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Roman Missal at 50: Liturgical Asceticism

3.50

This is the tenth and final article in this series that aimed to provoke a sort of extended liturgical examination of conscience as we mark the 50th anniversary of the Roman Missal renewed under Pope Paul VI, one of the clearest fruits of the Second Vatican Council. My contention throughout has been that the liturgical renewal proposed by the Council has yet to be fully implemented. This is despite the publication of a series of renewed liturgical books that are vastly superior to their Tridentine forerunners in terms of coherent presentations of the lex credendi [law of belief] of the Church. The mistake that has been all too often made is that of equating a minimal adoption of the new books with the liturgical renewal itself. I believe that the Church needs at least a century to appropriate the renewal that an Ecumenical Council offers. We are barely at the half-way stage and therefore this examination of conscience should help us to improve our liturgical celebrations.

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