Reflection on Spirit of the Liturgy: Sacrifice, Ministerial Priesthood, and Evangelization

The sacrifice of the Logos becomes a full reality only in the Logos incarnatus, the Word who is made flesh and draws “all flesh” into the glorification of God (Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 47).

In analyzing the tension between the Old Testament development from Temple sacrifice to the spiritual worship of contrition, as exemplified in Psalm 50:16-17, and “Hellenistic Logos-mysticism” (47), Ratzinger establishes that the balance between the two is found in the Logos incarnatus—the Word incarnate. The paschal mystery of Christ fulfills the prophecy of Psalm 50 in which the spiritual worship of contrition and prayer leads back to “right sacrifices and burnt offerings” (vv. 18-19). I would like to briefly examine here the implication of Logos incarnatus in liturgy for: 1) the ministerial priesthood; and 2) the evangelizing mission of the Church.

Synagogue worship, being an expectation of the restoration of Temple worship (48) and hence of sacrifice, points beyond itself, from oratio to sacrificium. Christ draws this paradigm into the New Covenant liturgy. Ratzinger notes that the effects of strict opposition between synagogue and Temple as analogates in Christian worship “have been disastrous. Priesthood and sacrifice are no longer intelligible” (49). The synagogue and Hellenistic Logos mysticism correspond to the Liturgy of the Word, which points to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, or Temple worship in its fulfillment. [1] The Council of Trent established that the principal purpose of ministerial priesthood is the offering of the Eucharist (Sessions XXII, XXIII). The Second Vatican Council, however, stated that “since no one can be saved who does not first believe, priests, as co-workers with their bishops, have the primary duty of proclaiming the Gospel of God to all” (Presbyterorum Ordinis 4). Further, “the preaching of the word is needed for the very ministering of the sacraments. They are precisely sacraments of faith, a faith which is born of and nourished by the word.” Is there a dichotomy between the ministries of offering sacrifice and preaching the Word? Although some have tried to assert such a dichotomy and also argue that one ministry is “more important” than the other, such a split can exist only in the concrete order but is, like the Incarnation, truly a unity as Ratzinger points out. Lumen Gentium [LG] (no. 28) states, “[Priests] announce the divine word to all. They exercise their sacred function especially in the Eucharistic worship or the celebration of the Mass.” And in Presbyterorum Ordinis (no. 13), it is stated that priests fulfill “their greatest task” in the mystery of the Eucharistic sacrifice. As Jordan Aumann, O.P., the noted theologian of spirituality, points out, “As St. Paul says, the priest-apostle preaches Christ Crucified; and the Eucharistic liturgy proclaims the death of the Lord until he comes [again]. […] In the order of exercise or activity, ministry of the Word is primary; in the order of dignity and excellence, ministry of the Eucharist is the principal or chief function."[2] The synagogue points to the Temple, faith points to charity, the preacher of the Word points to the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Word points to the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

But as Ratzinger points out, “Christian liturgy is liturgy on the way […] toward the transfiguration of the world” (50), which means that as synagogue points to Temple, so the Church, at the same time holy and always in need of purification (LG 8), points to the Church in heaven, where its four marks shall shine in full splendor. The Church’s whole purpose is to lead all men to worship, to partake in Christ’s redemption and union with the Trinity, where God is “all in all” (Apostolicam Actuositatem 2). Hence the liturgy, leading from the proclamation of the Word to the partaking of the Eucharist, informs the apostolate activity of the entire Church and marks the transition from unbelief to belief to participation in true worship. The liturgy as source and summit (Sacrosanctum Concilium 10) is the ecclesial “soul” of the apostolate. As Aquinas said, the goal is first in the order of intention and last in the order of execution (cf. Summa Th., 1a2æ.1, 25), so too Eucharistic worship is first in the order of intention, last in execution.

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Notes:

1. Another application would be how in the theological virtues, the equivalent is faith pointing to charity, which then in turn vivifies faith.

2. Jordan Aumann, “Ministerial Priesthood,” Angelicum 49, no. 1 (1972): 47, 51.