Liturgy and Eucharist
Supplementary topics to the RCIA program
The RCIA or Rites of Christian Initiation
for Adults, is a required program for those
who wish to enter and be baptized into the
Catholic Church. This series of topics is
supplementary, though not officially required
to all that those who wish to add to their
knowledge in the RCIA program proper.
What is liturgy?
The Catholic liturgy - Liturgical celebrations
Liturgy is the official worship and ritual prayers used
by the Catholic Church. It follows a system of liturgical
seasons within the official calendar of the Church. All
Catholics begin the liturgical year of Christian worship
with the season of Advent. After Advent, Christmas follows,
then Ordinary Time, then Lent, next is Easter, then Pentecost,
then Ordinary Time again follows, until the Church year ends
with the celebration of the solemnity of Christ the King on
the 34th Sunday - the last Sunday of the liturgical year.
What is the Eucharist?
The Eucharist is the "source and summit" of Catholic
liturgical and sacramental life. In common terminology, the
Eucharist is simply referred to as the Catholic Mass. The
Eucharist, or Catholic Mass, is divided into two liturgical
parts: the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the
Eucharist. The liturgy of the Word mainly consists of readings
from the Scriptures, which are proclaimed by the lectors or
readers and with the priest-presider or deacon proclaiming
the gospel. The liturgy of the Eucharist on the other hand,
is highlighted mainly by the consecration of the bread and
the wine into the body and blood of Christ. This is then
distributed to the faithful during the communion rites.
What is the significance of Catholic liturgy
and the Eucharist to all the faithful?
All liturgical worship and rituals participated and
celebrated by Catholics, is an expression of both the
love of God for us, and our love for God. In the
liturgy, we express the exchange of expressions of
this love through many liturgical symbols. Just a
few to mention here are: the water used in baptism;
the oil used by the bishop in confirmation; the host
given in the Eucharist; the words of absolution given
by the priest in confession; the oil used in the
sacrament of the anointing of the sick; the wedding
rings exchanged in the marriage ceremony; and the
laying on of hands during an ordination.
Probably the highest and the most significant of these
liturgical symbols or signs is the sign of God's love
for us expressed in the celebration of the sacrament
of the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we receive God's
love as we are fed by the body and blood of Christ
Himself in the form of bread and wine. We in turn,
offer the best of ourselves, as we attend this Sunday
event and participate as best as we can in the liturgy.
In this Eucharistic liturgy, we are called to gather
together as a family, celebrating God's love and our
salvation with a bigger family and community in Christ,
and joining all our brothers and sisters all over the
world, who also celebrate the Lord's Day, the Eucharist,
in the same manner as we do [the Eucharist is uniform in
its celebration for all cultures with the few exceptions
of the use of the local language of the local culture and
the use of ethnic symbols in the liturgy of the Mass]
Liturgy and Eucharist point to a reality greater than
the symbols themselves.
We must know that all forms of liturgical worships and the
celebration of the Eucharist itself is only but a prefigurement
(pointing to a reality in the future) of the "heavenly banquet"
that we will participate in as we go through the passage from
life on earth to eternal life in heaven. What we experience
in the liturgy and all Catholic worship is only a foretaste
of an even greater consolation, bliss and celebration of peace,
that we shall participate in if we remain faithful to our vocation
and the commandment to love God with all our heart, with all our
mind, with all our soul and with all our strength; and to love
our neighbor as ourself. The quality of our Catholic faith depends
on both what we give of ourselves, with the best of our services
to our brothers and sisters, and how we totally open our whole
being to the love of God in the liturgical celebrations such as
the Eucharist.