Vatican II at 50 - Popular Devotions
Growing up in a town inhabited by European immigrants, I was immersed in the rituals of popular devotion. As a child, I participated in Stations of the Cross, Forty Hour Devotions and “never-fail-novena” prayers, where (I thought) I was promised whatever I wanted just for showing up nine Tuesdays in a row. So, I asked for a horse!!! I was in love with horses and thought this was the way to get one. After all, there was a contract involved, and I held up my end of the bargain! I never got a horse, but, what I did get was a sense for different forms of worship outside Sunday Mass.
Unlike the Sacraments, popular devotions can’t be traced back to the Scriptures and the ministry of Jesus. Most developed gradually over years and even centuries as people in different cultures looked for different ways to live out their faith. Some examples are: blessing candles and throats, receiving ashes and palms, pilgrimages, novenas, processions, the veneration of relics, the rosary and celebrations in honor of Mary, the blessing of medals, scapulars, statues and sacred pictures.
Though not as popular as they once were, devotions are still a part of the faith life of many Catholics. The authors of the Second Vatican Council endorsed sound popular devotions, but they also pointed out that the life of the Church centers on the liturgy--the Eucharist and the other six sacraments, as well as the Liturgy of the Hours, and the other official rites of the Church, such as the Order of Christian Funerals:
Every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body, the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its effectiveness by the same title and to the same degree. Sacrosanctum Concilium #7.
What this means is that the Eucharistic liturgy is the norm. Popular devotions should foster our liturgical prayer. That is, they should flow from and lead back to a fuller participation in the liturgy—back to an intimate union with God, with our brothers and sisters and the new life which that union brings. Amen!
