SacredLiturgy

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
of
POPE PIUS XII
on
THE SACRED LITURGY
(Mediator Dei)

November 20, 1947

THE TRIPLE CROWN
OR TIARA
THE POPE'S OFFICIAL HEADDRESS

To Our Venerable Brethren
The Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops
and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion
with the Apostolic See

POPE PIUS XII

Venerable Brethren
Health and Apostolic Benediction

INTRODUCTION

Jesus Christ Redeemer of the World

1. Mediator between God and men (Tim., 2:5.) and High Priest Who has gone before us into Heaven, Jesus the Son of God (Cf. Hebr., 4:14.) quite clearly had one aim in view when He undertook the mission of mercy which was to endow mankind with the rich blessings of supernatural Grace. Sin had disturbed the right relationship between man and his Creator; the Son of God would restore it. The children of Adam were wretched heirs to the infection of Original Sin; He would bring them back to their Heavenly Father, the primal Source and final Destiny of all things. For this reason He was not content, while He dwelt with us on earth, merely to give notice that Redemption had begun, and to proclaim the long-awaited Kingdom of God, but gave Himself besides in prayer and sacrifice to the task of saving souls, even to the point of offering Himself, as He hung from the Cross, a Victim unspotted unto God, to purify our conscience of dead works, to serve the living God. (Cf. Hebr., 9:14.) Thus happily were all men summoned back from the byways leading them down to ruin and disaster, to be set squarely once again upon the path that leads to God. Thanks to the shedding of the Blood of the Immaculate Lamb, now each might set about the personal task of achieving his own sanctification, so rendering to God the glory due to Him.

The Church continues
the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ

2. But what is more, the Divine Redeemer has so willed it that the Priestly life begun with the supplication and sacrifice of His mortal Body should continue without intermission down the ages in His Mystical Body which is the Church. That is why He established a visible Priesthood to offer everywhere the Clean Oblation (Cf. Mal., 1:2.) which would enable men from East to West, freed from the shackles of sin, to offer God that unconstrained and voluntary homage which their conscience dictates.
3. In obedience, therefore, to her Founder's behest, the Church prolongs the Priestly mission of Jesus Christ mainly by means of the Sacred Liturgy. She does this in the first place at the Altar, where constantly the Sacrifice of the Cross is re-presented (Cf. Conc. Trid., Sess. XXII, c. 1.) and, with a single difference in the manner of its offering, renewed. (Cf. Ibid., c. 2.) She does it next by means of the Sacraments, those special channels through which men are made partakers in the supernatural life. She does it finally by offering to God, all Good and Great, the daily tribute of her prayer of praise. "What a spectacle for Heaven and earth," observes Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius XI, "is not the Church at prayer! For centuries without interruption, from midnight to midnight, the divine psalmody of the inspired canticles is repeated on earth; there is no hour of the day that is not hallowed by its special Liturgy; there is no stage of human life that has not its part in the thanksgiving, praise, supplication and reparation of this common prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ which is His Church!" (Litt. Encycl. Caritate Christi d. d. III Maii a. MCMXXXII.)

Revival of Liturgical Studies

4. You are of course familiar with the fact, Venerable Brethren, that a remarkably widespread revival of scholarly interest in the Sacred Liturgy took place towards the end of the last century (1800's) and has continued through the early years of this one. The movement owed its rise to commendable private intiative and more particularly to the zealous and persistent labor of several Monasteries within the distinguished Order of Saint Benedict. Thus there developed in this field among many European nations and in lands beyond the seas as well, a rivalry as welcome as it was productive of results. Indeed, the salutary fruits of this rivalry among the scholars were plain for all to see, both in the sphere of the Sacred Sciences, where the Liturgical Rites of the Western and Eastern Church were made the object of extensive research and profound study, and in the spiritual life of considerable numbers of individual Christians.
5. The majestic Ceremonies of the Sacrifice of the Altar became better known, understood and appreciated. With more widespread and more frequent reception of the Sacraments, the Worship of the Eucharist came to be regarded for what it really is: the Fountainhead of genuine Christian Devotion. Bolder relief was given likewise to the fact that all the faithful make up a single and very compact body with Christ for its Head, and that the Christian community is in duty bound to participate in the Liturgical Rites according to their station.

