The Liturgy — Work Of The Holy Trinity

By DON FIER

Part 4

The cooperation between the Holy Spirit and the Church that is at work in the liturgy is so close that the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) treats the two together. As stated in the section’s opening paragraph, when the Advocate “encounters in us the response of faith…the liturgy becomes the common work of the Holy Spirit and the Church” (n. 1091).
Four distinct ways are identified to describe the mission of the Holy Spirit in the Church’s liturgy: “to prepare the assembly to encounter Christ; to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly; to make the saving work of Christ present and active by his transforming power; and to make the gift of communion bear fruit in the Church” (CCC, n. 1112).
First, as was scrutinized last week, “the Holy Spirit prepares the Church to encounter her Lord” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 223). He accomplished this in the course of history by inspiring the Old Testament authors to foretell the coming of Christ. Most especially through the prophets, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Old Covenant people were prepared for the Messiah through prayer, repentance, and faith.
Likewise, in present times, the Holy Spirit prepares the People of God to encounter and receive Jesus in the liturgy, particularly in the Eucharist. “The grace of the Holy Spirit,” teaches the Catechism, “seeks to awaken faith, conversion of heart, and adherence to the Father’s will” (n. 1098).
The Catechism now takes up the second way we can know the workings of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy by affirming that “the Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work of salvation in the liturgy” (CCC, n. 1099).
Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit who instructs and guides the faithful into all truth (cf. CCC, n. 91), for as the Evangelist says: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).
The Catechism refers to the Holy Spirit as the Church’s “living memory.” Precisely what does this mean? As discussed earlier in this series (see volume 147, nn. 47-48; November 20-27, 2014) and outlined by the Vatican II fathers in paragraph 25 of Lumen Gentium, the Vicar of Christ — either alone or with the bishops united with him — is divinely protected from error when defining matters pertaining to faith and morals.
As expressed in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible — New Testament: “The guidance of the Holy Spirit is Christ’s guarantee that the gospel will not be corrupted, distorted, or misunderstood by the ordained shepherds of the Church during her earthly pilgrimage (cf. CCC, nn. 768, 889–892)” (p. 192).
How does the Holy Spirit accomplish this in the context of the liturgy? First of all, it is through the Word of God. “The Holy Spirit first recalls the meaning of the salvation event to the liturgical assembly,” teaches the Catechism, “by giving life to the Word of God, which is proclaimed so that it may be received and lived” (CCC, n. 1100).
In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the Vatican II fathers emphatically stress this very point:
“Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from scripture that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 24).
Similarly, Vatican II’s Constitution on Divine Revelation teaches:
“The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body. . . . For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life” (Dei Verbum, n. 21).
As emphasized last week, the interior disposition of those participating in the liturgy is of utmost importance if the inspired Word of God is to bear fruit. “The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding of the Word of God to those who read or hear it,” explains the Catechism, “according to the dispositions of their hearts” (CCC, n. 1101).
It is only through openness to grace and ongoing conversion that the faithful can authentically enter into “a living relationship with Christ . . . [and] live out the meaning of what they hear, contemplate, and do in the celebration” (ibid.). It is “the Holy Spirit who gives the grace of faith, strengthens it, and makes it grow in the community” (CCC, n. 1102).
A technical term, anamnesis, is now introduced by the Catechism to describe a fundamental dimension of all liturgy. Its etymology comes from the Greek word that means “calling to mind” or “recollection.” It is defined in the Glossary as “the ‘remembrance’ of God’s saving deeds in history in the liturgical action of the Church, which inspires thanksgiving and praise. Every Eucharistic Prayer contains an anamnesis or memorial in which the Church calls to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and glorious return of Christ Jesus” (CCC, p. 866).
In Letter & Spirit: Reading Salvation, Fr. Jeremy Driscoll, OSB, describes anamnesis as “a celebrative narration and remembrance of the events of Christ’s paschal mystery . . . and an offering of these to the Father. . . . The remembered past is rendered present in mystery and becomes the event which the assembly enacts and participates in” (p. 93).
In Wedding Feast of the Lamb, Fr. Roch Kereszty, O. Cist., further explains that “the anamnesis is no mere psychological recall of the past but the making present of the saving events of Christ’s mystery in so far as we share through the Spirit in the ‘mystery’ of the risen Christ, and in so far as these saving events are acting upon us” (p. 188).
The third way we can know the presence of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy is that He makes present the mystery of Christ. “Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them,” teaches the Catechism. “The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present” (CCC, n. 1104).
Another technical term is now introduced, epiclesis. Its etymology is from the Greek epiklesis (derived from the prefix epi and klesis); in Latin, it means “invocation,” “calling down,” or “summoning.” It is defined in the Glossary as “the prayer petitioning God to send the Holy Spirit so that the offerings at the Eucharist may become the Body and Blood of Christ and thus the faithful, by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God. In every sacrament, the prayer asking for the sanctifying power of God’s Holy Spirit is an ‘epiclesis’” (CCC, p. 876).
The Catechism references an important verse from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans in its instruction on what takes place during the Celebration of the Eucharist: “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1). The Paschal Mystery is rendered present in such a way that those who partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion may be transformed by the Holy Spirit into what they receive and thus themselves become “a living offering to God.”
“The Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the ‘guarantee’ of their inheritance (cf. Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 1:22)” (CCC, n. 1107), an inheritance that will be consummated by nothing less than “the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity” (ibid.).

Grace, Love, Fellowship

The fourth and final way the Holy Spirit works in the liturgy is “to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body” (CCC, n. 1108). Recalling the parable of the vine and the branches (see John 15:1-17), the Catechism likens the Holy Spirit to “the sap of the Father’s vine which bears fruit on its branches.” The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of communion” who “abides indefectibly in the Church” and works in the liturgy to bring us into communion with the Most Holy Trinity and into unity with one another in the Church.
St. Paul’s benediction is a fitting summary for what is accomplished through the liturgy:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). We must strive that this grace, love, and fellowship “remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration” (CCC, n. 1109).

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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is doing research for writing a definitive biography of Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)