{"id":1171,"date":"2012-09-26T16:42:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T16:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/"},"modified":"2012-09-26T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T16:42:00","slug":"the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/","title":{"rendered":"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is in the liturgy that we \u2018lift up our hearts,\u2019 opening ourselves to the word of God as we gather with our brethren in a prayer which rises within us, and which is directed to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit,\u201d the Pope said at his Sept. 26 general audience in St. Peter\u2019s Square.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAs the Second Vatican Council teaches, it is by means of the liturgy that Christ our Redeemer and High Priest continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church. This is the great marvel of the liturgy: God acts, while we are caught up in his action,\u201d the Pope said.<\/p>\n

\tHe offered his reflections as part of an ongoing weekly exploration of the role of prayer in the story of salvation.<\/p>\n

\tPope Benedict explained to the estimated 10,000 pilgrims present that the \u201cliturgy\u201d comes from the Greek meaning \u201cwork done by the people and for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe people in question are the \u201cnew People of God, brought into being by Christ\u201d through his passion, death and resurrection. This means it is a people \u201cwhich does not exist by itself and which is not bound by blood, territory or country, but is brought into being through the Paschal Mystery,\u201d the Pope noted.<\/p>\n

\tIt was almost a \u201cchance occurrence,\u201d he said, that the first document approved by the Second Vatican Council was the constitution on the sacred liturgy, \u201cSacrosanctum Concilium.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAmong the many projects, the text on the sacred liturgy seemed to be the least controversial, and, for this reason, is seen as an exercise in the methodology of conciliar work,\u201d he recalled. As a young priest and academic, Pope Benedict attended the Second Vatican Council as the chief theological advisor or \u201cperitus\u201d to Cardinal Joseph Frings of Cologne.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBut without a doubt,\u201d the Pope stated, \u201cwhat at first glance seemed a chance occurrence, proved to be the right choice, starting from the hierarchy of themes and most important tasks of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhere God\u2019s gaze is not decisive,\u201d he said, \u201ceverything else loses its direction.\u201d The basic criterion for the liturgy, therefore, \u201cis its orientation to God, so that we can share in his work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe requirement for a good liturgical celebration, he suggested, is both \u201cprayer and conversation with God, first listening and then answering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn that sense, the liturgy is the opposite of how we normally communicate, where internal thoughts usually precede the formulation of external speech.<\/p>\n

\tBut in the liturgy \u201cit is the inverse, the words come first,\u201d Pope Benedict said. \u201cGod gave us the Word and the Sacred Liturgy gives us the words, and we must enter into their meaning, welcome them within us, be in harmony with them. Thus we become children of God, similar to God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe explained that this means there should be a \u201ccorrelation between what we say with our lips and what we carry in our hearts.\u201d It is this relationship which is \u201cessential, fundamental, to our dialogue with God in the liturgy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWhen we experience the liturgy with this attitude, the Pope said, \u201cit is as if our heart is freed from the force of gravity, which drags it down, and from within rises upwards, towards truth and love, towards God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cDear friends,\u201d the Pope said as he drew to a close, \u201cwe celebrate and live the liturgy well only if we remain in an attitude of prayer, united to the Mystery of Christ and his dialogue as the Son with the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship. <\/p>\n

\t“It …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nThe liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.  “It ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.  “It ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-26T16:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/\",\"name\":\"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-26T16:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-26T16:42:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.  “It ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says","description":"Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.  “It ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says","og_description":"Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.  “It ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-09-26T16:42:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/","name":"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-26T16:42:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-26T16:42:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Vatican City, Sep 26, 2012 \/ 10:42 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict says that the public prayer of the Church, known as the liturgy, is a wonderful school of prayer which raises the human heart to God like no other form of worship.  “It ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/the-liturgy-raises-hearts-to-god-like-no-other-prayer-pope-says\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}