inundado por um mistério de luz que é Deus e N´Ele vi e ouvi -A ponta da lança como chama que se desprende, toca o eixo da terra, – Ela estremece: montanhas, cidades, vilas e aldeias com os seus moradores são sepultados. - O mar, os rios e as nuvens saem dos seus limites, transbordam, inundam e arrastam consigo num redemoinho, moradias e gente em número que não se pode contar , é a purificação do mundo pelo pecado em que se mergulha. - O ódio, a ambição provocam a guerra destruidora! - Depois senti no palpitar acelerado do coração e no meu espírito o eco duma voz suave que dizia: – No tempo, uma só Fé, um só Batismo, uma só Igreja, Santa, Católica, Apostólica: - Na eternidade, o Céu! 
"Why doesn't the Pope legislate on matters of liturgy to push forward the litrugical renewal he so desired as Cardinal?" "If the Pope was so in favor of liturgical reform and renewal in his days as Cardinal-theologian, why doesn’t he just legislate what he wants and take care of the problems?" This is a question many on the “Reform of the Reform” train hear, and often. First, the prevailing abuses have been roundly condemned in John Paul II’s Dominicae Cenae and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament’s Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum. Second, and this is very important, the Pope does not see the Sacred Liturgy as a thing to be arbitrarily manipulated, even by the Pope. I hope the following quotes which treat of ad orientem are helpful in this regard."The great contribution of the Pope, in my opinion, is that he is bringing us closer to the truth of the liturgy, with a wise pedagogy, introducing us to the genuine 'spirit' of the liturgy (the title of one of his works before becoming Pope). He, before all else, is following a simple educative process which seeks to move toward this 'spirit' or genuine sense of the liturgy, to overcome a reductive vision which is still very entrenched in the liturgy. As Pope, he is the first to put into practice his teachings, so rich and abundant in this area. As his evocative gestures which accompany the celebrations at which he presides, move in this direction. To receive these gestures and these teachings is a duty which we have if we are disposed to live the liturgy in a way corresponding to its very nature and if we do not want to lose the treasures and liturgical inheritance of the tradition. Cardinal Cañizares’ Interview with Il Foglio
“The result is entirely clear: the idea that the priest and people should look at each other in prayer emerged only in modern Christianity, and is completely foreign to ancient Christianity. Priest and people certainly do not pray to each other, but to the same Lord. So in prayer, they look in the same direction: either toward the East as the cosmic symbol of the Lord who is to come, or, where this is not possible, toward an image of Christ in the apse, toward a cross, or simply toward the sky, as the Lord did in his priestly prayer the evening before his Passion (John 17:1). Fortunately, the proposal that I made at the end of the chapter in question in my book is making headway: not to proceed with new transformations, but simply to place the cross at the center of the altar, so that both priest and faithful can look at it, in order to allow themselves to be drawn toward the Lord to whom all are praying together.” Preface to the initial volume of my writings; Joseph Ratzinger; Rome, feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 2008
“From my own personal point of view I should like to give further particular emphasis to some of the criteria for liturgical renewal thus briefly indicated. I will begin with those last two main criteria. It seems to me most important that the Catechism, in mentioning the limitation of the powers of the supreme authority in the Church with regard to reform, recalls to mind what is the essence of the primacy as outlined by the First and Second Vatican Councils: The pope is not an absolute monarch whose will is law; rather, he is the guardian of the authentic Tradition and, thereby, the premier guarantor of obedience. He cannot do as he likes, and he is thereby able to oppose those people who, for their part, want to do whatever comes into their head. His rule is not that of arbitrary power, but that of obedience in faith. That is why, with respect to the Liturgy, he has the task of a gardener, not that of a technician who builds new machines and throws the old ones on the junk-pile. The "rite", that form of celebration and prayer which has ripened in the faith and the life of the Church, is a condensed form of living Tradition in which the sphere using that rite expresses the whole of its faith and its prayer, and thus at the same time the fellowship of generations one with another becomes something we can experience, fellowship with the people who pray before us and after us. Thus the rite is something of benefit that is given to the Church, a living form of paradosis, the handing-on of Tradition.”
