Pope Leo XIV said liturgy occupies a central place in the life of the Church, since it “touches the very heart” of the mystery of Christ because it is “at once the space, the time and the context” in which the Church receives from him “her very life”. Source: EWTN News.
The liturgy, he said at the general audience in St Peterʼs Square yesterday, is where “the work of our redemption is accomplished”, which makes us “a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people whom God has acquired for himself”.
Pope Leo began a new series of catechesis about the Second Vatican Councilʼs constitution on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.
The conciliar text marks a shift in emphasis in the understanding of the liturgy: Whereas the Tridentine Mass prior to Vatican II focused primarily on the sacrificial dimension, the conciliar liturgical reform placed at the forefront Christ acting in the liturgy, setting at the centre the paschal mystery – his passion, death, resurrection, and glorification – which is made sacramentally present in every celebration.
The Pope explained that the council fathers at Vatican II sought not only an external reform of the rites but also a broader spiritual deepening: “In drafting this constitution, the council fathers sought not only to undertake a reform of the rites but to lead the Church to contemplate and deepen that living bond which constitutes and unites her: the mystery of Christ.”
He affirmed that “every time we take part in the assembly gathered ‘in his name’ we are immersed in this mystery”, stressing that Christ continues to act in the Church as “he who is present in the proclaimed word, in the sacraments, in the ministers who celebrate, in the gathered community and, in the highest degree, in the Eucharist”.
The Pope also insisted that the liturgy is not an isolated act but “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed … the font from which all her power flows”.
Leo highlighted the missionary and universal dimension of the liturgy, which “represents a sign of the unity of the entire human race in Christ”, and, quoting Pope Francis, recalled that “the world still does not know it, but everyone is invited to the supper of the wedding of the Lamb.”
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Pope Leo explains why Vatican II’s reform did not change only ‘the rites’ of the liturgy (EWTN News)
