Liturgically Speaking: Entering into the Mysteries of Christ’s Death, and Resurrection

Catholicism often makes use of the term “mystery.”  In the Creed we profess the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  God’s plan for our salvation, hidden throughout the ages and fulfilled in history is what St. Paul calls the "plan of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9).  The scriptures reveal to us the mystery of the Father’s will to give his Son and the gift of the Holy Spirit for our salvation.  This plan was accomplished principally through the Paschal Mystery.  “Paschal Mystery” is a kind of shorthand for the suffering, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ – those central events of Christ’s life that save us from sin and eternal death.

Have you ever wondered, though, what the death and Resurrection of Christ, two thousand years ago, on the other side of the world, have to do with us in America in 2015?  How are we connected to a person and events that can seem so distant, remote, and even irrelevant to our daily lives? 

The answer is the liturgy.  In the liturgy, Christ’s death and Resurrection are not simply two thousand years ago, on the other side of the world.  Christ and his death and Resurrection are present and active here and now every time we celebrate the liturgy. In the liturgy, the Church celebrates above all the Paschal Mystery by which Christ accomplishes the work of our salvation.  In the liturgy of the Church, Christ’s Paschal Mystery is signified and made present.

How is this possible?  Christ’s Paschal Mystery is an event that occurred once in history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they are swallowed up in the past. Other historical events can simply be recalled and remembered.  The Paschal Mystery of Christ is different.  Since Jesus Christ is God, all that Christ did participates in the divine eternity.  All the works of Jesus transcend time while being made truly present in all times. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides.   

The work of our salvation is accomplished here and now by means of the sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves. In the liturgy, we are not simply passive spectators; we are active participants in the saving work of Christ.  We participate in the Paschal Mystery as we recall it and celebrate it.  For instance, St. Paul says that in baptism we are plunged into the Paschal Mystery of Christ: we die with Him, are buried with Him, and rise with Him (cf. Rom 6:3-5).  This is not simply a metaphor or poetic language; it is reality.  Under sacramental signs, we receive the reality they signify.  In the fourth century, St. Cyril of Jerusalem said to the newly baptized:

O strange and inconceivable thing! We did not really die, we were not really buried, we were not really crucified and raised again; but our imitation was in a figure, and our salvation in reality. Christ was actually crucified, and actually buried, and truly rose again; and all these things He has freely bestowed upon us, that we, sharing His sufferings by imitation, might gain salvation in reality. O surpassing loving-kindness! Christ received nails in His undefiled hands and feet, and suffered anguish; while on me without pain or toil by the fellowship of His suffering He freely bestows salvation.

In like manner, “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26).  The Mass makes present, here and now, the one sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.  At the Mass, we stand at the foot of the cross and participate in Jesus’ perfect offering to the Father.

Hence, far from being distant, remote, or irrelevant, the liturgy makes the Paschal Mystery present here and now, and we directly encounter the person of and the work of Christ.

Liturgically Speaking: Entering into the Life and Love of the Trinity

The word “liturgy” comes from two Greek words meaning “people” and “work.”  Due to these roots, it has been popular in the last fifty years or more to describe the liturgy as “the work of the people.”  But is the liturgy our work?  Is the liturgy something we do?  Who is it that acts in the liturgy?  In reality, the liturgy is primarily the work of God the Holy Trinity.

God the Father is the source and the goal of the liturgy.  Through the liturgy the Father fills us with his blessings in Christ and pours the Holy Spirit into our hearts.  At the same time, the Church blesses the Father by worship, praise, and thanksgiving, and implores him for the gift of his Son and the Holy Spirit.

Christ also works in the liturgy.  Through the gift of the Holy Spirit the Church makes present Christ’s work of salvation through the Eucharist and the other sacraments, in which Christ himself acts to communicate his grace to us.  The Second Vatican Council reminds us of this:

"To accomplish so great a work 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’" (SC 7).

The Holy Spirit acts in the very closest cooperation with the Church in the liturgy.  The Holy Spirit prepares the Church to encounter her Lord.  He recalls and manifests Christ to the assembly.  He makes the mystery of Christ really present.  He unites the Church to the life and mission of Christ. 

At Mass, the Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the priest asks God the Father to send the Holy Spirit so that the bread and wine may become the body and blood of Christ, and that we ourselves may become a living offering to God.  You can recognize the epiclesis at Mass because Father extends his hands over the gifts, and often at Ss. Peter and Paul, the bells are rung to alert us to this moment.  In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and to form his Body.

The liturgy is also our participation in Christ's own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit.  How can we understand this participation?  Think of a toddler “helping” his dad shovel snow with a little toy shovel.  The toddler is participating in his father’s work, but is only doing so by the will and the work of the father.  The participation is a true work, but relies totally on the father’s initiative, and only in union with him.   