Provision of the Holy See for Liturgical Worship

6. You are surely well aware that this Apostolic See has always made careful provision for the schooling of the people committed to its charge in the correct spirit and practice of the Liturgy; and that it has been no less careful to insist that the Sacred Rites should be performed with due external dignity. In this connection We Ourselves in the course of Our Traditional address to the Lenten Preachers of this gracious City of Rome in 1943, urged them warmly to exhort their respective hearers to more faithful participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Only a short while previously, with the design of rendering the prayers of the Liturgy more correctly understood and their truth and unction more easy to perceive, We arranged to have the Book of Psalms, which forms such an important part of these prayers in the Catholic Church, translated once more into Latin from their original text. (Cf. Litt. Ap. Motu Proprio In cotidianis precibus d. d. XXIV Martii a. MCMXXXXV.)
7. But while We derive no little satisfaction from the wholesome results of the movement just described, duty obliges Us to give serious attention to this "revival" as it is advocated in some quarters, and to take proper steps to preserve it at the outset from excess or outright perversion.

Deficiencies of some . . . Exaggerations of others

8.   Indeed, though We are sorely grieved to note,on the one hand, that there are places where the spirit, understanding or practice of the Sacred Liturgy is defective, or all but inexistent. We observe with considerable anxiety and some misgiving, that elsewhere certain enthusiasts, over eager in their search for novelty, are straying beyond the path of sound Doctrine and prudence. Not seldom, in fact, they interlard their plans and hopes for a revival of the Sacred Liturgy with principles which compromise this holiest of causes in theory or practice, and sometimes even taint it with errors touching Catholic Faith and ascetical Doctrine.
9.   Yet the integrity of Faith and Morals ought to be the special criterion of this Sacred Science, which must conform exactly to what the Church out of the abundance of her Wisdom teaches and prescribes. It is consequently Our prerogative to commend and approve whatever is done properly, and to check or censure any aberration from the path of truth and rectitude.
10.   Let not the apathetic or half-hearted imagine, however, that We agree with them when We reprove the erring and restrain the overbold. No more must the imprudent think that We are commending them when We correct the faults of those who are negligent and sluggish.
11.   If in this Encyclical Letter We treat chiefly of the Latin Liturgy, it is not because We esteem less highly the venerable Liturgies of the Eastern Church, whose ancient and honorable Ritual Traditions are just as dear to Us. The reason lies rather in a special situation prevailing in the Western Church, of sufficient importance, it would seem, to require this exercise of Our Authority.
12.   With docile hearts, then, let all Christians hearken to the voice of their Common Father, who would have them, each and every one, intimately united with him as they approach the Altar of God, professing the same faith, obedient to the same law, sharing in the same Sacrifice with a single intention and one sole desire. This is a duty imposed, of course, by the honor due to God. But the needs of our day and age demand it as well. After a long and cruel war which has rent whole peoples asunder with its rivalry and slaughter, men of good will are spending themselves in the effort to find the best possible way to restore peace to the world. It is, notwithstanding, Our belief that no plan or initiative can offer better prospect of success than that fervent religious spirit and zeal by which Christians must be formed and guided; in this way their common and whole-hearted acceptance of the same truth, along with their united obedience and loyalty to their appointed Pastors while rendering to God the Worship due to Him, makes of them one brotherhood: "for we, being many, are one Body: all that partake of one Bread." (1 Cor., 10:17.)

PART I

THE NATURE, SOURCE AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE LITURGY

I. THE LITURGY IS PUBLIC WORSHIP

To Honor God: The duty of individuals

13. It is unquestionably the fundamental duty of man to orientate his person and his life towards God. "For He it is to Whom we must first be bound, as to an unfailing principle; to Whom even our free choice must be directed as to an ultimate objective. It is He, too, Whom we lose when carelessly we sin. It is He Whom we must recover by our faith and trust." (S. Thom., Summa Theol., II-II, q. LXXXI, art. 1.) But man turns properly to God when he acknowledges His Supreme Majesty and Supreme Authority; when he accepts divinely revealed truths with a submissive mind; when he scrupulously obeys divine Law, centering in God his every act and aspiration; when he accords, in short, due Worship to the One True God by practicing the virtue of Religion.

