The liturgy is a treasure: the German bishops remind the faithful of this in a pastoral letter read out in all parishes at the end of November. The document calls the liturgy “a precious treasure”, since it is a “festivity that interrupts our daily life”: it is the “celebration of our salvation”. It “inflames our heart and prepares us for our mission in the world”. The letter also underlines the liturgy’s missionary aspect: “we need to unite the main characteristics of the liturgy”, in other words, combine “the invitation, the meeting round Jesus Christ as head of the Church”, with “the witness of faith”. The bishops also point out that “the liturgy is the feast not of a single parish community, but of the whole Church. With the overcoming of the confines of the parish and in the common celebration of the liturgy, catholicity, all-inclusive unity may assume a symbolic value”. The letter also stresses “the particular significance of the eucharistic celebration”.
