Christ's Work in the Liturgy
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.
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.
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.
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Artist: Kwaya ya Mt Maria Goreth Chuo kikuu Ushirika Moshi
Song: Bwana Unibadili
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.
Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles,
entrusted to them his power of sanctifying: 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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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. The Church's liturgy has retained certain elements
of the worship of the Old Covenant as integral and irreplaceable,
adopting them as her own.
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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). It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal
catechesis of the Lord is built, 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.
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By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. Thus the flood and
Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism, 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.
