Affirm liturgical tradition.

Rome--Speaking to a group of bishops from the United States who were making their ad limina visit, Pope John Paul II said on October 9, that reforms within the Church--particularly the liturgical reforms begun by Vatican II--must be anchored in tradition. He said that theological training should be similarly grounded in "sufficient familiarity with the patristic tradition."

The Holy Father was meeting with bishops from the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. He said that misunderstandings about "the true nature of the liturgy" have given rise to "deviations, which lead to abuses, polarization, and sometimes even grave scandals."

The challenge of liturgical reform, the Pope said, is to find a "point of equilibrium" among the tensions within the liturgy--which is, at the same time, "local and universal, temporal and eternal, horizontal and vertical, subjective and objective." The answer to that challenge, he continued, can be found in "returning more deeply into the dimension of contemplative adoration."

The fundamental dispositions of the faithful participating in the liturgy, he said, must be "faith, reverence, and adoration." So while he encouraged "active" and "conscious" participation by the laity, he cautioned that their demeanor should include "silence," "calm," and "listening." There is no need for constant noise and action in the liturgy, he said; nor is there a need "to make explicit what is implicit."

(CW News.com)