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It’s Day 147!!
A couple of reminders…
The PRIMARY DOCUMENTS are always going to be Scripture
Take a look at the footnotes on every single page and there is a reference from Scripture
Our theology comes from Scripture
The document SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM from Vatican II is one of the big documents as well
CHRIST’S WORK IN THE LITURGY
What is Jesus doing in the Liturgy?
IT IS REMARKABLE!!
We are going to get some definitions
We are also going to learn how Christ is present in the earthly liturgy
There are 4 distinct ways
So let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, thank you so much. Thank you for the gift of the fact that what Jesus had done for us, what He has done for us 2,000 years ago halfway around the world for many of us comes to us now. Comes to us here in our little towns, in our big cities, in our small parishes, in our giant churches. Lord God, what your Son has done for us, we have access to. We have access to you. You make yourself present. You make the Holy Trinity present at every single Liturgy, Lord God. You make yourself completely accessible to us because you are Good and you love us. We thank you. We thank you for everything that you have done. We thank you for the Paschal Mystery, the life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus which comes to us in every liturgy, especially in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We thank you, Lord God. Please help us to have eyes that see. Right? Help us, Father, to have eyes that recognize your presence, your work, your Son, your Holy Spirit in the Liturgy. Especially when our eyes can be so obscured by seeing ordinary things. Lord God, you use ordinary things in an extraordinary way. You use ordinary things to give us extraordinary grace. You use ordinary things to give us yourself. So help us to have eyes to see and the Faith that receives and worships and loves you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we have it!!
There are a number of different authors who contributed to the writing of The Catechism
THE CREED is written beautifully
IT SINGS
IT IS BEAUTIFUL
IT IS POETIC
IT IS SO CLEAR AND CONCISE
Whoever wrote PILLAR 2: HOW WE WORSHIP is AMAZING
Paragraph 1084 says, “‘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.”
Every sacrament is a sacred sign that CAUSES what it SIGNIFIES
What is a SACRED SIGN?
An example of a sign is a stop sign
It signifies to stop here
BUT…
It DOES NOT CAUSE you to stop
We often roll right through it
Could you imagine a stop sign that CAUSES what it signifies?
You could see this stop sign and it actually CAUSES you to stop
So the sacraments CAUSE what they signify because of the action of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit
What is BAPTISM a sign of?
WASHING
Well it actually does WASH AWAY ORIGINAL SIN
Baptism is also a sign of NEW BIRTH
So it actually does MAKE US INTO GOD’S SONS AND DAUGHTERS AND NEW CREATURES
What is RECONCILIATION a sign of?
It is a sign of GOD’S FORGIVENESS
It actually CAUSES God’s forgiveness
We participate efficaciously
The MERCY of God is present efficaciously
This sacrament actually does FORGIVE OUR SINS
The sign of sings, the EUCHARIST is a sign of JESUS’ PRESENCE
IT ACTUALLY IS JESUS’ PRESENCE!!
SO REMARKABLE!!
The sign of MATRIMONY is to BECOME ONE FLESH
So the two actually truly BECOME ONE FLESH
THIS IS SO AMAZING!!
By the action of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit the Sacraments make present efficacious the grace that they signify
Paragraph 1085 says, “In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present…Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father ‘once for all.’ 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.”
THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!
What is Jesus doing in the Paschal mystery?
He is offering HIMSELF to the Father
HE DOES NOT CEASE OFFERING HIMSELF TO THE FATHER IN ETERNITY!!
Think about this
That MOMENT in time which now EXISTS IN ETERNITY transcends all times while being made present in all times
INCREDIBLE!!
In order to communicate that grace in what He has done for us to all times, Jesus gives the ability to the Apostles not just to preach
BUT…
He also wanted the work of Salvation which they preached to be CONTINUED through the sacrifice and the sacraments
In John Ch 20 Jesus has risen from the dead
He breathes the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and says, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, now I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven. Those whose sins you hold bound are held bound.”
Jesus has entrusted to the Apostles His power of SANCTIFYING
These become sacramental signs of Christ
They are not just little reminders
They are actually EFFICACIOUS in the fact that they communicate the grace of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit
Does that make sense?
Paragraph 1088 says, “Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister, ‘the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross,’ but especially in the Eucharistic species. By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes. He is present in the word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the Church. Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.’”
Here are the FOUR WAYS in which Jesus Christ is present to us
Jesus is present in the PERSON OF THE PRIEST
Jesus is ESPECIALLY PRESENT in the Eucharist
Jesus is present in His WORD when it is proclaimed
Jesus is present among the people when they GATHER IN HIS NAME
What are we doing in the earthly liturgy?
We are going to MASS!!
Well what is happening is the Father is being GLORIFIED and the People of God are being SANCTIFIED
BUT…
Paragraph 1090 says, “‘In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God…With all the warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with him in glory.’”
That is happening RIGHT NOW IN ETERNITY
It is also for the FUTURE which we, God-willing, will participate in Heaven
Think about this…
The next time you go to Mass, which might even be today, we are participating in that right here on earth
The earthly liturgy participates in the liturgy in Heaven
You don’t have to WAIT to do this
You could even do this today or even tomorrow
WHAT A GIFT!!
God wants us to be part of this
Tomorrow we will talk about THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH IN THE LITURGY
This is our life
This is how God wants us to be HOLY
This is how God asks us to come into contact with Him on a regular, maybe even daily, basis
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
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