Catechism of the Catholic Church
PART TWO:
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
1076 The Church was made manifest to the world on the day of Pentecost by
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.[1] The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new
era in the "dispensation of the mystery" the age of the Church, during
which Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates his work of
salvation through the liturgy of his Church, "until he comes."[2] In this
age of the Church Christ now lives and acts in and with his Church, in a
new way appropriate to this new age. He acts through the sacraments in
what the common Tradition of the East and the West calls "the sacramental
economy"; this is the communication (or "dispensation") of the fruits of
Christ's Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church's "sacramental"
liturgy.
It is therefore important first to explain this "sacramental dispensation"
(chapter one). The nature and essential features of liturgical celebration
will then appear more clearly (chapter two).
ARTICLE 1 - THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY
I. THE FATHER-SOURCE AND GOAL OF THE LITURGY
1077 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us before him in love
to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved."[3]
1078 Blessing is a divine and life-giving action, the source of which is
the Father; his blessing is both word and gift.[4] When applied to man, the
word "blessing" means adoration and surrender to his Creator in
thanksgiving.
1079 From the beginning until the end of time the whole of God's work is a
blessing. From the liturgical poem of the first creation to the canticles
of the heavenly Jerusalem, the inspired authors proclaim the plan of
salvation as one vast divine blessing.
1080 From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man
and woman. The covenant with Noah and with all living things renewed this
blessing of fruitfulness despite man's sin which had brought a curse on
the ground. But with Abraham, the divine blessing entered into human
history which was moving toward death, to redirect it toward life, toward
its source. By the faith of "the father of all believers," who embraced
the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.
1081 The divine blessings were made manifest in astonishing and saving
events: the birth of Isaac, the escape from Egypt (Passover and Exodus),
the gift of the promised land, the election of David, the presence of God
in the Temple, the purifying exile, and return of a "small remnant." The
Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, interwoven in the liturgy of the Chosen
People, recall these divine blessings and at the same time respond to them
with blessings of praise and thanksgiving.
1082 In the Church's liturgy the divine blessing is fully revealed and
communicated. The Father is acknowledged and adored as the source and the
end of all the blessings of creation and salvation. In his Word who became
incarnate, died, and rose for us, he fills us with his blessings. Through
his Word, he pours into our hearts the Gift that contains all gifts, the
Holy Spirit.
1083 The dual dimension of the Christian liturgy as a response of faith
and love to the spiritual blessings the Father bestows on us is thus
evident. On the one hand, the Church, united with her Lord and "in the
Holy Spirit,"[5] blesses the Father "for his inexpressible gift[6] in her
adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. On the other hand, until the
consummation of God's plan, the Church never ceases to present to the
Father the offering of his own gifts and to beg him to send the Holy
Spirit upon that offering, upon herself, upon the faithful, and upon the
whole world, so that through communion in the death and resurrection of
Christ the Priest, and by the power of the Spirit, these divine blessings
will bring forth the fruits of life "to the praise of his glorious
grace."[7]
Christ glorified . . .
1084 "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.
1085 In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal
mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life
Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by
his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history
which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and
is seated at the right hand of the Father "once for all."[8] 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. The event of the Cross and Resurrection
abides and draws everything toward life.
. . . from the time of the Church of the Apostles . . .
1086 "Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father so also he sent
the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This he did so that they might
preach the Gospel to every creature and proclaim that the Son of God by
his death and resurrection had freed us from the power of Satan and from
death and brought us into the Kingdom of his Father. But he also willed
that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train
through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical
life revolves."[9]
1087 Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles,
entrusted to them his power of sanctifying:[10] they became sacramental
signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit they entrusted this
power to their successors. This
"apostolic succession" structures the whole liturgical life of the Church
and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of Holy Orders.
. . . is present in the earthly liturgy . . .
1088 "To accomplish so great a work" - the dispensation or communication
of his work of salvation - "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 his 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."'[11]
1089 "Christ, indeed, always associates the Church with himself in this
great work in which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The
Church is his beloved Bride who calls to her Lord and through him offers
worship to the eternal Father."[12]
. . . which participates in the liturgy of heaven
1090 "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,
Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. 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."[13]
1091 In the liturgy the Holy Spirit is teacher of the faith of the People
of God and artisan of "God's masterpieces," the sacraments of the New
Covenant. The desire and work of the Spirit in the heart of the Church is
that we may live from the life of the risen Christ. When the Spirit
encounters in us the response of faith which he has aroused in us, he
brings about genuine cooperation. Through it, the liturgy becomes the
common work of the Holy Spirit and the Church.
1092 In this sacramental dispensation of Christ's mystery the Holy Spirit
acts in the same way as at other times in the economy of salvation: he
prepares the Church to encounter her Lord; he recalls and makes Christ
manifest to the faith of the assembly. By his transforming power, he makes
the mystery of Christ present here and now. Finally the Spirit of
communion unites the Church to the life and mission of Christ.
The Holy Spirit prepares for the reception of Christ
1093 In the sacramental economy the Holy Spirit fulfills what was
prefigured in the Old Covenant. Since Christ's Church was "prepared in
marvellous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and in the Old
Covenant,"[14] the Church's liturgy has retained certain elements of the
worship of the Old Covenant as integral and irreplaceable, adopting them
as her own:
-notably, reading the Old Testament;
-praying the Psalms;
-above all, recalling the saving events and significant realities which
have found their fulfillment in the mystery of Christ (promise and
covenant, Exodus and Passover, kingdom and temple, exile and return).