The duty of the community

14. This duty is incumbent, first of all, on men as individuals. But it also binds the whole community of human beings,grouped together by mutual social ties: mankind,too, depends on the sovereign Authority of God.
15. It should be noted, moreover, that men are bound by this obligation in a special way in virtue of the fact that God has reaised them to the supernatural order.
16. Thus we observe that when God institutes the Old Law, He makes provision besides for Sacred Rites, and determines in exact detail the Rules to be observed by His people in rendering Him the Worship He ordains. To this end He established various kinds of sacrifice and designated the Ceremonies with which they were to be offered to Him. His enactments on all matters relating to the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple and the Holy Days are minute and clear. He established a sacerdotal tribe with its high Priest, selected and described the Vestments with which the Sacred Ministers were to be clothed and every function in any way pertaining to divine Worship. (Cf. Lib. Livitici.) Yet, this was nothing more than a faint foreshadowing (Cf. Hebr., 10:1.) of the Worship which the High Priest of the New Testament was to render to the Father in Heaven.

Honor given to the Father
by the Incarnate Word . . . on Earth

17. No sooner, in fact, "is the Word made flesh" (Ioan., 1:14.) than He shows Himself to the world vested with a Priestly Office, making to the Eternal Father an act of submission which will continue uninterruptedly as long as He lives: "When He cometh into the world He saith . . . 'behold I come . . . to do Thy will'." (Hebr., 10:5-7.) This act He was to consummate admirably in the Bloody Sacrifice of the Cross: "In which 'will' we are sanctified by the Oblation of the Body of Jesus Christ once." (Ibidem, 10:10.) He plans His active life among men with no other purpose in view. As a Child He is presented to the Lord in the Temple. To the Temple He returns as a grown Boy, and often afterwards to instruct the people and to pray; He fasts for forty days before beginning His public Ministry; His counsel and example summon all to prayer, daily and at night as well. As Teacher of the truth He "enlighteneth every man" (Ioan, 1:9.) to the end that mortals may duly acknowledge the immortal God, "not withdrawing unto perdition, but faithful to the saving of the soul." (Hebr. 10:39.) As Shepherd He watches over His flock, leads it to life-giving pasture, and lays down a Law that none shall wander from His side, off the straight path He has pointed out, and that all shall lead holy lives imbued with His Spirit and moved by His active aid. At the Last Supper He celebrates a New Pasch with Solemn Rite and Ceremonial, and provides for its continuance through the divine institution of the Eucharist. On the morrow, lifted up between Heaven and earth, He offers the saving Sacrifice of His Life, and pours forth, as it were, from His pierced Heart the Sacraments destined to impart the treasures of Redemption to the souls of men. All this He does with but a single aim: the glory of His Father and man's ever greater sanctification.

. . . in Heaven

18. But it is His will, besides, that the Worship He instituted and practiced during His Life on earth shall continue ever afterwards without any intermission. For He has not left mankind an orphan. He still offers us the support of His Powerful, unfailing intercession, acting as our "advocate with the Father." (Cf. 1 Ioan., 2:1.) He aids us likewise through His Church, where He is present indefectibly as the ages run their course; through the Church which He constituted "the pillar of truth," (Cf. 1 Tim., 3:15.) and dispenser of Grace, and which, by His Sacrifice on the Cross, He founded, Consecrated and confirmed forever. (Cf. Bonif. IX, Ab origine mundi, d. d. II Ian. a. MCCCXCI; Callist. III, Summus Pontifex, d. d. XXII Apr. MCCCCLIX; Innoc. XI, Triumphans Pastor, d. d. III Oct. a. MDCLXXVIII.)

In union with Christ,
the Church continues to Honor God

19. The Church has, therefore, in common with the Word Incarnate the aim, the obligation and the function of teaching all men the truth, of governing and directing them aright, of offering to God the pleasing and acceptable Sacrifice; in the way the Church reestablishes between the Creator and His creatures that unity and harmony to which the Apostle of the Gentiles alludes in these words: "Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and domestics of God, built upon the Foundations of the Apostles and the Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone: in Whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into a holy Temple in the Lord, in Whom you also are built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit." (Ephes., 2:19-22.) Thus the society founded by the Divine redeemer, whether in her Doctrine and Government, or in the Sacrifice and Sacraments instituted by Him, or finally, in the Ministry, which He has confided to her charge with the outpouring of His prayer and the shedding of His Blood, has no other goal or purpose than to increase ever in strength and unity.
20. This result is in fact achieved when Christ lives and thrives, as it were, in the hearts of men, and when men's hearts in turn are fashioned and expanded as though by Christ. This makes it possible for the Sacred Temple, where the Divine Majesty receives the acceptable Worship which His Law prescribes, to increase and prosper day by day in this land of exile on earth. Along with the Church, therefore, her divine Founder is present at every Liturgical function: Christ is present at the august Sacrifice of the Altar both in the person of His Minister and above all under the Eucharistic Species. He is present in the Sacraments, infusing into them the power which makes them ready instruments of Sanctification. He is present finally in the prayer of praise and petition we direct to God, as it is written: "Where there are two or three gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matth., 18:20.) The Sacred Liturgy is consequently the public Worship which our Redeemer as Head of the Church renders to the Father as well as the Worship which the community of the faithful renders to its Founder, and through Him to the Heavenly Father. It is, in short, the Worship rendered by the Mystical Body of Christ in the entirety of its Head and members.

