THE CATECHISM OF
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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PART TWO:
THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
CHAPTER TWO - THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY
1135 The catechesis of the liturgy entails first of all an understanding
of the sacramental economy (Chapter One). In this light, the innovation of
its celebration is revealed. This chapter will therefore treat of the
celebration of the sacraments of the Church. It will consider that which,
through the diversity of liturgical traditions, is common to the
celebration of the seven sacraments. What is proper to each will be
treated later. This fundamental catechesis on the sacramental celebrations
responds to the first questions posed by the faithful regarding this
subject:
- Who celebrates the liturgy?
- How is the liturgy celebrated?
- When is the liturgy celebrated?
- Where is the liturgy celebrated?
ARTICLE 1 - CELEBRATING THE CHURCH'S LITURGY
I. WHO CELEBRATES?
1136 Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those
who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the heavenly
liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast
The celebrants of the heavenly liturgy
1137 The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy,
first reveals to us, "A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the
throne": "the Lord God."[1] It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as though it
had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the
true sanctuary, the same one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is
given."[2] Finally it presents "the river of the water of life . .
. flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful
symbols of the Holy Spirit.[3]
1138 "Recapitulated in Christ," these are the ones who take part in the
service of the praise of God and the fulfillment of his plan: the heavenly
powers, all creation (the four living beings), the servants of the Old and
New Covenants (the twenty-four elders), the new People of God (the one
hundred and forty-four thousand),[4] especially the martyrs "slain for the
word of God," and the all-holy Mother of God (the Woman), the Bride of the
Lamb,[5] and finally "a great multitude which no one could number, from
every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues."[6]
1139 It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable
us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the
sacraments.
The celebrants of the sacramental liturgy
1140 It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head,
that celebrates. "Liturgical services are not private functions but are
celebrations of the Church which is 'the sacrament of unity,' namely, the
holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops.
Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole Body of the Church.
They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they touch individual
members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their
role in the liturgical services, and their actual participation in them."[7]
For this reason, "rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with
the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible
be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and
quasi-privately."[8]
1141 The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized who, "by
regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a
spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that . . . they may offer spiritual
sacrifices."[9] This "common priesthood" is that of Christ the sole priest,
in which all his members participate:[10]
Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to
that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations
which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the
Christian people, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
redeemed people," have a right and an obligation by reason of their
Baptism.[11]
1142 But "the members do not all have the same function."[12] Certain
members are called by God, in and through the Church, to a special service
of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the
sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in
the person of Christ the head, for the service of all the members of the
Church.[13] The ordained minister is, as it were, an "icon" of Christ the
priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is
made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the
bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as, in communion with him, the
ministry of priests and deacons.
1143 For the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the
faithful, other particular ministries also exist, not consecrated by the
sacrament of Holy Orders; their functions are determined by the bishops,
in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral needs. "Servers,
readers, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine
liturgical function."[14]
1144 In the celebration of the sacraments it is thus the whole assembly
that is leitourgos, each according to his function, but in the "unity of
the Spirit" who acts in all. "In liturgical celebrations each person,
minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should carry out all and
only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and
the norms of the liturgy."[15]
II. HOW IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED?
Signs and symbols
1145 A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping
with the divine pedagogy of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work
of creation and in human culture, specified by the events of the Old
Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Christ.
1146 Signs of the human world. In human life, signs and symbols occupy an
important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and
perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a
social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others,
through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his
relationship with God.
1147 God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos
is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there traces of its
Creator.[16] Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and earth, the tree
and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his
nearness.
1148 Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can
become means of expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the
action of men who offer worship to God. The same is true of signs and
symbols taken from the social life of man: washing and anointing, breaking
bread and sharing the cup can express the sanctifying presence of God and
man's gratitude toward his Creator.
1149 The great religions of mankind witness, often impressively, to this
cosmic and symbolic meaning of religious rites. The liturgy of the Church
presupposes, integrates and sanctifies elements from creation and human
culture, conferring on them the dignity of signs of grace, of the new
creation in Jesus Christ.
1150 Signs of the covenant. The Chosen People received from God
distinctive signs and symbols that marked its liturgical life. These are
no longer solely celebrations of cosmic cycles and social gestures, but
signs of the covenant, symbols of God's mighty deeds for his people. Among
these liturgical signs from the Old Covenant are circumcision, anointing
and consecration of kings and priests, laying on of hands, sacrifices, and
above all the Passover. The Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of
the sacraments of the New Covenant.
