R
Rykell
Guest
Walking Home:
A simple search of SC from Vat. II states nothing whatsoever about the altar except to say these laws are in revision. The document I referenced above is the actual instruction provided for in SC, and which denotes “free standing.”I have actually been basing myself on SC from Vat. II. Was its intention to do away with Altars …
Pope Benedict has this to say in Sacramentum Caritas:
- Along with the revision of the liturgical books, as laid down in Art. 25, there is to be an early revision of the canons and ecclesiastical statutes which govern the provision of material things involved in sacred worship. These laws refer especially to the worthy and well planned construction of sacred buildings, the shape and construction of altars, the nobility, placing, and safety of the eucharistic tabernacle, the dignity and suitability of the baptistery, the proper ordering of sacred images, embellishments, and vestments. Laws which seem less suited to the reformed liturgy are to be brought into harmony with it, or else abolished; and any which are helpful are to be retained if already in use, or introduced where they are lacking.
This I believe is what other posters were trying to express, that the altar, while important and requiring noble beauty, is not the essence (for them) — Jesus is.He (Jesus) is priest, victim and altar: the mediator between God the Father and his people (cf. Heb 5:5-10), the victim of atonement (cf. 1 Jn 2:2, 4:10) who offers himself on the altar of the Cross.