Liturgy Corner

Although the liturgy is something that we do, it is also a gift from God. We can actually trace this all the way back to one of the most important events in history – the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, together with the Passover.
 
Prior to this event, worship had no particular form, but was varied and rare. The patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — gave us some examples of basic worship, but nothing was yet “fleshed out”. However, after the Exodus, worship took specific forms, detailed by God Himself and executed by Moses.
 
Thus, the Exodus foreshadows so many things in our own faith, including the liturgy itself. The very Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection is patterned after it, and our worship today is born out of the Passover, which Christ transformed into the Mass itself!
 
It is when we forget these things that we place ourselves in danger— when Aaron and the Hebrews formed the golden calf and began to worship it, they used a liturgy that was focused on themselves, and not on God.
 
And so we ask ourselves: Is my worship focused on God, or myself? Do I see that God even uses historical events for our good? Do I recognize the freedom that God has won for me, and seek to return the favor by a free act of worship?

- Fr. Kyle