CCC and Efficacy

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bpbasilphx

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There has been some talk on a few threads here about “efficacy,” especially in judging the efficacy of a given Mass.

Out of curiousity, I searched the term on a computer version of the CCC, and found only 7 references.

This is the most interesting, I thought.

What do you all think?
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2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.**
 
**To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition. **
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I agree…

…and coupled with an advanced case of scrupulosity it can be a volatile combination.
 
It seems pretty clear to me. The quote essentially says that external liturgical perfection is useless if there is no interior loving relationship with God.

I’m not sure you’re trying to say this, but it does NOT necessarily follow that as long as the interior relationship with God is good, anything goes on the liturgical front.

Bottom line is that BOTH good liturgical and devotional practice AND a repentant and loving relationship with God make up God’s design for us, not either/or.
 
manualman said:
It seems pretty clear to me. The quote essentially says that external liturgical perfection is useless if there is no interior loving relationship with God.

I’m not sure you’re trying to say this, but it does NOT necessarily follow that as long as the interior relationship with God is good, anything goes on the liturgical front.

Bottom line is that BOTH good liturgical and devotional practice AND a repentant and loving relationship with God make up God’s design for us, not either/or.
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True, but I think that bpbasilphx is drawing attention to the recent mistaken notion here that the latin Mass is more “efficacious” than the current Mass in English, giving “greater” blessings to those who attend. Of course, the sacrifice of the Mass is just that, the sacrifice of the Mass. It is nonsense to think that Jesus is somehow more present in the Extraordinary Form as opposed to the Ordinary Form.
 
Timothysis said:
True, but I think that bpbasilphx is drawing attention to the recent mistaken notion here that the latin Mass is more “efficacious” than the current Mass in English, giving “greater” blessings to those who attend. Of course, the sacrifice of the Mass is just that, the sacrifice of the Mass. It is nonsense to think that Jesus is somehow more present in the Extraordinary Form as opposed to the Ordinary Form.
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You’ve got it nailed, Tim.
 
If this thread goes anywhere, I sure hope that it doesn’t descend into (yet another) CCC- bashing party. Remember what the late Holy Father wrote in the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which I approved 25 June last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church’s faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium. I declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion.
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OK, I defer to y’all who may have read more recent posts in this section than I have.

Now I’m not really an EF guy. I respect those who are, but have been to maybe two myself. But if you agree with what I said earlier about needing to have BOTH good liturgical practice AND the interior faith, then it is not quibbling to try to discern better forms of liturgy and contrast them with problematic forms.

That can be overdone, of course. But it isn’t inherently a useless discussion / discernment.
 
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