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Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to The Catechism in a Year Podcast,
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where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed
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down through the tradition of the Catholic faith.
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The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension.
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In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity in God's family.
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As we journey together toward our heavenly home, this is a 155-a-reading paragraph, 1135-1144.
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I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism,
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which includes the foundations of faith approach.
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But you can follow along with any recent version
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of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting AscensionPress.com.
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And also, good followers, subscribe if you want to.
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You don't have to, if you don't want to,
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and your podcast app for daily updates or daily notifications.
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This is a quick thank you to all those who have supported
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the production of this podcast with your prayers
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and financial gifts we couldn't do without you.
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We couldn't get today one, 55, that's for sure.
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We are on chapter two, Sacramento Celebration
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of the Paschal Mystery, a couple things.
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You can hear the style of the different people,
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the different authors of the different sections
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of the Catechism when you're kind of reading it out loud
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or maybe listening to it out loud.
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Paragraph 1135 is really good.
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It's kind of like, you know, those teachers
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back in the day who say, okay, this is what I'm gonna say,
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then they say it and then they tell you what they just said.
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That's kind of what paragraph 1135 is all about.
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It's like, hey, we just talked about this.
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Now we're moving on to the next thing.
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We're gonna ask a bunch of questions.
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For example, the first question, who celebrates the liturgy?
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That's what we're looking at today, primarily.
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And the answer to who celebrates the liturgy,
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first of all, is, okay, well, the whole Christ, right?
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Christ the head and his whole body.
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But the whole body doesn't just mean
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all of the Christians on the planet Earth.
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It also means, maybe even primarily means, all those saints in heaven.
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So we're gonna talk about that paragraph 1137,
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1138, it's kind of really interesting, fascinating.
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Also maybe 1139.
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It's really fascinating because here's what the church says,
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is keep in mind. Again, like I said yesterday, these are not empty rituals. These are not
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just movements that we do. This is a participation in what is going on in heaven right now. And
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we just get to see a shadow of what's the heavenly reality. And so, first reminder, who celebrates
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the liturgy? First of all, it's our Lord, the whole body of Christ, the head, Jesus Christ
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the head. Of course, all of the saints in heaven, all creation, essentially. And then from
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paragraph 1140 to 1144, we're talking about, okay, the community, the body
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priced with its head on earth also celebrates. And so just like yesterday, the
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baptismal priesthood being so important, the common priesthood of the
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faithful, or like I like to say, the kingdom priesthood, yes, and also the
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ministerial priest of the ordained ministerial priesthood, which is, you know,
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we're all united. And we're all, we all come together and we do our own part to
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to worship the Lord in the sacraments.
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And so as we learn about this today,
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let's take a second and stop pause and call upon that same God,
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the God that we worship at every mass,
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the God that we come into contact with
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who reaches out to us through his word
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and reaches out to us through his sacraments as we pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank you.
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We give you praise and glory.
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You are the God who always remembers.
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You always remember us.
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You never forget us and you could never forget us.
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Oh God, help us to never forget you.
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Help us to never forget the work of your hands.
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Help us to never forget the love that you've shown for us and given to us.
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Help us always to say yes to you.
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Help us always to remember as you remember.
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In Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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In the name of the Father and of the Son, you know, the Holy Spirit.
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Amen.
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155 we reading paragraphs 1135 to 1144.
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Chapter 2
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The Sacramento Celebration of the Paschal Mystery
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The Gettichesis of the Liturgy entails first of all an understanding of the Sacramento
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Economy, Chapter 1.
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In this light, the innovation of its celebration is revealed.
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This chapter will therefore treat of the celebration of the sacraments of the Church.
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It will consider that which, through the diversity of liturgical traditions, is common to the celebration of the seven sacraments.
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What is proper to each will be treated later.
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This fundamental catechesis on the sacramental celebrations responds to the first questions
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posed by the faithful regarding this subject.
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Who celebrates the liturgy?
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How is the liturgy celebrated?
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When is the liturgy celebrated?
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Where is the liturgy celebrated?
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Article 1.
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Celebrating the Church's liturgy.
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Who celebrates?
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Liturgy is an action of the whole Christ, Christus Tottas.
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Those who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is holy communion and feast.
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The celebrants of the heavenly liturgy.
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The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the church's liturgy, first reveals to us,
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a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne, the Lord God.
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It then shows the Lamb standing as though it had been slain, Christ crucified in risen.
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The one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one who offers and is offered, who gives and is given.
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Finally, it presents the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God and
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of the Lamb, one of the most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit.
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Recapitulated in Christ, these are the ones who take part in the service of the praise
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of God and the fulfillment of His plan.
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The heavenly powers, all creation, before living beings, the servants of the old and new
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covenants, the twenty-four elders, the new people of God, the one hundred and forty-fourthousand,
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especially the martyrs slain for the word of God, and the all holy mother of God, the woman,
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the bride of the Lamb, and finally a great multitude which no one could number from every
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nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues.
