The psalmist asks God, as we do today, “What is man that you care for him, mortal man that you keep him in mind? Yet you have made him little less than a god.” God’s plan of the mystery finds us created from the Father’s heart, redeemed by Christ the eternal High Priest, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit for eternal life—a life lived even today. The liturgy and sacraments—especially the holy Eucharist—manifest this plan in a tangible way and offer man the means necessary to fulfil his role as a cooperator in Christ’s work of renewing the cosmos. This course examines foundational truths for all liturgical studies: the economy of salvation, sin and the Old Testament’s preparation for redemption, the person and priestly action of Christ, and the new life in the Spirit that divinizes and sanctifies.

Scholastic theologians saw no antithesis between grace and nature, teaching instead that grace presupposes and builds upon nature. This fundamental truth is exemplified in the sacraments and sacramental signs that constitute the liturgy. This course examines the nature of the liturgy’s component parts—signs, rites, language—and how the Church “presupposes, integrates, and sanctifies” (CCC 1149) these in her liturgical celebrations. Man at prayer never checks his nature at the door: rather, he should expect it to be perfected and divinized in the Church’s sacred rites.

The seven sacraments are the most privileged of the Church’s many liturgical celebrations, for in them, Christ continues his saving work in our own day. As St. Leo the Great teaches, “What was visible in our Savior [during his earthly ministry] has passed over into his sacraments.” Sacramentality—where unseen realities are conveyed through sensible, material things—exists first at the level of creation and is a constitutive part of human nature, which God assumes and perfects in our lives of faith and its liturgical celebration. This course will look back on the history and development of sacramental theology and will familiarize students with its key concepts, such as the nature of sacraments as signs, the celebration of each sacrament, sacramental causality, institution by Christ, sacramental grace, ministerial intention, and disposition for fruitfulness, as well as holiness.

The fundamental action where Christ instituted the liturgy and sacraments occurs upon the cross, was anticipated at the Last Supper, and continues by the hands of the apostles and their successors. Through centuries and across continents, the fundamental expression of the Mass and other liturgical celebrations have remained constant, even while ritual forms have changed to allow the faithful of any given age access to Christ. The 20th century’s Liturgical Movement culminated in the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium and brought about significant changes in the celebration of Mass and other rites. This course traces the history of the liturgy through the ages so that liturgical leaders can implement today’s rites according to the Church’s own hermeneutic of reform and renewal.

The Church sees a parallel between the sacraments of initiation and the stages of a person’s natural existence: natural birth corresponds to a supernatural birth in baptism; growth relates to supernatural maturity in confirmation; and man’s natural need for sustenance parallels his supernatural desire for the Eucharist. Together, these sacraments of initiation incorporate recipients into the Church, that is, into Christ. This course examines the unique character of each initiation sacrament in the Church’s tradition, and also considers their unity as the primary means of membership and life in the Church. Their respective ritual texts are studied to understand how the Church celebrates baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist today.

Illness requires a physician. So also in the supernatural life of faith do human beings visit the divine physician in the sacrament of Penance for healing of regular sins and, when in danger of death from sickness or old age, they find comfort from Christ the Redeemer in the Anointing of the Sick. The Church’s funeral rites mark not only the end of earthly existence, but the Passover into eternal life. Still other sacraments supply service to the Church and her members: the sacraments of Matrimony and of Holy Orders grow and lead the Mystical Body of Christ. Each of these manifestations of Christ our healer and head take the form of sacramental rites. These four sacraments will be examined in their theological, historical, and current expressions in the Church’s current books.

Learn how the Church supplies for all our supernatural needs, even beyond the most significant in the seven sacraments, in celebrating sacramentals and fostering devotional and personal prayer. The many examples of the Church’s sacramentals exist in three principal categories—blessings, consecrations, and exorcisms—and complete the sacramental system, bringing grace into nearly every aspect of life. Popular piety roots divine worship even more firmly in the daily aspects of Christian life so that all of creation may be fully restored to Christ.

All created things have been restored beneath the headship of Christ and therefore find a place in the liturgical celebration of his Paschal Mystery, from wood to wax, music to visual art—and even time. Unique among liturgical symbols—for who can see or hear time?—the cycles of the year, week, and day combine to reveal Christ in the present moment. Discover how the liturgical calendar, the marking of holy days, and the Liturgy of the Hours are among the most privileged means to encounter Christ.

Discover why the Second Vatican Council claimed that the “musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art,” and why sacred art and architecture, “by their very nature, are oriented toward the infinite beauty of God” and are “signs and symbols of the supernatural world” (SC 112, 122). Far from insignificant extras to the liturgy, sacred music, art, and architecture truly reveal the divine beauty of God to a fallen and, oftentimes, ugly world.

Both “rubrics” and “rubies” share a common root: ruber, or red. Not coincidentally, then, the Church asks that priests and liturgical leaders be committed to “making known the current liturgical texts and norms, making available the great riches found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal” and other liturgical instructions (Sacramentum Caritatis, 40). For centuries, the Church has cultivated a ritual means to manifest the great truth and beauty of salvation in Jesus Christ, and her liturgical laws and norms continue to assist celebrants and participants in revealing his glory through the sacred liturgy to the world today.

“The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God”—the most privileged place to see God on this side of heaven is in the Church’s liturgy. This course considers the various ways in which the People of God participate in the liturgy, forms students to encounter him more fruitfully in the Mass and sacraments, and proposes effective ways to lead others to do the same in the household, a Catholic institution or apostolate, a parish, religious community, or diocesan liturgy office.