The Prophet of the Post-Modern World

Fr. Romano Guardini has rightly been called by many a prophet of the post-modern world. Originally published in 1956, Guardini wrote an aptly titled book The End of the Modern World, where he argued that the modern world was ending and a new age was upon us. The book was prophetic and original, Guardini didn’t have a name for what this new age would be.

I think it would be prudent to take a deeper look at what Guardini was saying and what he claimed might be a solution to dealing with his new age. 5 years after The End of the Modern World, Guardini published a sequel titled Power and Responsibility: A Course of Action for the New Age. In this book, he discusses the concept of power and how the virtue of responsibility will be instrumental in this new age as humans start to develop powers over nature unheard of previously in human history.

At the end of this book, Guardini lists four characteristics that people of this new age need to have to form a better humanity: developing a contemplative attitude, asking about the essence of things, learning command of self through asceticism, and recognizing our relation to God. It is these four characteristics that the prophet of the post-modern world recognized to be essential for humans in what we now call the post-modern world.

I believe that Guardini saw the liturgy and a renewed emphasis on it as a key response to the changing of the ages, partially because the liturgy is what best helps form these four characteristics in us.

Developing a Contemplative Attitude

The contemplative aspect of life is so important that Guardini calls it the foundation of a healthy life and it is in the liturgy that we first learn to develop a contemplative life. The liturgy is important because it runs contrary to almost everything else in our society today where we do something in order to achieve some purpose or end goal. The liturgy is different because it is ‘purposeless.’ We are there solely for the praise and worship of God. There is nothing to aim for or achieve, rather we live in God’s presence and praise God. The lack of a concrete purpose creates the conditions to enter into contemplation as we encounter the fundamental truths of the Christian faith.

Asking about the Essence of Things

The emergence of modern technology has changed the way we think and act, and one result of this is that we no longer ask about the essence of things. We have a greater attitude of mastery over the world and that has created a certain intellectual laziness on our part. Guardini uses the example of a sailboat vs. an ocean steam liner to illustrate this point. Whereas, when using the sailboat, we had to have a closeness to nature and know about the wind and waves and let that determine how we acted, now, with the ocean steam liner, we can move forward regardless of the conditions of the water, and this engenders a loss of interest in knowing and learning about nature. This attitude has flowed over into all areas of our lives. For Guardini, the liturgy is particularly important in this respect because, “The Lord’s memorial is the central mystery of our Christian life,” and it is this mystery that we celebrate in the Mass. When we truly participate in the liturgy, we come to realize the essence of the Christian faith and by doing so, we can regain the attitude of asking about the essence of things.

Learning Command of Self Through Asceticism

The third characteristic that we need to learn is command of self through self-asceticism, and again this value is clearly present in Guardini’s liturgical theology. The liturgy, by its very nature, is a communal undertaking and the communal aspect has consequences for the individual. “When believers attend Holy Mass they go not to express their own religious emotion nor to receive direction and inspiration from the spiritual talents of a man who enjoys their special trust. They enter into an order established by God; they go to participate in a prescribed service… in all essentials we must renounce both our private desires and our personal disapproval.”

It requires a sacrifice to enter into a community. There will be people of different personalities and temperaments and everyone must sacrifice their own personal tastes and desires for the good of the community. There will probably be parts of the Mass that each person may not feel the strongest attachment to, while other parts may better accord with their personality. It requires a certain degree of sacrifice and self-asceticism to put my desires to the side for the best of the community. Especially as a result of modernity, we tend to be more subjective and to dislike authority which is why, in the liturgy, “self-discipline is especially necessary.”

In the liturgy we give thanks to God and “thanksgiving is the attitude farthest removed from narrowness and selfishness.” Thanksgiving becomes even harder when Mass is attended on a daily basis, and not just weekly. Throughout the ups and downs of the week, despite good or bad moods, despite whether things are going well or poorly in our lives, we give thanks to God. That is an act of continual self-asceticism that the liturgy forms in us. Guardini described the key to understanding our salvation as humility, since it was a humbling act for God to become human in Jesus Christ. Self-asceticism in the liturgy is a form of humility as we have to renounce our personal tastes and desires for the good of the community.

Recognizing our Relation to God

The final characteristic we need for the new age is to recognize our relationship to God. All of the other characteristics we need to develop find their culmination here. Guardini speaks of the importance of the liturgy because it is the “heart of the direct relationship between God and believer.” In the liturgy, we come for the sole reason to worship our God and enter into union with Him. The liturgy is not about us, it is about worshipping God. The liturgy is the “locus for adoration, for union with God.” We go to the liturgy to be in relationship with God. This is why Guardini can say that Sunday itself has “an almost sacramental character” since, by the mere fact of going to Mass on Sunday, we receive grace.