More About the Liturgy On a Quiet Autumn Sunday

Last Sunday we were talking about the Liturgy. Not just Holy Mass, but the entirety of the Church's Liturgy. If you're not familiar with this, here's a definition you can find in The Soul of the Apostolate:

"...the public, social, official worship given by the Church of God, or the whole complex of means which the Church uses especially in the Missal, Ritual, and Breviary, and by which she expresses her religion to the adorable Trinity, as well as instructs and sanctifies souls."

We then discussed some particulars, and how we've come to learn about them, as well as how we can incorporate some of them in our spiritual life.

The source of our increased interest in the Liturgy: The mess that's come with our "C-Virus World." It left us wanting to dig ever deeper to better understand, appreciate, and participate in the Liturgy. Going months without access to Mass, then finding ourselves in the midst of these new and strange ways Mass is celebrated - masks, distancing, etc. - keeps us coming back to the trough for a better understanding of the fullness of the Liturgy as it has existed since Christ founded His Church. Doing so allowed us to shift our focus from what was missing or strange about our current situation. That helps us realize what we're experiencing today is, indeed, an exception, and thus will likely (we hope) prove to be a temporary aberration.

With all that in mind, let's continue our exploration, using The Soul of the Apostolate as our guide. Recall that Dom Chautard authored this work to better explain and encourage Catholics to build a deeper Interior Life. His discussion of the Liturgy is part of that effort.

While we will get into more particulars in future posts, let's first consider these words Dom Chautard addresses to Our Lord: 

"You are the link between the Liturgy of earth and the Liturgy of heaven, in which you give Your elect a more direct participation." 

While the Liturgy may be seen as our ultimate form of praise, it is Jesus Christ Himself Who is "the perfect hymn of praise." Both God and man, He unites the supernatural and the natural in His Person. And Jesus personally took specific measures to assure that the example He gave us while on earth, especially in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, would always provide us with the means to be holy. The Liturgy is one of those means. 

This goes far beyond the teaching that the Last Supper was the "first Mass." It certainly was the first and effectively the foundation for the Mass we celebrate today. But, as we've seen, the Liturgy incorporates more than the Mass, beginning with the Sacraments.

"Divine Savior, before You left the earth, You instituted the Sacrifice of the New Law, in order to renew Your immolation. You also instituted Your Sacraments, in order to communicate Your life to souls."

The Sacraments were a gift from Our Lord. Each of the Seven Sacraments can be traced to Jesus Christ. His Apostles were the first to be aware of the power and efficacy of the Sacraments, beginning with Baptism. Under their guiding hands, the Church became the repository of the Seven and passed on their knowledge and their practice to the successors of the Apostles. And so that passing on has continued to our present day.

Do we treasure these gifts each time they are given? While Sunday Mass fulfills my "Sunday obligation," is that all the Mass means - the fulfillment of an obligation? In Holy Mass we meet Our Lord in a manner unique and awesome. We kneel at the consecration as Our Lord - through the priest acting in persona Christi - offers Himself to His Father recreating the Sacrifice of Calvary, albeit in an un-bloody manner. Does this penetrate our hearts, our minds, our souls, in a manner that reflects the transcendent, awesome event taking place?

When I go to Confession, do I realize that Our Lord Himself - again, with the priest acting in persona Christi - forgives me; and in doing so communicates His life to my soul. Without His life, my soul would languish in a cesspool of venial sins, even die under the weight of mortal sin. We so need His life to restore and refresh our own. Will I remember and appreciate how important this is to the life of my soul the next time I go to Confession?

Meditating on all this on a Sunday, I hope to deepen my understanding and appreciation of the Liturgy. We can see Our Lord Himself as "the link between the Liturgy of earth and the Liturgy of heaven, in which you give Your elect a more direct participation."

Our participation in the Liturgy thus is transformed from mere obligation, or habit, to something special, unique, wonderful. Let's end today's post with Dom Chautard's words about the depth and breadth of the Liturgy Our Lord has given us through His Holy Catholic Church:

"...You left Your Church the care of surrounding this Sacrifice and these Sacraments with symbols, ceremonies, exhortations, prayers, etc., in order that she might thus pay greater honor to the Mystery of the Redemption, and make it more understandable to her children, and help them to gain more profit from it while exciting in their souls a respect full of awe."

We'll have more next Sunday on the Liturgy.

Happy Sunday!