Cardinal Newman said that to grow is to change and to become perfect is to have changed often. But change is hard. Jesus asked his followers to change so that they could better reflect their dignity as children of God. The first followers of Jesus asked their contemporaries to change following the example of Jesus. However, that call to change was viewed as a threat. “For we have heard [the deacon, Stephen] claim that this Jesus the Nazorean will … change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” We resist change because the familiar becomes comfortable as an old shoe. In modern Catholicism there has been resistance to the changes called for by the Second Vatican Council. The Council desired that we celebrate the liturgy in a way that promotes “full, conscious and active participation on the part of all the people.” Instead of the liturgy being priest-craft that the laity observe it is the “work of the people” — the very meaning of liturgy. As the years go on the changes called for continue to challenge us to “become perfect.”
