Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 167.

YOUCAT Question n. 167 - What is liturgy?  

  

(Youcat answer) Liturgy is the official divine worship of the Church.      

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1074) "The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows" (SC 10). It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God. "Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men" (John Paul II, CT 23).       

Reflecting and meditating     

(Youcat comment) A Liturgy is not an event that depends on good ideas and great songs. No one makes or invents a Liturgy. It is something living that grew over millennia of faith. A Mass is a holy, venerable action. Liturgy becomes exciting when one senses that God himself is present under its sacred signs and its precious, often ancient prayers.     

(CCC Comment)      

(CCC 1080) From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man and woman. The covenant with Noah and with all living things renewed this blessing of fruitfulness despite man's sin which had brought a curse on the ground. But with Abraham, the divine blessing entered into human history which was moving toward death, to redirect it toward life, toward its source. By the faith of "the father of all believers," who embraced the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.       

 

(The next question is:  Why does the liturgy have priority in the life of the Church and of the individual?)