Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Celebration of the Christian Mystery 295 1138 “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 twenty-four elders), the newPeople of God (the one hundred and forty-four thousand), 4 especially the martyrs “slain for the word of God,” and the all-holy Mother of God (the Woman), the Bride of the Lamb, 5 and finally “a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues.” 6 1139 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 1140 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.” 7 For this reason, “rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively partici- pating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately.” 8 1141 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.” 9 This “common priesthood” is that of Christ the sole priest, in which all his members participate: 10 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 4 Cf. Rev 4-5; 7:1-8; 14:1; Isa 6:2-3. 5 Rev 6:9-11; Rev 21:9; cf. 12. 6 Rev 7:9. 7 SC 26. 8 SC 27. 9 LG 10; cf. 1 Pet 2:4-5. 10 Cf. LG 10; 34; PO 2. 335 1370 752, 1348 1372 1120