In liturgy, the Church, as one body, prays in one voice to God. This is the greatest role of the Church in my opinion. The Catechism speaks of the primacy of the conscience and while the Church has a very large role in helping us develop our conscience, it is only that: a helping role. Private and public devotions– rosaries, chaplets, scapulars, praise and worship, etc&emdash; are confirmed and promoted by the Chruch in many cases.
The Liturgy, however, is something maintained by the Church. Its growth and evolution is molded by the Church. It is uniform throughout the world; even when rites, languages or motions differ, the Liturgy is still uniform through the action of the minister of God acting on behalf of God. It is the Church's duty and obligation to perserve the Liturgy.
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, speaking before his election, said "The real 'action' in the liturgy in which we are all supposed to participate is the action of God himself. This is what is new and distinctive about the Christian liturgy: God himself acts and does what is essential."
In the Sacraments, for most of us, it is evident how God is the actor. In Baptism, the waters of new life wash away our sins. God as the Son and Savior of the World frees us from our sins. This is the same as in Reconciliation. Through the absolution spoken by the priest on the behalf of the Christ, Christ frees us from what binds us.
In Confirmation, God as the Holy Spirit decends to us and we receive his spirit. In Holy Communion, through the sacred duty of the priest, God makes himself present physically with us and allows us to join him in full communion.
In the Anointing of the Sick, God sends us his healing spirit to give us the spiritual strength to get us beyond our illness or injury, and when He wills it, He heals our physical bodies. In Holy Orders, God leaves a mark on the soul of the man being ordained, enabling him to act in His name through the other sacraments. Lastly, in Matrimony, God joins the man and woman into one flesh in accordance with the divine plan He first envisioned with Adam and Eve.
Even outside of the Sacraments, God is the actor within Liturgy. The Liturgy of the Hours, the official prayer of the Church, is God acting in two ways. First, through his interaction with the Church, he guides her on setting the texts, readings, psalms and hymns that will guide us on hearing His voice. Second, the Word speaks directly to us.
What about prayer you ask? Isn't this true with almost all prayer, that being God as an actor? Can't we read the Bible on our own without the aid of the Liturgy? What makes one different?
Through individual or group prayer, God acts within our own context. My prayer to God and his response is an interaction only between God and me. That's very important. Liturgy is dead without a community of people personally engaged with the Living Christ according to their own contexts. However, Liturgy is the Church's prayer to God and his response to the entire Mystical Body of Christ.
For sometime, a friend and I would pray Night Prayer together over the phone. Night Prayer is a very simple and short Office. An opening and a response:
God, come to my assistance.
–Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
–as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen
An examination of conscience, like the ones that can be used during Mass, and a hymn follow. We pray a psalm. We read a reading. We proclaim the Gospel. For Night Prayer, the Canticle of Simeon is always used. We close in prayer and follow with a prayer in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
I felt more comfortable leading and so I usually did. She commented that I always led it not like it was just her and me, but if I was leading an entire large group.
Isn't that what I was doing?
The prayer that the two of us were lifting toward the heaven is the same prayer that was being lifted across the globe. God is not limited by time or space. There were probably millions of people praying the same prayer. We were all acting as one. Sure, I was leading two people in prayer, since we are still limited by time or place, but we weren't the only ones in the same prayer.
Liturgy is the heart of the Church. Each liturgical act is another pumping action bringing the grace of God into the world and resting it upon the souls of the faithful. It is as vital to us as our own biological hearts.
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