Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 192 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 192 - Part I. Can the Church also change and renew the liturgy?

(Youcat answer) There are changeable and unchangeable components of the liturgy. Unchangeable is everything that is of divine origin, for instance, the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. Then there are changeable parts, which the Church occasionally must change. After all, the mystery of Christ must be proclaimed, celebrated, and lived out at all times and in all places.    

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1200) From the first community of Jerusalem until the Parousia, it is the same Paschal mystery that the Churches of God, faithful to the apostolic faith, celebrate in every place. The mystery celebrated in the liturgy is one, but the forms of its celebration are diverse. (CCC 1209) The criterion that assures unity amid the diversity of liturgical traditions is fidelity to apostolic Tradition, i e., the communion in the faith and the sacraments received from the apostles, a communion that is both signified and guaranteed by apostolic succession.      

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Jesus effectively addressed the entire person: mind and understanding, heart and will. That is precisely what he wants to do today also in the liturgy. That is why it has different characteristics in Africa and in Europe, in nursing homes and at World Youth Days, and differs in appearance in parishes and monasteries. But it must still be recognizable that it is the one liturgy of the whole worldwide Church.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1201) The mystery of Christ is so unfathomably rich that it cannot be exhausted by its expression in any single liturgical tradition. The history of the blossoming and development of these rites witnesses to a remarkable complementarity. When the Churches lived their respective liturgical traditions in the communion of the faith and the sacraments of the faith, they enriched one another and grew in fidelity to Tradition and to the common mission of the whole Church (Cf. Paul VI, EN 63-64).      

(This question: Can the Church also change and renew the liturgy? is continued)