Liturgy comes from the Greek word Leitougia (leitourgia.) It literally means the peoples work. In the ancient Greek cultures, it originally meant civic duty or the cooperation of all citizens to make society work. Those who were involved in the social works like building libraries, setting up monuments or constructed town halls etc were called liturgies.
As Jesus was the greatest public benefactor by his death and resurrection the Church has rightly taken this term Liturgy and gave a new religious meaning such as: spiritual sacrifice, obedience, faith, works of charity, or any service to God and his people.
Since liturgy was originally a public service celebrating the liturgy alone without any reference to the people and without activity, has no meaning at all. There can be no liturgy without a celebrating assembly . Of its very nature, `liturgical is opposed to `private.
Liturgy is a living reality easier to experience if we have faith. Liturgy means work that all Christians do to make our tradition, our beliefs, and our faith, work in our lives and in the world. It is very same work that Jesus did for humanity. We do it symbolically in the church then continue doing it during the day.
Liturgy is a ritual. By practicing a set, a patterned behavior, we become so familiar with the ritual that we can use it as a foundation for growth. We need to repeat pattern after pattern, to master the basics of our belief like a musician mastering the techniques of the instrument.
Ritual is a system of symbols that give meaning to our lives. We need to go beyond the literal meaning of the symbols to the very life of the people so as to build a civilized society. Symbols remain empty when they no longer instill values for the society we live in.
Liturgy is a symbol as long as it goes beyond and to something in our daily life; building a civilized society. If we are satisfied merely doing certain actions in the church and forget about life in the world it will certainly lead us to routine and monotonous action resulting in terribly boring and meaninglessness in our life.
Symbols are objects, behaviors or words that help us grasp realities that would otherwise be unknowable. They are medium we have for communicating the reality we know. Human as we are, we need something material in order to understand the divine. Human mind cannot grasp the without any reference to matter. So we use the created things like a flower or a picture, a statue as medium to go the Divine. But these symbols are not end in themselves. If we take them as our only goal or end we become idolaters.
The words on this page, the letters, the sentences, are in a pattern that we recognize them as the English language, the fact that they are in a book that we read from left to right, top to bottom, are all symbols that communicate meaning. We could say the meaning of the words is what is important and not the words themselves. But the meaning of a word and the word itself are integrally linked. The symbols of the liturgy function are also linked in the same way.
Fire means one thing, water another, bread another, and song another. All these Symbols help us grasp the reality of God, who would otherwise be unknowable. But each of these symbols says something different about God as they have multiple meanings. For example if we take water it can mean life as well as death depending upon the circumstances. What water tells us about God is that God can mean life or death. That is the essence of the paschal mystery. Christ died and rose.
When many symbols of our faith are organized into ritual patterns, they tell the story of our faith. The pattern itself becomes a symbol. So in the Mass, Word and Eucharist is a symbolic structure. God calls us to faith (Word) and we respond it in faith (Eucharist). Since symbols are the way in which we communicate the reality of our faith, it is important that our symbols be of high quality and is full and rich.
Liturgies are also prayers. Here prayer does not merely mean becoming quiet and talking to God but listening to and being obedient to God. In the Liturgy, we proclaim, sing, move, share, bless etc. All these actions are ways of being in the world. By doing these things in a particular way, they carry particular meaning. Those meanings communicate to us and to others our beliefs. By fully participating in these actions, we more fully understand their meanings and more deeply immerse ourselves in faith. It is in this way we Listen to God. It is in this way we pray.
Jesus prayer was an experience of a new vision, a new way of looking at things. It directed him to be with people and among the people. In the same way our prayer life has to direct us today, to be with the people and among the people.
After encountering Jesus in our prayer we need to meet him in the suffering people. We have to open the door of our hearts when he knocks and asks: Will you not share in my redemptive work? He offered his life on the cross for the redemption of the world. He invites us to share in his work of being with people and among the people, to grow in the love of God.
In order to do this we need to enter into the paschal mystery of Christ. It is the mystery of Christs passion, death, and resurrection. As Christ sacrificed himself for our sake like a Passover lamb and `passed over from the slavery of this world into the freedom of Gods glory.
It is this core belief the paschal mysterythat we celebrate every Sunday in the Eucharist. By celebrating it, we enter more fully into the saving death of Christ. We die more completely to ourselves. We become less and less, and Christ becomes more and more. We go out into the world and live the mystery we have just celebrated. By joining to Christ in death, we learn to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the people. We become authentic witnesses to Christ by doing works of justice and living the lives of peace.
This leads us to the threefold dimensions of Liturgy: The descending dimension of worship is that we are sanctified by Gods grace. There is a dialogue between God and his people in which He takes the first step to reach the humans and He has done it through his son Jesus Christ. It was only after Christ stretched out his arms on the cross that we could raise our hands to him in thanks and praise through the liturgy. The ascending dimension of worship is to raise our hearts and minds to God in praise and thanksgiving for his marvelous works.
The Good Samaritan never reached the temple but his horizontal roadside liturgy was praised. The priest and Levite did not go out to the dying man, afraid that this would make them ritually unclean and therefore ineligible for worship. In fact only the Samaritan who cared for his neighbor was an eligible liturgist.
There must be sensitive concern for the persons and building up a loving and caring community is needed in order to be the body of Christ. It is the first step to a vibrant, active celebration of the Liturgy. Moving out after the service to renew society is its goal.
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