The Sacramental and Liturgical Nature of Reality

The following is an article I wrote a few years ago when I first came into the Catholic Church.

“If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy.” – St. Jean Vianney

Because of the nature of Christ's salvific work and His Gospel as revealed through the Apostles and their successors in His Church the Holy Mass cannot be understood alongside the Sunday worship services of other Christian folk.

That is to say that Christ's salvific work is necessarily Sacramental and Liturgical.

This may be something never heard of before by non- Catholic Christians and may be a stumbling block for many who see it as an unnecessary over-complication of Christ's salvific work. It's also something not understood very well by most Catholics.

But when it is understood correctly it is nothing short of the most exquisite testimony to God's goodness and His Glory.

Having said that, it is a far grander subject than I could ever do justice but hopefully a few paragraphs will open the door ever so slightly to at least shed a little light on this most profound mystery.

This, above all else, brought me into the Catholic Church.

First I'll attempt to adequately explain these two terms; Sacrament and Liturgy.

Sacrament is the means by which Christ imparts His grace to His Church. In fact, in a sense, His Church is Sacrament.

A Sacrament is an outward sign, a physical 'thing', (like water in Baptism), or the actions of a physical thing, (such as the confessions of a penitent person), that is united with a supernatural reality so as to impart grace on those who partake of them.

Effectively the Sacraments draw creation towards heaven by having creation participate in the heavenly reality.

John 12:32

[32]And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.

There are 7 Sacraments in the Church:

+ Baptism

+ Confirmation

+ Marriage

+ Holy Orders

+ Holy Unction

+ Confession

+ Eucharist

Oh the depth and wonder of the Sacraments!

Seven in number, the biblical number of completion. Seven days of creation in Genesis, Seven Sacraments to usher in the new creation. In St. John's prologue he tells us that in the beginning was the Word and all things were created through Him. Behold, all things are being made anew, also through him, by the Seven Sacraments as if seven rivers of life giving water springing forth from His Passion.

So much more could be said …

But for now, that should suffice concerning Sacraments. It is important to comment on Liturgy so that we can see how all this fits together with the Mass.

The word 'Liturgy' was used in the pre-Christian world to denote a public service, a work done for the people.

Within the Christian tradition it refers to the work of God for His people that they might participate in the life of the Trinity.

We know this as His saving work.

Essentially, in the Catholic Tradition it is revealed that the only way that we can be saved is to be brought into the life of the Trinity. Adopted as Son's and Daughter's of the Father. Anything that does not live the supreme and perfect love of the Father who gives Himself fully to the Son and the Son who gives fully in return (this supreme and perfect love itself being the third Person of the Trinity; the Holy Ghost) must necessarily fall into chaos and destruction. That God sustains the life of a sinner even for a moment is a testament to God's unending mercy as one sin should be the cause of our demise.

Now, I'm not saying this is necessarily different to other Christian thought and theology, but the manner in which we are brought into that life and live as Son's and Daughter's is different.

Ultimately we are adopted into the life of the Trinity through Christ's supreme act of love and sacrifice on Calvary, but in the Catholic Tradition that act on Calvary floods time, space and history. It is eternity, the supernatural reality of the Kingdom, breaking into the closed-circuit, perpetually falling world.

Holy Scripture says "the Lamb was slain from the foundations of the world". [Rev Ch. 13 V. 8]

This is a statement of the eternal nature of the Love of the Son for the Father in response to the Fathers Love for the Son. Christ's passion on Calvary Hill is the perfect physical manifestation in space and time of the eternal love that is the life of the Trinity.

The over-flowing of this life of the Trinity into creation is Liturgy. It explodes forth from a centre; in the case of the new creation the physical manifestation of that centre, as we said, is the Cross of Calvary. Previously before the fall, the Liturgy poured forth from from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

It's my conviction that Liturgy, this outpouring of the Love of the Trinity manifests in a fractal manner within nature as an echo of that Love. (This fractal outpouring of Love is the principal underlying the phenomenon of even the physical fractals in the created world as far as I'm concerned. All creation sings His praise and glorifies His name! The Romanesco Broccoli dances to the Love Song of the Trinity.)

But I digress …

We see this fractal, spiralling from a centre evident in the Catholic Church where we have a liturgical calender that allows us to step into the Holy dance of the Life of the Trinity via the Incarnation of our Lord and the lives of the Saints; that our lives might be swept up into the Holy reality.

It can be seen also on a smaller scale still with the Liturgy of the Hours which liturgically organises the daily prayer life of a Catholic that our communion with God might be synchronised to His Holy symphony.

Most importantly though, is the Mass, also called the Divine Liturgy. It is the outpouring of the life of the Trinity condensed into an hour and a half (give or take) within the walls (these do not have to necessarily be temple walls, though it is fitting for it to be so) of a sacred place.

At the very centre of the Mass is the Eucharist, the Sacrament of all Sacraments.

In the Catholic Tradition the Holy Eucharist is the unbloody sacrifice of our Lord. It is not a re-enactment of Calvary or ceremonial reference to His perfect sacrifice but the one, same, perfect sacrifice eternally renewed each Mass so that we might partake in the New Covenant according to His word.

"Take and eat, this is my body … " "Take and drink, this is my blood of the New Covenant, shed for you and the forgiveness of sins."

Also,

John 6:53-56

[53] Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.

[54] He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.

[55] For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.

[56] He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him.

Within the Mass is the whole of Salvation History. The whole of the incarnation, death and resurrection of our Lord. The life that is the Love of the Trinity poured out from that centre; the Cross of our Lord on Calvary, eternally present in the host and chalice on the altar of Holy Mass, so that we might be swept up into that life. Every time we participate in Mass we live in Christ, die also in Him and are raised to life eternal with the Father.

We fulfil the command that we first love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength because we participate in the perfect manifestation of that Love and we are united with the only one who can perfectly fulfil that command.

The Mass is not just one of a number of curious and nuanced forms of worship out of a plethora of forms the world over, available wherever you can step into a Christian Sunday service.

It is that very partaking in the divine nature spoken of by St. Peter in his 2nd epistle. It is earth swept up into the midst of heaven. It is our very sanctification made available to us here and now in time and space by the eternal and perfect sacrifice of the God-man, Jesus Christ. It is the making of all things new and the life of the world sustained in Him.

“I believe that were it not for the Holy Mass, as of this moment the world would be in the abyss.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice

“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” – St. Padre