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The Place of Jews in the Liturgy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2024

John Hennig Ph.D.
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One of the greatest changes which in recent years has taken place in Church life is due to the fact that the liturgy is no longer regarded merely as the order of the Church’s public and common worship, but as one of the most important expressions of the life of the Mystical Body of Christ. On the other hand, we realise that the liturgy is not only a matter of spiritual meditation, but also a source of practical information on the full reality of our life as children of the election. It could not be expected that this twofold discovery would reveal its full significance at once, yet it is surprising to see how frequently discussions on vital problems of Church life are still carried on without consulting the definite authoritative teaching contained thereon in the liturgy. With regard to the Jewish problem, it is evidently due to the almost overwhelming influence of excellent studies by non-Catholic writers that Catholic authors draw only from the source of Holy Scripture and of theological speculation. Thus Fr. Przywara, S.J., Professor Erik Peterson, Leon Bloy, Jacques Maritain and many others have written on Christian-Jewish relations without making reference even to the most obvious liturgical text concerned with Jews, namely the Solemn Supplications of Good Friday.

After praying for the various grades of the hierarchy, for the absent members of the congregation, and for the catechumens, heretics and schismatics, these Supplications conclude with petitions for the Jews and the Heathens.

Type
Research Article
Information
Blackfriars , Volume 25 , Issue 287 , February 1944 , pp. 68 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © 1944 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 In his diary for July 11th, 1892. Bloy, however, makes a reference to the connection* between the Christian and the ancient Jewish liturgy.

2 See my article. ‘Men and Money in the Liturgy,’ The Irish Rosary, Sept.‐Oct., 1942.

3 ‘As of old time the Synagogue, so now does the Church venerate Michael as ‘the watcher and defender’ (Breviary).

4 It is a strange coincidence that on November 9th, one of the blackest days in modern Jewish history, the. Roman Martyrology commemorates the crucifixion in Syria of the Image of the Saviour by the Jews. This image poured forth blood so plenteously that the Churches of the East and West received freely therefrom. The local cultus of Dominic de Val in Saragossa, Hugh and Wernen of Bacharach, all three boys said to have been kidnapped and killed by the Jews, likewise originated in connection with anti‐Jewish feeling spread by the Crusaders.