The Spirit – Our Sanctification

The sixth edition of the “Mysterium fascinans” liturgical retreat, to be held in mid-September in Kraków, will be devoted to the action of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy. The weekend meeting will be filled not only with academic lectures, but also with the common celebration of the liturgy and prayer.

Last year’s retreat, for which almost 150 participants from all over Poland registered, was devoted to the sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist). This year the organizers decided that the theme of the sanctifying action of the Third Person of the Trinity in the celebration of the liturgy follows naturally from last year’s reflections and will be their continuation.

A unique feature of this event – since its first edition – has been the ambition to combine academic reflection with a living celebration of the liturgy and a daily programme with the character of a retreat, inspired by the charism of the Light-Life Movement.

We will look at the dynamic action of the Spirit in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist – in both the Western and the Eastern tradition. But above all we will want to submit our hearts and our lives to the transforming action of the Spirit in the liturgy itself, which we will celebrate – as in recent years – in the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite. The Dominican Rite will also be used in the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours.

Every year eminent theologians are invited to lecture – often professors from renowned universities outside Poland. Two years ago they were Fr. Prof. Cesare Giraudo from Rome and Fr. Dr. José Antonio Goñi from Pamplona, and last year Fr. Prof. Félix María Arocena Solano and Fr. Prof. Pierangelo Muroni. Well-known Polish liturgists have also taken part in the academic programme, including Fr. Prof. Bogusław Nadolski, Fr. Prof. Czesław Krakowiak, Fr. Prof. Bogusław Migut, Fr. Dr. Maciej Zachara MIC and others.

Since one of the aims of the retreat is to build a community that extends beyond the three-day meeting, this year guests from Poland have been invited: Bishop Grzegorz Ryś, Fr. Dr. Grzegorz Strzelczyk, Fr. Dr. Wojciech Węgrzyniak and Fr. Dr. Tomasz Bać. The lectures in the programme will be catecheses rather than the papers typical of academic symposia. The singing during the liturgy will be led by the Schola Cantorum Minorum Chosoviensis, the Schola Cantate Domino and the Schola of the Hedwig Sisters of Wawel.

The retreat will take place on 13–15 September 2013 (Friday to Sunday) in the building of the Major Seminary at 8 Podzamcze Street in Kraków. Registration is possible only by filling in the online application form (registration extended to 5 September inclusive). All information about the retreat, details of registration, the cost of participation and the retreat schedule can be found on the retreat website and on Facebook and posters.

The Dominican Liturgical Center co-organizes the retreat together with the Archdiocesan Commission for Liturgy and Liturgical Ministry of the Archdiocese of Kraków, the Archdiocesan Commission for Church Music of the Archdiocese of Kraków, the Ministry of Liturgical Service and the Light-Life Movement, and the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków.

photo: Grzegorz Czerwiński/gregory.com.pl

Outline of this edition’s theme

The sacraments of Christian initiation are the foundation of the whole life of faith. It is they that, through the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit, make man like Jesus Christ. Following St. Paul and the author of the First Letter of St. Peter, we call the Third Person of the Trinity “our sanctification”: “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11); “sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Pet 1:2). That is why, starting from the theme of last year’s retreat, “To Live in Christ”, which was devoted to the sacraments of Christian initiation, this year we want to explore the mystery of the Holy Spirit, and in particular the sanctifying dimension of His action. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of it very aptly and concisely:

The epiclesis (“invocation upon”) is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God. […] The mission of the Holy Spirit in every liturgical action is to put us in communion with Christ so as to form his Body (CCC 1105, 1108).

We will look at the theme “The Spirit – our sanctification” from many angles. We will look through the eyes of biblical scholars: an expert on the Old Testament and one on the New. A dogmatic theologian will give us the right perspective for a strictly liturgical view, presenting sanctification as becoming like Christ. We will look at the dynamic action of the Spirit in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist – in both the Western and the Eastern tradition. But above all we will want to submit our hearts and our lives to the transforming action of the Spirit in the liturgy itself, which we will celebrate – as in recent years – in the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite. The Dominican Rite will also be used in the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. The singing during the liturgy will be led by the Schola Cantorum Minorum Chosoviensis, the Schola Cantate Domino of the Light-Life Movement of the Archdiocese of Kraków and the Schola of the Hedwig Sisters of Wawel.

This year’s retreat will be marked by two elements. First, we have decided to invite only Polish experts who are well known and respected. After two editions with lecturers from abroad, we want to return to the original idea of the retreat. Our aim was to create a theological and liturgical community in Poland in which deep, open and substantive reflection on the liturgy of the Church would be possible. This year our invitation has been accepted by Bishop Dr. hab. Grzegorz Ryś, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków, Fr. Dr. Grzegorz Strzelczyk from Katowice, Fr. Wojciech Węgrzyniak from Kraków, Ms. Danuta Piekarz from Kraków, Fr. Dr. hab. Marek Blaza SJ from Warsaw, Fr. Dr. Maciej Zachara MIC from Lublin and Fr. Dr. Tomasz Bać from Rzeszów.

The second characteristic element of this year’s retreat will be a clear mystagogical aspect. All the lectures this year are conceived as catecheses introducing participants into the mystery of the Holy Spirit acting in the liturgy, and not as academic papers typical of a scholarly symposium. We also emphasize this through an additional mystagogical catechesis, which will prepare participants to live and celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, falling on the second day of the retreat. This form is meant to emphasize even more the retreat character of the event called Mysterium fascinans.

We warmly invite everyone who wants to enter the space of beautifully celebrated liturgy, mystagogical reflection and the sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit. We especially invite lay people, who every year form the largest group of participants (the minimum age is 16). We invite just as warmly all religious sisters, priests (it is with you in mind that the retreat has been moved to the second week of September, so as not to clash with the first Friday of the month), deacons and seminarians. Registration for the retreat opens on 1 June and closes on 25 August.