Liturgically Speaking: Entering into the Worship of the Church

As the work of Christ, the liturgy is also an action of his whole Church.  The Church is inseparably the body of Christ, and Christ is the head of that body. Thus, it is the whole Christ, the Body united with its Head, that celebrates the liturgy. 

This first means that the Liturgy makes the Church present and manifests the Church.  We visibly see occur the Church’s mission of uniting humanity to God, and to each other in the liturgy.  That mission is made manifest in the celebration of the liturgy.  In the liturgy, we draw into closer communion with God and with one another.  The Church finds its origin in the Eucharist, the self-giving of Christ, and the Church becomes most herself while celebrating the liturgy.

This also means that liturgical services are never simply private functions.  They are celebrations of the Church. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole Body of the Church.  Even if we imagine for a moment the Sacrament of Confession in which only the priest and the penitent are physically present, it is not a merely private service.  The priest represents the whole Church to the penitent, and both are surrounded by the angels and saints in heaven rejoicing over the return of a sinner. 

While the liturgy is an action of the whole Church, the members do not all have the same function. Certain members are called by God to the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the head. The ordained priest is an "icon" of Christ the priest, offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, offering absolution of sins in Confession, and preaching the truth of the Gospel to their flock.

Finally, since the liturgy is the prayer of the whole Church, the liturgy does not belong to any parishioner, any priest, any liturgical director, any worship committee, any choir, or any parish.  All those individuals and groups receive the liturgy from the tradition of the Church and stand as servants of the liturgy, not the liturgy’s masters or creators. 

At another parish at which I served, at a Mass with children, some parents argued that the kids should do the readings since, “this is their Mass.”  Of course, sometimes the youngsters may well do the readings.  What caught my attention was the idea that this Mass belonged to these children.  This is simply not the case.  The Mass “belongs” to Christ, and he allows his body, the Church, to participate in His work in the liturgy.    

Thus, we can’t simply make up changes and innovations in the liturgy based on local preference or creativity.  The liturgy is not ours to tinker with as we see fit.  This is why the Second Vatican Council said that “no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.”