1094 It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal
catechesis of the Lord is built,[15] and then, that of the Apostles and the
Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the
letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called
"typological" because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of the
"figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of
the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting
from Christ, the figures are unveiled.[16] Thus the flood and Noah's ark
prefigured salvation by Baptism,[17] as did the cloud and the crossing of
the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of
Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread
from heaven."[18]
1095 For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and
above all at the Easter Vigil, re-reads and re-lives the great events of
salvation history in the "today" of her liturgy. But this also demands
that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this spiritual
understanding of the economy of salvation as the Church's liturgy reveals
it and enables us to live it.
1096 Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy. A better knowledge of the
Jewish people's faith and religious life as professed and lived even now
can help our better understanding of certain aspects of Christian liturgy.
For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an essential part of
their respective liturgies: in the proclamation of the Word of God, the
response to this word, prayer of praise and intercession for the living
and the dead, invocation of God's mercy. In its characteristic structure
the Liturgy of the Word originates in Jewish prayer. The Liturgy of the
Hours and other liturgical texts and formularies, as well as those of our
most venerable prayers, including the Lord's Prayer, have parallels in
Jewish prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers also draw their inspiration from
the Jewish tradition. The relationship between Jewish liturgy and
Christian liturgy, but also their differences in content, are particularly
evident in the great feasts of the liturgical year, such as Passover.
Christians and Jews both celebrate the Passover. For Jews, it is the
Passover of history, tending toward the future; for Christians, it is the
Passover fulfilled in the death and Resurrection of Christ, though always
in expectation of its definitive consummation.
1097 In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action,
especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an
encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly derives
its unity from the "communion of the Holy Spirit" who gathers the children
of God into the one Body of Christ. This assembly transcends racial,
cultural, social - indeed, all human affinities.
1098 The assembly should prepare itself to encounter its Lord and to
become "a people well disposed." The preparation of hearts is the joint
work of the Holy Spirit and the assembly, especially of its ministers. The
grace of the Holy Spirit seeks to awaken faith, conversion of heart, and
adherence to the Father's will. These dispositions are the precondition
both for the reception of other graces conferred in the celebration itself
and the fruits of new life which the celebration is intended to produce
afterward.
The Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ
1099 The Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work
of salvation in the liturgy. Primarily in the Eucharist, and by analogy in
the other sacraments, the liturgy is the memorial of the mystery of
salvation. The Holy Spirit is the Church's living memory.[19]
1100 The Word of God. The Holy Spirit first recalls the meaning of the
salvation event to the liturgical assembly by giving life to the Word of
God, which is proclaimed so that it may be received and lived:
In the celebration of the liturgy, Sacred Scripture is extremely
important. From it come the lessons that are read and explained in the
homily and the psalms that are sung. It is from the Scriptures that the
prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and
that actions and signs derive their meaning.[20]
1101 The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to
those who read or hear it, according to the dispositions of their hearts.
By means of the words, actions, and symbols that form the structure of a
celebration, the Spirit puts both the faithful and the ministers into a
living relationship with Christ, the Word and Image of the Father, so that
they can live out the meaning of what they hear, contemplate, and do in
the celebration.
1102 "By the saving word of God, faith . . . is nourished in the hearts of
believers. By this faith then the congregation of the faithful begins and
grows."[21] The proclamation does not stop with a teaching; it elicits the
response of faith as consent and commitment, directed at the covenant
between God and his people. Once again it is the Holy Spirit who gives the
grace of faith, strengthens it and makes it grow in the community. The
liturgical assembly is first of all a communion in faith.
1103 Anamnesis. The liturgical celebration always refers to God's saving
interventions in history. "The economy of Revelation is realized by deeds
and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other.... [T]he words
for their part proclaim the works and bring to light the mystery they
contain."[22] In the Liturgy of the Word the Holy Spirit "recalls" to the
assembly all that Christ has done for us. In keeping with the nature of
liturgical actions and the ritual traditions of the churches, the
celebration "makes a remembrance" of the marvelous works of God in an
anamnesis which may be more or less developed. The Holy Spirit who thus
awakens the memory of the Church then inspires thanksgiving and praise
(doxology).
The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of Christ
1104 Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but
actualizes them, makes them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is
celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in
each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the
unique mystery present.
1105 The Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the
priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that
the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that the
faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to
God.[23]
1106 Together with the anamnesis, the epiclesis is at the heart of each
sacramental celebration, most especially of the Eucharist:
You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine . . . the
Blood of Christ I shall tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them and
accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought . . . Let it be enough
for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the
Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself,
took flesh.[24]
1107 The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the
coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation.
While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the fullness of
communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father who hears the
epiclesis of the Church, the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and
is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance.[25]
The communion of the Holy Spirit
1108 In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring
us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is
like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches.[26] The
most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in
the liturgy. The Spirit who is the Spirit of communion, abides
indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great
sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children
together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are
inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy.[27]
1109 The epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's
communion with the mystery of Christ. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit"[28] have to
remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration.
The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the
lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual
transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's
unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service
of charity.
IN BRIEF
1110 In the liturgy of the Church, God the Father is blessed and adored as
the source of all the blessings of creation and salvation with which he
has blessed us in his Son, in order to give us the Spirit of filial
adoption.
1111 Christ's work in the liturgy is sacramental: because his mystery of
salvation is made present there by the power of his Holy Spirit; because
his Body, which is the Church, is like a sacrament (sign and instrument)
in which the Holy Spirit dispenses the mystery of salvation; and because
through her liturgical actions the pilgrim Church already participates, as
by a foretaste, in the heavenly liturgy.
1112 The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the Church is to
prepare the assembly to encounter Christ; to recall and manifest Christ to
the faith of the assembly; to make the saving work of Christ present and
active by his transforming power; and to make the gift of communion bear
fruit in the Church.
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