PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION
OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
Why the liturgy?
1066 In the Symbol of the faith the Church confesses the mystery of the Holy Trinity
and of the plan of God's "good pleasure" for all creation: the Father accomplishes the
"mystery of his will" by giving his beloved Son and his Holy Spirit for the salvation of
the world and for the glory of his name.[1]
Such is the mystery of Christ, revealed and fulfilled in history according to the wisely
ordered plan that St. Paul calls the "plan of the mystery"[2] and the patristic tradition will
call the "economy of the Word incarnate" or the "economy of salvation."
1067 "The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a
prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to
God. He accomplished this work principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed
Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby 'dying he
destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.' For it was from the side of Christ as he
slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous sacrament of
the whole Church."'[3]
For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal mystery by
which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.
1068 It is this mystery of Christ that the Church proclaims and celebrates in her liturgy
so that the faithful may live from it and bear witness to it in the world:
For it is in the liturgy, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, that "the work
of our redemption is accomplished," and it is through the liturgy especially that the
faithful are enabled to express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ
and the real nature of the true Church.[4]
What does the word liturgy mean?
1069 The word "liturgy" originally meant a "public work" or a "service in the name
of/on behalf of the people."
In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of
God."[5]
Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our
redemption in, with, and through his Church.
1070 In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of
divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity.[6] In all
of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor.
In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her Lord, the one
"leitourgos";[7] she shares in Christ's priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic
(proclamation) and kingly (service of charity):
The liturgy then is rightly seen as an 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 Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, 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.
No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same
degree.[8]
Liturgy as source of life
1071 As the work of Christ liturgy is also an action of his Church. It makes the Church
present and manifests her as the visible sign of the communion in Christ between God
and men. It engages the faithful in the new life of the community and involves the
"conscious, active, and fruitful participation" of everyone.[9]
1072 "The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church":[10] it must
be preceded by evangelization, faith, and conversion. It can then produce its fruits in the
lives of the faithful: new life in the Spirit, involvement in the mission of the Church, and
service to her unity.
Prayer and liturgy
1073 The liturgy is also a participation in Christ's own prayer addressed to the Father in
the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal. Through the
liturgy the inner man is rooted and grounded in "the great love with which [the Father]
loved us" in his beloved Son.[11] It is the same "marvelous work of God" that is lived
and internalized by all prayer, "at all times in the Spirit."[12]
Catechesis and liturgy
1074 "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is
also the font from which all her power flows."[13]
It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God.
"Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity,
for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness
for the transformation of men."[14]
1075 Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ ( It is
"mystagogy." ) by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing
signified, from the "sacraments" to the "mysteries." Such catechesis is to be presented by
local and regional catechisms. This Catechism, which aims to serve the whole Church in
all the diversity of her rites and cultures,[15] will present what is fundamental and
common to the whole Church in the liturgy as mystery and as celebration (Section One),
and then the seven sacraments and the sacramentals (Section Two).
ENDNOTES
1 Eph 1:9.
2 Eph 3:9; cf. 3:4.
3 SC 5 # 2; cf. St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 138, 2: PL 37, 1784-1785.
4 SC 2.
5 Cf. Jn 17:4.
6 Cf. Lk 1:23; Acts 13:2; Rom 15:16, 27; 2 Cor 9:12; Phil 2:14-17, 25, 30.
7 Cf. Heb 8:2, 6.
8 SC 7 # 2-3.
9 SC 11.
10 SC 9.
11 Eph 2:4; 3:16-17.
12 Eph 6:18.
13 SC 10.
14 John Paul II, CT 23.
15 Cf. SC 3-4.
SECTION ONE - THE SACRAMENTAL
ECONOMY
1076 The Church was made manifest to the world on the day of Pentecost by the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.[1] The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era in the
"dispensation of the mystery" the age of the Church, during which Christ manifests,
makes present, and communicates his work of salvation through the liturgy of his
Church, "until he comes."[2] In this age of the Church Christ now lives and acts in and
with his Church, in a new way appropriate to this new age. He acts through the
sacraments in what the common Tradition of the East and the West calls "the
sacramental economy"; this is the communication (or "dispensation") of the fruits of
Christ's Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church's "sacramental" liturgy.
It is therefore important first to explain this "sacramental dispensation" (chapter one).
The nature and essential features of liturgical celebration will then appear more clearly
(chapter two).
CHAPTER ONE - THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN
THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
ARTICLE 1 - THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE
HOLY TRINITY
I. THE FATHER-SOURCE AND GOAL OF THE
LITURGY
1077 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
He destined us before him in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in
the Beloved."[3]
1078 Blessing is a divine and life-giving action, the source of which is the Father; his
blessing is both word and gift.[4] When applied to man, the word "blessing" means
adoration and surrender to his Creator in thanksgiving.
1079 From the beginning until the end of time the whole of God's work is a blessing.
From the liturgical poem of the first creation to the canticles of the heavenly Jerusalem,
the inspired authors proclaim the plan of salvation as one vast divine blessing.
