What is the Purpose of Liturgy?
“Encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11.
This week I have been reflecting a lot about what is the “purpose” of Liturgy. As many of you know, I lead Evening Prayer every Sunday on YouTube at 4:00PM. This “liturgy” developed out of monastic life in the Middle Ages, when religious communities would literally stop whatever they were doing in their day to read the Scriptures and pray.
Why would people who already committed their full life’s work to the cause of Christ feel the need to stop whatever they were doing to participate in a liturgical prayer ritual? They lived in a monastery. Didn’t they have enough God in their life?
Probably not! It is all too easy as a human being to become wrapped up in the littleness of life. Our minds can get fixated on fears about a myriad of ways our “survival” may be threatened by something someone else said, or an issue that comes up in our work-life that we fear may threaten our financial well-being.
As Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs demonstrates that until we feel that our basic survival needs are met, we cannot focus our minds on the higher-order element of “Self-actualization”. If we fear that our needs for food, shelter, safety, and belonging are not being met, whether that fear is founded in reality or not, we cannot move our minds and hearts to the spiritual realm.
Incorporating liturgy into our daily routine helps us step outside of situations that activate our “fight-or-flight” response, whether real or imagined. Liturgy helps us access the higher-order thoughts and feelings that can connect us to God. I believe that is why the religious communities of antiquity developed the system of the Divine Office. Even as people living out their call from God, they knew that it was far too easy to fall into “survival-mode,” and not act in accord with the call of Christ. Stopping to participate in short liturgies throughout the day enabled them to “encourage one another, agree with one another, and live in peace,” as St. Paul instructed in his letter to the Corinthians. When they were able to live-out that instruction, then they were able to experience the “love of God and peace” within their individual hearts, and in their community.
We can do that too! As we go back to the work-week on Monday, I encourage us all to find short little ways to incorporate liturgy in our lives. Whether you: hum along with a chant tune or hymn that you put on Spotify for three minutes; or pray out loud a “Hail Mary” and an “Our Father” while you are driving from one place to the next; or take a minute before you go to work in the morning to read the Psalm of the day that the USCCB puts out online. Any of these things can help lift you out of survival-mode and closer to self-actualization. Little daily acts of liturgy can truly help you feel the love and peace of God in your life.
