Liturgy as Catechesis for Life Ostdiek.

Liturgy as Catechesis for Life

Gilbert Ostdiek

from: liturgical ministry 7 (Spring, 1998) 76-82

Notes

I. CATECHESIS AND LUTURGY

A Continuous Cycle

This vision was implemented in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, particularly in the often-quoted paragraph 75, which calls for an integrated formation in Christian life during the catechumenate period,
liturgy works through communicative signs
In a real sense, sacramental celebrations are "woven from signs and symbols" (CCC, §1145).
Symbols are rich, multivalent realities. They are not just objects; rather, they are actions in which those objects are put to use for the purpose of conveying a meaning beyond that of purely practical actions
The social sciences have alerted us to the fact that symbolic, ritualized actions such as table sharing are indeed a language that encodes our sense of who we are, what values we share, and how we fit together
Symbols, unlike more analytic and linear modes of expression, speak not just to the head, but to the whole person, especially the heart.
First, liturgy works, Kavanagh reminds us, by repetition and accumulation.17
Repetition, as an old saying has it, is the mother of learning.
Liturgy is a school in which we learn the habits of a Christian heart.