Liturgy
The word liturgy comes from two Greek words ‘laos’ and ‘ergon’ and together may be taken to mean ‘the people work’. This is for us an important concept because we don’t go to Church to see the Priest at work, but rather that the Priest may help us in our work, our work together, as together we acclaim that Christ has died, Christ is Risen and Christ will come again.
The most usual liturgy you will encounter is normally the Mass as we contemplate the threefold mystery of the Body of Christ, as the one hanging on the Cross for our redemption, nurturing and feeding us the the Blessed Sacrament, and going forward empowered as the Body of Christ, the Church at work n the world’
There is a developed shape to the Mass, including the Penitential Rite, The Ministry of the Word, The Intercession, The Greeting of Peace, The Great Thanksgiving, the commitment to service, and the sending out of God’s People.
The predictable rhythm of the Liturgy conveys a level of meaning, and many of us have found that when we travel in foreign parts and join the liturgy in another language, we have the unique experience of focussing on the meaning, not the words. The words have meaning and we celebrate in the common tongue, however there is a richness and another layer in the predicatble rise and fall of the liturgical pattern.