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It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever
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we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.
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The Celebrants of the Sacramento Liturgy
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It is the whole community, the body of Christ united with its head that celebrates.
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Lurgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church which is
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the sacrament of unity, namely the holy people united and organized under the authority of the bishops.
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Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the Church.
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They manifest it and have effects upon it.
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But they touch individual members of the Church in different ways,
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depending on their orders, their role in the liturgical services, and their actual participation in them.
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For this reason, rights which are meant to be celebrated in common,
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with the faithful present and actively participating,
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should as far as possible be celebrated in that way,
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rather than by an individual and quasi-privately. The celebrating assembly is the community of the
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baptised who, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual
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house and a holy priesthood that through all the works of Christian men, they may offer spiritual
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sacrifices. This common priesthood is that of Christ the soul priest in which all his members
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participate. As Sankar Sanctum Consilium states, Mother Church earnestly desires that all
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the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations,
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which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the Christian people,
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a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people, have a right and an
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obligation by reason of their baptism. But the members do not all have the same function.
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members are called by God in and through the church to a special service of the community.
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These servants are chosen and consecrated by the sacrament of Holy orders, by which the
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Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the head for the service of all the members of the church.
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The ordained minister is, as it were, an icon of Christ the priest.
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Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the church is made fully visible, it is
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in his presiding at the Eucharist that the Bishops' ministry is most evident, as well as in communion
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with him, the ministry of priests and deacons. For the purpose of assisting the work of the
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common priesthood of the faithful, other particular ministries also exist not consecrated by the
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sacrament of Holy orders. Their functions are determined by the bishops in accord with liturgical
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traditions and pastoral needs. Servers, readers, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise
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a genuine liturgical function. In the celebration of the sacraments, it is thus the whole assembly that
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is later ghosts, each according to his function, but in the unity of the spirit who acts in all.
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In liturgical celebrations, each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform,
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should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the right
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and the norms of the liturgy. Okay, so there we go. Day 155, paragraph 1135 to 1144. Okay,
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this is, it might be a little nuts and bolts, ask in some areas, but also what an incredible vision
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for what is actually happening at the mass. I love this. Who celebrates the liturgy? Well,
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keep this in mind. It's the whole Christ, Christ the head, Christ the body, not just the body on earth,
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but the body in heaven. And that's why paragraphs 1137 to 1139 highlight this massively.
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This is the member. The sacraments is the work of Jesus Christ brought to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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So what's happening in heaven, unveiled, unmediated, is what comes to us in the sacraments.
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And so first of all, the celebrants of the heavenly liturgy are very present.
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And that's why I love paragraph 1139. It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the church
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but enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation and the sacraments.
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And so keep that in mind, that eternal energy that's happening right now, in eternity,
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outside of time, the spirit and the church, enable us to participate in that whenever we
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celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.
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So incredible.
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Now, paragraph 1140 talks about how because the sacraments are an exercise of the whole
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community, right? The whole body of Christ with the head. Because of that, that means liturgical
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services are not necessarily private functions, right? So they're not meant to be just for me, right?
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They're not meant to be just even for any one individual. They're meant to be for the entire
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church. And so because they're for the entire church, they reveal the church and they make the
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church real, right? They manifest the church and have effects upon it. But of course, they touch
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individual members of the church in different ways. So keep this in mind. So back in that,
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what is this 1140 kind of getting at? One of the things it's it's driving at is back in the day,
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there were times when maybe you're at like a monastery. So a bunch of monks, maybe those
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number of those monks are priests. So they didn't really have what you would call
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con celebration. So in a mass where there's multiple priests, you have the main presider,
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right? And then you have con celebrants, people who are celebrating the liturgy with that main
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and presider. That's kind of a relatively new thing because back in the day, you'd have,
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okay, here's a monastery with a bunch of priests. And so they have these side alters. And so
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keeping in mind the idea that here is these one priest at one altar, celebrating this one
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mass participating in that. And so there'll be all these masses going on and they'd be
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kind of private or quasi-private. And the church said, well, wait a second. This kind
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of developed as a way to deal with all these different priests who are here in this monastery
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But what it's done is it kind of makes it look like the mass is a private affair.
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That's the priest's private mass.
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And the church is saying, wait a second, the mass, you know, the liturgy, the work of
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God, but done by the people of God, is meant for the whole people of God.
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And so they were saying that for this reason, rights which are meant to be celebrated in
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common, like the mass, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far
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as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual or quasi-privately.
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That's one example of what the church is getting at there, saying like, okay, so priests
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don't be celebrating a private mass on your own when there's a chance, when you have
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a chance to be able to celebrate that mass with the people of God present.
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Hopefully that makes sense.
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Why?
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And why is that important?
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Very next paragraph.
