How the liturgy teaches us what is most needed today

In a previous post, we began discussing what the new Directory for Catechesis says about our ministry as liturgical minsters. The directory tells us that we have to be witnesses to the mystery of Jesus Christ and lead others to an encounter with that ministry. The privileged place for that encounter is the liturgy, especially the Sunday Eucharist (see DC 96).

This has several implications for liturgical ministers. In this post, we’ll look at the first of those implications. That is, we need to celebrate the liturgy is such a way that catechists can show how the rites are part of God’s story of our salvation (see DC 98).

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Finding meaning and fulfillment

“Salvation” is a big concept. When I was a child, I thought of salvation as not going to hell. Maybe going to purgatory. But heaven was the ultimate goal. That’s not wrong, but it is a very small part of the much larger meaning. The Directory for Catechesis says:

Evangelization has as its ultimate aim the fulfillment of human life. (30)

So salvation is about finding meaning and fulfillment in this life as well as the next. The directory goes on to say that while those of us in western cultures tend to speak about this fulfillment as salvation or being saved, the Christian East speaks of divinization. Our ultimate fulfillment as humans is to become divine or become God. Salvation and divinization are two ways to talk about the same idea.

These two expressions, in reality, are complementary:

God became human,

so that humanity could become

truly human

as he intended and created him to be;

humanity,

whose icon is the Son,

participate in the divine nature.

Believers can already experience this salvation

here and now,

but it will find its fullness

in the resurrection. (30)

So, returning to our goal as liturgical ministers, we want to celebrate liturgy in a way that echoes the story of our salvation. That story is much more than a hoped-for seat at the heavenly banquet. It is also a participation in the life of the Trinity—to the point of become divine or “ultimate humans” ourselves—here and now.

What has to happen in every liturgy?

That story of salvation, the directory tells us, has to be “in keeping with the Tradition of the Church, reinterpreting the mystery of the life of Jesus and his Paschal mystery in particular relation to the entire course of the Old Testament” (98).

Wow. That’s a lot.

In the liturgy, we have to:

reflect the Tradition of the Church (have you seen how thick the Catechism is?),
the Paschal mystery,
and the entire Old Testament!

There is good news, however. We do not have to say everything at every liturgy. The Sundays of the year are organized on a liturgical calendar such that: “In the course of the year, moreover, [the Church] unfolds the whole mystery of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1163).

Also, Pope Francis reminds us of what is taught by the Second Vatican Council: “In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or a ‘hierarchy’ of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith” (Joy of the Gospel, 36; see also DC 178).

Emphasizing the right elements

The pastoral consequence of this teaching is that in the liturgy we have to spend most of our time emphasizing those elements of

the Tradition of the Church,
the Paschal mystery,
and the Old Testament

that are most needed today:

it has to express God’s saving love which precedes any moral and religious obligation on our part

it should not impose the truth but appeal to freedom

it should be marked by joy, encouragement, liveliness and a harmonious balance which will not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than evangelical (DC 59)

Are we celebrating the liturgy is such a way that catechists can show how the rites are part of God’s story of our salvation? Click To Tweet

When the way that we celebrate liturgy

expresses God’s saving love
appeals to freedom
and is marked by joy

we are celebrating the liturgy is such a way that catechists can show how the rites are part of God’s story of our salvation (see DC 98).

How can liturgy show the story of salvation?

There are many, many ways to accomplish this fundamental task. Some skill is involved, but the secret to liturgy that expresses love, appeals to freedom, and is joyful depends more on attitude than skill.

Here is an incomplete checklist. Please add your own additions to the checklist in the comments section below.

As a parish, do we have an active attitude of welcome as people are gathering for liturgy?
Is there a systematic way to see and welcome strangers before Mass begins?
Is music chosen because it fits the readings? Or the musicians enjoy performing it? Or because it appeals to a sense of freedom and joy in the worshipers?
Do the readers proclaim the scriptures in ways that makes clear God’s saving love?
Do the homilists “not reduce preaching to a few doctrines which are at times more philosophical than evangelical” and instead focus on an appeal to freedom?
Is the dismissal of the catechumens a joyful calling of the seekers to the freedom of God’s saving love?
Are the intercessions mini-sermons? Or are they joyful invitations to freedom and salvation?
Is the Eucharistic Prayer a joyful sacrifice of praise that is actively offered by the entire baptismal priesthood?
Are the faces, posture, and attitude of the communion ministers marked by joy?
Is the entire communion rite a joyful expression of freedom and unity of the People of God? Or is more of a time of personal devotion?
Is the dismissal of the assembly a joyful calling of the People of God to the freedom of God’s saving love?

The privileged place for parishioners and catechumens to encounter the Risen Christ is in the liturgy. It is up to us to do all we can to emphasize those elements of

the Tradition of the Church,
the Paschal mystery,
and the Old Testament

that are most needed today.

In this way, we tell and actualize the story of our salvation.