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1. HOLINESS AND WORSHIP All those who belong to the Church, as disciples of Christ are called to holiness of life (LG 40). Justified in the Lord Jesus, baptized into him, they are sons and daughters of God and sharers in God's nature and so made holy (Gal 3:27, LG 40). As they follow in Christ's footsteps, and mold themselves in his image, seeking the will of the Father in all things and devoting themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of neighbor, the change in them becomes manifest in a holiness of life (LG 40). Those who belong to the Church live the life of the age to come. Even now they partake in the same love of God and neighbor which makes up the heavenly life and sing the same hymn of glory to our God which is sung before his throne (1 Co 13:8, Rev 14:3, LG 49). Nonetheless, this life will achieve its full perfection only at the restoration of all things (Ac 3:21). Therefore they live as pilgrims longing for the coming again of Christ and the full manifestation of God's plan (LG 48, 2 Pet 3:11-12). As the Lord in our time seeks to renew his people, he renews in them the holiness of life which he has called them to. That holiness of life is expressed in a deeper commitment to the brotherly love which forms the life together of the members of the body of Christ, but it is even more expressed in a love of God above all else. As a result, in the life of the Christian people the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek (Heb 13:14, SC 2). A life of holiness therefore involves a daily life of worship and prayer, giving the Lord the honor which is his due, blessing him for his goodness, and drawing strength from his presence and grace. The Lord called his people of the old covenant to first rebuild the temple, the place of worship, so that he might take pleasure in it, appear in his glory, and restore their fortunes (Hag 1:8). In a similar way, the renewal of Catholic life in our day began with a restoration and promotion of the liturgy, the public worship of the Church (SC 1, 14). That restoration of the liturgy, however, proves lifeless without faith and conversion. These in turn come from the preaching of the gospel and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (SC 9). Christian renewal, then, begins with a renewal in relationship with God manifested by a life of worship and prayer that comes out of a true conversion to Christ. As the Lord brings covenant communities into existence, they too participate in and draw vitality from a liturgical life of prayer and worship. Full liturgical and sacramental worship, however, as an expression of the Church, can only exist by hierarchical approval. For some covenant communities, the community itself can be the normal place of liturgical worship and sacramental strengthening because of its statutes or by special approval. For some covenant communities, the community will be able to provide liturgical worship and sacramental services as a supplement to normal parochial life. For some covenant communities, however, the community will not be able to provide liturgical worship or sacramental services, but its members will rely upon normal parochial life. In all cases the community recognizes that the liturgy is the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed and the fountain from which it flows (SC 10). Even where liturgical functions in the proper sense (CIC, Can 834) are not a regular part of the life of the covenant community, the prayer life of the community should be derived from the liturgy, molded by it and harmonized with it (SC 13). Its prayer life should, in short, be carried on in the spirit of the liturgy. In the spirit of the liturgy, Christian worship and prayer should be centered in a glorification of the Lord of all through his Son our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. It should be based on a solid appreciation of the great truths of creation and redemption, regularly brought to remembrance but especially recalled and celebrated in the seasons of the Church Year (SC 102). It should come from the scriptures or be scriptural in its inspiration, and it should foster a warm and living love for the scriptures (SC 24, 35, 121; DV 21). It should be communal or corporate in spirit, so that even when Christians pray alone or in small groups, they pray as members of the whole body of Christ, manifesting the Church (GILH 9, 22). Christian worship and prayer as renewed by a liturgical spirit should be rooted in a desire to grow in Christian living, one that seeks effective ways to live a holy life in the changed circumstances of our times (SC 1). It should, in addition, be free from whatever could lead separated brethren into error regarding the true doctrines of the Church (LG 67). It should therefore be marked by a balanced expression of Christian truth, be well-ordered in relationship to the foundation of the Christian faith (UR 11), and be nourished from the treasures of the many traditions, past and present, which are alive in other Churches and ecclesial communities (DEM, II, 1). Finally, Christian prayer and worship as renewed by a liturgical spirit should lead to a greater desire to bring all to Christ and so increase the fervor of the Christian people for their mission (SC 1). In the spirit of the liturgy our worship and prayer should be shaped by the due honor which we give to those with whom we are united in Christ. Above all that honor is due to the one true God, for from him and through him and to him are all things (Ro 11:36). We honor him with supreme worship as the Father, the creator of heaven and earth. We honor the Son he sent into the world, our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us that he might bring us to his Father (1 Pet 4:18, Jn 14:6, 20:17). We likewise honor the one Holy Spirit, by whom we are given life, sanctified and made into a holy temple in the Lord (Ro 15, Eph 3:21). At the same time, we are saved and brought to God not just as individuals, but as a people, members of that Church which embraces the living and dead. Therefore we honor those who are one with us in Christ and who have been a help to us by being the servants through whom the Church was built, especially the apostles, but others as well who carried on their work. We also honor those who left us an example of their lives and virtues, especially the martyrs. We honor with special reverence Mary, the Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son. In her the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, joyfully contemplating as in a faultless model that which she herself wholly desires and hopes to be (LG 66, SC 103). Thanking the Lord for all these men and women of God we invoke their intercession. Together with them, as one family, in the one Church, we celebrate the praise of the divine majesty. We look forward to that day when we will all stand together before his throne and he will be all in all (Rev 7:15, 1 Co 15:28).