1080 From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man and woman.
The covenant with Noah and with all living things renewed this blessing of fruitfulness
despite man's sin which had brought a curse on the ground. But with Abraham, the
divine blessing entered into human history which was moving toward death, to redirect
it toward life, toward its source. By the faith of "the father of all believers," who
embraced the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.
1081 The divine blessings were made manifest in astonishing and saving events: the
birth of Isaac, the escape from Egypt (Passover and Exodus), the gift of the promised
land, the election of David, the presence of God in the Temple, the purifying exile, and
return of a "small remnant." The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, interwoven in the
liturgy of the Chosen People, recall these divine blessings and at the same time respond
to them with blessings of praise and thanksgiving.
1082 In the Church's liturgy the divine blessing is fully revealed and communicated. The
Father is acknowledged and adored as the source and the end of all the blessings of
creation and salvation. In his Word who became incarnate, died, and rose for us, he fills
us with his blessings. Through his Word, he pours into our hearts the Gift that contains
all gifts, the Holy Spirit.
1083 The dual dimension of the Christian liturgy as a response of faith and love to the
spiritual blessings the Father bestows on us is thus evident. On the one hand, the
Church, united with her Lord and "in the Holy Spirit,"[5] blesses the Father "for his
inexpressible gift[6] in her adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. On the other hand, until
the consummation of God's plan, the Church never ceases to present to the Father the
offering of his own gifts and to beg him to send the Holy Spirit upon that offering, upon
herself, upon the faithful, and upon the whole world, so that through communion in the
death and resurrection of Christ the Priest, and by the power of the Spirit, these divine
blessings will bring forth the fruits of life "to the praise of his glorious grace."[7]
II. CHRIST'S WORK IN THE LITURGY
Christ glorified . . .
1084 "Seated at the right hand of the Father" and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his
Body which is the Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to
communicate his grace. The sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions)
accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit
they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify.
1085 In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ
signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery
by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the
unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the
dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father "once for all."[8] His Paschal mystery
is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events
happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of
Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed
death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the
divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The
event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.
. . . from the time of the Church of the Apostles . . .
1086 "Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father so also he sent the apostles,
filled with the Holy Spirit. This he did so that they might preach the Gospel to every
creature and proclaim that the Son of God by his death and resurrection had freed us
from the power of Satan and from death and brought us into the Kingdom of his
Father. But he also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set
in train through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life
revolves."[9]
1087 Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them
his power of sanctifying:[10] they became sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of
the same Holy Spirit they entrusted this power to their successors. This
"apostolic succession" structures the whole liturgical life of the Church
and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of Holy Orders.
. . . is present in the earthly liturgy . . .
1088 "To accomplish so great a work" - the dispensation or communication of his work
of salvation - "Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical
celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his
minister, 'the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered
himself on the cross,' but especially in the Eucharistic species. By his power he is present
in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes.
He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are
read in the Church. Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has
promised 'where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst
of them."'[11]
1089 "Christ, indeed, always associates the Church with himself in this great work in
which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is his beloved Bride
who calls to her Lord and through him offers worship to the eternal Father."[12]
. . . which participates in the liturgy of heaven
1090 "In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is
celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where
Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true
tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the
Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with
them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear
and we too will appear with him in glory."[13]
III. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH IN
THE LITURGY
1091 In the liturgy the Holy Spirit is teacher of the faith of the People of God and
artisan of "God's masterpieces," the sacraments of the New Covenant. The desire and
work of the Spirit in the heart of the Church is that we may live from the life of the risen
Christ. When the Spirit encounters in us the response of faith which he has aroused in
us, he brings about genuine cooperation. Through it, the liturgy becomes the common
work of the Holy Spirit and the Church.
1092 In this sacramental dispensation of Christ's mystery the Holy Spirit acts in the same
way as at other times in the economy of salvation: he prepares the Church to encounter
her Lord; he recalls and makes Christ manifest to the faith of the assembly. By his
transforming power, he makes the mystery of Christ present here and now. Finally the
Spirit of communion unites the Church to the life and mission of Christ.
The Holy Spirit prepares for the reception of Christ
1093 In the sacramental economy the Holy Spirit fulfills what was prefigured in the Old
Covenant. Since Christ's Church was "prepared in marvellous fashion in the history of
the people of Israel and in the Old Covenant,"[14] the Church's liturgy has retained
certain elements of the worship of the Old Covenant as integral and irreplaceable,
adopting them as her own:
-notably, reading the Old Testament;
-praying the Psalms;
-above all, recalling the saving events and significant realities which have found their
fulfillment in the mystery of Christ (promise and covenant, Exodus and Passover,
kingdom and temple, exile and return).
1094 It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord
is built,[15] and then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis
unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It
is called "typological" because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of the
"figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of the first
covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are
unveiled.[16] Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism,[17] as did
the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the
spiritual gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true
bread from heaven."[18]
1095 For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the
Easter Vigil, re-reads and re-lives the great events of salvation history in the "today" of
her liturgy. But this also demands that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to
this spiritual understanding of the economy of salvation as the Church's liturgy reveals it
and enables us to live it.
