Good and Bad Liturgy

"Good Celebrations foster and nourish faith. Poor Celebrations may weaken and destroy it."

These sentences (quoting American bishops) imply who liturgy is for and what effect it has on us. Simply put, liturgy is for us. This seems obvious since we are the assembly. However, sometimes people act as if liturgy is something we do for God. This makes a difference. We don't do liturgy because it somehow is divinely ordained to be particularly pleasing to God if we do it in a particular way. God appreciates our efforts, we're sure. But the primary reason we do liturgy is because it seems to have some useful purpose in our own lives.

Also, the above sentences imply that liturgy forms us. Particular forms of liturgy turn us, over the long haul, into particular kinds of Christians. 

People usually evaluate a liturgy they've experienced by "how it made them feel at the time."  How we feel about liturgy is important, and there are several measures we use to determine whether it was effective. (A liturgy that we find alienating is unlikely to have much positive effect on us.) But what is the true measuring stick for good liturgy? Our liturgies should be evaluated  by our actions rather than by our feeling.

Everything we try to do in liturgy, we do to turn us into better Christians, better disciples, more active participants in the Life of Jesus. "Good" liturgy, over time, does that. "Bad" liturgy somehow fails to.
As Catholic Christians, we have liturgical traditions that can shape us into committed, engaged people of prayer and action. It is the objective of the Liturgy Committee to maintain those traditions however complex that process may be.

The Sacrament is not exclusively for those who are at the point of death but more for those who are seriously ill.  Those who are encouraged to receive the Sacrament are those who are at the point of death because of sickness, accident or old age; those who are seriously ill but death is not imminent; those undergoing major surgery; elderly who are debilitated by old age; people with serious heart conditions; people with severe psychological problems; and those with alcoholic and other drug additions.

If you are someone for whom the Sacrament is intended, plan to attend this celebration.  If you know of someone who is usually unable to attend Mass, make an effort to accompany them.  If you need transportation to Church for this celebration, call the office and arrangements can be made.