His self-giving is meant to become mine, so that I become contemporary with the Pasch of Christ and assimilated unto God. That is why in the early Church martyrdom was regarded as a real eucharistic celebration, the most extreme actualization of the Christian’s being a contemporary with Christ, of being united with him. The liturgy does indeed have a bearing on everyday life, on me in my personal existence. Its aim, as St. Paul says in the text already referred to, is that “our bodies” (that is, our bodily existence on earth) become “a living sacrifice”, united to the Sacrifice of Christ (cf. Rom 12:1). That is the only explanation of the urgency of the petitions for acceptance that characterize every Christian liturgy. A theology that is blind to the connections we have been considering can only regard this as a contradiction or a lapse into pre-Christian ways, for, so it will be said, Christ’s Sacrifice was accepted long ago. True, but in the form of representation it has not come to an end. The semel (“once for all”) wants to attain its semper (“always”). This Sacrifice is only complete when the world has become the place of love, as St. Augustine saw in his City of God. Only then, as we said at the beginning, is worship perfected and what happened on Golgotha completed. That is why, in the petitions for acceptance, we pray that representation become a reality and take hold of us. That is why, in the prayers of the Roman Canon, we unite ourselves with the great men who offered sacrifice at the dawn of history: Abel, Melchizedek, and Abraham. They set out toward the Christ who was to come. They were anticipations of Christ, or, as the Fathers say, “types” of Christ. Even his predecessors were able to enter into the contemporaneousness with him that we beg for ourselves.
(Ratzinger, J. (2000). The Spirit of the Liturgy (J. Saward, Trans.; pp. 58–59). Ignatius Press.)
- I was discussing with another staff member at All Souls today this important connection between our souls, our bodies, and the sacrifice of Christ. The liturgy is the one place where the truth of our new life is laid bare through the actualization of the Word of God and the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The liturgy is the one rejuvenating activity we have, in the sense of the renewal of our baptism and Christian life.
- On the one hand, there is the challenge of doing the liturgy well – of making sure that the proper proportions and actions are performed well and even artfully. On the other hand, there is the challenge of conforming our hearts and our lives to the Words of Holy Scripture and the Bread of Life we receive. The sacrifice of Christ that becomes truly present for us in the liturgy, is extended as though by invitation to us. If our hearts respond well, we understand that our bodies will not be spared, and yet that can be the true offering of love in response to Christ who saves us by his sacrifice.