2. DAILY WORSHIP AND PRAYER
All those who are joined to Christ and come to the Father in him are built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pet 2:5). Therefore, persevering in prayer and praising God they should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Ac 2:42-47, Ro 12:1, LG 10). Following the Lamb, they learn the new song, sung before the throne of God in worship. They join in the eternal hymn of praise to the glory of their creator and in intercession for the salvation of the whole world (Rev 14:3, SC 83). The life of a disciple of Christ should be a priestly life, a life of daily worship and prayer, a life consecrated to God by the regular offering of spiritual sacrifices of praise and prayer which acknowledge his lordship (SC 84). The life of daily worship and praise is a continuation of the priestly work of Christ (SC 83). While the Eucharistic celebration is the main way in which the priestly service of worshiping God is continued among the Christian people, the liturgy of the hours (the divine office) is the especially recommended way to sanctify each period of time in the daily life of the Christian. So important is the liturgy of the hours that some, mainly priests and religious, are given the responsibility and the obligation to pray the hours on behalf of the whole Church (SC 84). Moreover, it is the one form of prayer canonically recommended for all the faithful (CIC, Can 1174). Some of the laity will be able to pray the full liturgy of the hours in an official celebration at least from time to time (SC 84, GILH 27). Some will be unable to do so, but can pray certain parts of it. They can also use the liturgy of the hours to provide the model for daily prayer (GILH 27). Worship and prayer modeled on and drawn from the liturgy of the hours follows a pattern for the consecration of time (GILH 10). Morning prayer (lauds) and evening prayer (vespers) are the two main forms of prayer consecrating each day, following the pattern of the daily worship of the temple (Ex 29:38-39). They can be supplemented by one or more shorter times of prayer during the day and one at the end of the day. In addition, a time of spiritual reading and meditation can be a regular means of growth in spiritual wisdom and understanding. The week is consecrated by the celebration of the Lord's day, the day of the resurrection, on Sunday, especially through the Eucharistic assembly, but also with appropriate psalms, prayers and readings (SC 106). The week is additionally consecrated by a commemoration of Friday as the day of the crucifixion. Finally, the year as a whole is consecrated through special feasts and seasons. Of these the most important are the Lenten-Easter season with its feasts of Easter and Pentecost and the Advent-Christmas season with its feasts of Christmas and Epiphany. These seasons celebrate the great events of Christian redemption and make present again to believing Christians the riches of the Lord's power and merits (SC 107, 102). The liturgy of the hours also is a model for a truly Christian manner of worship. Praise of God, prayer and scriptural instruction are the heart of a fully Catholic worship. The praise of God is especially expressed through the psalms, prayed in the traditional Christian way as fulfilled in Christ, supplemented by hymns and songs that are scriptural in inspiration (SC 24, GILH 100). Scripture itself is read regularly in a way that both supports the Liturgical Year and provides a review of Christian teaching and of the scripture itself understood in the light of the traditional interpretation of the Fathers. Scripture, indeed, is of paramount importance in the celebration of the liturgy and therefore of all of Christian prayer (SC 24, DV 21). Those who are not able to use the full liturgy of the hours can follow a similar approach and can draw upon the sequence of psalms and canticles and the cycles of readings it offers. Those who belong to covenant communities should live lives of daily prayer in various ways. The community itself should worship God together as the center of its life, sometimes by celebrating the liturgy. When possible, the different groupings within the community who live together, the families and households of single people, should worship the Lord morning and evening in a way modeled by the liturgy of the hours. Each member likewise should pray individually (SC 12). Moreover, the whole community should read, study and meditate upon the scriptures and other Christian teaching in order to follow the Lord more fully and to observe the Christian seasons. While the patterns of life differ according to the call and spirituality of the community and according to the relationship it has to the Church as a whole, the spiritual life is one, based on the same truth and shaped by the spirit of the same liturgy.
