'Desiderio' leaves more to be Desired

Read the papal document first, then proceed to Fr. DeSouza's excellent review of it:

Pope Francis does not only echo John Paul, but the famous introductory words of Benedict XVI in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

Indeed, Benedict could well have written this passage of Pope Francis in Desiderio about the encounter with Christ in the liturgy:

“Here lies all the powerful beauty of the liturgy. If the resurrection were for us a concept, an idea, a thought; if the Risen One were for us the recollection of the recollection of others, however authoritative, as, for example, of the Apostles; if there were not given also to us the possibility of a true encounter with Him, that would be to declare the newness of the Word made flesh to have been all used up. Instead, the Incarnation, in addition to being the only always new event that history knows, is also the very method that the Holy Trinity has chosen to open to us the way of communion. Christian faith is either an encounter with Him alive, or it does not exist” (10).

Those who may have thought that Pope Francis has neglected — or even marginalized — liturgical matters will have their anxieties here eased. Indeed, in frequently citing Romano Guardini — the liturgical theologian most dear to Joseph Ratzinger — there is much in Desiderio that will appeal to those nourished by the liturgical vision of Benedict XVI.

My anxiety is eased, but only to a point. It's as though our current Pope only just discovered the teaching of his predecessor. 

We've all read Sacrosanctum Concilium, dear Holy Father, which is why we want the liturgy restored to its fullness. The Holy Spirit has been leading us to want more from the Novus Ordo than your confreres would permit. We want Ratzinger's ecclesiology, not Rahner's. 

We've all been down this road the past two decades-- thanks for finally catching up! Just check your rigid worldview at the door before you proceed, please. Unlike you, we've all been open-minded so far. That's why we want change-- you know, hagan lio, amiright?

Anywho...I've decided I am a constitutional originalist when it comes to Sacrosanctum Concilium.