Who Celebrates the Liturgy? ​

Any celebration by its very nature depends on the joyful participation of a gathered community, where each person contributes to and shares in the festivities. Everyone present ‘celebrates’. A celebratory event is quite distinct from a sporting event or orchestral concert where people attend as spectators. Not everyone ‘plays’.

The distinction is powerful. This is why we call the liturgy a celebration. Members of the baptised faithful don’t just ‘go to’ Mass or ‘attend’ Mass – they ‘celebrate’ Mass. The assembly are not present as spectators to watch and listen to what the priest is doing but, rather, they join with the priest to participate together in what Christ is doing among them.

Every liturgy is the action of Christ and the Church. (CCC 1136) While the priest has a particular role to fulfil as the ordained minister representing the headship of Christ in the assembly, he is not the sole celebrant of the liturgy. The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptised who, ‘by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood ’. (CCC 1141)

This priesthood of the faithful is expressed during Mass, beginning with the gathering of the assembly who, by virtue of their baptism, form the Body of Christ. When people sign themselves with holy water on entering the church, or when the Sprinkling Rite is used instead of the Penitential Act, the faithful are reminded that, through their initiation, they are the priestly people of God. After encountering Christ in the proclamation of scriptures, the people respond by “exercising the office of their baptismal priesthood, [and] offer prayers to God” in the Prayer of the Faithful. (GIRM 69)

The procession of gifts to the altar by members of the community is a liturgical expression of the assembly’s role in offering the eucharistic sacrifice which is about to take place. The priest lends his voice and gestures to the Eucharistic Prayer, but he does not pray alone. “The Lord be with you”. “And with your Spirit”. The opening dialogue of the Eucharistic Prayer declares the presence of Christ in the baptised priesthood and emphasises their unity in offering sacrifice to God. “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” “It is right and just”.  Only after the assembly’s affirmation does the presider echo these words and continue to pray aloud on behalf of the community. “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation…”. As the presider receives Communion from the altar, and not from the tabernacle, so too should the other members of the baptised priesthood be offered Communion from the sacrifice they have celebrated.