Day 155: Who Celebrates the Liturgy (1135-1144)

• It’s Day 155!!

• CHAPTER TWO: THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

• You can hear the style of the different authors of the different sections of the Catechism

• Paragraph 1135 tells us what we are going to read and asks a few questions

• WHO CELEBRATES THE LITURGY?

• Christ the Head and His WHOLE BODY (Here’s a beautiful video about it!! 😃The Veil Removed - FilmThe Veil Removed - Film )

• This doesn’t just mean all the Christians on Planet Earth

• It primarily means ALL THOSE SAINTS IN HEAVEN

• ALL CREATION ESSENTIALLY

• THE CELEBRANTS OF THE HEAVENLY LITURGY

• IT IS FASCINATING!!

• These are NOT empty rituals

• These are NOT just movements that we do

• This is a PARTICIPATION in what is going on in Heaven RIGHT NOW

• We get to see just a shadow of the Heavenly reality

• THE CELEBRANTS OF THE SACRAMENTAL LITURGY

• The Baptismal priesthood and the ordained priesthood

• We are all united

• We come together and do our own part to worship the Lord in the Sacraments

• Let’s say a prayer and call upon that same God

• The God that we worship at every Mass

• The God that we come into contact with who reaches us through His Word and His Sacraments

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you. We give you praise and glory. You are the God who always remembers. You always remember us. You never forget us and you could never forget us. Lord God, help us to never forget you. Help us to never forget the work of your hands. Help us to never forget the love that you have shown for us and given to us. Help us always to say YES to you. Help us always to remember as you remember. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• It might be a bunch of nuts and bolts in some areas

• BUT…

• WHAT AN INCREDIBLE VISION OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING AT THE MASS!!

• Who celebrates the whole liturgy?

• CHRIST THE HEAD

• CHRIST THE BODY

• Not just the Body on EARTH

• BUT…

• THE BODY IN HEAVEN

• The Sacraments are the work of Jesus Christ brought to us by the Power of the Holy Spirit

• What is happening in Heaven UNVEILED AND UNMEDIATED is what comes to us in the Sacraments

• The celebrants of the Heavenly Liturgy are VERY PRESENT

• Paragraph 1139 says, “It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.”

• KEEP THAT IN MIND!!

• The Eternal Liturgy that is happening RIGHT NOW in Eternity OUTSIDE OF TIME the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate in that whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments

• The Sacraments are an exercise of the WHOLE BODY OF CHRIST WITH THE HEAD, JESUS

• Because of that it means liturgical services are not necessarily private functions

• They’re not meant to be JUST FOR ANY ONE INDIVIDUAL

• They are meant to be for THE ENTIRE CHURCH

• Because of that they REVEAL the Church and they make the Church REAL

• They MANIFEST the Church and HAVE EFFECTS upon it

• Of course, they touch individual members of the Church in different ways

• What is Paragraph 1140 getting at?

• Think of a bunch of monks in a monastery

• Maybe a number of them were priests

• They didn’t really have concelebration with one MAIN celebrant and concelebrants

• That is a relatively new thing to have concelebrants

• Because back in the day there were monasteries with a bunch of priests and they had these side altars

• There would be one priest at one altar celebrating one Mass

• There were all these Masses going on and they would be quasi-private

• The Church said this developed to deal with all these priests who were in a monastery

• It kind of made it look like the Mass was a private affair

• The Mass, the liturgy, the work of God done by the People of God is meant for the WHOLE PEOPLE OF GOD

• Paragraph 1140 says, “For this reason, ‘rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by any individual and quasi-privately.’”

• Priests shouldn’t celebrate private Masses on their own when there is a chance to be able to celebrate that Mass with the People of God present

• Why is that important?

• Because of the Baptismal Priesthood

• If you have been Baptized, you have been anointed as a Kingdom Priest

• The common priesthood of the faithful where you participate in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, the One Great High Priest

• This is why The Church quotes Sacrosanctum Concilium in Paragraph 1141, “Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations…”

• What kind of happened back in the 1960s when Sacrosanctum Concilium was declared was that people took that and thought it meant more lay people needed to be Eucharistic Ministers or lectors or another JOB in the Mass for lay people to have

• That would be a way they could more fully, consciously, and actively participate in Mass

• That is fine

• That’s not unreal

• It exists

• BUT…

• It’s not because you now have a job to do at Mass

• YOU ALWAYS HAD A JOB TO DO!!

• From the moment you were Baptized, you were given a role as a Kingdom Priest with the ministerial priest who is united with the Great High Priest to offer up the Sacrifice of the Son to the Father in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• TO PRAISE THE LORD!!

• Remember the two things that the Mass ALWAYS DOES

• IT GLORIFIES THE FATHER!!

• IT SANCTIFIES THE WORLD!!

• So the Church is saying DON’T FORGET THAT PART!!

• That is what FULL CONSCIOUS ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IS

• What does that look like?

• When it’s time for you to pray, you pray

• When the priest is praying in the name of all the people, that you are uniting your heart to his heart

• You are uniting your mind and consciousness to what he is saying

• IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO GET THIS!!

• If we get this we will grow LEAPS AND BOUNDS in understanding what is really happening in the Mass

• Our participation in the Mass WILL BE TRANSFORMED

• GOD WILL BE MORE GLORIFIED!!

• THE WORLD WILL BE MORE SANCTIFIED!!

• EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE!!

• We still need the ministerial priesthood

• Without the ordained priest, WE CANNOT HAVE THE SACRAMENTS!!

• We need them and their role because that is what Jesus did

• Jesus gave us those ministerial priests in order to confect the Eucharist, in order to have absolution in Reconciliation, in order to have Anointing of the Sick and Confirmation

• All these things have given to the Church by our Lord Jesus through Holy Orders

• Bishops, priests, and deacons

• Paragraph 1144 says, “In the celebration of the sacraments it is thus the whole assembly that is leitourgos, each according to his function, but in the ‘unity of the Spirit’ who acts in all.”

• THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!

• Paragraph 1144 continues, “‘In liturgical celebrations each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy.’”

• “Ok Lord, I am going to exercise this fully. If my job is to sing, I’m going to sing. If my job is to read, I am going to read. If my job is to be present, I am going to be present.”

• THE PEWS ARE NOT THE BLEACHERS!!

• If you go to a game or concert you are watching someone else perform while you are sitting in the bleachers

• You are on the field when you are in the pews

• You are not there to simply WATCH the priest pray

• You are there to WORSHIP WITH HIM

• Who celebrates the liturgy?

• Not only the Heavenly Host

• Not only the ministerial priest

• BUT YOU!!

• YOU are one of the celebrants of the Sacramental Liturgy

• NEVER EVER FORGET THAT!!

• This is one of the things that will change the world and the Church once we understand what our job is at every Mass

• It is to worship united with the ministerial priest ultimately united with the One Great High Priest Jesus Christ, our Lord

• Think about this the next time you go to Mass!!

• EXERCISE YOUR KINGDOM PRIESTHOOD!!

• You have been brought here because you are one of the celebrants of the Sacramental Liturgy united with your ministerial priest united with the Great High Priest Jesus Christ

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!