Liturgy, Catechesis, and Conversion | Barbara Morgan

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Catechesis is the science of passing on the Faith and the art of planting and cultivating faith for ongoing conversion in the heart of individual believers. It is focused on beginning the process of conversion in an already baptized child and deepening and developing the faith of individual believers of any age. Facilitating ongoing conversion in the spiritual life is a major concern of catechesis because "true participation in the mystery of Christ is the final goal of all catechetical endeavor." [1]

It has that in common with preaching and both have their basis in the Scripture. Catechesis for liturgy, i.e., instruction which draws the believer to the "source and summit" of Catholic life, the Eucharistic liturgy, includes prophetic proclamation of the teaching of Jesus, orientation to the celebration of the feasts of the liturgical year, religious pedagogy conveying the immense realities of the liturgy, encouragement and instruction in worship which gives rise to zeal for the Lord, and catechesis which facilitates conversion.

Receiving the Word on the Authority of God Revealing

Msgr. Eugene Kevane, premier catechist in the United States and founder of Notre Dame Apostolic Catechetical Institute, points out that catechesis is actually a work of prophecy. What is passed on is the Word of the Lord, total and complete, just as Jesus, the Divine Teacher gave it to the fledgling Church. He is the apex, the pinnacle of prophetic ministry. He came only to do the will of the Father and to speak what the Father gave Him (John 12:49). "As the life of the Teaching Church reaches back to him for the content and pattern and baptismal purpose of its teaching, so the prophetic light shines forward toward him from Moses and the Prophets in the preparatory Testament." [2]

What is taught is Christ’s revelation of the Father, of Himself and of His Father’s plan for His creatures. Together those revelations encompass the deposit of faith referred to in 1 Tim. 6:20 and 2 Tim. 1:14. That deposit is the "instrument for witnessing" which the Church has carried on for centuries. With the deposit of faith she prophetically witnesses Christ to all peoples and at all times and, therefore, must carefully preserve it. Pope Paul VI commented on this concern for the integrity of doctrine:
The Catholic Church in the past and today, has given and gives much importance to the scrupulous preservation of the authentic Revelation. She considers it an inviolable treasure, and is sternly aware of her fundamental duty to defend and transmit the doctrine of the Faith in unequivocal terms. Orthodoxy is her first concern. [3]
The Church is passing on the "very Word of God" in catechesis, transmitting only what she has been given by Jesus, just as He did with His Father’s Word. This is the work of prophecy: to illuminate minds and souls with light, in this case, the "Light of the World." Teaching and prophesy are both facets of Jesus’ life, and teaching Christ and His Gospel is intricately linked with prophesying in His Name.

In catechesis on the liturgy the prophetical ministry of the Word cannot be overstated. Msgr. Kevane aptly puts it: "(Here) Catechesis (is) the receiving of a word on the authority of the God revealing." [4] The catechist receives the Word on God’s authority, speaks it on His authority, and the believer hears it on the same authority. Thus, the analogy with Isaiah 6:6-7 is apt: with lips cleansed by its fire the catechist must handle the Word and pass it on, blazing, to the believer. Too often the actual experience of the student/inquirer/believer is that the catechist enters and leaves the room with faith, never passing it on! A catechist burning with zeal for God’s Word must know how to give it away.

The liturgical context is the principle and normative means for that transmission. Biblical-historical narrative of Scripture and reading and meditation based on a study of the lessons from Sundays and Feast Days are the chief means to this end. Here the Church proclaims the Divine Word in the context which Christ entrusted to her, the re-presentation of His saving act, timeless and true. There the Word prepares the way for the meeting with Christ, just as it did on the road to Emmaus. The catechetical is intertwined with the prophetical.

The priority of the liturgy over the Bible must be respected in light of the Church’s mission but she cannot do the liturgy without Scripture. It gives her security and truth. She relies on it for the very words of consecration. Dom Theodore Ghesquiere, O.S.B., Doctor of Theology and abbot, explained it thus:
The message of the divine word, borne by the Church to all human generations, becomes in the liturgy a living word, efficacious and up to date, in which the people of the messianic times discover the secret of their destiny in the light of the Holy Spirit. [5]

"Magnificent Unity / Sublime Manner"

In order to grow in participation in the mystery of Christ the Church wisely arranges the liturgical year to cover all of the mighty acts of God. The possibility for contemplation of all of the stages of God’s salvific action in sacred history are there. The Church maintains the important link between God’s promise and His oath: from the promise of and subsequent longing for redemption in Advent; to the stupendous realization of God’s Word in the Incarnation; to the depths of His love in the events of Christ’s Pasch; to the establishment of His Mystical Body, the Church, on Good Friday and Pentecost. The "sacraments" of the Old Testament prefigure the sacramental order of the New Testament and the promises which precede Christ are all fulfilled in Him.

Even more important in the scheme of the liturgical year then the recounting of sacred history centered on Christological events is the prime mystery of the Trinity, wherein lies the birth of the plan for mankind: union with God in the Trinitarian family. There is one Sunday set aside for celebration of the Triune Godhead but in reality all of the feasts of the Church converge upon the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

This central mystery of the Faith is always presupposed and so must always be freshly proposed, therefore the wisdom of the Church provides regular opportunities to reconsider it. In fact, each liturgical event which the Church celebrates has more and more depth to plumb. Dom Ghesquiere makes the following point:

Read Part 2 of "Liturgy, Catechesis, and Conversion"