Preface to The Organic Development of the Liturgy by Alcuin Reid, O.S.B. | by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
“A more important objection is of the practical order. Are we really going to re-order everything all over again? Nothing is more harmful to the Liturgy than constant changes, even if it seems to be for the sake of genuine renewal. I see a solution to this in a suggestion I noted at the beginning in connection with the insights of Erik Peterson. Facing toward the East, as we heard, was linked with the "sign of the Son of Man", with the Cross, which announces Our Lord's Second Coming. That is why, very early on, the East was linked with the sign of the cross. Where a direct common turning toward the East is not possible, the cross can serve as the interior "East" of faith. It should stand in the middle of the altar and be the common point of focus for both priest and praying community. In this way we obey the ancient call to prayer: Conversi ad Dominum, "Turn to the Lord!" In this way we look together at the One whose Death tore the veil of the Temple -- the One who stands before the Father for us and encloses us in His arms in order to make us the new and living Temple. Moving the altar cross to the side to give an uninterrupted view of the priest is something I regard as one of the truly absurd phenomena of recent decades. Is the cross disruptive during Mass? Is the priest more important than Our Lord? This mistake should be corrected as quickly as possible; it can be done without further rebuilding. The Lord is the point of reference. He is the rising sun of history. That is why there can be a cross of the Passion, which represents the Suffering Lord who for us let His side be pierced, from which flowed blood and water (Eucharist and Baptism), as well as a cross of triumph, which expresses the idea of Our Lord's Second Coming and guides our eyes towards it. For it is always the One Lord: Christ yesterday, today, and for ever (Heb 13:8).”
The Spirit of the Liturgy, Chapter 3; Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
“The third problem is the celebration versus populum. As I have written in my books, I think that celebration turned towards the east, toward the Christ who is coming, is an apostolic tradition. I am not however in favour of forever changing churches around completely; so many churches have now been restructured that starting all over again right now does not seem to me at all a good idea.” Looking Again at the Question of the Liturgy with Cardinal Ratzinger, Fontgombault Conference 2001
With respect to ad orientem I see his celebrations of The feast of the Baptism of the Lord with Italian families and the Mass recently celebrated ad orientem in the newly restored Pauline Chapel - which is built to accommodate both versus populum and ad orientem - as part of this “wise pedagogy.” I do not think it is either versus populum or ad orientem but rather a pedagogy by which Catholics understand the necessity of an inner orientation to the Father, through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit, and not self referential orientation between priest and people. I believe these quotes reveal the present Holy Father’s antipathy for continual liturgical change through legislation and his desire to teach and instill a liturgical renewal through his writings and example.
The Crucifix at the Center of the Altar
In an effort to make available the fine explanations concerning the liturgy provided by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, we present you with the following translation of one such explanation, regarding the placement of the crucifix at the center of the altar.Unofficial New Theological Movement Translation
The compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in n. 218, asks the question: “What is the liturgy?” and responds:
“The liturgy is the celebration of the Mystery of Christ and in particular His Paschal Mystery. In it, by the exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ, the liturgy manifests in signs and brings about the sanctification of man. Tthe public worship due to God is exercised by the Mystical Body of Christ, that is, by the Head and the members”.
From this definition, one understands that at the center of the liturgical action of the Church there is Christ, Eternal High Priest, and the Paschal Mystery of His Passion, Death and Resurrection. The liturgical celebration needs to be celebrative transparence of this theological truth. For many centuries, the sign chosen by the Church for the orientation of the heart and body during the liturgy is the likeness of Christ crucified.
The Legacy of Benedict XVI and Biblical Theology
With all the attacks being launched against the Holy Father in recent weeks, I would like to honor Benedict XVI by joining the New Theological Movement's celebration of the fifth anniversary of his election to the chair of Saint Peter by looking at his teaching legacy; his munus docendi.
