Sacred power is given to the shepherd to build up ‘his flock in truth and holiness’
By Father Randy Stice
“The bishop is the chief steward of the mysteries of God and the overseer of all liturgical life in the Church entrusted to his care.” This is how the Ceremonial of Bishops (CB) describes the importance of the bishop in the liturgical life of the diocese (CB, no. 404). The Ceremonial of Bishops is the official liturgical book that describes how liturgical rites are celebrated when the bishop presides. It is a book with an ancient history.
By the late seventh century, the Church had begun to develop books that specified the norms for the liturgical services celebrated by the pope. In 1600, Pope Clement VIII issued Ceremoniale Episcoporum (Ceremonial of Bishops) that, with revisions (in 1650, 1727, 1742, and 1886), has continued in use until today. In this column, I want to draw on this book to discuss the role of the bishop in the liturgical life of his diocese.
By virtue of “the authority and sacred power that he received through his ordination as bishop” (no. 10), the liturgical life of the diocese flows from the bishop. “The preeminent manifestation of the Church is present” when the bishop presides at the Eucharist with “the full, active participation of all God’s holy people … in a single prayer, at one altar … surrounded by his college of presbyters [priests] and by his ministers” (no. 11).
The ministry of both priests and deacons derives from the bishop. “On him depend both presbyters [priests] and deacons in the exercise of their orders. Presbyters, appointed to be prudent co-workers of the order of bishops, are themselves consecrated as true priests of the New Testament; deacons serve as ministers ordained to service for the people of God in communion with the bishop and his presbyters” (no. 9). Sacred power is given to the bishop to build up “his flock in truth and holiness” (no. 10).
“The office of bishop as teacher, sanctifier, and pastor of his Church shines forth most clearly in a liturgy that he celebrates with his people” (no. 11) and is expressed by liturgical signs when he celebrates Mass.
While the priest can choose from several greetings at the beginning of Mass—“The Lord be with you” or “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all”—only the bishop greets the people with the first words that Jesus spoke to the disciples after the resurrection, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). This was assigned to bishops as vicars of Christ by Pope Innocent III (died 1216). It is a liturgical sign that bishops, “in an eminent and visible manner, take the place of Christ Himself, teacher, shepherd, and priest, and act as his representative.”1
The bishop also wears a miter, which is a sign of “his resolve to pursue holiness.” In general, he wears the miter when he addresses the people and removes it when he addresses God and when the Gospel is read, because it is Christ Himself who speaks to us in the Gospel. He also carries the pastoral staff (crosier), a symbol of his duty to guide and govern the diocese. During the Mass he holds the staff when he walks in procession, listens to the Gospel reading, and gives the homily.
The bishop wears the miter and carries the pastoral staff when he gives the homily. Preaching the Gospel is the “preeminent” duty of the bishop, who, “as herald of the faith leads new followers to Christ.” As their authentic teacher, that is, one invested with the authority of Christ, he proclaims to the people entrusted to him the truths of faith they are to believe and to live by. Under the light of the Holy Spirit, the bishop explains the teachings of faith, bringing forth from the treasure house of revelation new things and old.
He works to make faith yield its harvest and, like the good shepherd, he is vigilant in protecting his people from the threat of error” (no. 15). One of the ways that he discharges this responsibility is in the liturgy, principally the homily at Mass, but also through “introductions, invitations, or commentary during celebrations of the sacraments and sacramentals” (no. 15).
For the Eucharistic Prayer, the bishop removes not only the miter but also the skullcap as a sign of the profound power and holiness of this great prayer of thanksgiving and sanctification by which the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. In the Eucharistic Prayer, “human action steps back and makes way for the action of God. This action of God is the real ‘action’ for which all of creation is in expectation. This is what is new and distinctive about the Christian liturgy: God Himself acts and does what is essential.”2
At the end of Mass, the blessing given by the bishop, wearing the miter, begins with a dialogue with the people:
Bishop: The Lord be with you.
R: And with your spirit.
Bishop: Blessed be the name of the Lord.
R: Now and for ever.
Bishop: Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R: Who made heaven and earth.
He then takes the pastoral staff and gives the usual Trinitarian blessing, “May almighty God bless you…,” but makes the sign of the cross three times as he names the three Persons of the Trinity. The dialogue developed during the 13th century, and the triple sign of the cross was in use in the 11th century.
Because preaching the Gospel is the bishop’s preeminent duty, he “has responsibility for the entire process of Christian sacraments of initiation [baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist], a responsibility he carries out either personally or through the presbyters, deacons, and catechists of his diocese.”
Church tradition “has viewed pastoral responsibility in this regard to be so peculiarly the bishop’s own as to declare without qualification, in the words of Ignatius of Antioch: ‘It is not permitted to baptize without the authorization of the bishop’” (no. 404).
The bishop is the ordinary minister of confirmation “so that there will be a clearer reference to the first pouring forth of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost: after the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, they themselves gave the Spirit to the faithful through the laying on of hands. Thus, the reception of the Spirit through the ministry of the bishop shows the close bond that joins the confirmed to the Church and the mandate received from Christ to bear witness to him before all” (no. 455).
In summary, the bishop “is to be regarded as the High Priest of his flock, from whom the life in Christ of his faithful in some sense derives and upon whom it depends, must promote, regulate, and be vigilant over the liturgical life in his diocese.”3 Through prayer and sacramental ministry, he cares for his flock and seeks “with zeal and devotion to obtain an abundance of grace for them from the fullness of Christ’s holiness.”4 “Through the ministry of the bishop, Christ Himself never ceases to proclaim the Gospel and to administer the sacraments of faith.”5
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1558.
2 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, pp. 171-173.
3 General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 387.
4 Rite of Ordination of a Bishop, no. 39.
5 Rite of Ordination of a Bishop, no. 39.
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.
