Day 147: Christ’s Work in the Liturgy (2025)

The tradition of the Catholic Church, the Catechism in the Year is brought to you by Ascension. In three hundred and sixty-five days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day one hundred and forty-seven. You guys, we are reading paragraphs ten eighty-four to

ninety. As always, I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of Faith Approach and also includes a little red ribbon. That's where we're at in the second pillar right now, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

or any ribbon you'd like. Uh to download your own catechism in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash CIY. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates. and daily notifications. It is day 147 reading paragraphs 1084 to 1090. Just a quick couple quick reminders, easy for me to say. As we are walking through this second pillar.

The kind of the kind I wanna say I wanna say the primary doc the primary document's always gonna be scripture, obviously. If you want to take a look at those those footnotes on every single page, it's Virtually every page has a reference from scripture because we get everything you know, our data comes from script or data of what we believe, our theology comes from scripture.

But also in this second pillar, s the the document, Sacrosanctum Concilium from the Second Vatican Council is gonna be one of those big ones we re reference. I mentioned that, you know, me yesterday, the day before, that uh

That's it's gonna be a big one, kinda like Dave Earbum, kinda like Dave Erbum uh was a big one. When it comes to what we're talking about now, it's gonna be Sacrosanctum Sacrosanctum conchilium. And so just keep that in mind. I uh yesterday we talked about how um the whole thing, the whole whole liturgical life of the church, the whole liturgical work of the church, that it is the work of the Holy Trinity. Yesterday

specifically is the father, source, and goal of the liturgy. Today is this is Christ's work in the liturgy, and you can guess what's happening tomorrow, Holy Spirit and the church in the liturgy. But today is just a few paragraphs on

What does Jesus do? And it's just in r remarkable to recognize that we're going to get a couple different definitions. We're going to get a definition of sacraments, which I'm really excited about in paragraph 1084. We're also going to get basically how is Christ present? In the earthly liturgy. And we recognize that Jesus is present in the in four distinct ways in the liturgy. We're gonna hear about that in paragraph ten eighty eight.

and everything else besides. So as we prepare our hearts to just see how is Jesus present, how is he active, what is Christ's work in the liturgy in these next few paragraphs, let's just call upon our Father and call upon the name of our Lord Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray, Father in heaven, thank you so much. Thank you for uh the gift of the fact that what Jesus had done for us, what he has done for us two thousand years ago, halfway around the world for many of us.

comes to us now. It comes to us here in our little towns, in our big cities, in our small parishes, in our giant churches. Lord God, what your son has done for us. We have access to you. We have access to you. And you make yourself present. You make the Holy Trinity present at every single liturgy, Lord God. You make yourself completely accessible to us because you're good and you love us. And we thank you.

We thank you for for everything you've done. We thank you for the Paschal mystery, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which comes to us in every liturgy, especially in the liturgy of the Eucharist. We thank you. Lord God, please help us to have eyes that see, right? To help us, Lord Father, to have eyes that that recognize your presence, your work, your son, your Holy Spirit. in the liturgy, especially when our eyes can be so obscured by just seeing ordinary things.

But Lord God, you use ordinary things in an extraordinary way. You use ordinary things to give us extraordinary grace. You use ordinary things to give us yourself. And so help us, have eyes to see, and a faith to That receives and worships and loves you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We are on day one hundred and forty seven. We were reading paragraphs ten eighty-four to ten ninety.

Christ's work in the liturgy. Christ glorified. Seated at the right hand of the Father and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his body which is the Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. The sacraments are perceptible signs, words and actions, accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify.

In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life, Jesus announced his paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history, which does not pass away. Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father once for all.

His paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique. All other historical events happen once and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ by contrast is the death cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is, all that he did and suffered for all men, participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all.

The event of the cross and resurrection abides and draws everything toward life. From the time of the Church of the Apostles. Sacrosanctum conchillium states Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also he sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This he did, so that they might preach the gospel to every creature, and proclaim that the Son of God by his death and resurrection has freed us from the power of Satan and from death and brought us into the kingdom of his Father.

