“Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with 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.”
“From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.”
#7 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, December 4, 1963
These lines enunciate one of the fundamental principles Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, namely that the liturgy is the work of Christ, head and members. That is, that the liturgy is the action of all members of the Church.
To appreciate the impact of this statement, one need only look at the Roman Missal in use prior to the Council. In the twenty-eight pages of rubrics that directed the proper celebration of Mass, there are only eleven lines that make reference to the congregation, lines that indicate how the priest is to administer Communion.
Similarly, in The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, by Adrian Fortescue and J. O’Connell, one of the standard English texts used by priests to guide the proper celebration of the Mass and other liturgical rites, the index contains no listing for congregation or laity although there are twenty-eight listing for the color of the vestments.
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