Paschal Mystery in Liturgy and Sacrament (RCIA)

The Teachings of the Catholic Church on Liturgy and Sacrament:

The Catholic understanding of liturgy and sacrament can be summarized in the following key points:

• Liturgy as the "Action" of the Whole Christ: Liturgy is the action of the whole Christ (Christus totus), where every celebration, even without outward signs, connects us with the heavenly liturgy — a communal feast (1136).
• The Assembly's Role in Liturgical Celebration: In liturgy, all members of the assembly, each according to their role, are leitourgos, or participants. The baptismal priesthood belongs to the entire Body of Christ, while some are ordained to represent Christ as head of the Body (1188).
• Sacramental Signs and Symbols: The sacramental celebration involves signs and symbols drawn from creation (candles, water, fire), human life (washing, anointing, breaking bread), and the history of salvation (Passover rites). Through the Holy Spirit, these elements become instruments of Christ’s saving and sanctifying action (1189).

Recommended Resources

 menu_book Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1066-1209 

 picture_as_pdf Fr. Kurt Stasiak wrote a terrific book on the sacraments called Sacramental Theology: Means of Grace, Way of Life. Read the first chapter for a solid overview of what Catholics think about liturgy. (PDF) 

 picture_as_pdf Sofia Cavalletti (creator of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori approach to religious education) writes about the intersection of salvation history with liturgy in Living Liturgy (PDF,    picture_as_pdf Part 1  and  picture_as_pdf Part 2 )

 picture_as_pdf Liturgical theologian James White offers an excellent historical overview of liturgical space (PDF) and time (PDF) in Introduction to Christian Worship. 

 description CTK parishioner Bob O'Gorman offers his own introduction to sacraments and Catholic imagination in The Idiot's Guide to Catholicism. (DOC) 

 picture_as_pdf Liturgical theologian Aidan Kavanagh wrote a punchy little book on liturgical style called Elements of Rite. Read some of his principles here. (PDF) 

Weekly Meditation: Pray with Your Body

One of the distinctive things about Catholic worship is that it invites us to attend with our whole selves. At Mass, we present our thoughts, our feelings, and our bodies to God as one communal and eucharistic act of worship. This, of course, can be difficult. Our thoughts can wander. Our feelings can be flat and diffuse. We can find it hard to be present. 

• As psychologists and scientists of human cognition have been telling us lately, our attention is a finite and conditioned resource. The ability to focus and be present is more like a skill or a muscle than it is like an on/off switch. Take a minute to evaluate your own attention. What thoughts, feelings, and demands tend to occupy it? How easily can you focus on a single thing at a time? Where are you most readily able to pay attention? When are you most distracted?

Fortunately, we are creatures of body and spirit. Since what we do with our bodies affects our thinking and our feelings (and vice versa), the various gestures and stances of the Mass can help us to maintain a sense of being present. Each stance we utilize while we worship embodies a distinct purpose, a particular motivation. 

• Take another minute and consider the three most common positions we adopt during the Mass: sitting, standing, and kneeling. If you're able, spend a moment in each position. Feel what your body is doing. Where are its points of contact on the floor? What is the position of your body saying as you stand, sit, or kneel?

Using the body to center the mind and heart is a method that reaches back throughout religious history, Christian and otherwise. The contemporary popularity of practices like yoga or tai chi (themselves aspects of specific religious traditions) are evidence that many people seek more than a religion of thinking and feeling -- they want something that pertains to the whole self. 

• Take a final minute and reflect on your experience of Catholicism thus far. Have you encountered it as an embodied faith? Primarily a religion of the mind? Or the feelings? How does this compare to your past religious experience? What are some ways in which you can better incorporate your body into your practice of prayer?