But he also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and sacraments around which the entire liturgical life revolves. Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of sanctifying. They became sacramental signs of Christ.

By the power of the same Holy Spirit, they entrusted this power to their successors. This apostolic succession structures the whole liturgical life of the Church and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of holy orders. is present in the earthly liturgy. To accomplish so great a work, the dispensation or communication of his work of salvation,

Christ is always present in his church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of his minister, the same now offering through the ministry of the priests who were formerly offered himself on the cross. but especially in the Eucharistic species.

By His power, He is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His Word since it is He Himself who speaks when the Holy Scriptures are read in the church. Lastly, he is present when the church prays and sings, for he has promised, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Sacrosantum Conchilium states

Christ indeed always associates the church with himself in this great work in which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The church is his beloved bride who calls to her Lord and through him offers worship to the eternal Father. Which participates in the Liturgy of Heaven.

Sacrosanctum Quinchilium further states In the earthly liturgy, we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord. Venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them.

We eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear, and we too will appear with Him in glory. Okay, so there it is, day one hundred and forty seven, paragraph ten eighty four to ten ninety. Oh my goodness gracious, you guys, holy smokes, this is just Okay. I don't know if you caught it, but there there are a numer number of different authors who contributed to the writing of the catechism and

You know, the creed was written, I think, beautifully. It it sings, it's beautiful, it's poetic, it's in I mean, so clear and concise. This Whoever the team was who wrote this section, it's amazing so far. It's just incredible. Okay, so here we go. 10 paragraph 1084. Let's highlight this.

Oh my goodness gracious, I said they're going to give us a definition of the sacraments. We recognize that Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he's pouring out the Holy Spirit on his body, which is the church, he now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. So what are sacraments? Middle of paragraph ten eighty four. The sacraments are perceptible signs, a K words and actions here in the parentheses.

It's perceptible signs, accessible to our human nature, by the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. So we recognize this, right? That a every sacrament. is a sacred sign that causes what it signifies.

Every great every sacrament is a a sacred sign that causes what it signifies. Not sure if we've talked about this before, but we'll talk about it now, is recognize, okay, what's a sacred sign? Well uh you know what we know what a sign is. A sign is like, okay, there's a stop sign on the on the corner right outside my house here.

Now that sign signifies stop here. Okay, great. But it doesn't it doesn't cause you to stop, right? I have demonstrated this many times, just kind of rolled right through. But you can imagine a sign, a stop sign that actually caused what it signified. It signifies stops. You can imagine that you pull up to the corner and regardless of what you want to do, the sign actually caused you to stop. That would be a sign that caused what it signified. So here we have the sacraments.

And there are signs, sacred signs, that cause what they signify. Because of the action of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present eff efficaciously the grace that they signify. So baptism, what's it's a sign of? It's a sign of washing. Well, it actually does wash away original sin. Bah um baptism also a sign of new birth, right? As of giving birth, of dying and rising. So it actually does make us into new creatures, right? It actually does make us into God's sons and daughters.

The sac the sign of reconciliation, right? Confession is a sign of God's forgiveness. It actually causes God's forgiveness, right? It's effica we participate efficaciously. That that mercy of God is present efficaciously. It actually does forgive our sins. You know, the sign of signs, the Eucharist. A sign of Jesus' presence.

It actually is Jesus' presence, right? And it's just it's so remarkable. You know, the sign of matrimony is to become one flesh. Well, actually two, actually truly become one flesh. And this is just so, so amazing that by the action of Christ. And the power of the Holy Spirit is the sacraments make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. Now, later on we're gonna highlight this, the Paschal Mystery. Paragraph ten eighty five is very important for us because we recognize that

In the liturgy of the church, it is principally Jesus' paschal mystery that he signifies and makes present. What is that? His life, death, and resurrection. This this is So incredibly important.

Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father once for all. That happened one time. The Paschal Mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it's the most unique event in the world because As it says in ten eighty five, all other historical events happen once, then they pass away.

