Let’s wrap up Pope Pius’ examination of the Blessed Mother, and with it, Part III of this encyclical letter (MD 138-171) addressing the Liturgy of the Hours and the Liturgical Year:
170. Throughout this liturgical journey which begins anew for us each year under the sanctifying action of the Church, and strengthened by the help and example of the saints, especially of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, “let us draw near with a true heart, in fullness of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water,”[Heb. 10:22] let us draw near to the “High Priest”[Heb. 10:21] that with Him we may share His life and sentiments and by Him penetrate “even within the veil,”[Heb. 6:19] and there honor the heavenly Father for ever and ever.
Union with Christ is the constant goal of the Church’s liturgy:
171. Such is the nature and the object of the sacred liturgy: it treats of the Mass, the sacraments, the divine office; it aims at uniting our souls with Christ and sanctifying them through the divine Redeemer in order that Christ be honored and, through Him and in Him, the most Holy Trinity, Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
This aim will hardly ever change. But a thought occurs … If our eventual heavenly union with Christ is realized, what then will the goal of worship? Especially if the afterlife presents us with a perfect situation. Solely the adoration and honoring of the Trinity?
Mediator Dei is available on the Vatican web site here.
