Why the Liturgy?

By Engr. Carlos Cornejo

Emmanuel Kant, a modern philosopher claims that all religion is basically ethics. According to him the purpose of religion is to fundamentally make us into a decent and good person i.e., law abiding, respectful of others, etc.  In other words, we don’t need to pray and we also don’t need public prayer.  But religion is not just morals but doctrine and liturgy as well.

The word liturgy comes from the Greek word “leitourgia” which means “public service, worship of the gods”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that in the New Testament the word “liturgy” refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. (CCC 1070)

Morality or ethics is of course an important requirement to practice our faith because we ought to be holy because God is holy (Leviticus 11:45). The moral teachings of the Church are based on the Ten Commandments. If we read the entire Book of Exodus the first half of it is about the Ten Commandments but the other half is all about the liturgy. In the other half of Exodus, God is teaching Israel how to worship Him with details of how to prepare the sacrifice, design of the altar and the priests’ vestments, specific ceremonies of worship, etc. which is a pre-figuring of the present-day Holy Mass. The Book of Exodus does not say that the Ten Commandments is more important than the act of worship in order to convey that both are essential in obeying God. The purpose of morality or of the Ten Commandments is to align our wills (our power to choose) to God and the purpose of the liturgy is to align our minds, heart, imagination and sentiments to Him.  That’s how God wants us to become more like Him through faith (worship) and good works (morals).

So, this raises up the question, “Is it enough to be good without religion?”, the direct answer is no. As I’ve mentioned in my article “Morality and Religion” among other things, being good without religion removes guilt to people you have offended if you say sorry to them, but does not remove the guilt that lingers in you for your other offenses because you need to say sorry to God. Being good in relation to God means obedience to His Word, which includes both morals and worship. Thus, this brings us to the necessity of attending Holy Mass at the minimum every Sunday. God specifically mentions it in the Third Commandment, “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day”. It is not a suggestion but a commandment, with a pain of sin if we fail to do it. For us Catholics it us not just to keep in mind God or to pray to God in a special way on a Sunday but we have to go to Church to attend Mass. The only exception to this is if we are sick or watching over the sick and currently it also includes pandemics which is to avoid getting sick or getting others sick. The sick or those avoiding getting sick during a pandemic can always attend Mass on-line, on TV and even radio as a substitute.

We ought to remember that “justice towards God” is another definition of religion. We owe God our worship and praise because He created us, shared to us all the good that we need much like the love, respect and reverence we render to our parents for giving us life and taking care of us. As St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica says, “Religion is a matter of justice because we owe God a debt of honor, worship, and gratitude.”