Potency

My pastor, for example, said to the assembled faithful following Mass on the First Sunday of Advent, with neither malice nor negativity intended, "Three or four weeks from now, it will be as though nothing has changed."

I fear he is right, and this is why we must confront head-on the very real danger that the faithful sons and daughters of Holy Mother Church may ultimately find themselves encouraged to accomplish little more than to adopt new words; remaining deprived of the prescription put forth by the Council Fathers who said, "Pastors of souls must zealously strive to promote the full and active participation of all the people in the sacred liturgy by means of the necessary instruction of the faithful" (cf SC 14).

This "necessary" liturgical instruction, according to Pope Benedict XVI, is best considered "mystagogical catechesis;" i.e., teaching that illuminates, to the extent that this is possible, Holy Mass as sacred mystery, that we might deepen our participation therein as we "grow in our awareness of the mystery being celebrated and its relationship to daily life" (cf Sacramentum Caritatis).

If we're honest, we must admit that in spite of all the Roman Missal workshops, bulletin inserts and homilies over the last year, the official implementation milestone is really just a small first step in preparing the way for the Roman Missal, that it might be the impetus for renewal it has the potential to be.

read the whole thing here.