Life and Liturgy

May they ever be one and never separate...

If you have ever read the Bible, you know that is something obscure, at least as it differs from the present context of culture. However, this does not mean that its meaning is not timeless, logically anyway. On the contrary, I would believe that it rather transcends time, making it both behind the times and way ahead of the curve/times. This speaks to faith being equally transcendent. Of course, "faith" in this sense is used to describe all of the Catholic teachings on prayer, morality, and theology. If something is true and you know it, what can justify not acting on it? However, this post is about more than a "money where your mouth is" statement, as valuable as such statements are. Not only should faith be lived at the same level as science, but also one's life should be its own liturgy bestowing grace as though a sacrament, receiving such grace from the relationship one has with God, the sacraments one receives, and the extension of love to others one has/receives from God.

The whole of the Mass is transcendent of all history encompassing the entrance into existence and the missionary moment we currently find ourselves in. In the same stroke, it speaks to our lives. The grace of the Mass should not stop at the doors but continue to unfold as you enter in mission at its end. Without man's return to God, there is no Mass and no man, since there is only a single unforgivable sin which the Church has consistently taught to be a rejection of God's mercy (Matthew 12:22-32).[1] Therefore, if we expect the graces of the Mass to mean something in our lives, then our conversion is certainly essential. This corresponds to the teaching against receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin, which explicitly contradicts the teachings of faith in one's life, to be sacrilege back to St. Paul (1 Corinthians 11:27). Morality, in the bounds that make this possible, not only contains the prohibitions but first the virtues. Morality is first tasked with the love of God and a very similar love to one's neighbor, wherein grace and holiness are receivable gifts from God. More to this effort is the interest in praying at all times, beseeching God to be a vessel of His grace, and thereby a doorway/ladder into His kingdom, and taking concrete habit in this practice, again within the bounds of morality to the best of human accomplishment with Divine assistance (cf. Genesis 28:12).

In conclusion, holiness is no one's right or personal accomplishment. However, it takes humbly renounced sin, personal commitment and receptivity, and cooperation with Divine assistance. Our lives themselves should be their own liturgy wherein we renounce Satan, all his false show, and the sins we chose. It should include Christ being justly glorified, His Word genuinely considered, prayers offered, Christ invited in and to be Lord one more fold, and finally a sharing of all that God has blessed us with encompassing both trial and joy. All this comes with the persistent encounter with God, His healing love, and Mercy joined to the severe intent to follow His justice, which encompasses the latter. Nothing praises God more than echoing the choice of sacrifice for love, in spite of the best the enemy has to offer, and it will be offered. It will likely be offered at the least convenient time. Whereas it certainly means communion it is not possible without first sacrifice, and it is precisely that sacrifice wherein Christ Himself is present. So let the question be asked what separation is there between life and liturgy? Perhaps, these paragraphs of the Catechism will provide your answer:

CCC 460 "The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":"For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."

CCC 1324-5 "The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."

Happy Corpus Christi 2023!

FN:

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1864.

Written by Carter Carruthers & also available at Vivat Agnus Dei

Thomas Aquinas' Sacris Solemniis - At This Our Solemn Feast:

AT this our solemn feast 

let holy joys abound, 

and from the inmost breast 

let songs of praise resound; 

let ancient rites depart, 

and all be new around, 

in every act, and voice, and heart

Remember we that eve, 

when, the Last Supper spread, 

Christ, as we all believe, 

the Lamb, with leavenless bread, 

among His brethren shared, 

and thus the Law obeyed, 

of all unto their sire declared.

The typic Lamb consumed, 

the legal Feast complete, 

the Lord unto the Twelve 

His Body gave to eat; 

the whole to all, no less 

the whole to each did mete 

with His own hands, as we confess. 

He gave them, weak and frail, 

His Flesh, their Food to be; 

on them, downcast and sad, 

His Blood bestowed He: 

and thus to them He spake, 

"Receive this Cup from Me, 

and all of you of this partake.

So He this Sacrifice 

to institute did will, 

and charged His priests alone 

that office to fulfill: 

tn them He did confide: 

to whom it pertains still 

to take, and the rest divide. 

Thus Angels' Bread is made 

the Bread of man today: 

the Living Bread from heaven 

with figures dost away: 

O wondrous gift indeed! 

the poor and lowly may 

upon their Lord and Master feed.

Thee, therefore, we implore, 

O Godhead, One in Three, 

so may Thou visit us 

as we now worship Thee; 

and lead us on Thy way, 

That we at last may see 

the light wherein Thou dwellest ay