There Is Hope!

From Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, Prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (emphasis added):

I have witnessed that very often our liturgies have become like theater productions. Often, the priest no longer celebrates the love of Christ through his sacrifice, but just a meeting among friends, a friendly meal, a brotherly moment. In looking to invent creative or festive liturgies, we run the risk of worship that is too human, at the level of our desires and the fashions of the moment. Little by little, the faithful are separated from that which gives Life. For Christians, the Eucharist is a question of life and death! [...]

One must begin by replacing God at the center of the liturgy. If man is at the center, the Church becomes a purely human society, a simple non-profit, like Pope Francis has said. If, on the contrary, God is at the heart of the liturgy, then the Church recovers its vigor and sap!  Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger prophetically wrote, “In our relationship with the liturgy, the destiny of the faith and of the Church plays out.” [...]

To put God at the center of the liturgy, one must have silence: this capacity to silence ourselves [literally: “shut up”] to listen to God and his Word.

All I can say is:

Cdl. Sarah goes on to say returning to ad orientem worship would go a long way to change things. He adds versus populum worship was allowed by Vatican II, but never mandated.

Read the whole thing as translated by the National Catholic Register. Then pass it on because otherwise, it is likely to be ignored, even though it comes from this high-level Vatican official.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia via the NCReg. HT: Sandy)