170 Glorified Christ in the Liturgy - part 2

YOUCAT Lesson 170, part 2 of 9 parts

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

God and the Sacred Liturgy

What is the most profound origin of the liturgy?

170  The most profound origin of the liturgy is God, in whom there is an eternal, heavenly banquet of love—the joy of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Because God is love, he would like to let us participate in the feast of his joy and to grant us his blessings.  [1077-1109]

……..Painting: …..The Resurrection Of Christ by Carl Heinrich Bloch.....47...170 ….Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father "once for all."( Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; Heb 9:12; compare John 13:1; Jn 17:1)

Our earthly liturgies must be celebrations full of beauty and power: Feasts of the Father who created us-that is why the gifts of the earth play such a great part: the bread, the wine, oil and light, incense, sacred music, and splendid colors.  Feasts of the Son who redeemed us—that is why we rejoice in our liberation, breathe deeply in listening to the Word, and are strengthened in eating the Eucharistic Gifts.  Feasts of the Holy Spirit who lives in us—that is why there us a wealth of consolation, knowledge, courage, strength, and blessing that flows from these sacred assemblies.  179

Blessing:  A blessing is something good that comes from God (Latin benedicere; Greek eu-logein=to call good) to bless is a divine, life-giving, and life-preserving action.  God, the Father and Creator of all being, says: It is good that you exist.  The fact that you are is something beautiful.

Then I will go to the altar of God, the God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.  Psalm 43:4

…….THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY

       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.—Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….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."( Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; Heb 9:12; compare John 13:1; Jn 17:1)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.—CCC