Sunday, September 14, 2008

Benedict: "Liturgy...can never be too beautiful for God""


Liturgy was also a point of reflection for Benedict XVI as he remarked on the Cathedral of Notre Dame. “Your cathedral is a living hymn of stone and light in praise of that act, unique in the annals of human history: the eternal Word of God entering our history in the fullness of time to redeem us by his self-offering in the sacrifice of the Cross.”

“Our earthly liturgies, entirely ordered to the celebration of this unique act within history, will never fully express its infinite meaning. Certainly, the beauty of our celebrations can never be sufficiently cultivated, fostered and refined, for nothing can be too beautiful for God, Who is Himself infinite Beauty. Yet our earthly liturgies will never be more than a pale reflection of the liturgy celebrated in the Jerusalem on high, the goal of our pilgrimage on earth. May our own celebrations nonetheless resemble that liturgy as closely as possible and grant us a foretaste of it!"

-- His Holiness Benedict XVI to priests at Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, on September 13, 2008.

(Photo: Grotto and Basilica Church at Lourdes, CNA.)

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