Elements of Liturgical

Spirituality
• Word of God – The Sacred Scriptures,
collected in the Bible, are the inspired
record of how God dealt with His
people, and how they responded to,
remembered, and interpreted that
experience. The Scriptures arose, then,
as an expression of the people’s
experience of God, and as a response to
their needs.
How does the Word of God became the
element of Liturgical Spirituality?
On how God reveals Himself in:
• Creating us and everything we see hear
and touch- from the beginning till now
(natural signs);
• His words and deeds in Sacred Scripture’s
record of salvation history, completed and
perfected in His Son-made man, Jesus
Christ (Biblical signs);
• His continuing presence by the Holy Spirit in
His people, the Church (Ecclesial sign;
• The prayer and sacramental worship,
doctrine, and moral service of the Church
(Liturgical signs);
• The interior presence (Grace) in our
conscience and in all the events of our daily
lives, world events, recognized in the “signs
of the times.”
• All Christian prayer and worship are
viewed in the light of the Gospel and form
humankind’s spirituality. Likewise,
Christ reveals God to us primarily through
the Church in the Sacred Scripture for
Christ himself is the living WORD.
2. Sacraments and Sacramentals
SC 60 - Holy Mother Church has, instituted
sacramentals, these are sacred signs
which bear a resemblance to the
sacrament; they signify effects
particularly of a spiritual kind, which are
obtained through that Church’s
intercession By them men are disposed
to receive the chief of the sacraments,
and various occasions in life are
rendered holy:
• SC 61 – Thus, for well disposed members of
faithful, the liturgy of the Sacraments and
Sacramentals signifies almost every event in
their lives; they are the given access to the
stream of divine grace which flows from the
paschal mystery of the passion, death, the
resurrection of Christ, the font which all
sacraments and sacramentals draw their
power toward the sanctification of men and
the praise of God.
• This doctrine provided by the Documents
on Sacred Liturgy explains implicitly the
reasons why the sacraments and
sacramentals are considered elements of
liturgical spirituality.
3. Psalms
• Psalms are taken as element for
liturgical spirituality for reasons of:
Psalms present another dimension of
salvation. Characteristic of Psalms
is the direct personal address to
God, expressing deep faith and trust
in the Lord. In the Psalms all
aspects of daily life are encountered:
• All places like houses, fields, roads,
workshops and sickbeds;
• All occupations like eating, drinking,
sleeping, getting up, working, recreating;
• All ages of life, from childhood to old age,
with all forms of personal relations: man
and woman, parents and children, brothers
and friends.
The Psalms repeat Israel’s unique history,
even include the whole creation: the stars of
heaven and earth, winds and clouds, trees and
flowers.
Salvation comes from God to us as
community members, not as self-made
liberators. Humankind are naturally drawn to
the psalms to express their grtitude for God’s
tremendous love and graciousness to them.
4. Church
By the relationship with Christ, the
Church is both a sacramental sign and
instrument of intimate union with God, and
of the unity of all mankind (LG1). Christ
then has made the Church the effective
sign and symbol of:
1.Our union with God
2. The unity among men, and
3. Salvation
– For the Risen Christ, continually active in the
world, “sent his life-giving spirit to establish his
Body, the Church as the universal sacrament of
Salvation.” (LG 48)
– The Church signifies in a visible, historical, and
tangible form the presence and redeeming
activity of Christ, offered to all person of every
age, race and condition,
• The Church is the tangible sign of
Christ’s presence in the world, a beacon
of light visible to all and drawing them in
the power of the Spirit to communion
with God and with one another in Christ
(Acts 13:47; Mt5: 14-16)
In summary we say that the Church is:
• The community of men and women, united in Christ
and guided by the Holy Spirit, under the leadership
of the successor of Peter and the bishops in
communion with him.
• It is not merely a human social organization, but
“the People of God called together.” It consists of
all who are drawn to personal communion with
Christ and with one another, and as “united to the
Son, in the Spirit’s bond of love, united to the
Father” (Christifideles Laici 18)
• The Church then, is “mystery” – a God-
centered reality in its origin, ongoing life
and final goal.
5. Liturgical Texts and Rites
They are set prayer texts recited or sung
during liturgical celebrations, by either
the president, the deacon, or the
congregation. Their forms vary, some
invitational, some responsorial, and
others direct prayer usually addressed to
the Father.
• They are set prayer texts recited or sung
during liturgical celebrations, by either the
president, the deacon, or the congregation.
Their forms vary, some invitational, some
responsorial, and others direct prayer
usually addressed to the Father.
Rite may also designate the form and manner of
a total religious function. They are based on
four concepts:
• Symbolism – a natural action or object is
emblematic of the Divine, e.g. the Eucharist
symbolizes Christ, the Bread of Life.
• Consecration – a human situation shares in
a principle that goes beyond it and is actually
its basis.
• Repetition – a representative action bring
Divine power into the present. Thus in the
Eucharist, in the Sacrifice of the Cross is
present through its effect.
• Remembrance – rites preserve and
transmit the tradition of the community in
a shared experience and thus the
community is perpetuated and renewed.
6.The Spirituality of Liturgy Ministers
The mission of the Church has given rise to
numerous ministries within the church
(cf. LG 18). Ministry means service and
Christian ministry refers to “serving the
people of God in a stable fashion.” This
includes any public activity of a baptized
disciple of Christ, animated by the grace
of the Holy Spirit, performed on behalf
of the Christian community, and in the
service of the Kingdom.
• Thus, the ministers both ordained and not
ordained received the mission to proclaim
and established among all the Kingdom of
Christ and of God. (cf.LG5).
• There are first of all the ordained
ministries that arise from the Sacramenrt of
Orders. These ministers received the
authority and power to serve the Church,
acting in the person of Christ, the Head. But
they are fundamentally ordered to the service
of the entire People of God (cf.CL22).
• The most important duty of the ministers
which explain the spirituality they are called
for is “preaching the Gospel”, as an authentic
teacher endowed with the authority of Christ,
teaching in communion with the Roman
Pontiff. Through the Spirit, Christ bestowed
on his Church, in particular on the College of
Bishops teaching in communion with Peter’s
successor the Pope, the gift of infallibility.
• In promising to be with the Church to the
end of time, Christ, the divine Redeemer,
willed this charism of infallibility for his
Church. This simply means that Christ,the
Way, the Truth and the Life, through his
Holy Spirit, will preserve his Church from
error in its solemn, definitive teaching of
the deposit of faith (cf.LG12)
• In summary, the spirituality of the
ministers are to bring into life the intent
of Christ and his Church:Unity of
Church mission in which all the
baptized are called to participate and
lived the GRACIOUSNESS AND
GREATNESS OF GOD’S LOVE-
SHARING AND LIVING THE
PASCHAL MYSTERY OF CHRIST.