1096 Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy. A better knowledge of the Jewish people's faith
and religious life as professed and lived even now can help our better understanding of
certain aspects of Christian liturgy. For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an
essential part of their respective liturgies: in the proclamation of the Word of God, the
response to this word, prayer of praise and intercession for the living and the dead,
invocation of God's mercy. In its characteristic structure the Liturgy of the Word
originates in Jewish prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical texts and
formularies, as well as those of our most venerable prayers, including the Lord's Prayer,
have parallels in Jewish prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers also draw their inspiration from
the Jewish tradition. The relationship between Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy, but
also their differences in content, are particularly evident in the great feasts of the
liturgical year, such as Passover. Christians and Jews both celebrate the Passover. For
Jews, it is the Passover of history, tending toward the future; for Christians, it is the
Passover fulfilled in the death and Resurrection of Christ, though always in expectation
of its definitive consummation.
1097 In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration
of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church.
The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who
gathers the children of God into the one Body of Christ. This assembly transcends
racial, cultural, social - indeed, all human affinities.
1098 The assembly should prepare itself to encounter its Lord and to become "a people
well disposed." The preparation of hearts is the joint work of the Holy Spirit and the
assembly, especially of its ministers. The grace of the Holy Spirit seeks to awaken faith,
conversion of heart, and adherence to the Father's will. These dispositions are the
precondition both for the reception of other graces conferred in the celebration itself
and the fruits of new life which the celebration is intended to produce afterward.
The Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ
1099 The Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work of salvation
in the liturgy. Primarily in the Eucharist, and by analogy in the other sacraments, the
liturgy is the memorial of the mystery of salvation. The Holy Spirit is the Church's living
memory.[19]
1100 The Word of God. The Holy Spirit first recalls the meaning of the salvation event
to the liturgical assembly by giving life to the Word of God, which is proclaimed so that
it may be received and lived:
In the celebration of the liturgy, Sacred Scripture is extremely important. From it come
the lessons that are read and explained in the homily and the psalms that are sung. It is
from the Scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and
their force, and that actions and signs derive their meaning.[20]
1101 The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to those who
read or hear it, according to the dispositions of their hearts. By means of the words,
actions, and symbols that form the structure of a celebration, the Spirit puts both the
faithful and the ministers into a living relationship with Christ, the Word and Image of
the Father, so that they can live out the meaning of what they hear, contemplate, and do
in the celebration.
1102 "By the saving word of God, faith . . . is nourished in the hearts of believers. By
this faith then the congregation of the faithful begins and grows."[21] The proclamation
does not stop with a teaching; it elicits the response of faith as consent and
commitment, directed at the covenant between God and his people. Once again it is the
Holy Spirit who gives the grace of faith, strengthens it and makes it grow in the
community. The liturgical assembly is first of all a communion in faith.
1103 Anamnesis. The liturgical celebration always refers to God's saving interventions in
history. "The economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words which are
intrinsically bound up with each other.... [T]he words for their part proclaim the works
and bring to light the mystery they contain."[22] In the Liturgy of the Word the Holy
Spirit "recalls" to the assembly all that Christ has done for us. In keeping with the nature
of liturgical actions and the ritual traditions of the churches, the celebration "makes a
remembrance" of the marvelous works of God in an anamnesis which may be more or
less developed. The Holy Spirit who thus awakens the memory of the Church then
inspires thanksgiving and praise (doxology).
The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ
1104 Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them,
makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the
celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy
Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.
1105 The Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the priest begs the
Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body
and blood of Christ and that the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a
living offering to God.[23]
1106 Together with the anamnesis, the epiclesis is at the heart of each sacramental
celebration, most especially of the Eucharist:
You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine . . . the Blood of
Christ I shall tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what
surpasses every word and thought . . . Let it be enough for you to understand that it is
by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord,
through and in himself, took flesh.[24]
1107 The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the
kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he
causes us really to anticipate the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by
the Father who hears the epiclesis of the Church, the Spirit gives life to those who
accept him and is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance.[25]
The communion of the Holy Spirit
1108 In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into
communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the
Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches.[26] The most intimate cooperation of the
Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy. The Spirit who is the Spirit of
communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great
sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together.
Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of
the Spirit in the liturgy.[27]
1109 The epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with
the mystery of Christ. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit"[28] have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond
the Eucharistic celebration. The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy
Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual
transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by
taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity.
IN BRIEF
1110 In the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is blessed and adored as the source of
all the blessings of creation and salvation with which he has blessed us in his Son, in
order to give us the Spirit of filial adoption.
1111 Christ's work in the liturgy is sacramental: because his mystery of salvation is made
present there by the power of his Holy Spirit; because his Body, which is the Church, is
like a sacrament (sign and instrument) in which the Holy Spirit dispenses the mystery of
salvation; and because through her liturgical actions the pilgrim Church already
participates, as by a foretaste, in the heavenly liturgy.
1112 The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the Church is to prepare the
assembly to encounter Christ; to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly;
to make the saving work of Christ present and active by his transforming power; and to
make the gift of communion bear fruit in the Church.
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