Inside ML

In 1965, reflecting on the impending liturgical renewal, Thomas Merton wrote, “Now it would be disastrous if the liturgical renewal were to rely on the replacement of one kind of constraint by the other. Renewal means, on the contrary, the replacement of constraint by the openness of simple and joyous participation. Those who have emotional conflicts — and after all, who doesn’t — will do best if they can realize that this openness is practically the only thing that can ease their anxieties in this particular sphere. It will help them, by humility, grace, self-forgetfulness and trust to approach the Lord who will heal them in the relaxed and expanded atmosphere of love which is ideally that of liturgical worship” (Seasons of Celebration). Merton was something of a prophet in this regard. As we celebrate ML’s 30th birthday, the issues surrounding liturgical reform are not much different than they were in Merton’s day.

In this issue, Mary Testin takes a hard look at lay preaching and how it has been both enabled and repressed as liturgy evolves. Todd Flowerday considers the impact reform has had on the Catholic Christian identity. Jay Cormier takes the ancient prayer form of Tenebrae and cradles it in the midst of the post-conciliar form of Holy Week. Our Visual Arts Awards recognize the triumph of creativity in the midst of turmoil. Our annual Directory of Ministry Education reflects the ability of lay ministers to polish the skills of professional ministry even though their efforts to do so are often belittled or disregarded by those intent, as Merton says, on the “replacement of one kind of constraint by the other.” We are a church desperately in need of healing on so many levels, and it is in the liturgy that our greatest hope lies. Though 40 years have passed since the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, so much good work remains to be done. “Zeal for the promotion and restoration of the liturgy is rightly held to be a sign of the providential dispositions of God in our time, a movement of the Holy Spirit in the church. Today it is a distinguishing mark of the church’s life, indeed of the whole tenor of contemporary religious thought and action” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 43). In its 30th year, ML continues to express that zeal, to believe in the movement of the Spirit in the church and to look with hope to what the future holds, committed now as always to providing our readers with timely information for the timeless work of ministry. ML

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