Episode 4: Entering the Ecstasy of the Divine Song

This series of reflections is based on Benedict XVI’s "A New Song for the Lord," pp. 141, 152160. Order the book here

Today’s reflection:

The Church’s liturgy is her celebration of the “musification” of the universe. She gathers the elements of creation – “fruit of the earth and work of human hands” – places them on the marriage bed of the altar and invites the descent: “Make holy these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall.” Then she celebrates the ascent: “Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of [your Son’s] wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, … we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.” Here the sensual and the spiritual are united in an indissoluble bond. Sensual pleasure alone cannot go beyond a certain measure, and this is why those who seek fulfillment there will always be frustrated. But when the senses open to the Spirit’s descent, they receive a new depth and ascend into the infinity of the spiritual adventure – the adventure of the enfleshment of Meaning and the en-meaning-ment of flesh. This marriage of Meaning and flesh represents Christianity in its deepest essence.

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