What is Liturgy?

Many people tend to think that liturgy is the work of the people. What they forget, though, is that it is God who is working in the liturgy. God works through man and man carries out the action of God. Liturgy, then, is the very essence of Christianity: Not my will, but your will be done.

My whole problem with many liturgical and sacramental theologians is that they forget this subtle nuance. This subtle nuance, though, is the key to understanding liturgy. The Church is the fundamental Sacrament of Christ and Christ is the primordial Sacrament of God.

When we understand the nature of Christ and His Church, we understand God ever more clearly. God the Father sent Christ into the world and the Church is Christ's Mystical Body on earth. When we do the will of the Church, we are doing the will of God. The Church is Christ present to the the world through witness, service, and worship.

When we worship God, we worship Him according to the way He wants to be worshipped. How do we know how he wants to be worshipped? Simple, the Church does the will of God. Christ acts through the members of His Church in all they do, especially in the liturgy. God is the object to whom we worship and the person through whom we worship.

Liturgy is not the work of the people. Rather, it is Christ who is acting through us. Forgetting this makes us forget Christ. In all we do, we worship God the Father through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.