Historical beginnings of the Sacred Liturgy

21. Liturgical practice begins with the very founding of the Church. The first Christians, in fact, "were persevering in the Doctrine of the Apostles and in the communication of the breaking of Bread and in prayers." (Act., 2:42.) Whenever their Pastors can summon a little group of the faithful together, they set up an Altar on which they proceed to offer the Sacrifice, and around which are ranged all the other Rites appropriate for the saving of souls and for the Honor due to God. Among these latter Rites, the first place is reserved for the Sacraments, namely the Seven Principal Founts of Salvation. There follows the Celebration of the Divine Praises in which the faithful also join, obeying the behest of the Apostle Paul: "In all Wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Canticles, singing in Grace in your hearts to God." (Coloss., 3:16.) Next comes the reading of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel and the Apostolic Epistles; and last of all the Homily or Sermon in which the Official Head of the Congregation recalls and explains the practical bearing of the Commandments of the Divine Master and the chief events of His Life, combining instruction with appropriate exhortation and illustration for the benefit of all his listeners.

Its organization and developments

22. As circumstances and the needs of the Christians warrant, public Worship is organized, developed and enriched by new Rites, Ceremonies and Regulations, always with the singular end in view: "that we may use these external Signs to keep us alert, learn from them what distance we have come along the road, and by them be heartened to go on further with more eager step; for the effect will be more precious the warmer the affection which precedes it." (S. Augustin., Epist. 130, ad Probam, 18.) Here then is a better and more suitable way to raise the heart to God. Thenceforth the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is a living and continuous reality through all the ages to the end of time, since the Liturgy is nothing more nor less than the exercise of this Priestly function. Like her divine Head, the Church is forever present in the midst of her children. She aids and exhorts them to Holiness, so that they may one day return to the Father in Heaven clothed with that beauteous raiment of the supernatural. To all who are born to life on earth she gives a second, supernatural kind of birth. She arms them with the Holy Ghost for the struggle against the implacable enemy. She gathers all Christians about her Altars, inviting and urging them repeatedly to take part in the Celebration of the Mass, feeding them with the Bread of Angels to make them ever stronger. She purifies and consoles the hearts that sin has wounded and soiled. Solemnly she Consecrates those whom God has called to the Priestly Ministry. She fortifies with new Gifts of Grace the chaste Nuptials of those who are destined to found and bring up a Christian family. When at last she has soothed and refreshed the closing hours of this earthly life by Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction, with the utmost affection she accompanies the mortal remains of her children to the grave, lays them reverently to rest, and confides them to the protection of the Cross, against the day when they will triumph over death and rise again. She has a further Solemn blessing and invocation for those of her children who dedicate themselves to the service of God in the life of Religious perfection. Finally, she extends to the souls in Purgatory who implore her intercession and her prayers the helping hand which may lead them happily at last to eternal blessedness in Heaven.

