Throughout the year, we present an article in the bulletin each week on a variety of topics, written by a member of our Parish staff or ministries on a rotating basis.

Spiritual Reflection

by Orin Johnson, Director of Music & Liturgy

“[T]he liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons and daughters of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord’s supper.”

– Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #10

In every Catholic parish around the world, the celebrations of Eucharist and other liturgies serve as the focal point of the faith community.  Our gathered, ordered prayer is the climax of what it means to be a Christian and is the source of all our living: lives of evangelization, healing, mercy, justice, and more: all the very same things that Christ was and lived, and still lives today, through us.

The liturgy truly is the “work of the people,” that is, we the children of God, and the liturgy needs everyone, in varying roles, to achieve its place in the life of the Church.  From the priest celebrant, to deacons, servers and acolytes, lectors, extraordinary ministers of holy communion, gift bearers, music ministers, and more: each has a particular role in helping the communal prayer we offer spring to life.
Yet perhaps the most important people at liturgy are absent from this list!

“Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people is their right and duty by reason of their baptism.”

– Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #14

Indeed, all the assembly in the pews each Sunday – at any liturgy – fill a necessary role in our public worship.  I believe I am not out of turn when I say that the congregations here at SMOS meet these expectations listed above and exceed it!  May our liturgies continue to be source and summit, font and apex of our lives as disciples of the Risen Christ.