CELEBRATING THE CHURCH'S LITURGY

I. Who Celebrates?

1136 Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those who even now celebrate it without
signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast.

The celebrants of the heavenly liturgy

1137 The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, "A throne stood
in heaven, with one seated on the throne": "the Lord God." 1 It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as though
it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one "who
offers and is offered, who gives and is given." 2 Finally it presents "the river of the water of life . . .
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit. 3

1138 "Recapitulated in Christ," these are the ones who take part in the service of the praise of God and
the fulfillment of his plan: the heavenly powers, all creation (the four living beings), the servants of the
Old and New Covenants (the twenty-four elders), the new People of God (the one hundred and forty-four
thousand),4 especially the martyrs "slain for the word of God," and the all-holy Mother of God (the
Woman), the Bride of the Lamb, 5 and finally "a great multitude which no one could number, from every
nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues."6

1139 It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we
celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.

The celebrants of the sacramental liturgy

1140 It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. "Liturgical
services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is 'the sacrament of unity,'
namely, the holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops. Therefore , liturgical
services pertain to the whole Body of the Church. They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they
touch individual members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the
liturgical services, and their actual participation in them." 7 For this reason, "rites which are meant to be
celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be
celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately." 8

1141 The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized who, "by regeneration and the anointing
of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that . . . they may offer
spiritual sacrifices."9 This "common priesthood" is that of Christ the sole priest, in which all his members
participate:10

Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and
active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy,
and to which the Christian people, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed
people," have a right and an obligation by reason of their Baptism. 11

1142 But "the members do not all have the same function." 12 Certain members are called by God, in and
through the Church, to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by
the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the
head, for the service of all the members of the Church. 13 The ordained minister is, as it were, an "icon" of
Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is made fully visible, it is in
his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as, in communion with
him, the ministry of priests and deacons.

1143 For the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the faithful, other particular
ministries also exist, not consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders; their functions are determined by
the bishops, in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral needs. "Servers, readers, commentators, and
members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function." 14

1144 In the celebration of the sacraments it is thus the whole assembly that is leitourgos, each according
to his function, but in the "unity of the Spirit" who acts in all. "In liturgical celebrations each person,
minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should carry out all and only those parts which pertain
to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy." 15

1187 The liturgy is the work of the whole Christ, head and body. Our high priest celebrates it unceasingly
in the heavenly liturgy, with the holy Mother of God, the apostles, all the saints, and the multitude of
those who have already entered the kingdom.

1188 In a liturgical celebration, the whole assembly is leitourgos, each member according to his own
function. the baptismal priesthood is that of the whole Body of Christ. But some of the faithful are
ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders to represent Christ as head of the Body.

LITURGICAL DIVERSITY AND THE UNITY OF THE MYSTERY

Liturgical traditions and the catholicity of the Church

1200 From the first community of Jerusalem until the parousia, it is the same Paschal mystery that the
Churches of God, faithful to the apostolic faith, celebrate in every place. the mystery celebrated in the
liturgy is one, but the forms of its celebration are diverse.

1201 The mystery of Christ is so unfathomably rich that it cannot be exhausted by its expression in any
single liturgical tradition. the history of the blossoming and development of these rites witnesses to a
remarkable complementarity. When the Churches lived their respective liturgical traditions in the
communion of the faith and the sacraments of the faith, they enriched one another and grew in fidelity to
Tradition and to the common mission of the whole Church.66

1202 The diverse liturgical traditions have arisen by very reason of the Church's mission. Churches of the
same geographical and cultural area came to celebrate the mystery of Christ through particular
expressions characterized by the culture: in the tradition of the "deposit of faith,"67 in liturgical
symbolism, in the organization of fraternal communion, in the theological understanding of the mysteries,
and in various forms of holiness. Through the liturgical life of a local church, Christ, the light and
salvation of all peoples, is made manifest to the particular people and culture to which that Church is sent
and in which she is rooted. the Church is catholic, capable of integrating into her unity, while purifying
them, all the authentic riches of cultures.68
1203 The liturgical traditions or rites presently in use in the Church are the Latin (principally the Roman
rite, but also the rites of certain local churches, such as the Ambrosian rite, or those of certain religious
orders) and the Byzantine, Alexandrian or Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite and Chaldean rites. In
"faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that Holy Mother Church holds all lawfully
recognized rites to be of equal right and dignity, and that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to
foster them in every way."69

Liturgy and culture

1204 The celebration of the liturgy, therefore, should correspond to the genius and culture of the different
peoples.70 In order that the mystery of Christ be "made known to all the nations . . . to bring about the
obedience of faith,"71 it must be proclaimed, celebrated, and lived in all cultures in such a way that they
themselves are not abolished by it, but redeemed and fulfilled:72 It is with and through their own human
culture, assumed and transfigured by Christ, that the multitude of God's children has access to the Father,
in order to glorify him in the one Spirit.

1205 "In the liturgy, above all that of the sacraments, there is an immutable part, a part that is divinely
instituted and of which the Church is the guardian, and parts that can be changed, which the Church has
the power and on occasion also the duty to adapt to the cultures of recently evangelized peoples."73

1206 "Liturgical diversity can be a source of enrichment, but it can also provoke tensions, mutual
misunderstandings, and even schisms. In this matter it is clear that diversity must not damage unity. It
must express only fidelity to the common faith, to the sacramental signs that the Church has received
from Christ, and to hierarchical communion. Cultural adaptation also requires a conversion of heart and
even, where necessary, a breaking with ancestral customs incompatible with the Catholic faith."74

1207 It is fitting that liturgical celebration tends to express itself in the culture of the people where the
Church finds herself, though without being submissive to it. Moreover, the liturgy itself generates cultures
and shapes them.
1208 The diverse liturgical traditions or rites, legitimately recognized, manifest the catholicity of the
Church, because they signify and communicate the same mystery of Christ.
1209 The criterion that assures unity amid the diversity of liturgical traditions is fidelity to apostolic
Tradition, i e., the communion in the faith and the sacraments received from the apostles, a communion
that is both signified and guaranteed by apostolic succession.