the Roman Pontiff, to give institutional support to the sacred

arts in service of the sacred liturgy. Bishops ought to be certain that, in their


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jurisdiction, the norms of the Church which pertain to the sacred liturgy and the

sacred arts are being followed with integrity. Moreover, it is essential that they

promote the knowledge of such norms, also through institutions of education,

and the respect for those who are dedicated to the service of the sacred liturgy,

according to the same norms. I close with words of Pope Benedict XVI, at the

conclusion of a concert offered during his visit to the Pontifical Institute for

Sacred Music at Rome, on October 13, 2007. They are words regarding sacred

music, which underline for us the beauty which is connatural with the sacred

liturgy:

How rich is the biblical and patristic tradition in underlining the efficaciousness

of chant and of sacred music for moving hearts and elevating them to enter

into, so to speak, the very intimacy of the life of God! Well aware of this, John

Paul II observed that, today as always, three characteristics distinguish sacred

liutrigcal music: holiness, true art, universality, the possibility that is ofbeing proposed to any people or type of assembly (cf. Chirograph Mosso dal

vivo desiderio of November 22, 2003). Exactly in view of this, ecclesiastical

authority must engage itself in directing wisely the development of such a

demanding genre of music, not freezing its treasure, but searching to insert

into the heritage of the past the valid new offerings of the present, in order to

achieve a synthesis worthy of the high mission reserved for it in the divine

service.[48]

Thank you! Raymond Leo Cardinale Burke Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis

Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

[1] Cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II,

Constitutio Sacrosanctum ConciliumDe Sacra Liturgia, 4 Decembris 1963,Acta

Apostolicae Sedis 56 (1964), pp. 109-110, n. 36; pp. 114-115, n. 54; pp. 124-125,

n.101; Decretum Optatam TotiusDe Institutione Sacerdotali, 28 Octobris

1965,Acta Apostolicae Sedis 58 (1966), p. 721, n. 13.

[2] Cf.Jn12:1-8.

[3] Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Washington, D.C.: United

States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2006, no. 526, with reference to nos. 2500-


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2503, and 2513 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[4] Cf. Uwe Michael Lang, La liturgia e le sue espressioni. Bellezza materiale e

concretissima,LOsservatore Romano, 8-9 giugno 2009, p. 5; Uwe Michael Lang,

The Crisis of Sacred Art and the Sources for Its Renewal in the Thought of Pope

Benedict XVI, inBenedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy. Proceedings of the First

Fota International Liturgy Conference 2008, ed. Neil J. Roy and Janet E.Rutherford, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010, pp. 98-115.

[5] Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Beauty and the Truth of

Christ,LOsservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English, 6 November 2002, p. 6;

Il Sentimento delle cose, la contemplazione della bellezza, Messaggio per il

Meeting di Rimini 2002,https://centroculturalesp.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/il-

sentimento-delle-cose-la-contemplazione-della-bellezza.pdf, p. 1.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Jn13:1

[8] Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Beauty and the Truth of Christ, p. 6.

[9] Pope Benedict XVI, Heiligenkreuz: Papal Address, Holy Cross Abbey, 9

September: Your primary service: prayer and the Divine Office, 9 September

2007,LOsservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English, 12 September 2007, p. 11.

[10]Jn4:23-24.

[11] Benedict PP. XVI, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum

Caritatis, 22 February 2007, Vatican City State: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, no.

35.

[12] Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, tr. John Saward, San

Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000, p. 134; Teologia della Liturgia. La fondazione

sacramentale dellesistenza cristiana(Opera omnia, vol. XI), tr. Ingrid Stampa,Citt del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010, p. 132.

[13]Ibid., pp. 134-135; Teologia della liturgia, p. 132.

[14]Ibid., p. 135; Teologia della liturgia, p. 132.

[15] Pope John Paul II, Encyclical LetterEcclesia de Eucharistia on the Eucharist

in Its Relationship to the Church, 17 Aprilis 2003, Vatican City State: Libreria
https://centroculturalesp.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/il-sentimento-delle-cose-la-contemplazione-della-bellezza.pdf


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Editrice Vaticana, n. 47.

[16] Pope Benedict XIV, Encyclical LetterAnnus Qui, 19 February 1749, tr. F.F.

Hayburn, inPapal Legislation on Sacred Music: 95 A.D. to 1977 A.D., Collegeville,

MN: Liturgical Press, 1979, p. 93.

[17] Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 155; Teologia della Liturgia, p.

151.

[18] Pope Benedict XVI, The Holy Fathers Vespers Homily on the liturgical

experience and the heavenly Jerusalem: In the Church everyone has a

place,LOsservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English, 17 September 2008, p.

8.

[19] Cf.Ibid.

[20] Joseph Ratzinger,A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy

Today, tr. Martha M. Matesich, New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company,

1996, p. 94; Teologia della Liturgia, p. 671.

[21]Ibid., p. 95; Teologia della Liturgia, p. 672.

[22]Ibid., p. 95; Teologia della Liturgia, pp. 672-673.

[23]Ibid., p. 95-96; Teologia della Liturgia, p. 673.

[24]Ibid., p. 96; Teologia della Liturgia, p. 673.





[29]Ibid., p. 100; Teologia della liturgia, pp. 679-680.





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[39]Ibid., p. 106; Teologia della liturgia, p.688.



[42]Ibid., pp. 108-109; Teologia della liturgia, p. 691.

[43] Cf. Pius PP. X,Motu proprioTra le sollecitudini, 22 November 1903,Acta

Sanctae Sedis, 36, p. 332, no. 2.

[44] Joseph Ratzinger,A New Song for the Lord, p. 109; Teologia della liturgia, p.

692.



[47] Cf. 1 Cor11:17-34.

[48] Pope Benedict XVI, Allocutio ad docentes et alumnos Pontificii Instituti de

Musica Sacra, 13 October 2007,Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 99 (2007), p. 927.

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Beauty in the Sacred Liturgy According to the Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI

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