Fr. Charles and a Review of Four Encyclicals and the foundations of Theology

FOUR ENCYCLIALS AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THEOLOGY

     This writing will attempt to identify and explain how the Fathers of the Council made use of the "Foundations of Theology" s attempt to explain how I see a particular foundation or foundations manifesting itself/themselves within these four encyclicals; Lumen Gentium, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Gaudium et Spes, and Orientalium Ecclesiarum.

     Before an examination of each document, I think it important to review a few terms that were incorporated into these documents including Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, Magisterium and teaching. In simple terms, Sacred Tradition means the Apostles handed over or delivered firsthand knowledge of Christ to the Episcopate. The Episcopate then handed the knowledge on to the faithful. Even though Sacred Tradition is lived and not written down, the Church hold fast to these Sacred Traditions because they came from the directly from Apostles to the Church.

    Sacred Scripture is defined as the Word of God written and contained within the Bible as the inspired words of God concerning His plan for Salvation. Although the Bible is made up of many books written over a long period of time, each book contributes to the whole story of God's plan for salvation.

     Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture combine to relate God's plan for Salvation to all humanity which is entrusted to the Magisterium. The Magisterium is made up of the Pope and Bishops of the Church and they are the guardians of faith and Morals (Nichols, pg) It is their mission to teach and preach about God's plan for salvation. Teaching from the magisterium may include preaching the Word of God from the pulpit or transmitting clarification about the Word of God through encyclicals and letters. Whatever the means of transmission, the purpose is the same and that is, to clarify to the faithful the meaning of Christian faith in order to shape their Christian life.

     The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium solemnly promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963 addressed the general principles for the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy including the mystery of the Eucharist, and Sacraments and Sacramentals, Divine Office, Liturgical Year, Sacred Music, Sacred Art and Furnishings. In the introduction, Pope Paul VI, teaching from the Pastoral Chair, conveys to the faithful that the Council acted in faithful obedience to tradition in developing this document. He further stressed the Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites (par 4) and changes to the rites were carefully considered in light of sound tradition. This was an important point because it reminds the faithful that the church moves slowly and deliberately when making changes and only after evaluating the move against Sacred Tradition to ensure that the Word of God is preserved. This is a key role given to it from the Apostles.
Chapter one outlined the "general principles for the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy" by reviewing the nature of sacred liturgy and its importance in the Church (Ch 1, par 1). The Pope uses Sacred Scripture to define salvation history when he emphasized that Christ is "the perfect achievement" and Christ is the "fullness of divine worship" (Ch 1, par 1). He continued his point by writing that Christ is always present in all liturgies celebrated, especially in the Eucharist and the imperfect liturgy celebrated on earth is only a foretaste of the perfect heavenly liturgy (Ch 1, par 8).

     Pope Paul stressed the importance of preaching the word of God to the faithful in order for the faith to be prepared themselves to receive the sacraments and receive the grace that comes from the liturgies. This document further stressed the role and the importance of preaching to the faithful their need for repentance, proper disposition, and holding the dignity necessary to fully partake of the liturgies. It is through the Sacred Tradition of teaching the Word of God the Pope restates the importance of what is to be preached about participation in the liturgy.

   The document encourages the clergy to actively participate in liturgical instruction and in the study of sacred liturgy. According to the document, studying sacred liturgy should be "compulsory and rank among the principal courses" (Chapter 2, pg 16) taken because the clergy are the individuals who teach about the liturgies and they promote participation in liturgies. Like earlier documents of the Church, this document reminds the faithful of the Church's role in maintaining its authority on Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and Sacred Liturgies. The Pope reinforces this stand by clearing prohibiting any person, including priests to change, alter or delete anything contained with the Church approved liturgies. This is an historical stand held by the Church toward theologians and the laity (Nichols )

     In chapter three, the document reviews the history of the institution of the Eucharist and encourages all of the faithful to fully partake of this mystery of faith. The Church reviewed its practice and in an effort to enhance the experience of the faithful at the celebration of Eucharist, the Church eliminated redundancy contained within the liturgy. It designed the sequence of scripture readings over the course of three liturgical years in order to enrich the faithful with hearing the Word of God. Also, the council gave permission to allow the liturgy to be celebrated in the language of the people and encouraged more participation by the faithful in the prayers of the faithful and what the document called "the common prayer" (Chapter2, 49-56).
Pope Paul wrote that "the purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ, and, finally, to give worship to God" (Chapter 3, paragraph 59). Again, this is a reference to the role of the Church in teaching about God's plan for salvation. Therefore the council saw the importance of providing the faithful with an easy understanding of the sacraments and a means to provide them instruction on how the sacraments nourish Christian lives.

    Divine Office is the Sacred Tradition of praising God day and night which comes from Sacred Scripture. For this reason priests were encouraged to be more active and more enthusiastic in participating in praying the Divine Office.  In regards to Sacred Music, Art and Furnishings, the document reviewed the elements included in Liturgy. Music was described as "at treasure of inestimable value" and its incorporation in teaching Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (Chapter VI, paragraph 112). The document further states sacred music "adds delight to prayer, fosters unity of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites" (Chapter 6, paragraph 112). Like sacred music, sacred art is highly revered and described as "among the noblest activities of man's genius" (Chapter VII, 122) because the art directs the observer toward God in praise and glory portrayed by the limits of the human mind. Because Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings play an important part in man's learning and understanding his relationship with God, any art or furnishing that is "repugnant to faith, morals, and Christian piety" needs to be removed for the place of worship.

     On November 21, 1964, Pope Paul VI wrote the Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite entitled Orientalium Ecclesiarum. This document extols the sacred tradition of the Eastern Churches by acknowledging their traditions were, like the Roman Church, handed down from the Apostles and therefore, although separate from the Roman Church, the Eastern Churches are equal to Rome and have the same rights and obligations to the Gospels. With this stated, the council re-established their rights and privileges, the recognition of their patriarchal offices, the discipline of sacraments, and divine worship. To support the decision, the council acknowledged Sacred Tradition when the East and the West were in attendance at the first ecumenical councils and the recognition of the Eastern Church apostolic succession.

     This document promoted the need for unity between all Christians through ecumenism which is demonstrated in prayer, the way lives are lived, and fidelity to tradition. Although it could be argued that the Church's use of the phrase "confirms and approves" would indicate ecumenism is promoted as long as the Roman Church approves and the other entities conform to its magisterium (Paragraph 12). However, to promote ecumenism between the East and West, the church quoted Paul's letter to the Romans (12:10), "Love one another with fraternal charity, anticipating one another with honor". The use of Sacred Scripture to promote unity after years of separation was a move in the right direction.

     On November 21, 1964 Pope Paul VI issued Lumen Gentium defining the mystery of the Church, the people of God, the hierarchical structure of the Church, the laity, a call for holiness, the religious, the eschatological nature of the Church, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The lengthy document follows the teaching of previous councils on these subjects yet takes the opportunity further clarify the subjects in order to promote unity through Christ in the modern world. Again, the reference to teaching, previous councils, and the unity of Christ demonstrated that the document hold closely to Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.   Chapter one of this document traces God's history of salvation from creation of earth to foundation of the Church. It outlined how the mystery of the Church is routed in the Word of God, the miracles of Jesus, the workings of the Holy Spirit and used the analogy that St. Paul used referring to the Church as a body with the Church as the head and each of its members parts of the whole working together in faith, hope and charity. As members of the community as the people of God the document assured that all people are welcome into the body. And, like St. Paul, the document uses history to show how God chose Israel and then sending His only Son opened the kingdom of God to the new people of God (Chapter II, paragraph 9).