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170 • Part II. The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated
throughout our journey of faith. Fruitful reception of the Sacraments
presupposes the faith of the one who receives them. This faith is pre-
ceded by the faith of the Church (cf. CCC, no. 1124). We grow in holi-
ness, which is both personal and communal—a matter of personal sanc-
tity and of unity with the mission and holiness of the Church.
Jesus gave us the Sacraments to call us to worship God, to build up
the Church, to deepen our faith, to show us how to pray, to connect us
with the living Tradition of the Church, and to sanctify us. While God
works primarily through the Sacraments, he also touches us through
the community of the Church, through the lives of holy people, through
prayer, spirituality, and acts of love. But “for believers, the sacraments of
the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. . . . The fruit of the sacra-
mental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers of
the divine nature” (CCC, no. 1129).
LITURGY IS THE BODY OF CHRIST AT PRAYER
Liturgy is an action of the whole Christ. . . . Liturgical
services are not private functions but are celebrations of
the Church.
—CCC, nos. 1136, 1140
When it comes to celebrating the Sacraments, there are four questions that
need our attention: Who celebrates the liturgy? How is the liturgy cel-
ebrated? When is the liturgy celebrated? Where is the liturgy celebrated?
Who Celebrates?
The entire Body of Christ, animated by the Holy Spirit, celebrates the lit-
urgy. The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized. Liturgy
is not a matter of private prayer, but a public act of worship by the
faithful gathered together by the power of the Spirit under the author-
ity of the bishop, their teacher and shepherd. “Mother Church earnestly
desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious and active
participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very