How Does the Liturgy Work?

In the first two posts I discussed the idea of the Heavenly Liturgy (Christ’s eternal self-offering on our behalf – His public work of salvation), and the earthly liturgy (the Church’s rituals, in which the faithful participate in the Heavenly Liturgy).    The particular ritual form most Catholics in America are familiar with is the Roman Rite – the Mass.

            The question raised at the end of the last post was how all of this works – how do ordinary people have the power to be united with Heaven, in a physical, earthly ritual?  Can I do this in my living room, by pulling out a Missal and saying the words of Mass out loud?  Are heaven and earth always united in a Church sanctuary, so we can walk in anytime and encounter heaven? 

            You can see how much easier it would be to think of liturgy as “work of the people” – as something we get together to do as a group on Sunday morning, or (much worse) as a religious show we put together for our own spiritual benefit.    When we start to talk about liturgy from the Church’s perspective – as participation in Christ’s work – you may be wondering where you fit into the equation.  If it’s Christ’s work, and it is already accomplished (once and for all) then what are we ordinary people doing at Mass? 

            The answer is that you are not an ordinary person – you have become part of the Body of Christ in the sacrament of Baptism.  It is increasingly common for Catholics to forget this critical fact, and simply to think of their faith as a belief system.  Being Catholic doesn’t just mean you accept a certain list of beliefs, though; it means that you have been completely changed – after Baptism you are no longer the same person!  Your new identity is as a part of the Body of Christ – the Church.  Here is what the Catechism has to say:

“Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.  Through Baptism…we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission” (CCC 1213).

Is the liturgical significance of Baptism clear yet?  If not, the Catechism makes it even more explicit:

“The baptized have become “living stones” to be “built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood [1 Peter 2:5].”  By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission.  They are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into His marvelous light [1 Peter 2:9].”  Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers” (CCC 1268). 

And just in case it still wasn’t making sense:

”Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental character that consecrates them for Christian religious worship.  The baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity” (CCC 1273)

We are only able to participate in the liturgy because we have first been baptized – because we are members of Christ’s Body, the Church.  Again, this may be hard to understand in our modern culture.  After all, non-Baptized people are free to attend Mass and say all the words.  On the surface it seems like they are doing the exact same thing we are at Mass (who knows – they might even be more attentive!).  This should tell you that participating in Mass is about more than doing and saying things – it is primarily about being part of Christ’s Body.  The Church is telling us, even if we can’t see a difference, that only the Baptized are able to take part in the liturgy.  This was more strictly enforced in the early centuries of the Church, when you were not even allowed to attend the liturgy of the Eucharist until you were baptized! 

Ok, we can participate in Christ’s Heavenly work because we are part of His Body – that makes sense…so what are bishops and priests for?  According to the Catechism:

“Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time:  thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry” (CCC 1536). 

This ministry has many components (teaching, governance, leadership, etc.), but notice what the most important activity is:

“’It is in the…Eucharistic assembly of the faithful that they [priests] exercise in a supreme degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father.’  From this unique sacrifice their whole priestly ministry draws its strength” (CCC 1566). 

Priests have been called by God to have a special role in leading the Church, especially by celebrating the liturgy.  This is a sacred power, given by Christ as they participate more fully in His priesthood.  It is power given to them for service of His Church.   

These ordained ministers have a dual role in the liturgy, since they act in persona Christi – in the Person of Christ.  On one hand they join with Christ in Heaven – participating in His Heavenly self-offering as they offer up the Eucharist to God the Father.  On the other hand, they make Christ present to the faithful.  You can hear this if you listen carefully to the words of Mass, and pay attention to who the priest is talking to at different times.  Sometimes he prays to God, but sometimes he turns and speaks to the people (“the Lord be with you”, and so on).  We all have the ability to participate in Mass because of our Baptism – the priest has the special calling and power to preside at the liturgy. 

This quote from Sacrosanctum Concilium (the Vatican II document on liturgy) summarizes my first three postings very well:

“The liturgy then is rightly seen as the exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ.  It involves the presentation of man’s sanctification under the guise of signs perceptible by the senses and its accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs.  In it full public worship is performed by the Head and his members.  From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others” (SC 7).

The Liturgy is an eternal, heavenly reality in which Christ performs the public work of offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the salvation of His people.  The Mass is the particular ritual in which most Catholics today participate in that heavenly reality.  We are able to participate in heaven while we are still on earth because we are members of Christ’s body through baptism.  Christ has called some of the baptized to serve His Church as ordained ministers – these ministers are necessary to make the earthly ritual valid. 

How does the liturgy ‘work?’  It works by Christ assembling His body the Church and allowing it to participate with Him in His saving work.  It works by each of us fulfilling the role we were called to in Baptism – whether as a member of the faithful assembly or in special service as an ordained minister. 

Since we are using the word ‘work’ so much (remember that the Greek word ‘work’ - ergon - is a source of the word ‘liturgy’), I’ll close with a scripture quote from First Corinthians.  We usually think of this verse in a surface sense – that we go around the world helping God and each other by doing good things.  Consider what it means in the mystical sense of the Body of Christ – Christ enables us to join in His saving work.  None of it comes from us (it is not our work), even if we are an ordained minister, and yet we are part of God’s work:

“What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.  Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth.  The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor.  For we are God's co-workers; you are God's field, God's building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). 

The Church says that the liturgy is an action of the "whole Christ (Christus totus), " and that may be a good way to think about this.  Christ is whole when all of the members of His body are assembled - and that includes you!  This mystical union is what we are dealing with when the Church requires you to come to Mass every Sunday.  It's not an attendance policy, it is an identity policy - the Church is calling you to be who you are in Christ.  How is it possible for Christ's completed work to be incomplete without our participation?  I think I have to step back here and just say that it is a mystery of the faith - one of those paradoxes or tensions that we cannot resolve on earth.  As a final thought, consider what Paul says about his own ministry and sufferings:

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God's stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.  For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me" (Colossians 1:24-29).