Sacred Liturgy / Sacraments

THE SACRED LITURGY

Though one can learn a lot about the Sacred Worship of the Catholic Church by hearing it described, it really must be seen and experienced firsthand to be fully understood. The “source and summit” of the Catholic Faith is the Sacred Liturgy, and most especially the Holy Eucharist. “Sacred” refers to the action of Almighty God in our worship and “Liturgy” originally meant the work of the people. So, the Sacred Liturgy is the participation of the People of God in His work among us. The culmination of this important work of the people is found in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist (which literally means “thanksgiving”) which is the just response of mankind to God in faith and love. The appropriate response of mankind to God for all that He has done, continues to do, and has promised to do, is the supreme sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving that Our Lord Jesus instituted. The Second Vatican Council expressed this same truth in this way:

"For the liturgy, through which the work of our redemption is accomplished, most of all in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church…the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows." – Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy