← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 155: Who Celebrates the Liturgy (2026)
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Together, with Fr. Mike, we examine “who celebrates the liturgy.” Fr. Mike emphasizes that when we celebrate the sacraments, the whole Christ, not just the body on Earth, but also the body in Heaven, celebrates with us. The Church enables us to participate in the eternal liturgy through the sacraments, and our baptismal priesthood allows us to have full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1135-1144.
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Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 155. We're reading paragraphs 1135 to 1144. I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a Year Reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com and also click Follow or Subscribe if you want to. You don't have to if you don't want to in your podcast app for daily updates or daily notifications. Just a quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers and financial gifts. We couldn't do it without you. We couldn't get to day 155, that's for sure. If you we are in chapter two, sacramental celebration of the Paschal Mystery. A couple things you can hear the style of the different people, the different authors of the different sections of the Catechism when you're kind of reading it out loud or maybe listening to it out loud. Paragraph 1135 is really good. It's kind of like, you know, you know those teachers back in the day who say, okay, this is what I'm gonna say. Then they say it, and then they tell you what they just said. That's kind of what paragraph 1135 is all about. It's like, hey, we just talked about this. Now we're moving on to the next thing. We're gonna ask a bunch of questions. For example, the. The first question, who celebrates the liturgy? That's what we're looking at today, primarily. And the answer to who celebrates the liturgy, first of all is, okay, well, the whole Christ, right? Christ the head and his whole body. But the whole body doesn't just mean all of the Christians on the planet Earth. It also means, maybe even primarily means all those saints in heaven. So we're going to talk about that paragraph 1137, 1138. It's kind of really interesting, fascinating. Also, maybe 1139. It's really fascinating because here's what the Church says is, keep in mind, again, like I said yesterday, these are not empty rituals. These are not just movements that we do. This is a participation in what is going on in heaven right now. And we just get to see a shadow of what's the heavenly reality. And so, first reminder, who celebrates the liturgy? First of all, it's our Lord, the whole Body of Christ, the head, Jesus Christ the head, of course, all of the saints in heaven, all creation, essentially. And then from paragraph 1140 to 1144, we're talking about, okay, the community of the Body of Christ with its head on earth also celebrates. And so, just like yesterday, the baptismal priesthood being so important, the common priesthood of the faithful, or like I like to say, the kingdom priesthood. Yes. And also the ministerial priesthood, the ordained ministerial priesthood, which is know we're all united and we're all we all come together and we do our own part to worship the Lord in the sacraments. And so, as we learn about this today, let's take a second and stop, pause, and call upon that same God, the God that we worship at every Mass, the God that we come into contact with, who reaches out to us through his word and reaches out to us through his sacraments as we pray. Father in Heaven, we thank you, we give you praise and glory. You are the God who always remember us. You always remember us. You never forget us. And you could never forget us. Oh God, help us to never forget you. Help us to never forget the work of your hands. Help us to never forget the love that you've shown for us and given to us. Help us always to say yes to you. Help us always to remember as you remember. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 155. We are reading paragraphs 1135 to 1144. Chapter 2 the Sacramental Celebration of the Paschal Mystery the catechesis of the liturgy entails first of all, an understanding of the sacramental economy. Chapter one. In this light, the innovation of its celebration is revealed. This chapter will therefore treat of the celebration of the sacraments of the Church. It will consider that which, through the diversity of liturgical traditions, is common to the celebration of the seven sacraments. What is proper to each will be treated later. This fundamental catechesis on the sacramental celebrations responds to the first questions posed by the faithful regarding this. Who celebrates the liturgy? How is the liturgy celebrated? When is the Liturgy celebrated? Where is the liturgy celebrated? Article 1. Celebrating the church's liturgy who celebrates liturgy is an action of the whole Christus Totus. Those who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the Heavenly Liturgy, where celebration is Holy Communion and feast. The celebrants of the Heavenly Liturgy, the Book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne, the Lord God. It then shows the Lamb standing as though it had been slain, Christ crucified and risen, the one High Priest of the true sanctuary, the same one who offers and is offered, who gives and is given. Finally, it presents the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, one of the most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit recapitulated in Christ. These are the ones who take part in the service of the praise of God and the fulfillment of his plan. The heavenly powers, all creation, the four living beings, the servants of the Old and New Covenants, the new people of God, the 144,000, especially the martyrs slain for the Word of God and the all Holy Mother of God, the Woman, the Bride of the Lamb, and finally a great multitude which no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues. It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments. The celebrants of the sacramental Liturgy it is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its head, that celebrates. Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the sacrament of unity, namely the holy people, united and organized under the authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the Church. They manifest it and have effects upon it. But they touch individual members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the liturgical services and their actual participation in them. For this reason, rites which are meant to be celebrated in common with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way, rather than by an individual and quasi privately. The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized who by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood that through all the works of Christian men they may offer spiritual sacrifices. This common priesthood is that of Christ, the sole priest in which all his members participate in as Sacro Sanctum Concilium states, Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the Christian people, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people, have a right and an obligation by reason of their baptism. But the members do not all have the same function. Certain members are called by God in and through the Church to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the Sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ, the head for the service of all the members of the Church. The ordained minister is, as it were, an icon of Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the Sacrament of the Church is made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as in communion with him, the ministry of priests and deacons for the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the faithful. Other particular ministries also exist, not consecrated by the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Their functions are determined by the bishops in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral servers. Readers, commentators and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function in the celebration of the sacraments. It is thus the whole assembly that is each according to his function, but in the unity of the Spirit who acts in all. In liturgical celebrations, each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy. Okay, so there we go. Day 155, paragraphs 1135 to 1144. Okay, this is. It might be a little nuts and bolts esque in some areas, but also, what an incredible vision for what is actually happening at the Mass. I love this. Who celebrates the liturgy? Well, keep this in mind. It's the whole Christ, Christ the Head, Christ the Body, not just the Body on earth, but the Body in heaven. And that's why paragraphs 1137 to 1139 highlight this in massively. This is. Remember, the sacraments is the work of Jesus Christ, brought to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So what's happening in heaven, unveiled, unmediated, is what comes to us in the sacraments. And so, first of all, the celebrants of the Heavenly Liturgy are very present. And that's why I love paragraph 1139. It is in this eternal Liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation and the sacraments. And so keep that in mind that that eternal liturgy that's Happening right now in eternity, outside of time. The Spirit and the Church enable us to participate in that whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments. So incredible. Now, paragraph 1140 talks about how, because the sacraments are an exercise of the whole community, right? The whole body of Christ with the head, because of that. That means liturgical services are not necessarily private functions, right? So they're not meant to be just for me, right? They're not meant to be just even for any one individual. They're meant to be for the entire Church. And so because they're for the entire Church, they reveal the Church and they make the Church real. Right? They manifest the Church and have effects upon it. But of course, they touch individual members of the Church in different ways. So keep this in mind. So back in the. What is this 1140 kind kind of getting at? One of the things it's driving at is back in the day, there were times when maybe you're at like a monastery, so a bunch of monks, maybe those number of those monks are priests. So they didn't really have what you would call concelebration. So in a Mass where there's multiple priests, you have the main presider, right? And then you have conselebrants, people who are celebrating the liturgy with that main presider. That's kind of a relatively new thing because back in the day you'd have, okay, here's a monastery with a bunch of priests. And. And so they have these side altars. And so keeping in mind the idea that here is this one priest at one altar celebrating this one Mass, participating in that. And so there'd be all these Masses going on, and they'd be kind of private or quasi private. And the church said, well, wait a second. This kind of developed as a way to deal with all these different priests who are here in this monastery. But what it's done is it kind of makes it look like the Mass is a private affair. That's the priest's private Mass. And the church is saying, wait a second. The Mass, you know, the liturgy, the work of God done by the people of God, is meant for the whole people of God. And so they were saying that for this reason, rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, like the Mass, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible, be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual or quasi privately. So that's one example of. Of what the Church is getting at there is saying, like, okay, so priests don't be celebrating a private Mass on Your own, when there's a chance, when you have a chance to be able to celebrate that Mass with the people of God present. Hopefully that makes sense. Why and why is that important for the very next paragraph, 11:41, the thing that I said, I promised you I would drill this in as much as possible because of the common priesthood, because of the baptismal priesthood, the kingdom priesthood, because you have been, if you've been baptized, you've been anointed a kingdom priest, the common priesthood of the faithful, you participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the one great High Priest. That's why the Church quotes here, Sacrosanctum Concilium. And there's this phrase, this phrase that I heard so many times in college when I was studying theology and then later on in seminary. It's this, that the faithful should be led to that full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations. And so that full conscious and active participation. Now what kind of happened after Sacrosanctum Concilium right back in the 60s was declared is people took that full, conscious, active participation and said, okay, I guess that means we need more laypeople to be eucharistic ministers, or we need more lay people to be readers or more laypeople to be. We need another job in the Mass for lay people to have so not for non ordained people to have, because that will be a way in which they can more fully, more consciously, more actively participate in the Mass. And that's, that's fine because that's, that's, that that's there, that's not unreal. It exists. But what the Church is getting at by saying the faith should be led to that full conscious and active participation is because, not because you had now have a job to do at the Mass, but because you always had a job to do from the moment you were baptized, you were given a role. And that role is as a kingdom priest with the ministerial priest who's united right to the great High Priest to offer up the sacrifice of the Son to the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit to praise the Lord. Remember the two things that Mass always does. It always glorifies the Father and always sanctifies the world, always saves the world. So the Church is saying here, don't forget that part. That's what full conscious, active participation is, is when you utilize and exercise your priesthood. What does that look like? Well, it looks like you're actively participating when it's time for you to pray, that you're praying when the priest is praying in the name of the whole people. And that's a lot of the prayers when he's at the altar, when the priest is praying in the name of all the people, that you're uniting your heart to his heart, you're uniting your mind and your consciousness to what he's saying. And so, ah, gosh, it's so important for us to get this. If we get this, we will grow leaps and bounds in understanding what's really happening at the Mass. And our participation in the Mass will be transformed and God will be more glorified, the world will be more sanctified, and everything will change. Because that next paragraph, 11:42, highlights the fact that we still need the ministerial priesthood. We still absolutely, without the ministerial priest, without the ordained priest, we can't have the sacraments that we need him and his role. Because that's what Jesus did. He gave us those ministerial priests in that role of the ministerial priesthood in order to, like, confect the Eucharist, in order to have absolution, in reconciliation, in order to have that anointing of the sick and confirmation. All those things have been given to the Church by our Lord. Of course, through that holy orders, the bishops, priests and deacons. Lastly, in Verif 1144, recognize that the whole assembly is serving, the whole assembly is worshiping the Lord, but each according to our function, united in the Holy Spirit. And that is so important. It says the last line, the last sentence of today's reading is, in liturgical celebrations, each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform. And you have an office to perform, right? You're a kingdom priest should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy. So to be able to fully participate in the Mass is to say, okay, Lord, I'm going to exercise this as fully. If my job is to sing, I'm going to sing. If my job is to read, I'm going to read. My job is to just be present. Again, keep this in mind. The pews are not the bleachers. Like if you go to a game, if you go to a concert, you're sitting in the stands, you're sitting in the bleachers, you're watching someone else perform. Keep this in mind. Where the pews are, that's. You're on the field where the pews are, you're on the court. Like, you're there. And you're there not to simply watch the priest pray. You're there to worship with him who celebrates the liturgy. Here's what the church says. Not only the heavenly host, not only the ministerial priest, but you. You are the celebrant. You're one of the celebrants of the sacramental liturgy. Never, ever forget that. I don't mean to be luxury too luxury today, but it is. This is one of those things I truly believe will change the world, will change the church, once we understand what it is our job is at every Mass is to worship united with the ministerial priest, of course, ultimately united with the one great high priest, Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, man. You guys think about this next time you go to Mass. I just. I'm so pumped. I'm so pumped for the next time you go to Mass to be able to say, okay, I'm going to exercise my kingdom priesthood. I have been brought here because I am one of the celebrants of the Sacramento liturgy. United with my ministerial priests. United with the great high priest, Jesus Christ. You guys. Okay, I'm calling it quits right now. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm bringing it in for landing. Just get so ramped up, so pumped up. Last couple days have been a little shorter, so this one's a little longer. Apologize. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.