Don't say what you do, do what you say

Louis-Marie Chauvet is a french roman-catholic liturgist. He has expressed with simple words a great liturgical principle that should guide us all:

The fundamental law of liturgy is not to say what you do, but to do what you say.¹

If we forget that liturgy is not a “logia”, but an “urgia”², we are walking to a one-sense worship. Worship is not based only on hearing. Liturgy uses all the five senses³, each one in a different way for every liturgy or part of liturgy.

This use of all the five senses doesn’t reduce the importance of the listening of the Word of God in liturgy, but can exalt this listening with the good smell of incense smoke or with well use of lighting.

If the Word of God in liturgy is only a matter of listening, a deaf can’t take part to the listening of Word of God in liturgy (if he has not a leaf with readings or if he can’t read the lips of the readers). If we don’t use only one sense we can take part in different and more complete ways to the listening.

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¹ I translated this quote from the italian version of the book of P. De Clerck, L’intelligenza della liturgia, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1999, p. 33 that quote L.-M. Chauvet, Symbole et sacrament. Une relecture sacramentelle de l’existence chrétienne, «Cogitatio fidei», 144 (1987).
² Cfr. e.g. F. Cassingena-Trévedy, La liturgia, arte e mestiere, Qiqajon, Magnano, 2011, p. 6; P. De Clerck, L’intelligenza della liturgia, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1999, p. 55.
³ Cfr. e.g. P. Tomatis, La festa dei sensi. Riflessioni sulla festa cristiana, Cittadella Editrice, Assisi, 2010; Aa. Vv., Ars celebrandi, Qiqajon, Magnano, 2008, pp. 21-23; P. De Clerck, L’intelligenza della liturgia, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1999, pp.48-55.