Why do we celebrate the liturgy

Betty Holub. The Liturgical Worship of God The Mass is the highest form of worship that we can offer God, but it is not the only form of liturgy, or "public work of worship", that we offer God. The liturgy is also a participation in Christ's own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal. Through the liturgy the inner man is rooted and grounded in "the great love with which [the Father] loved us" in his beloved Son.

It is the same "marvelous work of God" that is lived and internalized by all prayer, "at all times in the Spirit. The Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours This is an ancient prayer of the Church that calls us to prayer at various times of the day. The Hours are a formal and important part of our Catholic practice, to which all priests and religious are bound to keep and all the faithful are encouraged to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in communion with the Universal Church.

Saint of the Day The Spirit is always moving through men and women throughout history. You are commenting using your Google account.

You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. What happens to us when we celebrate the liturgy? What is the most profound origin of the liturgy? Dig Deeper: CCC section Share this: Twitter Facebook.

It really is a "year of the Lord's favor. Because of different methods of calculating the 14th day of the month of Nisan, the date of Easter in the Western and Eastern Churches is not always the same.

For this reason, the Churches are currently seeking an agreement in order once again to celebrate the day of the Lord's Resurrection on a common date. This is also the case with the cycle of feasts surrounding the mystery of the incarnation Annunciation, Christmas, Epiphany. They commemorate the beginning of our salvation and communicate to us the first fruits of the Paschal mystery. She is inseparably linked with the saving work of her Son. In her the Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be.

She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she begs for God's favors. Celebrated in "the form approved" by the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom.

It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father. In it Christ himself "continues his priestly work through his Church. The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.

Moreover, the reading from the Word of God at each Hour with the subsequent responses or troparia and readings from the Fathers and spiritual masters at certain Hours, reveal more deeply the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, assist in understanding the psalms, and prepare for silent prayer.

The lectio divina , where the Word of God is so read and meditated that it becomes prayer, is thus rooted in the liturgical celebration. The whole earth is sacred and entrusted to the children of men. What matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the "living stones," gathered to be "built into a spiritual house. These visible churches are not simply gathering places but signify and make visible the Church living in this place, the dwelling of God with men reconciled and united in Christ.

On the altar, which is the center of the church, the sacrifice of the Cross is made present under sacramental signs. The altar is also the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are invited. The oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick may also be placed there. The renewal of the baptismal life requires penance. A church, then, must lend itself to the expression of repentance and the reception of forgiveness, which requires an appropriate place to receive penitents.

A church must also be a space that invites us to the recollection and silent prayer that extend and internalize the great prayer of the Eucharist.

To enter into the house of God, we must cross a threshold, which symbolizes passing from the world wounded by sin to the world of the new Life to which all men are called. The visible church is a symbol of the Father's house toward which the People of God is journeying and where the Father "will wipe every tear from their eyes. Our high priest celebrates it unceasingly in the heavenly liturgy, with the holy Mother of God, the apostles, all the saints, and the multitude of those who have already entered the kingdom.

The baptismal priesthood is that of the whole Body of Christ. But some of the faithful are ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders to represent Christ as head of the Body. Integrated into the world of faith and taken up by the power of the Holy Spirit, these cosmic elements, human rituals, and gestures of remembrance of God become bearers of the saving and sanctifying action of Christ. The meaning of the celebration is expressed by the Word of God which is proclaimed and by the response of faith to it.

The criteria for their proper use are the beauty expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly, and the sacred character of the celebration. Through the icon of Christ and his works of salvation, it is he whom we adore. Through sacred images of the holy Mother of God, of the angels and of the saints, we venerate the persons represented. It is the pre-eminent day of the liturgical assembly, the day of the Christian family, and the day of joy and rest from work.