Paul and the Mystery
Paul’s theology has influenced the Church’s understanding of liturgy and sacrament immensely. It is for this reason that the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy offers these reflections on St. Paul and the liturgy during this year.
Too many people have an inadequate idea of liturgy. They associate the word only with the formal structure of the Mass, and nothing more. They think liturgy means strict rules and dry rubrics, and nothing more. Actually, the liturgy concerns more glorious and living things.
One of the pioneers in the liturgical movement, Virgil Michel, said liturgy “is the action of the Trinity in the Church.” He saw the liturgy “reaching from God to man, and connecting man to the fullness of the Godhead.” On this view, liturgy is where Christ’s continued presence is met. And Christ, himself, is the mediator between God and humanity.
This is the backdrop for Paul’s teaching about both Christ and the liturgy. It is expressed most clearly in Ephesians where Paul describes the Mystery he was commissioned to preach. “To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God who created all things …” (Eph 3:8).
What is this mystery? What is the plan of the hidden mystery? Simply that God would reconcile us to himself. The hidden plan was that God and man would be united, and this he did in Jesus Christ. Jesus was the God-Man.
So what does Paul preach? Nothing but Christ crucified (I Corinthians 1:23). Jesus is the mystery of God in the flesh. He constantly preaches that God became flesh to reconcile us with himself. It is as if a large chasm separated us from God, so God built a bridge by which to restore traffic between himself and us. We can go to God, and God can come to us.
First God called Abraham, father of a nation. Then God set that nation free from slavery in Egypt. Then God trained and guided the people with the law and the prophets. And, when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son. Love is the mainspring that moves the cosmos, and the Mystery behind it all is God’s desire to unite all things in his love. According to Paul, Christ is the Mystery made flesh.
This is also the backdrop for Paul’s teaching about the liturgy. This Mystery is celebrated in each liturgical act. We have said that Christ is the Mystery of God’s love in the flesh. When a person in Galilee saw Jesus, they were seeing the love of God. The incarnation made the Mystery visible. This same Christ, this same Mystery of God’s love, is presented in the sacraments.
Pope Leo wrote, “What was visible in the Lord has passed over into the sacraments.” The sacraments make the Mystery visible. When the Church celebrates her sacraments, it is Christ acting. This is a great Mystery, indeed, but it is at our fingertips and on our lips. Our liturgical life lives in the rhythm of the sacramental mysteries. They keep us nourished with the Spirit of Christ, who can make us apostles of his good news.