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1141, the thing that I said, I promised you, I would drill this in as much as possible because
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of the common priesthood, because of the baptismal priesthood, the kingdom priesthood, because
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You have been, if you've been baptized, you've been anointed a kingdom priest, a common priest of the faithful.
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You participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the one great high priest.
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That's why the church quotes here,
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Sacrissantum Consulium, and there's this phrase, this phrase that I heard so many times
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in college when I was studying theology, and then later on in seminary,
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it's this that the faithful should be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in Lerturgical celebrations.
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So that full conscious and active participation.
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Now, what kind of happened after a psychosanctum
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concilium, right, back in the 60s, was declared.
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As people took that full conscious active participation
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and said, okay, I guess that means we need more lay people
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to be, you know, you know, you're Christian ministers.
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Or we need more lay people to be readers,
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or more lay people to be, you know,
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we need another job in the mass for lay people to have, right?
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So not for non-ordained people to have.
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Because that will be a way in which they can more fully,
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more consciously, more actively participate in the mass.
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And that's fine, because that's that's that, that's there.
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That's not unreal.
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It exists.
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But what the church is getting at by saying
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the face should be led to that full conscious and active participation is because,
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not because you had now a job to do at the mass,
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but because you always had a job to do.
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From the moment you were baptized,
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you were given a role, and that role is as a kingdom priest
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with the ministerial priest, who's united, right,
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to the great high priest, to offer up the sacrifice
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of the son to the father and the power of the respect, to praise the Lord.
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Remember, the two things that Mass always does,
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always glorifies the father and always sanctifies the world, always saves the world.
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So the church is saying here, don't forget that part.
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That's what full conscious act of participation is,
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is when you utilize and exercise, you're priesthood.
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How does that look like?
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Well, it looks like you're actively participating
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when it's time for you to pray, that you're praying,
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When the priest is praying in the name of the whole people, and that's a lot of the prayers
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when he's at the altar, when the priest is praying in the name of all the people, that
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you're uniting your heart to his heart, you're uniting your mind and your consciousness to his what he's saying.
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And so, gosh, it's so important for us to get this.
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If we get this, we will grow leaps and bounds and understanding what's really happening at the mass.
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In our participation in the mass will be transformed.
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And God will be more glorified, the world will be more sanctified, and everything will change.
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Because that next paragraph 1142 highlights the fact that we still need the ministerial priesthood.
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We still absolutely, without the ministerial priest, without the ordained priest, we can't
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have the sacraments that we need him and his role because that's what Jesus did.
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He gave us those ministerial priests in that role of the ministerial priesthood in order
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to like, confect the Eucharist in order to have absolution in reconciliation in order to have
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that anointing of the sick and confirmation, all those things have been given to the church.
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By our Lord, of course, through the that Holy orders, the bishops, priests, and deacons.
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Lastly, in variable 1144, recognize that the whole assembly is serving. The whole assembly
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is worshipping the Lord. I eat but each according to our function united in the Holy Spirit.
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And that is so important. It says the last line, the last sentence of today's reading is
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in liturgical celebrations. Each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform,
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and you have an office to perform, right? You're a kingdom priest.
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Should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the right
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and the norms of the liturgy. So to be able to fully participate in the Mass is to say, okay,
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I'm going to exercise this as fully.
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If my job is to sing, I'm going to sing.
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If my job is to read, I'm going to read.
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My job is to just be present.
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Again, keep this in mind.
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The pews are not the bleachers.
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Like if you go to a game, if you go to a concert,
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you're sitting in the stands, you're sitting in the bleachers, you're watching someone else perform.
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Keep this in mind.
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Where the pews are?
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That you're on the field.
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Where the pews are, you're on the court.
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Like you're there.
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And you're there not to simply watch the priest pray.
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You're there to worship with him.
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Who celebrates the liturgy?
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Here's what the church says, not only the heavenly host, not only the ministerial priest, but you, you are the celebrant.
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You're one of the celebrants of the sacramental liturgy.
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Never ever forget that.
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I don't mean to be lecturing too lecturing today,
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but this is one of those things I truly believe will change the world,
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will change the church once we understand
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what it is our job is at every mass.
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Is to worship united with the ministerial priest,
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of course, ultimately united with the one great high priest,
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Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Oh man, you guys, think about this next time you go to Mass.
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I'm so pumped.
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I'm so pumped for the next time you go to Mass
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to be able to say, okay, I'm an exercise making them priesthood.
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I have been brought here because I am one of the celebrants of the Sacramento Liturgy, united with my ministerial priest,
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united with the great high priest, Jesus Christ.
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You guys, okay, I'm calling it quits right now, okay?
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I'm sorry, I'm bringing it in for landing.
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Just get so ramped up.
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So pumped up.
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That's a couple days have been a little shorter, so this one's a little longer.
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Apologize.
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Heh heh.
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I'm praying for you.
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Please pray for me.
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My name's Father Mike.
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I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.
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God bless.
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