Liturgy and Culture

In his book The Spirit of the Liturgy , Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger writes that “cult,” from which our words worship and culture both spring, “goes beyond the action of the liturgy. Ultimately, it embraces the ordering of the whole of human life.” . . .

"If the human body is the source of symbols, the ultimate example is the body of Jesus; if human history aims at transcendence, its unsurpassable crown is the life of Jesus."

“When he hands over the substance of his life to the Church, Christ communicates a form or a way of life that can include or embrace every aspect of human existence, and ultimately the entire material order of creation.”

“By the light which pours out of the doors of the temple to flood the world in transfiguring light, the members of the mystical body see the cosmos theologically, as sacramental gift from God and raw material for eucharist.”

“Christ’s . . . being-handed-down is part of his being-handed-over: it consummates the Father’s donation of his Son to all people and completes the Son’s cooperation in the giving of himself for all time.”

“The Trinity is inevitably present in seed form wherever God is sensed.”

“[T]he central conviction of the circle of Fourvière was the attempt to find in the Fathers the key for a unified vision of the whole of reality entirely grounded in the mystery and person of Jesus Christ.”

“[Daniélou] does not want to dissolve every enigma in a grandiose synthesis: rather, he is attracted by the dynamic character of an unceasing relationship with God.”

“Through man the silent litany of things becomes an explicit act of worship.”

“Catholic culture, if true to its inheritance, would include the sound concepts and traditions of all times, the best developments of human progress of all ages, and that in all the fields of human interest and endeavor.”