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Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Why Focus So Much on the Liturgy?

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · February 13, 2014

803 Latin QUESTION ONE often hears asked: “Why do traditionalists focus so much on the liturgy? Do they think it’s the most important thing in the world?” The implied answer is, No, it really isn’t the most important thing; after all, there’s the doctrinal content of the faith, and the Church’s whole magisterium, there’s missionary work and social work for the poor, there’s catechesis and adult education, etc. Surely, all that together is more important or at least equally so?

But in truth, it is not so. Catechesis, marriage, theology, devotions, everything hinges on the sacred liturgy, which, in its eucharistic consummation, is the source and summit of the Church’s entire life, as Vatican II lucidly taught. The Christian people is formed by the liturgy more than by anything else; it is the one formative influence that is universal to believers and intended by our Lord to be their very food and drink. Catechesis may vary, interest in doctrine and use of devotional practices may vary, but Sunday worship, and the celebration of the other sacraments, will profoundly affect the way believers think of God, worship God, and lead their lives. Take away the liturgy, and you have ripped the heart right out of the body. Or, to use a similar metaphor, it’s like the difference between cutting off a limb and chopping off the head. Man can survive a lot of wounds and amputations, but once the head is gone, nothing else matters.

Jesus taught us: “eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mt 6:22-23 RSV) The liturgy is like the eye of the Church. If this eye is sound, the whole body will be full of its light. When the public worship of God is our first priority, when it is carried out reverently, lovingly, with adoration, and we give our very best to it, doing everything in harmony with Catholic tradition and the directives of the Church, then we have brought ourselves into the right relationship with the Mystical Body and its Head, Christ our King, Sovereign High Priest. From that right relationship flows our personal prayer, our study and catechesis, our works of charity and evangelization, even our leisure and recreation.

But if the liturgy is perverted, if it is shallow, horizontal, and full of abuses, if it embodies and promotes a hermeneutic of rupture and discontinuity vis-à-vis the great tradition of the Church, then the Church has been dealt the closest thing to a death-blow that she, who is immortal, can be dealt. We are not only not bringing our entire lives into harmony around the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we are even running the risk of sinning against the light, profaning the holiest of holies, losing our way in the world, losing our ability or even desire to evangelize because there ceases to be that for the sake of which all proclamation of the Gospel exists. “How great is the darkness!”

Let us flee such darkness as much as we can, doing all that we can to illuminate the world with the light and warmth of the adoration of God in spirit and in truth. When the liturgy is intrinsically good, as it was and still is wherever the traditionalist revival has caught on, the Church will thrive again, will gain converts and produce missionary shoots, and will prevail over every tyranny that dares to stand in her way.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    How Well Does ICEL Know Latin?
    This year, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June 2025) falls on a Sunday. It’s not necessary to be an eminent Latin scholar to be horrified by examples like this, which have been in place since 1970. For the last 55 years, anyone who’s attempted to correct such errors has been threatened with legal action. It is simply unbelievable that the (mandatory) texts of the Holy Mass began being sold for a profit in the 1970s. How much longer will this gruesome situation last?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Is the USCCB trolling us?
    I realize I’m going to come across as a “Negative Nancy” … but I can’t help myself. This kind of stuff is beyond ridiculous. There are already way too many options in the MISSALE RECENS. Adding more will simply confuse the faithful even more. We seriously need to band together and start creating a “REFORM OF THE REFORM” Missale Romanum so it will be ready when the time comes.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Common” Responsorial Psalm?
    I try to avoid arguing about liturgical legislation (even with Catholic priests) because it seems like many folks hold certain views—and nothing will persuade them to believe differently. You can show them 100 church documents, but it matters not. They won’t budge. Sometimes I’m confronted by people who insist that “there’s no such thing” as a COMMON RESPONSORIAL PSALM. When that happens, I show them a copy of the official legislation in Latin. I have occasionally prevailed by means of this method.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

Why do we never sing “De Spiritu Sancto” (St. Athenogenes) in our churches? There are a dozen translations in English verse. Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

Recent Posts

  • How Well Does ICEL Know Latin?
  • Nobody Cares About This! • 1887 Rheims-Cambrai Gradual included “Restored” Plainsong
  • Is the USCCB trolling us?
  • What No Musicologist Can Explain!
  • “Common” Responsorial Psalm?

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