On the Holy Liturgy

“The Church’s Liturgy may, therefore, be considered as a sacred poem, in the framing of which both heaven and earth have taken part, and by which our humanity, redeemed in the blood of the Lamb without spot, rises on the wings of the Spirit even unto the throne of God himself.  This is more than a mere aspiration, for the sacred Liturgy not only shows forth and expresses the ineffable and the divine, but also, by means of the sacraments and of its forms of prayer, develops and fulfills the supernatural in the souls of the faithful, to whom it communicates the grace of redemption.  It may even be said that the very source of the holiness of the Church is fully contained in her Liturgy; for, without the holy sacraments, the Passion of our Lord, in the existing dispensation instituted by almighty God, would have no efficacy in us, since there would be no channels capable of conveying its treasures to our souls.”

Ildefonso Schuster (1880-1954), an early participant in the liturgical reform in the church of Rome.   In Schuster, Ildefonso, The Sacramentary (Liber Sacramentorum): Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal.  Trans. Arthur Levelis-Marke.  Burnes Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1924, reprinted in 2020 by Waterloo, Ontario: Arouca Press. (3).