More Thoughts on that Slippery Term "Noble Simplicity"

"In celebrating the Holy Mysteries, we should fear neither an appropriate 'otherworldiness' nor the incarnational use of signs, movement, color, sound and the bodily senses...We should make noble simplicity a guiding ideal in all the ceremonies of parish or cathedral. But the words 'noble' and 'simple' are meant to be kept together so that they propose one ideal.

"That ceremonial should be 'noble' excludes both a casual and careless style and a pretentious and self-consious ritualism. Nobility speaks to us of a sense of graciousness and splendor, which may be equally evident at a solemn mass or at the simplest celebration. Nobility means offering the best for God: noble actions, gestures, and also noble altars, vessels, vestments, etc. In this nobility we recognize that God is beautiful, that He should be adored with beauty...

"A fear of nobility in worship finds no place in the rich Christian culture which is embodied in the directives of the Church... The pragmatic approach to noble simplicity in ceremonial is achieved through attention to fine detail: how one genuflects, how people move in harmony, knowing what object is required at this particular moment of worship, what to prepare in the sacristy, etc... A casual regard for detail produces liturgy that is uncertain and clumsy, hence neither noble nor simple.

"...Better 'ritual' should lead away from a verbal, or verbose, style of worship, to more prayerful and reflective celebrations. An emphasis on the 'sacred action' frees the liturgy from didacticism, from adding little homilies, explanations and directions. The celebrant who understands action, gesture and word, as an integrated whole, allows the liturgy to speak for itself. He does not regard the liturgy as primarily talking to people.

"...The lover wills the best for the beloved...one strives to give the faithful the finest forms of worship which raise them to participate with joy in the foretaste of heaven and pledge of eternal life."

--Msgr. Peter J. Elliott, Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite, 1994.