Where does the Mass fit into the sacramental economy?

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The liturgy is the height of Christian sacramental celebrations.[1] Christians are fortified and revitalized to “go forth and make disciples of all nations”.[2] In the Paschal Sacrifice, the Church receives the Body of Christ.[3] Made present on Mount Calvary(Moriah)[4], the Church's birth from the side of Christ is once more experienced where the liturgy finds itself in the sacramental economy since it feeds all other sacraments. In the liturgy, the Church is given, and most fully becomes one Body of Christ.[5] Like a physical body, there are mechanisms of growth, the perpetuation of life, repair, and action. Each of the processes is brought to us as sacraments. The perpetuation of life/cellular respiration feeds all other actions. Similarly, this is where the liturgy finds itself in the sacramental economy since it feeds all other sacraments. The liturgy serves as the life-force and source of all grace and means by which the Spirit comes to the Body of Christ.[6] In such an economy, the liturgy makes the sacrifice of Christ present once again. The sacraments in which the Church grows are those of initiation. The sacraments in which the Church heals and repairs itself are those of healing. The sacraments in which the church further commits itself to service are those of service.
“Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God and offer themselves along with It. ... Strengthened in Holy Communion by the Body of Christ, they then manifest in a concrete way that unity of the people of God which is suitably signified and wondrously brought about by this most august sacrament.”[7] Thus, it is clear that the sacraments are the living processes of the Mystical Body of Christ, and of those processes, the sacred liturgy/Holy Communion is the cellular respiration and life-giving process.

Furthermore, the Mass is a splendor of design because it continually incorporates newness and season, yet remains the same Mass.[8] The Mass is also that privileged encounter, elevate his mind to God.[9] It is during the Mass when God speaks to us and we respond; then we “with Him, in Him, and through Him” offer both Him and ourselves as “living sacrifices” to God, the Almighty Father.[10] The Mass is, thus, an ultimate act of prayer, the true and willful joining of oneself to the Paschal Mystery.[11] We offer ourselves and die with Christ, that we may live.[12]

I testify to my Catholic faith not just because they are my belief, but because of its authentic, unified, apostolic, good, and beautiful nature. It is the Eucharist, if nothing else, which keeps me firmly secure in my faith.[13] Yet, it is the biblical interpretation that is the foundation of most Christian divisions.[14] However, it is not a doctrine that binds the Church’s members into one Body but the spiritual nature. The Church has its own soul.[15] The Church, as the Bride of Christ, celebrates the unity to Christ as one Flesh, becoming the body in the consummation of the unity.[16] This consummation in the reception of His body is that great Paschal mystery, as aforementioned.[17]
FN:
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 1324.
  2. The New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org, Matthew 28:19, CCC, 875., Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Chruch Lumen gentium (21 November 1964), 11.
  3. CCC, 1329.
  4. CCC, 1103, 1354.; CCC, 766
  5. CCC, 1396 ;1 Corinthians 10:16-17
  6. CCC, 1325; cf. CCC, 1324; Cf. John 14:18; John 16:7
  7. Lumen Gentium, 11
  8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 1171. 
  9. CCC, 2559. 
  10. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Chruch Lumen gentium (21 November 1964), 11.; CCC, 1154; cf. CCC, 2777; CCC, 2561; The New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org, Romans 12:1. 
  11. LG 11; CCC, 618; cf. CCC, 640 
  12. Cf. Matthew 10:30; John 6:53-58; Romans 6:8
  13. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Chruch Lumen gentium (21 November 1964), 11.
  14. Pontifical Biblical Commission, “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church”,(Libreria Editrice Vaticana: 18 March 1994), p. 72.
  15.  CCC, 813; cf. The New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org, 1 Peter 2:5.
  16. cf. Hosea 2:16–22; Isaiah 54:5–6; 62:5; Ezekiel 16:6–14; John 6:54, Revelation 19:6; cf. 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:22–27
  17. John 6:54, See my discussion post above.

I am a Theology major attending Holy Apostles College and Seminary. I am a Knight of Columbus and a Newman Ambassador for Pius XII Newman Center.

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