1151 Signs taken up by Christ. In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes
use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of
God.[17] He performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical
signs or symbolic gestures.[18] He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs
of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover,[19] for he
himself is the meaning of all these signs.
1152 Sacramental signs. Since Pentecost, it is through the sacramental
signs of his Church that the Holy Spirit carries on the work of
sanctification. The sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and
integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of
social life. Further, they fulfill the types and figures of the Old
Covenant, signify and make actively present the salvation wrought by
Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven.
Words and actions
1153 A sacramental celebration is a meeting of God's children with their
Father, in Christ and the Holy Spirit; this meeting takes the form of a
dialogue, through actions and words. Admittedly, the symbolic actions are
already a language, but the Word of God and the response of faith have to
accompany and give life to them, so that the seed of the Kingdom can bear
its fruit in good soil. The liturgical actions signify what the Word of
God expresses: both his free initiative and his people's response of
faith.
1154 The liturgy of the Word is an integral part of sacramental
celebrations. To nourish the faith of believers, the signs which accompany
the Word of God should be emphasized: the book of the Word (a lectionary
or a book of the Gospels), its veneration (procession, incense, candles),
the place of its proclamation (lectern or ambo), its audible and
intelligible reading, the minister's homily which extends its
proclamation, and the responses of the assembly (acclamations, meditation
psalms, litanies, and profession of faith).
1155 The liturgical word and action are inseparable both insofar as they
are signs and instruction and insofar as they accomplish what they
signify. When the Holy Spirit awakens faith, he not only gives an
understanding of the Word of God, but through the sacraments also makes
present the "wonders" of God which it proclaims. The Spirit makes present
and communicates the Father's work, fulfilled by the beloved Son.
Singing and music
1156 "The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of
inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main
reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and
words, it forms a necessary or integral part of solemn liturgy."[20] The
composition and singing of inspired psalms, often accompanied by musical
instruments, were already closely linked to the liturgical celebrations of
the Old Covenant. The Church continues and develops this tradition:
"Address . . . one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." "He who sings
prays twice."[21]
1157 Song and music fulfill their function as signs in a manner all the
more significant when they are "more closely connected . . . with the
liturgical action,"[22] according to three principal criteria: beauty
expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the
designated moments, and the solemn character of the celebration. In this
way they participate in the purpose of the liturgical words and actions:
the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful:[23]
How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, and the voices that echoed
through your Church! What emotion I experienced in them! Those sounds
flowed into my ears distilling the truth in my heart. A feeling of
devotion surged within me, and tears streamed down my face - tears that
did me good.[24]
1158 The harmony of signs (song, music, words, and actions) is all the
more expressive and fruitful when expressed in the cultural richness of
the People of God who celebrate.[25] Hence "religious singing by the
faithful is to be intelligently fostered so that in devotions and sacred
exercises as well as in liturgical services," in conformity with the
Church's norms, "the voices of the faithful may be heard." But "the texts
intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine.
Indeed they should be drawn chiefly from the Sacred Scripture and from
liturgical sources."[26]
Holy images
1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ.
It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the
incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new "economy" of images:
Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be
represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible in the
flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I have seen of
God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face unveiled.[27]
1160 Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message
that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each
other:
We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten
traditions of the Church which have been entrusted to us. One of these
traditions consists in the production of representational artwork, which
accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms
that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary, and to
our benefit as well, for realities that illustrate each other undoubtedly
reflect each other's meaning.[28]
1161 All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ:
as are sacred images of the holy Mother of God and of the saints as well.
They truly signify Christ, who is glorified in them. They make manifest
the "cloud of witnesses"[29] who continue to participate in the salvation of
the world and to whom we are united, above all in sacramental
celebrations. Through their icons, it is man "in the image of God,"
finally transfigured "into his likeness,"[30] who is revealed to our faith.
So too are the angels, who also are recapitulated in Christ:
Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the
tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes
from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full
certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and
life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and
Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the
venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of
mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy
churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in
houses and on streets.[31]
1162 "The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow
delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God."[32]
Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on
the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the
harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is
imprinted in the heart's memory and is then expressed in the new life of
the faithful.
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