Liturgical Beauty
Making our liturgical celebrations as prayerful, awe-inspiring, and beautiful as we can.
The celebration of the sacraments and the other rites of the Church, especially the Mass, lie at the heart of our worship of God, the sharing the Gospel, and the life of the Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council called the Mass 'the source and summit of Christian life.'
So the more prayerful and numinous and beautiful we can make our celebrations, the stronger we are in every way. This is not a one-dimensional task, it involves the coming together of many elements, most of all the "full, conscious, active participation" (Vatican II Sacrosanctum Concilium) of all gathered to celebrate the liturgy, together with the specialised ministries such as:
musician, singer, priest, deacon, reader, server, preacher, welcomer, eucharistic minister, cleaning, flower-arranging, vestment-making, church maintenance, printing, organising etc.
In short it is the coming together of the whole parish to create a worthy celebration which in turn feeds and strengthens us all.
The time we spend on preparation for our Sunday Masses in all these different ways is always time well spent.
