170 The time of the Church of the Apostles - part 3

YOUCAT Lesson 170, part 3 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]

.......Photo: .....The Sea of Galille….. This is where  Jesus asked Peter do you love me?  Then feed my sheep.  Facebook photo by Chris Stefanik. ...106...170

 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

…….CHRIST'S WORK IN THE LITURGY. . . 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."( Sacrosanctum Concilium 6)⁹  --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….1087 Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of sanctifying(compare John 20:21-23)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. --CCC