Archbishop Neri Ferrao urges the faithful to celebrate the liturgy in a proper, effective and relevant manner
Cardinal-Elect Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman (second left) launches the Indian edition of Pope Francis’ apostolic letter ‘Desiderio Desideravi’ on July 9. (Photo supplied)
Cardinal-Elect Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman in the western Indian state of Goa launched the Indian edition of Desiderio Desideravi, Pope Francis’ apostolic letter on the liturgical formation of lay people on July 9.
Archbishop Ferrao, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), released the book urging Catholics to celebrate the liturgy in a proper, effective and relevant manner.
“The faithful will celebrate liturgy better if they understand more adequately what they are doing and why they are doing it. Advanced liturgical catechesis for all faithful is needed to see that our liturgical celebrations are more active and meaningful,” said the prelate.
The Indian edition of the English translation of the apostolic letter was released at the Archbishop’s House in Panjim, the capital of Goa state.
The first copy of the book was handed over to Philip Ozores, CEO of the YOUCAT International Foundation and the secretary-general of the Aid to the Church in Need, said Father Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary-general of the CCBI.
Pope Francis released “Desiderio Desideravi” on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.
The title of the letter is taken from the Latin text: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
The letter insists on the liturgical formation of the entire gathered assembly, emphasizing that the liturgy is the guaranteed place of a real encounter with Christ, a privileged theological source and the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed.
Every paragraph of the apostolic letter is filled with the awareness that liturgy is first and foremost about making space for the Other — the true antidote to any form of inadequate celebration.
Pope Francis in his 15-page apostolic letter has said he wanted “to invite the whole Church to rediscover, to safeguard, and to live the truth and power of the Christian celebration.”
“I want the beauty of the Christian celebration and its necessary consequences for the life of the Church not to be spoiled by a superficial and foreshortened understanding of its value or, worse yet, by its being exploited in the service of some ideological vision, no matter what the hue,” he said in the document.
The concluding paragraph indirectly refers to the diverging demands for liturgical changes and asks to “abandon our polemics to listen together to what the Spirit is saying to the Church.”
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