YOUCAT Lesson 180, part 6 of 11 parts
YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth
180 Why is the Mass sometimes referred to as a
“worship service”?
A worship service is in the first place a service that God
performs for us—and only then is it our service offered to God. God gives himself to us under the form of
holy signs—so that we might do the same: give ourselves unreservedly to
him. [1145-1192]
…….Photo above: …..St John the Baptist Catholic Church, Hot
Springs, AR, photo by Don C Bragg..... "By a tradition handed down from
the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection,
the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day.” …..180
Jesus is there in Word and sacrament—God is present. That is the first and most important thing
about every liturgy. Only then do we
enter the picture. Jesus sacrifices his
life for us so that we might offer to him the spiritual sacrifice of our
life. In the Eucharist, Christ gives
himself to us, so that we might give ourselves to him. Thus we take part in the redeeming and
transforming sacrifice of Christ. Our
little life is burst open and led into the kingdom of God. God can live his life in our lives.
…….The following numbered paragraphs are
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), Second Edition, and give
deeper understanding to YOUCAT Lesson 180:
1166 "By a tradition handed down from the
apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the
Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is
appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday." (Sacrosanctum
conilium 106) 36 The
day of Christ's Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of
the first day of creation, and the "eighth day," on which Christ
after his "rest" on the great sabbath inaugurates the "day that
the Lord has made," the "day that knows no evening." (Byzantine liturgy.) 37 The
Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole community of the faithful
encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet: (compare John 21:12; Luke 24:30)38 --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second
Edition
The Lord's day, the day of Resurrection, the day of Christians,
is our day. It is called the Lord's day because on it the Lord rose victorious
to the Father. If pagans call it the "day of the sun," we willingly
agree, for today the light of the world is raised, today is revealed the sun of
justice with healing in his rays. (St.
Jerome, Pasch.: Corpus
Christianorum Series Latina 78,550) 39 --CCC
1167 Sunday is the pre-eminent day for the
liturgical assembly, when the faithful gather "to listen to the word of
God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion,
Resurrection, and glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who 'has
begotten them again, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' unto a
living hope": (Sacrosanctum
concilium 106) 40 --CCC
When we ponder, O Christ, the marvels accomplished on this day,
the Sunday of your holy resurrection, we say: "Blessed is Sunday, for on
it began creation . . . the world's salvation . . . the
renewal of the human race. . . . On Sunday heaven and earth rejoiced
and the whole universe was filled with light. Blessed is Sunday, for on it were
opened the gates of paradise so that Adam and all the exiles might enter it
without fear. (Fanqith, The Syriac Office of Antioch,
vol. VI, first part of Summer, 193 B) 41 --CCC
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