II. THE LITURGY IS EXTERIOR AND
INTERIOR WORSHIP

Exterior Worship

23. The Worship rendered by the Church to God must be, in its entirety, Interior as well as Exterior. It is Exterior because the nature of man as a composite body and soul requires it to be so. Likewise, because Divine Providence has disposed that "while we recognize God visibly, we may be drawn by Him to love of things unseen." (Missale Rom., Praef. Nativ.) Every impulse of the human heart, besides, expresses itself naturally through the senses; and the Worship of God, being the concern not merely of individuals but of the whole community of mankind, must therefore be social as well. This obviously it cannot be unless Religious activity is also organized and manifested outwardly. Exterior Worship finally, reveals and emphasizes the Unity of the Mystical body, feeds new fuel to its holy zeal, fortifies its energy, intensifies its action day by day: "for although the Ceremonies themselves can claim no perfection or sanctity in their own right, they are, nevertheless, the outward acts of Religion, designed to rouse the heart, like signals of a sort, to veneration of the sacred realities, and to raise the mind to meditation on the Supernatural. They serve to foster Piety, to kindle the flame of Charity, to increase our Faith and deepen our Devotion. They provide instruction for simple folk, decoration for divine Worship, continuity of Religious practice. They make it possible to tell genuine Christians from their false or heretical counterparts." (I. Card. Bona, De Divina Psalmodia, cap. 19, SS III, 1.)

But it is especially Interior Worship

24. But the chief element of divine Worship must be Interior. For we must always live in Christ and give ourselves to Him completely, so that in Him, with Him and through Him the Heavenly Father may be duly glorified. The Sacred Liturgy requires, however, that both of these elements be intimately linked with each other. This recommendation the Liturgy itself is careful to repeat, as often as it prescribes an Exterior act of Worship. Thus we are urged, when there is question of fasting, for example "to give Interior effect to our Outward Observance." (Missale Rom., Secreta feriae V post Dom. II Quadrag.) Otherwise Religion clearly amounts to mere formalism, without meaning and without content. You recall, Venerable Brethren, how the Divine Master expels from the Sacred Temple, as unworthy to Worship there, people who pretend to honor God with nothing but neat and well-turned phrases, like actors in a theater, and think themselves perfectly capable of working out their eternal salvation without plucking their inveterate vices from their hearts. (Cf. Marc., 7:6 et Is., 29:13.) It is, therefore, the keen desire of the Church that all of the faithful Kneel at the Feet of the Redeemer to tell Him how much they venerate and love Him. She wants them present in crowds--like the children whose joyous cries accompanied His entry into Jerusalem--to sing their Hymns and chant their song of Praise and Thanksgiving to Him Who is King of Kings and Source of every Blessing. She would have them move their lips in prayer, sometimes in petition, sometimes in joy and gratitude, and in this way experience His merciful aid and Power like the Apostles at the lakeside of Tiberias, or abandon themselves totally, like Peter on Mount Thabor, to mystic union with the Eternal God in Contemplation.

Exaggeration of the external element

25. It is an error consequently and a mistake to think of the Sacred Liturgy as merely the outward or visible part of divine Worship or as an ornamental Ceremonial. No less erroneous is the notion that it consists solely in a list of Laws and Prescriptions according to which the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy orders the Sacred Rites to be performed.
26. It should be clear to all, then, that God cannot be honored worthily unless the mind and heart turn to Him in quest of the perfect life, and the Worship rendered to God by the Church in union with her divine Head is the most efficacious means of achieving sanctity.
27. This efficacy, where there is question of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Sacraments, derives first of all and principally from the act itself (ex opere operato). But if one considers the part which the Immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ takes in the action, embellishing the Sacrifice and Sacraments with prayer and Sacred Ceremonies, or if one refers to the "Sacramentals" and the other Rites instituted by the Hierarchy of the Church, then its effectiveness is due rather to the action of the Church (ex opere operantis Ecclessiae), inasmuch as she is Holy and acts always in closest union with her Head.

New theories on "Objective Piety"

28.   In this connection, Venerable Brethren, We desire to direct your attention to certain recent theories touching a so-called "Objective" Piety. While these theories attempt, it is true, to throw light on the mystery of the Mystical Body, on the effective reality of Sanctifying Grace, on the action of God in the Sacraments and in the Mass, it is nonetheless apparent that they tend to belittle, or pass over in silence, what they call "Subjection," or "Personal" Piety.
29.   It is an unquestionable fact that the work of our Redemption is continued, and that its Fruits are imparted to us, during the Celebration of the Liturgy, notably in the august Sacrifice of the Altar. Christ acts each day to save us, in the Sacraments and in His Holy Sacrifice. By means of them He is constantly atoning for the sins of mankind, constantly Consecrating it to God. Sacraments and Sacrifice do, then, possess that "Objective" Power to make us really and personally sharers in the Divine Life of Jesus Christ. Not from any ability of our own, but by the Power of God, are they endowed with the capacity to unite the Piety of members with that of the Head, and to make this, in a sense, the action of the whole community. From these profound considerations some are led to conclude that all Christian Piety must be centered in the Mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ, with no regard for what is "Personal" or "Subjective," as they would have it. As a result they feel that all other Religious Exercises not directly connected with the Sacred Liturgy and performed outside public Worship, should be omitted.
30.   But though the Principles set forth above are excellent, it must be plain to everyone that the conclusions drawn from them respecting the two sorts of Piety are false, insidious, and quite pernicious.