The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is, all that he did, he suffered for all men, it participates in the divine eternity. So why? What do you mean by that? Okay, what is Jesus doing when he's suffering, when he's dying, when he's rising, when he ascends to heaven? He is offering all of that to the Father. He's offering himself to the Father.

This is so important. He's offering himself to the Father. He does not cease offering himself to the Father in eternity. And so this this event that occurred in time, once for all, right? occurs in eternity constantly. It transcends all times while being made present in all times. And just, man, they think about this. That moment in time, which now exists in eternity, transcends all times while being made present in all times.

And it's just incredible. So then what what does Jesus do? In order to communicate that grace, that what he's done for us to to all times, to us, he gives the ability

To the apostles, not just to preach. He does that definitely gives the them the ability to preach the gospel to every creature. But he also wanted the work of salvation, which they preached. to be continued through the sacrifice and sacraments. And so what does he do? Well, we know this in John chapter twenty. That's one of the moments in John chapter twenty, where Jesus, he's risen from the dead,

And he breathes on the Holy Spirit, and he says, Peace be with you, as the Father sent me, so now I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven, those whose sins you hold bound are held bound. He's given, he's entrusted to the apostles his power of sanctifying. And they become sacramental signs of Christ, right? Efficacious. They actually they're not just kinda like over a little reminder. They are actually efficacious in the fact that they

Communicate the grace of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Which it does that make sense? I just, oh my gosh, you guys. Ah, it's so exciting. Lastly, well, maybe lastly, almost lastly. Paragraph ten eighty eight. Jesus is present. He's always present in his church. He's always present in the church, especially in our liturgical sacraments.

um celebrations, right? Did Jesus is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, in the person of the minister. So the the priest is Jesus is present in the person of the priest. That's that's That's one way he's present. He's especially present in the Eucharist. And that we're gonna talk about that so fully. That Jesus is expec ex exceptionally present, especially present. in the Eucharist.

Um, he's present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes. You might not be ordained listening to this. If you ever baptize someone, it would be we would say it's actually Jesus who baptized through you, baptizes through you. So it's really Christ himself. Jesus is present. Christ is present in the Word. So when the holy scriptures are pr are proclaimed, there he is. And also Jesus is present in the Word

Whenever two or three gathering in his name. So we have this. Jesus is present in the person of the minister. He's present most above above all in the Eucharist. He's present in his word when it's proclaimed, and he's present in the gathering, the in the among the people when they gather in his name, which is isn't that incredible? Just here are these four ways in which Jesus Christ is present to us.

And not only this, this last little note. Oh my goodness gracious. Okay, you guys I I said this a thousand times, right? Goodness gracious, or Wowie Kazawi, paragraph ten ninety. What are we doing in the earthly liturgy? Well, we're going to mass. Mm-hmm, that's good. What are we doing in the in the earthly liturgy? Well, what's happening is the Father is being glorified and the people of God are being sanctified.

Hugely important. This is this is it. Every single time you go to Mass, God is being glorified, perfectly glorified, and human beings are being sanctified. But the earthly liturgy is also a share in the foretaste of what the heavenly liturgy is occurring there. That basically we are we are joined at every single mass, we are joined. with Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God the Father. We're joined with all the warriors of the heavenly army. We sing a hymn of glory to the Lord

We venerate the memory of the saints and we hope for some part in fellowship with them. We eagerly await the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear, and we too will appear with him in glory. That is for the future. I mean that's happening right now in eternity. And that's for the future where we get to participate fully in that and heaven God willing. But think about this. The next time you go to Mass, which might even be today.

We're participating in that already here on Earth. The earthly liturgy participates in the liturgy of heaven. And this is not something you have to wait to do. You actually could even do this today, or maybe tomorrow. What a gift. Holy smokes. What a gift. God wants us to be part of this.

Anyways, man, we got we have a long journey ahead of us, which is awesome. Tomorrow we're talking about the Holy Spirit and the church in the liturgy. And then again, we keep going off to the races because uh this is our life. This is how God wants us to become holy, and this is how God has asked us. to come into contact with him on a regular, maybe even daily basis. Oh man, you guys, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.