Unoffiicial English transcription of Msgr. Ranjith's Interview on Vatican Radio given on the heels of CIEL's Roman colloquium

[This is an unofficial translation of the French language programme with a comment by Msgr. Ranjith on Vatican Radio. This is not the entire piece obviously which also included a more substantial interview with Prof. Luc Perrin, who presented a paper at the Roman colloquium. I wanted to focus mainly upon what the interviewer on Vatican Radio noted in relation to the thinking around Rome on the liturgy, as well as Msgr. Ranjith's brief reflection. Thank you to Mr. Greg Pearson of Cambridge for the doing this unofficial translation for the NLM.]

Presenter: What reform does the Church’s liturgy need? How can liturgy and modernity be reconciled ? These are some of the questions addressed by CIEL (International Centre for Liturgical Studies [Centre International pour les Etudes Liturgique]), based in Perpignan. A series of conferences was organised last week in Rome, while French bishops were wondering about the return of the Tridentine Mass. Rumours have recently spread about the announcement of a Motu Proprio allowing the celebration of the rite of St Pius V. Besides the French case, the Vatican has recently warned against abuses at Mass on Sundays. The homily and Communion are priests’ responsibility, Benedict XVI stressed to the German bishops on their ad limina visit last week. For his part, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arinze called for an end to spontaneity, a false idea of freedom which places man at the centre of the celebration. The liturgical renewal after the Second Vatican Council is the theme of The Keys of St Peter [name of the radio programme] today. We will be talking about it with Archbishop Ranjith, Cardinal Arinze’s representative at the congress organised by CIEL. Archbishop Ranjith goes back over the importance of the sacred in the liturgy.

Ranjith: Liturgy determines the Christian witness. So it’s necessary to deepen the [sense of] mystery in the liturgy. Everything we do to arrive at an awareness of the mystery, the sacredness of the liturgy, is very important for us. Pope Benedict XVI is always saying that liturgy is not something we do, liturgy in sincerely a gift of God and invitation to communion with him. So we must understand this, and seek to arrive at a deepening of this experience of the liturgy as a gift of God, as something which comes down to us with the grace of the Lord.