Necessity of Personal Piety

31. Very truly, the Sacraments and the Sacrifice of the Altar, being Christ's own actions, must be held to be capable in themselves of conveying and dispensing Grace from the Divine Head to the members of the Mystical Body. But if they are to produce their proper effect, it is absoluitely necessary that our hearts be rightly disposed to receive them. Hence the warning of Paul the Apostle with reference to Holy Communion: "But let a man first prove himself; and then let him eat of this Bread and drink of the Chalice." (1 Cor., 11:28.) This explains why the Church in a brief and significant phrase calls the various acts of Mortification, especially those practiced during the season of Lent, "the Christian army's defenses." (Missale Rom., Feria IV Cinserum:: orat. post imposit., cinerum.) They represent, in fact, the personal effort and activity of members who desire, as Grace urges and aids them, to join forces with their Captain--"that we may discover... in our Captain," to borrow Saint Augustine's words, "the Fountain of Grace itself." (De praedestinatione sanctorum, 31.) But observe that these Members are alive, endowed and equipped with an intelligence and will of their own. It follows that they are strictly required to put their oun lips to the Fountain, imbibe and absorb for themselves the the life-giving Water, and rid themselves personally of anything that might hinder its nutritive effect in their souls. Emphatically, therefore, the work of Redemption, which in itself is independent of our will, requires a serious Interior effort on our part if we are to achieve Eternal Salvation.

Necessity of Meditation and Spiritual Excercises

32. If the Private and Interior Devotion of individuals were to neglect the august Sacrifice of the Altar and the Sacraments, and to withdraw them from the stream of vital energy that flows from Head to members, it would indeed be sterile, and deserves to be condemned. But when Devotional Exercises, and pious practices in general, not strictly connected with the Sacred Liturgy, confine themselves to merely human acts, with the express purpose of directing these latter to the Father in Heaven, of rousing people to repentance and holy fear of God, of weaning them from seductions of the world and its vice, and leading them back to the difficult path of perfection, then certainly such practices are not only highly praiseworthy but absolutely indispensable; because they expose the dangers threatening the Spiritual Life; they promote the acquisition of Virtue, and because they increase the fervor and generosity with which we are bound to dedicate all that we are and all that we have to the service of Jesus Christ. Genuine and real Piety, which the Angelic Doctor calls "Devotion," and which is the principal act of the Virtue of Religion--that act which correctly relates and fitly directs men to God and by which they freely and spontaneously give themselves to the Worship of God in its fullest sense (Cf. S. Thom., Summa Theol., II-II, q. LXXXII, a. 1.) --Piety of this authentic sort needs meditation on the Supernatural Realities and Spiritual Exercises, if it is to be nurtured, stimulated and sustained, and if it is to prompt us to lead a more perfect life. For the Christian Religion, practiced as it should be, demands that the Will especially be Consecrated to God and exert its influence on all the other Spiritual Faculties. But every act of the will presupposes an act of the intelligence, and before one can express the desire and the intention of offering oneself in Sacrifice to the Eternal Godhead, a knowledge of the facts and truths which make Religion a Duty is altogether necessary. One must first know, for instance, man's last end and the Supremacy of the Divine Majesty; after that, our common duty of submission to our Creator; and finally the inexhaustible Treasures of Love with which God yearns to enrich us, as well as the necessity of Supernatural Grace for the achievement of our destiny, and that special path marked out for us by Divine Providence in virtue of the fact that we have been united one and all, like members of a body, to Jesus Christ the Head. But further, since our hearts, disturbed as they are at times by the lower appetites, do not always respond to motives of love, it is also extremely helpful to let consideration and contemplation of the Justice of God provoke us on occasion to salutary fear, and guide us thence to Christian Humility, Repentance and Amendment.

