Theological Reflection on Liturgy. Forty Years after the Promulgation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

The treatise on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Constitution Sancrosanctum Concilium deals with a new reading of the Constitution in the light of the development of the theological thought and the bringing of liturgical renewal into action. On the basis of the Church's Magisterium and the thought of important experts it is possible to establish some emphases in the later development of the documents of the Vatican Council and of theological reflection: 1) the mutual references between the teaching on revelation and the historical-redemptive basis of the constitution on liturgy; 2) the development of community ecclesiology that pays attention to the reality of the local church beginning with the liturgical celebration having the celebrating community as the subject; 3) the eagerness to study and preach God's word among the Christian people, which is largely due to the richly set table of God's word in the liturgy; 4) the discovery of ritual not as a ceremony but as a language of its own, which makes possible a special experience of the Divine mystery and gives God's action priority over the human one. Thus, to remember such an important anniversary means to repeatedly become aware of the key principles of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy as an incentive to renew the liturgy in the spirit of the Church Fathers.