Benedict XVI is one of the greatest theological minds to sit on Saint Peter's chair since Gregory the Great in the 6th century. He is a world class biblical scholar, a university professor in dogmatic and fundamental theology and was a theological expert (peritus) at the greatest ecclesial event of the last century, the Second Vatican Council. While he is and remains a theological “expert,” perhaps his greatest intellectual quality is his tremendous capacity to synthesize and present the Catholic faith simply to ordinary believers without emptying the same faith of its substance. Because he has touched on nearly every discipline of theology in his over 16 volume corpus, I will only focus on one aspect of his magisterial work, biblical theology.
The Legacy of Pope Benedict: Sanctifying
On this Third Sunday of Easter, on which we proclaim St. John's account of the Petrine Primacy, and the eve of Pope Benedict XVI's fifth anniversary as Bishop of Rome, it seems fitting to reflect at this time on the legacy (thus far) of the 265th Successor of Peter. It must be said at the outset that the "performance" of the Roman Pontiff ought to be judged and analyzed primarily according to supernatural criteria, apart from which the papacy is unintelligible anyway. These supernatural criteria can be summarized by one proposition: The Pope is on Earth to help all men get to Heaven. He has no other task than that. Everything he does - from the most sublime dogmatic declaration to the most mundane diplomatic encounter - is ordered finally to the "feeding of the sheep." This is the response of the Universal Pastor to the Lord's question: "Do you love me?" It is his task in obedience to the direct command of the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls, Jesus Christ.
With this in mind, we will consider, in the following reflections on Pope Benedict's first five years, the Pope's legacy in relation to the three munera of his pastoral office: the sanctifying office of priest, the teaching office of prophet, and the governing office of king. Jesus Christ, in His sacred humanity, was Priest, Prophet, and King, and in these fundamental characteristics of His identity and mission the Church participates: his Vicar on Earth, in the first place, and all the baptized, each according to the nature and demands of his state in life. The activities associated with these munera, then, will serve as our primary ways of understanding and interpreting the pastoral work of Pope Benedict XVI over the past five years. In this way, we will be able to understand Pope Benedict according to the properly supernatural terms without which he cannot be understood in a Catholic way.
Communion Received on the Tongue while Kneeling
Below is another explanation concerning the Sacred Liturgy provided by The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, this time with regard to receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling:Unofficial New Theological Movement Translation
Communion Received on the Tongue and while Kneeling
The most ancient practice of Communion was, with all probability, that of giving Communion to the faithful on the palm of the hand. The history of the liturgy shows, however, also the process, begun quite early, of the transformation of such a practice. From the time of the Fathers, the tendency came about to restrict more and more Communion in the hand, in favor of that on the tongue. The motive of this preference is twofold: on the one hand, to avoid as much as possible the dispersion of the eucharistic fragments; on the other, to favor the increase of the devotion of the faithful towards the Real Presence of Christ in the sacrament.
St. Thomas Aquinas also refers to the practice of reception only on the tongue, when he affirms that the distribution of the Body of the Lord pertains to the ordained priest alone. This is for various reasons, among which the Angelic Doctor cites also the respect towards the Sacrament, which “is not to be touched by anything that is not consecrated: and therefore the corporal, the chalice, and even the hands of the priest are consecrated to be able to touch this sacrament. To no one else therefore is it permitted to touch it outside of the case of necessity: if for example it were to be about to fall on the ground, or in other similar contingencies.” (IIIa Q.82, a.3).
Beauty in the Liturgy
In addition to providing a model for the whole Church in his own liturgical celebrations, the Holy Father has seen fit to provide, through the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, a series of short explanations of certain aspects of these liturgies which are noticeable principally by their contrast with normal liturgies. However, in order to avoid ascribing these differences to the fact that he is, after all, the Pope celebrating for hundreds or thousands of people in the largest basilica in the world, these explanations make it very clear that these “specificities” of the papal liturgies are based on not only on the Church’s most ancient traditions but also on the more recent. Citations of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council, writings of his predecessor, John Paul II, and even his own recent writings abound. In other words, these explanations, which ought to be seen as one more step towards the correct implementation of the liturgy as intended by the Council Fathers, provide material which is to be considered carefully and put into practice throughout the whole Church. Below is the text of one of these explanations, considering the importance of beauty in every aspect of the liturgy.
fonte:the new theological movement