Liturgy



 

 

 SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

THE CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY

VATICAN II - 4 December 1963

      Excerpts of Some Fundamental Principles.

 

 ·      To achieve the great work of our salvation "Christ is always present in his Church, especially in its liturgical celebrations."  SC # 7.

·   "...the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy, by means of signs perceptible to the senses, human sanctification is signified, and brought about in ways proper to each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members."  SC # 7

·      First people must be called to faith and to conversion: "Still, the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fount from which all the Church's power flows."  SC # 10.

·     "From the liturgy, therefore, particularly the eucharist, grace is poured forth upon us from a fountain; the liturgy is the source achieving in the most effective way possible human sanctification and God's glorification, the end to which all the Church's other activities are directed."  SC # 10.

·      "The Church earnestly desires that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people' is their right and their duty by reason of their baptism."  SC # 14

·    "To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures and bearing. And at proper times all should observe a reverent silence."  SC # 30. 

·       "In the liturgical celebrations each one, minister or layperson,  who has an office to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain to that office by the nature of the rite and the principles of liturgy."   SC  # 28

 

·       -  “Regulation of the liturgy depends solely on the authority of the    Church,   that is, on the Apostolic See and, accordingly as the law determines, on the bishop,..."  

      -  “Therefore, no other person, not even if he is a priest, may on his own add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy."  SC  #  22    

 

 





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