Christ must be at centre of liturgy

A  liturgy is not Christian if Christ is not the centre of the celebration, Pope Benedict has said.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The conviction must grow in us every day that the liturgy is not our or my doing, but is Gods acting in us and with us, he said on October 3 to an estimated 20,000 people gathered in St Peters Square for his weekly general audience.

The talk was the latest focusing on the liturgy in the popes series on the subject of prayer.

In his catechesis, the pope said, If in the celebration [of Mass] the centrality of Christ does not emerge, we won’t have Christian liturgy, totally dependent on the Lord, who supports it with his presence.

It’s not the action of the individual  whether the priest or one of the faithful  or the group gathered in the pews that celebrates the liturgy, but it is primarily the action of God through the Church, which has its own history, rich tradition and creativity.

This universality and fundamental openness, which is characteristic of the whole liturgy, is one of the reasons it cannot be created or modified by the individual community or by experts, but must be faithful to the forms of the universal church, he said.

The faithful fully experience the Church in the liturgy, which is the act in which we believe God enters into our reality and we can meet him and can touch him. … He comes to us and we are enlightened by him, the pope said.

For that reason, when people focus attention only on trying to make the liturgy more attractive, interesting or beautiful, we risk forgetting the essential: The liturgy is celebrated for God and not for ourselves. It is his work, he said.

God is the subject of the liturgy and all the faithful must open themselves up to him and let themselves be guided by him and his body, the Church, he added.

Christians rediscover their true identity in Christ and that is why prayer needs always to be looking toward Christ, speaking to him and listening to him.

The text of the popes audience remarks in English is at www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20121003_en.html