Retrieving the Sense of the Sacred: a Paradigm of Silence in the Liturgy

In the course of history, the experience of silence has always been a slice of glorious treasures in the Roman liturgy. Silence as Sacred is not only a historical issue but also a practical one in modern liturgical experience. As a liturgical minister in our time, the author reflects on this phenomenon and explores a theological disposition on the liturgical foundation of silence. The research is conducted in a context-theology-paradigm approach, of which it aims to investigate the theology of liturgical silence with the aid of actual pastoral experience—the common liturgical experience in modern Catholic worship. Therefore, the content of this book deals with the intrinsic connection between the Sacred—the mystery which the liturgy celebrates—and the theological implications of silence in Catholic worship. By embracing various theological disciplines: Philosophy of Religion, Biblical Studies, Christology, Patristic Theology, Christian Worship and Liturgical Music, a proper and comprehensive theological investigation of liturgical silence is presented. The author intends to justify Silence as a liturgical paradigm: a proper means of enhancing the celebration of modern Catholic liturgy. Sacred silence, as prescribed in Sacrosanctum Concilium (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), truly revives the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. To recover a proper liturgical value of silence in the liturgy is to recover the sense of the sacred in the living world.