In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal: “The excellence of Christian prayer lies in its sharing in the reverent love of the only-begotten Son for the Father and in the prayer that the Son put into words in his earthly life and that still continues without ceasing in the name of the whole human race and for its salvation, throughout the universal Church and in all its members.” (General Instruction to the Liturgy of the Hours, 7)

Have a question about the Liturgy? Email mikebrummond@gmail.com

Liturgically Speaking: What is the Liturgy?

Over the next several months, I'll be focusing on the liturgy, and specifically the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Since the Eucharist is the source and the summit of the Christian life, it makes sense to reflect often on the meaning of the Church’s liturgical prayer and its place in our lives.

We’ll begin by asking, what is the liturgy?  Asking what something is, is important because action follows upon being.  For instance, I put gasoline in my car and get regular oil changes based on the nature of its engine.  I water my house plants, and without water they die because they are vegetative life.  For something to fully flourish, action must follow upon being.  If actions are taken contrary to a thing’s being, that thing may languish or perish.  Hence, entering into the liturgy and making decisions about carrying out the liturgy (action) must always be made in light of the nature (being) of the liturgy.  Hence the question, “What is the liturgy?” 

Pope Pius XII offered this description of the liturgy in 1947:  “The sacred liturgy is, consequently, the public worship which our Redeemer as Head of the Church renders to the Father, as well as the worship which the community of the faithful renders to its Founder, and through Him to the heavenly Father. It is, in short, the worship rendered by the Mystical Body of Christ in the entirety of its Head and members” (Mediator Dei, 20). 

The Second Vatican Council added this point as part of its description of the liturgy:  “Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ” (SC 7).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “The word ‘liturgy’ originally meant a ‘public work’ or a ‘service in the name of/on behalf of the people.’ In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in ‘the work of God.’ Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church” (CCC 1069).

Church law (Canon Law) states that “Such worship takes place when it is carried out in the name of the Church by persons legitimately designated and through acts approved by the authority of the Church” (CIC 834 §2).

So, “What is the Liturgy?

·         Liturgy is public worship.  That is, liturgy is the worship of the whole Church, and is distinguished from our private prayer or private devotions such as the rosary, novenas, chaplets, etc.

·         The one carrying out the work of the liturgy is primarily Jesus Christ Himself.

·         The liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ.  Christ’s work as priest was (and remains) the worship of God the Father and our sanctification.  So through the liturgy, Christ continues that work: the worship of God the Father, and dispensing God’s grace to make His people holy. 

·         The liturgy is primarily the celebration of Christ’s paschal mystery.  What is signified and made present in the liturgy is primarily Christ’s work on our behalf: his suffering, death and resurrection that sets us free from sin and reconciles us to God.

·         Liturgy is our participation in ‘the work of God.’ We, as members Christ’s Mystical Body the Church, participate in Christ’s work of worshiping the Father.  Through the liturgy Christ also continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church.

·         The liturgy must be carried out by the designated ministers using those prayers found in the liturgical books of the Church.  We can’t just make up the liturgy as we go along.  The liturgy is a part of our tradition - something that we receive, not something we create.

·         Hence, while we often speak of the Mass as “the Liturgy,” “liturgy” includes more than just the Mass.  Liturgy includes all of the sacraments as well as things like funeral rites, exorcisms, certain blessings, and the Liturgy of the Hours.

Back to Basics: Did Jesus Descend into Hell?

The Apostles’ Creed, which we often pray along with devotions like the Rosary, professes that Christ “descended into Hell.”  This can cause some confusion and often raises questions.  Why would Christ have to go to Hell?  What did he “do” there?  How are we to understand this affirmation of our Faith?

The first meaning given to Christ's descent into hell is that Jesus, as truly man and like all who are truly human, experienced a real death, and his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. He descended there, however, not as just another one subject to the dominion of death, but as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

This is also a problem of translation.  When the Apostles’ Creed professes that “He descended into Hell,” this is different from Hell as we commonly understand it.  This is not simply the place of the damned.   It was the state of all those who died before Christ.  That’s why some English renderings of the Apostles’ Creed state instead that Christ “descended to the dead.”  Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which Christ went down, Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek.  Those who were there were deprived of the direct vision of God since the gates of Heaven were closed before the work of the Redeemer. This was the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they awaited the Redeemer.  It was the holy souls, who awaited their Savior, whom Christ delivered when he descended to the dead, freeing all the just who had gone before him.

The Scriptures give us a glimpse of this ministry of Christ on Holy Saturday, while His body rested in the tomb.  Peter writes, “For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.  Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.  In it [the spirit] he also went to preach to the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-19).

Christ’s descent to the dead brings the Gospel message of salvation to completion.  This is the last phase of Jesus' mission: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all people of all times and all places.

An ancient homily for Holy Saturday, the day Christ’s body was in the tomb, says:

“Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . ‘I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.’"