ARCHDIOCESE OF PORTLAND IN OREGON Divine Worship Newsletter Christ Enters Jerusalem - Stained Glass Window - Brussels Cathedral ISSUE 41 - MARCH 2021 Welcome to the forty-first Monthly Newsletter of the Office of Divine Worship of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon. We hope to provide news with regard to liturgical topics and events of interest to those in the Archdiocese who have a pastoral role that involves the Sacred Liturgy. The hope is that the priests of the Archdiocese will take a glance at this newsletter and share it with those in their parishes that are involved or interested in the Sacred Liturgy. This Newsletter is now available through Apple Books and always available in pdf format on the Archdiocesan website. It will also be included in the weekly priests’ mailing. If you would like to be emailed a copy of this newsletter as soon as it is published please send your email address to Anne Marie Van Dyke at [email protected]. Just put DWNL in the subject field and we will add you to the mailing list. All past issues of the DWNL are available on the Divine Worship Webpage and from Apple Books. An index of all the articles in past issues is also available on our webpage. The answer to last month’s competition was: Our Lady of Fatima - the first correct answer was submitted by Fr. Anthony Trenwith of Holy Family Parish in Kerikeri, New Zealand. If you have a topic that you would like to see explained or addressed in this newsletter please feel free to email this office and we will try to answer your questions and address topics that interest you and others who are concerned with Sacred Liturgy in the Archdiocese. Unless otherwise identified photos are by Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP. Contents Chapter 1 - The Liturgy and Popular Piety The Season of Lent III - The Via Crucis Chapter 2 - Good Friday Celebration of the Passion of the Lord From the Archdiocesan Liturgical Handbook Chapter 3 - Special Surrender Novena Starts 25 April The Faithful, Clergy and Consecrated of the Archdiocese Join in the Surrender Novena Chapter 4 - The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Oregon Catholic Press has Published a New Collection of the Passion Narratives Chapter 5 - Tenebrae The Tenebrae Service is Taken form the Traditional Matins of Holy Week Chapter 6 - The Chrism Mass This Year’s Chrism Mass will be on Monday 29 March at 3:30pm Chapter 7 - Active Participation From Pope Benedict’s Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis Chapter 8 - Ideas for Prayer More Thoughts on Prayer from Dom Hubert van Zeller ii •alternative forms of the Via Crucis have been approved by Apostolic See or CHAPTER 1 publicly used by the Roman Pontiff: these can be regarded as genuine forms of the devotion and may be used as occasion might warrant; The Season of Lent III •the Via Crucis is a pious devotion connected with the Passion of Christ; it From the Directory of Popular Piety should conclude, however, in such fashion as to leave the faithful with a sense of expectation of the resurrection in faith and hope; following the example of Of all the pious exercises connected with the veneration of the Cross, none is more the Via Crucis in Jerusalem which ends with a station at the Anastasis, the popular among the faithful than the Via Crucis. Through this pious exercise, the celebration could end with a commemoration of the Lord's resurrection. faithful movingly follow the final earthly journey of Christ: from the Mount of Olives, Innumerable texts exist for the celebration of the Via Crucis. Many of them were where the Lord, “in a small estate called Gethsemane” (Mk 14, 32), was taken by compiled by pastors who were sincerely interested in this pious exercise and anguish (cf. Lk 22, 44), to Calvary where he was crucified between two thieves (cf. Lk convinced of its spiritual effectiveness. Texts have also been provided by lay authors 23, 33), to the garden where he was placed in a freshly hewn tomb (John 19, 40-42). who were known for their exemplary piety, holiness of life, doctrine and literary The love of the Christian faithful for this devotion is amply attested by the numerous qualities. Some of the recents Pope’s have their own version of theStations, including Via Crucis erected in so many churches, shrines, cloisters, in the countryside, and on Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. mountain pathways where the various stations are very evocative. The Via Crucis is a synthesis of various devotions that have arisen since the high middle ages: the pilgrimage to the Holy Land during which the faithful devoutly visit the places associated with the Lord's Passion; devotion to the three falls of Christ under the weight of the Cross; devotion to "the dolorous