We walk in procession with the bodies of our beloved dead, blessing them with the holy water of baptism. The liturgy presents Christians not only with God's Word, but also with God's offer of divine relationship.
To that offer we are asked to make a response. We can accept that offer and move deeper into the transformation that is at the heart of our lives. Or we can reject the offer and stay the same, or worse, retreat from the "more" we are called to be.
What is the Christian, and more specifically, the Catholic view? We already adverted to some issues when we spoke about the Eucharist and its ability to transform those who participate in the ritual enactment. By freely entering into the ritual event, we "buy into" its meaning, appropriate it, and are transformed.
Further, we noted earlier that God is both our source and our end, and intends to incorporate us into God's own life. The church has consistently taught that God achieves this by taking the human experience deeply into account. God respects what God has made.
As early as the second century, Christian theologians, in continuity with the Hebrew tradition, have insisted on the role of the body, and the material world, in salvation. The Christian writer Tertullian, for example, claimed "the body is the hinge of salvation. Thus Tertullian writes that we wash the body so that the soul may be cleansed; we anoint the body so that the spirit may be sanctified.
There is no other way for God to relate to us but through the very constitution of our person — through body, soul and spirit and, by extension, through the materiality of the world. Against those who would argue that creation is evil, as various groups have done over time, early Christian practice affirmed the goodness of the material world. In our ritual remembrance of Christ Jesus, we use very material gifts of bread and wine.
In fact, an "offertory procession" with these gifts was inserted into the Eucharistic celebration by the end of the 2nd century to stress that God works with us through physical realities. What we find in Tertullian is the beginning of what we call a sacramental theology. In other words, God, who desires union with us now and in the life to come, uses our ritual celebrations to achieve the kind of transformation God desires for us and that we long for. The Christian community began with the faith statement, made manifest in Jesus, that God desires our transformation into the divine, and then, gradually, developed a theology of how this is accomplished.
The community came to understand and teach that through ritual participation, through liturgy, we participate in the reality signified, which is always God's desire for our salvation. Through ritual washing, for instance, we image in ourselves Jesus' experience of being called God's beloved. As Paul described it in a metaphor, we die with Christ in baptism and are raised with him. In Eucharistic sharing, we come to share in the very divinity of Christ and so come into union with him and with his whole mystical body, the Christian community.
Through the laying on of hands and anointing, we are given the Spirit. Participation Comes With Strings The church, as agent of Christ on Earth, continually celebrates through ritual words and actions the mighty works of God for our salvation. In doing so it provides the means through which Christians can participate in that reality. God's grace operates through human means.
As stated previously, through appropriation of divine realities, we are invited to integrate them with our whole person and modify accordingly our behavior in the world.
From a theological perspective, then, we can say the liturgical participation comes with strings. Ethical behavior flows from ritual transformation. By acting in the world as God would have us act, we have the potential for transforming not only ourselves, but also all our relationships and the world we share. That too we accomplish with God's grace. Not only does God work transformation in us through liturgical participation, God works through us for the transformation of the world.
Log in Forgot Password? They are an "icon" of Christ and act in the person of Christ. This ministry of the bishop as well as priests and deacons is most evident in the Eucharist. Other particular ministries servers, readers, commentators, choir , although not consecrated by Holy Orders, exercise true liturgical functions.
Therefore, the whole assembly acts in the liturgy. Each should carry out "all and only those parts which pertain to his office" Second Vatican Council. The celebration uses signs and symbols whose meaning comes from creation, human culture, the events in the Old Testament and the revelation given in the life of Christ. In human life, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols.
As social beings, we communicate by language, gestures and actions. By means of the material cosmos, God speaks to man. Light, word, water, fire, and the earth itself speak of God's greatness and nearness. These same realities can express actions by which God sanctifies man and man worships God. Social realities washing, breaking bread, drinking from a cup can express God's presence and man's thankfulness.
Mankind's great religions witness to the cosmic meaning of religious rites. The Church's liturgy sanctifies these elements and confers on them the dignity of signs of Christ's grace. God gave the Chosen People distinctive signs and symbols circumcision, anointings of kings and priests, sacrifices and, above all, the Passover. These went beyond cosmic signs and social gestures, and prefigured New Covenant sacraments.
Jesus used signs to make known the kingdom's mysteries. He gave new meaning to Old Covenant deeds and signs especially the Exodus and Passover. Since Pentecost, the Spirit does his work through sacramental signs which fulfill the figures of the Old Covenant. They make present Christ's saving power and anticipate heaven's glory.
In the sacraments, God's children meet their Father in a dialogue of actions and words. These symbolic actions which are already a language are accompanied by the Word of God and a response of faith. Liturgical actions signify what God's Word expresses. In the liturgy of the Word, the signs the veneration of the book, a prominent place for the lectern, the intelligible reading, the proclamation of the homily, and the assembly's response nourish faith.
The liturgical Word and action are inseparable. The Holy Spirit awakens faith by the Word of God and then makes present the "wonders" of God by the sacraments. The Church's musical tradition has a pre-eminence, because the sacred music and words form a necessary part of the liturgy Second Vatican Council. The Old Covenant had the singing of inspired psalms.
The Church continues this tradition "making melody to the Lord with all your heart" Eph Tears streamed down my face - tears that did me good" St. This harmony of songs, music, words, and actions must be expressed in the cultural richness of God's people. The Church wants "the voices of the faithful to be heard" and "texts which conform to Catholic doctrine and are taken chiefly from the Scripture and liturgical texts" Second Vatican Council.
The liturgical icon represents principally Christ. Before his birth, the invisible God could not be represented. John Damascene. Christian icons express the Gospel message in images. Even images of the Mother of God and of the saints truly signify Christ, for they manifest the "cloud of witnesses" Heb The Second Council of Nicaea defined that "the figures of Christ, Our Lady, angels, and saints can be exhibited in the holy churches of God, in houses and on streets.
The Church believes that she should celebrate Christ's words throughout the year. Every Sunday, the Church recalls the memory of Christ's Resurrection.
Once a year, she recalls his Passion and Resurrection. Throughout the year, the Church makes present to the faithful the riches of Christ's power and merits so they "are filled with saving grace" Second Vatican Council. A mystery is a reality that is both visible and hidden.
His death and Resurrection are hidden now in the eternity of God, but as Risen Lord and Head of the Church, Jesus Christ calls us to share in them through the liturgy of the Church, that is, by the visible gathering of the community for worship and remembrance of what God has done for us.
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