The Concrete Results of Piety

33. But it will not do to possess these facts and truths after the fashion of an abstract memory lesson or lifeless commentary. They must lead to practical results. They must impel us to subject our senses and their faculties to Reason, as illuminated by the Catholic Faith. They must help to cleanse and purify the heart uniting it to Christ more intimately every day, growing ever more in His Likeness, and drawing from Him the Divine Inspiration and Strength of which it stands in need. They must serve as increasingly effective incentives to action; urging men to produce good fruit, to perform their individual duties faithfully, to give themselves eagerly to the regular practice of their Religion and the energetic exercise of Virtue. "You are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (Cf. 1 Cor., 3:23.) Let everything, therefore, have its proper place and arrangement; let everything be "Theocentric" so to speak, if we really wish to direct everything to the Glory of God through the Life and Power which flows from the Divine Head into our hearts: "Having therefore, Brethren, a confidence in the entering into the Holies by the Blood of Christ, a new and living way which He both Dedicated for us through the Veil, that is to say, His Flesh, and a High Priest over the House of God; let us draw near with a true heart, in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with clean water, let us hold fast the confession of our Hope without wavering ... and let us consider one another, to provoke unto Charity and to good Works." (Hebr., 10:19-24.)

Harmony and Equilibrium
Among the Members of the Mystical Body

34. Here is the source of the harmony and equilibrium which prevails among the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. When the Church teaches us our Catholic Faith and exhorts us to obey the Commandments of Christ, she is paving a way for her Priestly, Sanctifying Action in its highest sense; she disposes us likewise for more serious meditation on the Life of the Divine Redeemer and guides us to a profounder knowledge of the Mysteries of Faith where we may draw the Supernatural Sustenance, strength and vitality that enable us to progress safely, through Christ, towards a more perfect life. Not only through her Ministers, but with the help of the faithful individually, who have imbibed in this fashion the Spirit of Christ, the Church endeavors to permeate with this same Spirit the life and labors of men--their private and family life, their social, even economic and political life--that all who are called God's children may reach more readily the end He has proposed for them.
35. Such action on the part of individual Christians, then, along with the ascetic effort prompting them to purify their hearts, actually stimulates in the faifhful those energies which enable them to participate in the august Sacrifice of the Altar with better dispositions. They now can receive the Sacraments with more abundant fruit, and come from the Celebration of the Sacred Rites more eager, more firmly resolved to pray and deny like Christians, to answer the inspirations and invitation of Divine Grace and to imitate daily more closely, the Virtues of our Redeemer. And all of this not simply for their own advantage, but for that of the whole Church, where whatever good is accomplished proceeds from the power of her Head and redounds to the advancement of all her members.

Agreement Between
Divine Action and Human Cooperation

36. In the Spiritual LIfe, consequently, there can be no opposition between the action of God, Who pours forth His Grace into men's hearts so that the work of the Redemption may always abide, and the tireless collaboration of man, who must not render vain the Gift of God. (Cf. 2 Cor., 6:1.) No more can the efficacy of the external administration of the Sacraments, which comes from the Rite itself (ex opere operato), be opposed to the meritorious action of their Ministers or recipients, which we call the agent's action (opus operantis). Similarly, no conflict exists between public prayer and prayers in private, between morality and contemplation, between the Ascetical life and Devotion to the Liturgy. Finally there is no opposition between the Jurisdiction and Teaching Office of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and the specifically Priestly Power exercised in the Sacred Ministry.
37. Considering their special designation to perform the Liturgical Functions of the Holy Sacrifice and Divine Office, the Church has serious reasons for prescribing that the Ministers she assigns to the service of the Sanctuary and members of Religious Institutes betake themselves at stated times to mental prayer, to examination of conscience, and to various other spiritual exercises. (Cf. C. I. C., can. 125, 126, 565, 571, 595, 1367.) Unquestionably Liturgical Prayer, being the public supplication of the illustrious Spouse of Jesus Christ, is superior in excellence to private prayers. But this superior worth does not at all imply contrast or incompatibility between these two kinds of prayer. For both merge harmoniously in the single spirit which animates them: "Christ is all and in all." (Coloss., 3:11.) Both tend to the same objective: until Christ be formed in us. (Cf. Gal., 4:19.)

(Since this is such a long Encyclical I am putting it in six files -- to read on click on the CONTINUE link below. If you wish to save this Encyclical to your computer you will have to save each file separately and be sure to save them html files so you don't lose the pictures)

Secttion II
Section III
Section IV
Section V
Section VI