Vatican II at 50 - Liturgical Space
Whenever I go to a gathering in someone’s home it
seems everyone always gathers in the kitchen—no matter how big the house! Perhaps it’s the anticipation of a feast or
the promise of the intimacy of sharing a meal.
Whatever the reason one thing is clear:
food gathers people together.
From the earliest days, the Church has gathered around the
sacred meal. The early Church gathered
in homes to remember the person of Jesus by telling stories about his life and
by sharing a communal meal. The growth
of Christianity meant having to find spaces which could accommodate more
people. Not surprisingly, church
buildings often reflected the architecture of the day. For example, the basilica, a building used
for public meetings, became the style used for the first churches. Throughout the Church’s history, church
buildings often reflected not only the design of the day but also the thinking
and theology of the time. In the Middle
Ages, for example, when the liturgical action was performed exclusively by the
clergy, churches took on the majestic style of the Gothic, which personified the
hierarchy of the Church and the hierarchical vision of the Medieval universe by
separating the assembly from the liturgical action.
The Second Vatican Council, with its emphasis on
the assembly’s “full, conscious, and active participation,” restored the
ancient image of the community gathered around the sacred meal. That’s why churches built after Vatican II are
designed to facilitate the unity and participation of the entire assembly.