3. COVENANT COMMUNITY AND SACRAMENTS
The sacraments are signs and means through which Christ acts in and through his Church to sanctify his disciples, to build up his body and to give worship to God his Father (SC 59, CIC, Can 840). The life of the covenant community is therefore dependent upon the sacraments and nourished by them, whether these sacraments are performed within the life of the community itself or whether its members receive them in parishes or other contexts outside the covenant community. Renewal of the liturgical life of the Catholic Church involves a renewal in the celebration of the sacraments and in the way they are approached by Christ's faithful. The renewal is brought to completion in the lives of Christians when the sacraments perform the role for which they were instituted. The sacraments are central to the Christian life, and this centrality is primarily made effective by receiving them in a way which strengthens that life. The sacraments are closely connected to everything foundational in the Christian life, because they unite us to Christ and make effective his action of transforming us in him. They do not, however, function in a foundational way by becoming themselves the center of focus. Rather as signs they should reveal Christ and his action in us. The source and ongoing foundation of a renewed use of the sacraments is a renewed faith and conversion (SC 11, CIC, Can 836). Those who receive sacraments in a life-giving way have faith in Christ. They especially have faith in his active presence in their lives, including faith that he will act through the sacraments they receive. They have been converted to Christ as their Master and Lord and are therefore desirous of following him and obeying him. That conversion leads to the proper response to each sacrament. Those who receive the sacraments well are instructed in Christian truth. They understand the meaning of the signs themselves in such a way that they can participate in each sacramental celebration fully, consciously, and actively, responding to the Lord in a fitting way (SC 14). For most that concerns sacraments there is no difference between the life of covenant communities and that of the rest of the Church. The sacraments, however, are celebrations of the Church itself as the "sacrament of unity," that is, the holy people united and ordered under the bishops (CIC, Can 837). Through the sacraments the sacred nature and organic structure of the priestly community is brought into operation (LG 11). They establish, strengthen and manifest ecclesiastical communion (CIC, Can 840). Therefore the approach to the sacraments in covenant communities touches at various points upon the relationship of the covenant community to the Church and likewise can affect the way in which the members of the community participate in sacramental actions. Such points call for special concern on the part of the leaders of covenant communities.
4. THE EUCHARISTIC ASSEMBLY
The Eucharistic assembly is central to the corporate life of the Church because by means of it the unity of God's people is signified and brought about, and the building up of the body of Christ is perfected (CIC, Can 897). At the heart of the assembly is the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord, instituted to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross and to give to the Church a memorial of his death and resurrection. It is a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us (SC 47). The main assembly of the covenant community can sometimes be a Sunday Eucharistic assembly. Normally, however, for pastoral reasons the community assembly cannot be the regular place of liturgical celebration for its members on Sunday. In such situations, the life of the community should prepare its members to value and seek participation in a full Eucharistic celebration on the Lord's Day. The covenant community may be able to supplement the Sunday Eucharistic celebration by an additional celebration of the Eucharist during the week for the whole community or for sections of the community. It may also be able to provide a daily Eucharistic celebration for some members of the community or to encourage attendance at a common Eucharistic celebration outside the community. These various ways of increasing Eucharistic participation should be approached in ways that do not distort the shape of the liturgical life of the Church. An additional celebration of the Eucharist during the week for the whole community should not take precedence in the lives of its members over the celebrations of the whole Church on the Lord's Day. Sunday is the original feast day, the foundation and nucleus of the whole liturgical year (SC 106). Encouraging the daily attendance of some community members at a Eucharistic celebration should not lead to approaching the Eucharist as an individual devotion or source of individual strengthening rather than as a communal celebration of the Church (SC 26). The Eucharist is the one bread that makes many one body (1 Co 11:17). Nor should it lead to the Eucharistic Sacrifice being celebrated primarily for the convenience of the individual rather than with due honor as an act of the worship of the divine majesty (SC 33), the full public worship of the mystical body of Christ (SC 7). Finally, appreciation for the Eucharist, often coupled with evangelistic zeal, should not lead to celebrations of the Eucharist which encourage many to participate and take communion who are not properly prepared and so fail in respect for the holiness of the body and blood of the Lord (1 Co 11:27-32). The Eucharistic celebration is to be so ordered that all the participants derive from it the many fruits for which Christ the Lord instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice (CIC, Can 895).
5. THE SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION
The sacraments of Christian initiation are the beginning of the Christian life, in that they complete our union with Christ. Through them we can be said to have put on Christ and be made one body in him (Gal 3:27, 1 Co 12:13, AG 14, LG 14). Since the baptism of children has a family orientation, it can be celebrated as an expression of the life of the covenant community even when it is performed in a parochial context. The further sacramental steps in the initiation of children, first communion and confirmation, will be approached in various ways depending on how the covenant community is related to the structures of the Church. Commonly it will be helpful for the covenant community to have a program of Christian conversion and growth for the children who are members of the community, even when they attend religious instruction in parishes. Such programs could contain preparation for the sacramental steps of initiation where pastorally practical and helpful. They can also form children of community members in the spirituality of the community (CIC, Can 214). As renewal communities, covenant communities bring their members to a new conversion to Christ, even those who have already received full sacramental initiation into the Catholic Church and are living a Christian life. Conversion should lead to a full living of the Christian life, whether for the first time or as an increase of what was already present. Without attempting to repeat the sacraments of initiation, the program of conversion and formation in the covenant community should be patterned upon the adult catechumenate traditional in the first centuries of Christianity and renewed in our day. It therefore should include a renewal of the faith commitment of baptism and a release or strengthening of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. In addition, it should include a formation period for the whole Christian life that should lead to the true following of Christ appropriate to disciples (AG 14). For those who have not previously been Christians or have not completed their full sacramental initiation into the Church, the formation into covenant community membership can also be a time in which their Christian initiation is completed. Much of that initiation can be provided by the program of community formation since what is needed for entry into the Christian life is much the same as what is needed for coming into a renewed Christian life. The way we receive Christ provides the pattern of renewal of our life in him (Col 2:6).
6. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
The sacrament of penance provides from God through the absolution of a lawful minister the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism. It likewise provides reconciliation with the Church (CIC, Can 959). Even as the sacraments of initiation complete the process of initiation, so the sacrament of penance completes the process of repentance or penance by which the individuals are brought to a recognition of wrongdoing and to a decision to repudiate it and to amend their lives (CIC, Can 987). Much of what is needed for an understanding of the relationship of the covenant community to the broader Church in regard to the sacrament of penance is contained in section II, 3 above. The renewal of the sacrament of penance has to include a renewal in the primary purpose of the sacrament. While the confession of venial sins and of imperfections is helpful, the sacrament of penance is primarily instituted for the forgiveness of grave sins (CIC, Can 988). In order to support the proper use of the sacrament in regard to grave sin, the recognition of the objective seriousness of grave sins should be fostered in the life of the covenant community, and community support and discipline should call those who have fallen back to a life of Christian righteousness and strengthen them in it. Repentance or penance goes beyond turning away from or repairing grave sins to a positive growth in holiness. This growth in the completeness of love that constitutes holiness involves leaving behind unloving ways. Here the ongoing support of those who desire to live a deeper Christian life is a source of great help. Many covenant communities provide methods of review of life for their members which help them to live lives free of sin and encourage them to greater holiness. The devotional use of the sacrament of penance, whether within the community context or outside of it, can also be a means of spiritual strengthening in the process of growth in holiness. It can especially be so when joined to a communal life that fosters holiness of life. In a renewed Christian life we can be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, walking according to the Spirit (Ro 6:11, 8:5).
7. MARRIAGE
The marriage covenant is the means by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of their whole life, one that is ordered of its very nature to the well-being of the spouses and to the procreation and the bringing up of children (CIC, Can 1055). The covenant community can be a powerful support to marriage and family life as to other aspects of Christian living (CIC, Can 1063). The covenant community can either provide the marriage instruction in accordance with the norms of the local church or can provide supplementary instruction. Such instruction can not only strengthen the couples' awareness of the nature of Christian marriage and of the roles and objectives of Christian spouses and parents (CIC, Can 1003), but also instruct them in the community support for their courtship and marriage. It can thereby help them integrate their married life more effectively into the corporate life of the community as well as of the broader church. The marriage ceremony itself, because of its family orientation, is naturally an expression of the life of the community when those being married are both community members, even though the marriage is normally celebrated in a parochial context. Where the celebration of the marriage is largely formed by community members, the marriage ceremony should be Christ-centered. It should bring to full expression the way in which the couple is establishing a cell of the body of Christ, committing themselves in faithfulness to a life of Christian discipleship together and modeling themselves on Christ and the Church (CIC, Can 1063). Since the marriage ceremony frequently provides an occasion for bringing nonbelievers or nominal Christians to a Christian service, it should be conducted with evangelistic sensitivity and in a way that does not encourage the reception of communion by those who should not do so. Since the marriage ceremony also frequently provides an occasion for Christians of another church or ecclesial community to attend a Catholic service, it should be conducted with ecumenical sensitivity showing an added concern to see that there is a balanced expression of Christian truth which avoids leading others into error regarding the true doctrine of the Church (UR 11, LG 67). Most importantly, the celebration of the sacrament of marriage should be a witness to the reality of Christ and the blessing for family life which comes from following him.
8. CONCLUSION
The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify human beings, to build up the body of Christ and to give worship to God (SC 59). Participation in sacramental life should first of all lead to a growth in holiness in the members of the covenant community wherever they participate in it, whether within the context of covenant community life or in other situations. Celebration of the sacraments should also lead to a building up of the body of Christ. It should strengthen the life of covenant community when celebrated within that covenant community. At the same time it should strengthen the life of the whole Church. The greater good of the Church as a whole, in fact, provides the guidance for when and how sacraments should be celebrated within the life of the covenant community. Finally, sacraments should be celebrated in a way in which God is truly worshiped so that their very celebration honors him and reveals his glory to the human race. |
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