Reform of the liturgy necessitates the full, conscious and active participation of the laity, for it is only through this that the true nature of the church is manifested in and through the liturgy. Whereas the Council of Trent emphasized Christ's presence in the Eucharist and in the priest, Sacrosanctum Concilium completes the picture by emphasizing Christ's presence in the communion of the faithful, a communion manifested in the union of all in the work of prayer and worship.
In a 1964 essay entitled "Liturgical Renewal: The Open Approach," Merton goes into more detail about what needs to be reformed and how such reform might be accomplished. While he is cautiously open to "sober and reasonable experimentation," the essay reads like an appeal to liturgical progressives not to forget tradition. He argues that reform of the liturgy does not necessitate a jettison of the old. "It is not the old forms that must go," Merton argued, "so much as the old spirit."
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