journey of Christ" which consisted in processing from one church to another in memory of Christ's Passion; devotion to the stations of Christ, those places where Christ stopped on his journey to Calvary because obliged to do so by his executioners or exhausted by fatigue, or because moved by compassion to dialogue with those who were present at his Passion. In its present form, the Via Crucis, widely promoted by St. Leonardo da Porto Maurizio (+1751), was approved by the Apostolic See and indulgenced(137), consists of fourteen stations since the middle of seventeenth century. The Via Crucis is a journey made in the Holy Spirit, that divine fire which burned in the heart of Jesus (cf. Lk 12, 49-50) and brought him to Calvary. This is a journey well esteemed by the Church since it has retained a living memory of the words and gestures of the final earthly days of her Spouse and Lord. In the Via Crucis, various strands of Christian piety coalesce: the idea of life being a journey or pilgrimage; as a passage from earthly exile to our true home in Heaven; the deep desire to be conformed to the Passion of Christ; the demands of following Christ, which imply that his disciples must follow behind the Master, daily carrying their own crosses (cf Lk 9, 23). The following may prove useful suggestions for a fruitful celebration of the Via Crucis: •the traditional form of the Via Crucis, with its fourteen stations, is to be retained as the typical form of this pious exercise; from time to time, however, as the occasion warrants, one or other of the traditional stations might possibly be substituted with a reflection on other aspects of the Gospel account of the journey to Calvary which are traditionally included in the Stations of the Cross; The Via Crucis in the Sanctuary of Lourdes, France. CHAPTER 2 Good Friday Celebration of the Passion of the Lord From the Archdiocesan Liturgical Handbook On this day, when “Christ our Passover was sacrificed” (1 Cor 5: 7), the Church meditates on the Passion of her Lord and Spouse, venerates the Cross, commemorates her origin from the side of Christ on the Cross (Jn 19:34), and intercedes for the salvation of the whole world. Good Friday is a day of penance to be observed as obligation in the whole Church, and indeed through fasting and abstinence. On this day, in accordance with ancient tradition, the Church does not celebrate the Eucharist: Holy Communion is distributed only to the faithful during Celebration of the Passion of the Lord, though it may be brought at any time of the day to the sick who cannot take part in the celebration. Only the Sacraments of the Anointing of the Sick and Penance are celebrated on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It is recommended that on this day the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer be celebrated with the participation of the people in the churches. Devotions, such as the Stations of the Cross, processions of the Passion, and commemorations of the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary are not, for pastoral reasons, to be neglected. The texts and songs used, should be adapted to the spirit of the liturgy of this day. Such devotions should be assigned to a time of day that makes it quite clear that the liturgical celebration by its very nature far surpasses them in importance. The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord is to take place in the afternoon, at about three o’clock unless a later hour is chosen for pastoral reasons. If a priest is not available to preside at the solemn Celebration of the Passion of the Lord, the celebration does not take place, deacons may not preside at the celebration of the Passion of the Lord. It is not permitted to divide the rite so that different priests preside over different parts of the celebration. The order for the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord (the Liturgy of the Word with Solemn Intercessions, Veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion) that stems from an ancient tradition of the Church should be observed faithfully and religiously, and may not be changed by anyone on his own initiative. Innovations not envisioned by the specific liturgical rite are forbidden. For the Veneration of the Cross, let a Cross be used that is of appropriate size and beauty, and let one or other of the forms for this rite as found in the Roman Missal be followed. The rite should be carried out with the splendor worthy of the mystery of our salvation: the invitation pronounced at the unveiling of the Cross, and the people’s A scene from the Good Friday liturgy in Blackfriars, Oxford in 2009: response should be sung, and a period of prayerful silence is to be observed after each the deacon elevates the Cross during the Veneration.