mcb wrote:presbyter wrote:Yet I do not think it at all appropriate to sing a hymn to Mary on this great feast at all.
Can't say I agree. Christians have always believed it appropriate to honour the saints (and to address them in doing so), and I don't see any reason to stop now.
A point of clarification. I am not saying one shouldn't sing a Marian song, only that the text should be chosen carefully (and here perhaps we should remember that our use of hymns at Mass overall has usurped the texts of the chants of the liturgy - did anyone look at them to guide their choice of hymn?)
My concern is that we shouldn't confuse Marian devotion (or devotion to any saint) with Mary's (or any saint's) celebrations in the liturgy. There is no such thing as a Mass
to Mary or any saint but there are Masses
of Mary and the saints. Please post if that distinction seems obscure.
Of course, there is a healthy place in the life of the Church for Marian devotion and devotion to the whole Communion of Saints....... and the lingering trend to in some places to sing Marian hymns at Mass during May is, IMO, a cry from the heart that there doesn't seem to be a place for such devotion in the Church anymore (so instead of distorting the liturgy of Eastertide like this, why not put May Devotions on?)
Indeed, Mary is presented to and for us as the
type of the Church
par excellence and is duly and rightly honoured as such. But, as she freely and joyfully admits in the
Magnificat, it is God who has done great things for her (and for us) and that's what we celebrate in the liturgy.
Here's a chunk from
Marialis Cultus
31. We have already spoken of the veneration which the Church gives to the Mother of God in the celebration of the sacred liturgy. However, speaking of the other forms of devotion and of the criteria on which they should be based we wish to recall the norm laid down in the Constitution Sacrosanctum concilium. This document, while wholeheartedly approving of the practices of piety of the Christian people, goes on to say: "...it is necessary however that such devotions with consideration for the liturgical seasons should be so arranged as to be in harmony with the sacred liturgy. They should somehow derive their inspiration from it, and because of its pre-eminence they should orient the Christian people towards it." [93] Although this is a wise and clear rule, its application is not an easy matter, especially in regard to Marian devotions, which are so varied in their formal expressions. What is needed on the part of the leaders of the local communities is effort, pastoral sensitivity and perseverance, while the faithful on their part must show a willingness to accept guidelines and ideas drawn from the true nature of Christian worship; this sometimes makes it necessary to change long-standing customs wherein the real nature of this Christian worship has become somewhat obscured.
In this context we wish to mention two attitudes which in pastoral practice could nullify the norm of the Second Vatican Council. In the first place there are certain persons concerned with the care of souls who scorn, a priori, devotions of piety which, in their correct forms, have been recommended by the magisterium, who leave them aside and in this way create a vacuum which they do not fill. They forget that the Council has said that devotions of piety should harmonize with the liturgy, not be suppressed. Secondly there are those who, without wholesome liturgical and pastoral criteria, mix practices of piety and liturgical acts in hybrid celebrations. It sometimes happens that novenas or similar practices of piety are inserted into the very celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. This creates the danger that the Lord's Memorial Rite, instead of being the culmination of the meeting of the Christian community, becomes the occasion, as it were, for devotional practices. For those who act in this way we wish to recall the rule laid down by the Council prescribing that exercises of piety should be harmonized with the liturgy, not merged into it. Wise pastoral action should, on the one hand, point out and emphasize the proper nature of the liturgical acts, while on the other hand it should enhance the value of practices of piety in order to adapt them to the needs of individual communities in the Church and to make them valuable aids to the liturgy.
