Every week or every day, we attend Mass or Divine Liturgy, and it is largely the same. The Eucharistic prayer is just one of a few options, a lot of other prayers like the introductory and Communion rite are always the same.
I generally like change and difference: I like a podcast that keeps a consistent format, but I don’t like listening to an episode again. One podcast I listen to has a few episodes that are basically the best segments from recent months. Those are the only regular episodes of that podcast I intentionally skip. I personally don’t listen to the same music on repeat much preferring podcasts and audiobooks while exercising, driving or cleaning the house.
Yet something about the consistency of the Liturgy is calming and reassuring. The repetition is of a different type. For a long time, I struggled to put my finger on it. Then recently I was reading and contemplating Vatican II on the liturgy. This led me to realize why this repetition is so comforting: the liturgy connects our time with eternity. The liturgy allows us to touch eternity and gives us a foretaste of eternity with God.
The first paragraphs of Sacrosanctum Concilium from Vatican II talk about this connection between time and eternity. I read this then had a day of personal retreat to reflect on this text.
The Liturgy and Christ’s Redemption
It starts early and notes even in the second paragraph that Christ’s redemption is accomplished through the liturgy. Christ redeemed us in time on the cross but this is an event beyond time: this is how Mary can be conceived without sin and how the Old Testament heroes can be saved. Jesus’ salvation is his love from all eternity brought into time. This same paragraph mentions that the liturgy reveals “the real nature of the true Church.” We think of the visible Church on earth but that is only 1 part of 3: we also have the Church in heaven and purgatory, the Church in eternity.
Paragraph five of Sacrosanctum Concilium notes how in Christ, “the perfect achievement of our reconciliation came forth, and the fullness of divine worship was given to us.” God, from all eternity wanted to reconcile us to himself: he reaches from eternity into time to save us. But this quote also notes that Jesus is the fullness of divine worship: the worship in the Mass on earth reflects the fuller worship for all eternity with Jesus. Heaven is nothing more than being with Jesus: it is sharing his eternity.
This same paragraph also quotes 1 Timothy 2:4 to say, God “wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is a will coming forth from the Trinity existing outside of time. It is a will they need to express temporally for our poor human nature to understand. The Sacraments, presented through the liturgy are what saves us. The liturgy is God’s eternal will brought into our time and space.
The Trinity in the Liturgy
When we speak of the Trinity, we see how the Father sent the Son, but then the Son sends the apostles and us to bring his message and his salvation to the whole world. Paragraph six of Sacrosanctum Concilium notes this but then connects it to the liturgy. The paragraph notes the apostles “by preaching the gospel to every creature, they might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His Father.” Where is this salvation made manifest? In the liturgy: as noted above, we are saved through baptism and raised to or heights in the Eucharist, both of which we get via the liturgy.
Paragraph 7 speaks of Christ being fully present in the liturgy such as through the priest, the Eucharist and the Altar. As he is present in this way, he is also present in the Trintiy’s perfect eternity. This again connects the temporal liturgy with eternity.
Finally, the eighth paragraph notes, “In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle.” This reinforces the principle that the liturgy here on earth is directly connected to the eternal liturgy in heaven where we will worship God forever.
Prayer and the Liturgy
I read these and recorded part of my Vatican II in a Year podcast. Then, the next day, I had a personal day of retreat (Poustinia). I had not scheduled a theme beforehand. However, as I tried to pray, God kept bringing me back to reflect on this connection Jesus gives us in the liturgy. The liturgy connects us not only across time and space, but to God’s eternity beyond time and space. Jesus invites us to his presence: we see him temporally in the Eucharist, but this points to something beyond in his presence in heaven and in eternity. (I am releasing this this week as the paragraphs I am reflecting on are broadcast this week on my podcast.)
The liturgy thus, is not just another thing we do, but through the Eucharist, we connect most fully to God. It comes from his eternal love for us and leads to our eternity with him in heaven. It is something beyond and above us. So often in liturgical discussions, we get caught up in exact elements or in specific rites. These have some value. But beyond any detail, the liturgy is God coming to us in eternal love and bringing us towards his eternal love. It is eternity made temporal.
