An Apologetical Explanation of the

Liturgy of the Church

What is the purpose of the liturgy of the Church?

Those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  And they held steadfastly to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.  (Acts 2:41-42)

Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.  (Heb 12:28)

The liturgies of the Church help us to give glory to God individually and communally, avail us of grace through the Sacraments, and express our response to God’s call to discipleship.  They are, furthermore, a sharing in the eternal liturgy of Heaven.

As in all states of Christian life, the lay faithful can neither respond to the universal call to holiness nor contribute to the mission of the Church without a life of constant prayer, both individual and communal.  Our worship of God has both a personal dimension and a communal dimension.  Private prayers and devotions complement, but do not replace, our need for communal worship—and vice versa.  (Cf. CCC 821)

The purpose of the liturgy (from the Greek ergos, “work,” and leiton, “of the people”) is diverse.  It gives glory and honor to God, builds up the faith of the people, and instructs the faithful in the Faith.  The Christian liturgy is the response of faith and love to the “spiritual blessings” with which the Father constantly enriches us.  At the same time, the Church unceasingly offers to the Father her own gifts “to the praise of the glory of his grace.”  (Cf. CCC 1983, 1091)

The liturgy is also an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ, continued in and by the Church under the impulse of the Holy Spirit.  In the Eucharistic liturgy—the Mass, or Divine Liturgy—led by ordained ministers and involving the prayer and participation of the entire assembly of the People of God, the Holy Spirit prepares the assembly to encounter Christ; recalls and manifests Christ to the assembly; makes the saving work of Christ present and active by his transforming power; and makes the gift of communion bear fruit in the Church.  (Cf. CCC 1070, 1097, 1112)

The Eucharistic liturgy constitutes a sharing in the liturgy celebrated in Heaven, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.  (Cf. CCC 1329, 2855)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraphs 1097 and 1187.

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