Pope: the Liturgy, "Precious Space" for "Ongoing Dialogue" Between God and Man

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At the general audience, Benedict XVI emphasizes that liturgy is "the action of God and man; prayer that comes from the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the Son of God." "The first requirement for a good liturgical celebration that is both prayer and conversation with God, first listen and then respond."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Liturgy is "precious space" for the "ongoing dialogue" between God and man, in which "God speaks to each of us and awaits our response." Continuing in his catechesis on the "Christian school of prayer", Benedict XVI's general audience today before more than 20 thousand people in St Peter's Square, was dedicated to the special space for that: The liturgy.

If the first "environment" in which "we can allow ourselves be formed by the Holy Spirit and thus able to turn toward God in the right way is Sacred Scripture, the liturgy is "another source closely tied" to it.

Liturgy, says the Catechism, is a word that comes from the Greek that means "service on behalf of the people " a people that does not exist by itself, but that has been formed through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. In fact, the People of God does not exist through ties of blood, territory or nation, but is always born from the work of the Son of God and communion with the Father that He obtains for us."

But: what is this work of God that we are called to participate in? The answer offered us by Conciliar Constitution on the sacred liturgy is apparently double. At number 5 it tells us, in fact, that the works of God are His historical actions that bring us salvation, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; but in number....