Catholics come to church with certain expectations not widely held by earlier generations when it comes to participation in the Church's rituals. That is largely the result of the Liturgical Movement of the 20th century, which precipitated a major overhaul of the public worship that the Church offers to God. This study presents the history of the movement before and after the Second Vatican Council. The author distills and makes available to non-specialists some of the more technical studies of the ideas and policies that influenced Roman Catholic liturgical renewal in the 20th century.
"In The Life of Little Saint Placid, Mother Gallois has Jesus saying to the novice, "The liturgy means spending your life passing into my life," and prompting Placid in turn to this maxim: "Singing His life so as to live my song." That is the kind of singing I propose: not simply producing sounds with the voice in regular vibrations, but being "in tune" with the life of Christ by nourishing and living our faith through the Church's sacred liturgy".
This short book is an introduction to the Liturgical Movement, its evolution and recent developments.