During his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo XIV reflects on Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 'Sacrosanctum Concilium,' underscoring that "the liturgy sustains the faithful" and that every Eucharistic Celebration becomes "a true epiphany of the Church in prayer."
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"Christ Himself is the inner source of the mystery of the Church, the holy people of God, born from His side pierced on the Cross. In the holy liturgy, through the power of His Spirit, He continues to act. He sanctifies and unites the Church, His bride, to His offering to the Father."
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Pope Leo XIV made this observation during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square, as he continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council, this week starting to reflect on the 1963 Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.
The mystery of Christ
The Holy Father recalled that 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, namely, the mystery of Christ.
With this in mind, the Holy Father observed, "the liturgy touches the very heart of this mystery: it is at once the space, the time, and the context in which the Church receives her very life from Christ."
For in the liturgy, he recalled, “the work of our redemption is accomplished,” which, he reminded, makes us a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people whom God has acquired for Himself.
"As manifested by the threefold renewal—biblical, patristic, and liturgical—that the Church underwent through the course of the twentieth century, the Mystery in question," he noted, "does not designate an obscure reality, but God’s salvific plan."
Paschal event sacramentally present to us in the liturgy
Thus, Pope Leo stressed, the Christian mystery is the Paschal event, which includes the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Glorification of Christ, an event "made sacramentally present to us in the liturgy."
He recalled that every time we take part in the assembly gathered “in His name,” we are immersed in this mystery.
Christ Himself, the Pope reiterated, is the inner source of the mystery of the Church.
Christ continues to sanctify the Church
"In the holy liturgy, through the power of His Spirit," Pope Leo explained, "He continues to act. He sanctifies and unites the Church, His bride, to His offering to the Father."
"He exercises," the Pope continued, "His utterly unique priesthood, 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."
St. Augustine, Pope Leo noted, said that in celebrating the Eucharist, the Church “receives the Body of the Lord and becomes what she receives": she becomes the Body of Christ, “a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
This work of our redemption, the Holy Father said, "conforms us to Christ and builds us up in communion."
Communion achieved through rites and prayers
"In the holy liturgy," Pope Leo XIV said, "this communion is achieved through rites and prayers."
"The rituality of the Church," he said, "expresses Her faith—in accordance with the familiar saying lex orandi, lex credendi—and at the same time shapes ecclesial identity."
"The proclaimed Word, the celebration of the Sacrament, the gestures, the silences, the space—all this represents and gives form to the people gathered by the Father, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit," he said.
Thus, he noted, "every celebration becomes a true epiphany of the Church in prayer," as Saint John Paul II noted in his Apostolic Letter Vicesimus quintus annus marking 25 years since Sacrosanctum Concilium's promulgation.
'The summit of the Church's activity'
Pope Leo observed that "since the liturgy is at the service of the mystery of Christ, we understand why it has been defined as ;the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed … the font from which all her power flows'.”
"It is true that the action of the Church is not limited to the liturgy alone; however," Pope Leo said, "all Her activity—preaching, service to the poor, the accompaniment of human realities—converges towards this 'summit.'”
Liturgy sustains the faithful
"Conversely," he explained, "the liturgy sustains the faithful by immersing them ever and anew in the Pasch of the Lord."
"And, thus, through the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments, and communal prayer," he said, "they are refreshed, encouraged, and renewed in their commitment to faith and in their mission."
In other words, the Pope observed, the participation of the faithful in the liturgical action is at once “internal” and “external.”
The Pope said this means that the liturgy is called "to unfold in a tangible way throughout daily life, in an ethical and spiritual dynamic," so that the liturgy celebrated "is translated into life" and "demands a faithful existence, capable of making concrete what has been experienced in the celebration."
Liturgy introduces us into the life of Christ
The Pope said that, accordingly, our life becomes a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God," fulfilling our “spiritual worship,” and that "the liturgy daily builds up those who are within into a holy temple of the Lord,” forming an open community, welcoming to all."
Inhabited by the Holy Spirit, the liturgy, Pope Leo said, "introduces us into the life of Christ, makes us His Body," and, "in all its dimensions, represents a sign of the unity of the entire human race in Christ."
'Everyone is invited to the supper'
He emphasized that God's invitation extends to all people, as he remembered Pope Francis' words in his Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, stating, “the world still does not know it, but everyone is invited to the supper of the wedding of the Lamb."
Finally, Pope Leo XIV concluded by inviting the faithful to join him in "allowing ourselves to be shaped inwardly by the rites, symbols, gestures, and above all the living presence of Christ in the liturgy," which, he said, "we will continue to explore together in the weeks to come."
Forty years since Encyclical 'Dominum et Vivificantem'
The Pope also recalled in his remarks to Polish pilgrims that this week, 40 years ago, Pope Saint John Paul II published the Encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem on the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church and the World, in which he recalled that the Holy Spirit is "the light of hearts" and enables us to "call good and evil by their proper name."
"As we await Pentecost," Pope Leo XIV invited, "let us ask the Spirit of God to awaken with His gifts human consciences, to turn them away from injustice, violence, and war, and to renew the face of the earth!"
