Start |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10

3. The Liturgy: Act of Christ and of His Church

The celebration of the liturgy is therefore never a private action of the celebrant or of the community gathered in a particular place, but an act of the Church as such (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 26), in intimate union with Christ her Head. Accordingly, an insistence on “good liturgy” is right and useful as long as the expression is not misunderstood as meaning a human virtuoso, external performance or “choreography”. Rather, all participants should accommodate and subordinate themselves and their manner of thinking, acting and speaking to the great gift and mystery of God’s redemption and to the person of Christ, our sole Saviour, with a special reverence for the real presence of Christ in the holy Eucharist at the Mass and reserved in the tabernacle.

COMMENTS

The Church’s liturgy is never a private action of the celebrant or of the particular community but an act of the whole Church. Therefore serious reflection is called for upon our mode of celebrating each of the sacraments: e.g. baptism and reconciliation should be seen as communal celebrations.

While we should avoid the extreme of treating liturgy as merely an exercise in human virtuosity, external performance or choreography, we should also avoid the other extreme of a wooden rubricism. The liturgy is fundamentally the prayer of the Church, offered in union with Christ.

This section highlights the need for reverence for the Real Presence of Christ when celebrated in the Eucharist and also when reserved in the tabernacle. In some Australian parishes at the moment, this is an area of tension, though the two are not in opposition. Reservation of the Eucharist flows from the celebration of the altar and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is an extension of the thanksgiving after communion. In turn, devotion to Christ in the reserved sacrament leads back to the sacrifice of the altar and our participation in it through holy communion.

QUESTIONS

How might we foster a stronger sense of community and communal prayer in our celebrations?

How do you see the relationship between Christ’s presence during the celebration of the Eucharist and when the Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle?