especially the role of the Liturgy of the Hours. This two-semester required course thus seeks to enable seminarians to see themselves as celebrants of the contemporary rites in continuity with the Church's tradition of liturgical prayer, so that they will identify with it and want to open it up for those they are leading in worship, so that it gives life.

The required course uses exposition of the history of the liturgy as framework within which the theological, spiritual, and pastoral aspects of the liturgy are presented, the juridical aspect being treated in the canon law courses. While the historical aspect of the liturgy is important in its own right, course lectures are not limited to offering descriptions of the rites in chronological sequence. In the decades since the Council, liturgical history has sometimes been taught in a way that can leave the impression that the outward forms of the rites have been determined much more by anthropological and sociological factors (constantly changing in different times and places) than by theological and spiritual concerns. Since the outward forms of the rites are the bearers of their theological and spiritual meaning, an overemphasis on the diversity of outward forms through the centuries can be used to support relativism in the rites' theological meaning. This confusion can be avoided by teaching the historical development of the rites simultaneously with the Church's theological understanding of them, and thus presenting the history of the liturgy in a theological way, as tradition.76

Treating the theological and historical aspects of the liturgy together also leads to a deeper and richer understanding of the many areas of the theological aspect specifically prescribed for study by Liturgical Formation in Seminaries. Rather than discussing these as abstract concepts, course lectures consider them as they are embodied in the prayers and rites of the liturgy,77 so that seminarians can see how the Church's understanding of, for example, the presence of Christ in liturgical actions came to its mature articulation through centuries of worship.

As lectures present the theological meaning of a given liturgical rite, they also consider how that rite has functioned spiritually. Treatment of the spiritual aspect of the liturgy is enhanced by beginning each lecture

76 Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy, "Commentary," in Liturgical Formation in Seminaries: A Commentary, 99:"The historicity of the liturgy should not be taught in such a manner that the liturgy appears as though it were the product of a series of unrelated occurrences combined in a haphazard manner to shape the worship practices of the Catholic Church so that what remains is only the product of chance." 77 Cf. Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, Instruction on Liturgical Formation in Seminaries, §46: "The prayers and orations of the sacred liturgy are to be explained in a way that sheds light upon the doctrinal treasures and the spiritual values they contain."

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Becoming Imbued with the Spirit and Power of the Liturgy: Liturgical Formation in Seminaries Today

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