"The primary and exclusive aim of the liturgy is not the expression of the individual’s reverence and worship for God. It is not even concerned with the awakening, formation, and sanctification of the individual soul as such...
"The liturgy is the Church’s public and lawful act of worship, and it is performed and conducted by the officials whom the Church herself has designated for the post — her priests. In the liturgy God is to be honored by the body of the faithful, and the latter is in its turn to derive sanctification from this act of worship. It is important that this objective nature of the liturgy should be fully understood."
Joseph Ratzinger:
"For Christians, then, “rite” means the practical arrangements made by the community, in time and space, for the basic type of worship received from God in faith."
"What is important is that the great forms of rite [as found in history] embrace many cultures. They not only incorporate the diachronic [time and place, always and once for all …More