Well I figured let's apply that in a less conventional way...to the Liturgy of the Church! Now I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this, but I will say that I've never seen it done before in such an obvious way.
My method was simple; in philosophy we distinguish all existing things by potency and act. Let us attempt this with the Liturgy, and for the sake of clearer understanding use the terms matter (the potency principle) and form (the actuality principle).
For those not familiar with the terms potency and act, and consequently matter and form, I will briefly explain them. We can speak of matter as that which has the potential to be, but which is not yet. For example, Aristotle in the "De Anima," uses the example of a stone, which has the "potency" to be a sculpture, but it also has the potency to be many other things, like a table. However, once the sculptor has sculpted the stone, it is given the form of a sculpture, or is "actually" a sculpture. We may then define form as, "that which makes that, that," and matter as, "that which may be that."
Let us now apply this concept to the Liturgy. For this example, we will use the feast of the Annunciation, primarily the Mass for the Solemnity. I hold that for this method of studying the Liturgy, we should view the rubrics, whether current, past, or by tradition, as the matter for the Divine Actions of the Sacred Liturgy. By this I do not mean that one may change or do what one wants in the Liturgy. The only rubrics which may be practiced are the current ones, as clearly defined by St. Pius X in "Mediator Dei," that no one, priest or laymen, may on his own authority change, add, or subtract anything from the Liturgy. However, we can certainly hold that it is possible that certain rubrics or traditions of the past, or proposed new ones, may better convey the Mystery.
A further necessary clarification I believe, is that I am also not proposing this for the Sacraments, as their matter and forms have clearly been defined and taught by the Church. Coming from Jesus Chirst, through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, these are unchangeable by man. Nevertheless, how the Divine Mysteries are made present for us in the Liturgy, is subject to change, and has been changed and has grown and developed over the centuries. Therefore, when I speak of matter in regards to the Liturgy, I am speaking of the words and actions, or the red and black as they are so fondly called.
We may view the rubrics as the matter of the Liturgy since they only have the potency to give grace and make present Divine Mysteries (once again I do not speak of the Sacraments). For example, some mystery must be attached to the solemn action for it to have meaning. Take the action of genuflection. In technicality, I genuflect to tie my shoe. However, we would never call this a sacred action; but when I genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament or to a Prelate of the Chuch, it is a sacred action due to the actual presence of Christ or His mystical presence. There is some Divine Mystery present.
What follows from this is why we must call the rubrics of the Liturgy the matter and potency principle. Alone these words and actions are simply that, words and actions. It is what they have the potency to bring before us when given their form.
This now naturally leads us to the next question, "What is the form of the Sacred Liturgy?" What gives meaning to the words and actions of the clergy and the faithful? What gives grace to the solemn actions? I believe it is the words this last question which may provide us with the ability to pinpoint the formal principle of the Liturgy.
We know that the source of all grace is God, Himself. Therefore, we must hold Him to be the source of the formal principle we seek, as is true for all for all formal principles ultimately. I am not content with this alone though, for if we say God is the form of the Divine Mysteries in the Liturgy, we really have no purpose in different rubrics or different rites of worship for two reasons. First, God is incomprehensible and indivisible. This means that every way we attempt to worship Him falls short of what it deserved by Him. This is of course always true of our liturgies; they always fall short. The point I am making is that what good would our differentiations in worship be? Why worship Him more on Sunday, with a Gloria and Creed, than on Tuesday? I conclude this reason that God in His essence is not the form of the Liturgy because there exists something we can divide in the various mysteries we make present at the Liturgy.
Secondly, we have gradations in the Liturgy, primarily solemnities, feasts, memorials, and ferias. Without getting into a philosophical discussion of the gradations of being, God in Himself has no gradations, being pure act, but there is more or less being in the various things He has created. I would hold these liturgical gradations to signify that there is some more and less to what is made present in the Liturgy.
I now bring us to our definition of what the formal principle of the Liturgy should be seen as. It must be the the Divine Mysteries in the Life of our Lord and the events of the Economy of Salvation. God is present in all of these events, and there are various ways in which we can rank them, the simplest way being to put the Pascal Mystery at the forefront. It is of course present whenever we make another one of the Sacred Mysteries in the Life of our Lord, but we wouldn't properly say the reverse. E.g. the Pascal Mystery is made present when we bring before ourselves the Assumption of Mary, but the Assumption is not made present when we celebrate the Pascal Mystery during the Triduum.
This definition then, that the form of the Liturgy is the Divine Mystery we commemorate, allows both for God's presence in the conferral of grace in the Liturgy through the proper celebration of the rubrics and the gradations of feast days in the Liturgy.
We now return to our example of the Mass of the Annunciation in order to apply what we have said. The rubrics for the Solemnity found in the Roman Missal, which differ from a standard weekday Mass, are that, "The Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) is said," "The Creed is said. At the words 'and was incarnate' all genuflect," and we see it has its own proper preface.
While I will not delve too fully into the use of the Gloria, Creed, and proper preface in this article, I will say that these rubrics clearly show the importance of the Solemnity. God is in such a way present in this Mystery, that the Church desires is to celebrate the feast with fitting solemnity. I feel the idea is best phrased as the Mystery of the Incarnation has so many potential graces we can obtain, Holy Mother Church supplies us with all means for obtaining by actually and fully celebrating this Mass.
If the priest were to unfortunately omit the Gloria, the Incarnation would still be brought before us, but something would be lacking. The potential the Gloria offers us to obtain grace, would be loss. It is as if, and only as if, some part of the Mystery was missing. I say, "as if," of course, because we cannot divide God. When present, He is present, only our limits limit it.
However, I primarily wish to look at a unique rubric to the day: that all genuflect at the words "and was incarnate." Here we are presented with an additional rubric. There is an additional potential grace we are offered, and this is to bear more actual and direct homage to the Incarnation of Christ, by actually bending our knees to the Mystery, rather than the normal bow. The Mystery of the Word mad Flesh is fully before us on the Solemnity of the Annunciation! It is not just in the back of our minds!
The rubrics offered potential for us to see the full importance of this actual Mystery of the Incarnation. They are not meant to be routine words and a simple genuflection, but an actual worship of the actual Mystery. This is what the Liturgy always is intended to do for us.
I conclude then, with the proposal that this is a manner we should not hesitate to use in the discussion of the Liturgy. While philosophy alone will not attain us to God, I recall the words of Blessed John Paul II, that Faith and Reason, 'Fides et Ratio,' are like the two wings of an eagle, which allow us to ascend to the Almighty.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Mary Immaculate, Pray for us!
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