Aug

THE INFLUENCE OF ODO CASEL'S "DOCTRINE OF MYSTERIES" IN

SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

INTRODUCTION
Odo Casel is considered as a preeminent theologian of the Liturgy, as the
great father of the 20th century liturgical movement that led to the liturgical reform.
Actually his liturgical theology of mysteries is considered as the most fruitful
theological idea of the 20th century, and it had a great influence in the Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council. His
influence can be better seen in the controversy that arose during the redaction of
the Constitution regarding how the presence of Christ takes place in the liturgical
actions of the Church.[1]

ODO CASEL AND THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

The Liturgical Movement represents some of the most significant changes in

the Roman Catholic Church in the last few centuries.
The modern Liturgical Movement in Roman Catholicism is usually dated from
the time of Pope Pius X who, upon becoming pope in 1903, insisted that "the faithful
must be brought back to . . . active participation ... in the holy mysteries and in the
public and solemn prayer of the Church."[2]

Since that time most of the leaders of the Movement had been Benedictine.
Two centers stood out as especially notable: the Benedictine Abbey of Mont Csar in
Belgium where Dom Lambert Beauduin worked and the Benedictine Abbey of MariaLaach in Germany under the leadership of Abbot Ildefons Herwegen.[3]
The goals of the Liturgical Movement may be summarized as follows.
A change in the way the laity participated in the liturgy: from mute
spectators to full, active, intelligent participants. However, this movement toward
more active participation in the liturgy was seen as only one part of the movement
to renew the life of the Church.
A restoration of a biblical and patristic base to the Christian worship
and the Christian way of living as a Church. The biblical and patristic movements
produced new insights into the worship of the early Church and the close connection
between liturgy and life.
The liturgical pioneers found the connection between liturgy and life
in Mystical Body theology. How can we claim to be the Body of Christ at worship in
our churches if we are not the Body of Christ in action in the world?
The liturgical pioneers wanted to increase our awareness of sin and
the need for salvation, the need for faith something sorely needed in our highly
secularized world today. The scholastic approach to sin, salvation, and faith often
lacked the richness found in biblical and patristic times.
The liturgical pioneers sought to restore an awareness of the process
of conversion as a necessary part of the Rite of Christian Initiation. Simply baptizing
people was not enough to ensure active membership in the Church. There must be
a gradual process of questioning and seeking that ends in a personal desire for
initiation, a desire that is affirmed by the whole community.
The liturgical pioneers fostered the recognition of the connection
between initiation and ministry. Baptism involved a deputation for ministry. Ministry
was not something limited to the clergy. All of us share in the responsibility for
carrying on Christ's work in the world. In fact, that is precisely what we recommit
ourselves to each time we gather for Eucharist.
In short, the liturgical pioneers sought to renew the way we live as
Church, the way we relate to God and one another. Their goal was to re-invigorate
our faith and bring about a new Pentecost, a new reformation, a new birth of a
sense of Church that goes beyond the doors of the building to embrace the world.
[4]
This movement criticized the Christian thought of the Middle Ages with its
subjectivism and individualism that was so attractive to the nineteenth century.
Instead, it focused its interest on the Christian thought of the first four centuries.
There were exciting new theological developments. One of the most
interesting of these has been the theology of mysteries of Dom Odo Casel, monk of
Maria-Laach. [5]

Johannes (Odo) Casel was born in Liitzel-Koblenz (Rhineland), not

far from Maria Laach abbey, established on September 27, 1886. He attended
public schools in his hometown and studied humanities in Koblenz, Malmedy and
Andernach where he earned a bachelor's degree.
From there he went to Bonn to study classic philosophy in 1905, but soon
the contact with Herwegen, the quiet peace that was enjoyed at Maria Laach and,
above all, the feeling and emotion of the liturgical life of the abbey made him join
the Benedictine Order, where he made his profession on February 24, 1907 and
received the name Odo. On September 17, 1911 he was ordained as priest.
He was sent to Rome to continue his studies at Collegio di Sant' Anselmo,
where he earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology with a thesis about the Eucharistic
doctrine of St. Justyn Martyr.
After that he continued his studies in Classic Philology in Bonn. In 1918 he
published his first monography titled: Das Gedchtnis des Herrn in der
altchristlichen Liturgie, in the collection Ecclesia Orans. In 1919 he earned a
doctoral degree with the thee dissertation De Philosuphorum graecorum silentio
mystico published in Giessen.
When he returned to Maria Laach, the monastery was liturgically at its
zenith and Casel soon joined the movement of which soon he would become its
more relevant figure.
In 1921 he began the publications of the Jahrbuch fur Liturgiewissenschaft,
which continued for twenty years until 1941. In this publication, year after year, he
gradually exposed the result of his research in Christian Antiquities and the works of
the Fathers that led him to develop his theory of Mysteries.
In 1922 appeared his second major monography, titled Die Liturgie als
Mysterienfeier in the collection Ecclesia Orans. In the same year, Casel was invited
to become spiritual father to the Benedictine Convent of the Holy Cross in Hersteller
where he lived for the rest of his life.
Finally, in 1932 he published the work that would become the most famous,
almost paradigmatic, of his theological theory: Das christliche Kultmysterium. This
work is the amalgam of the ideas he developed during his life and it collected the
most important works he published, that is the theology of mysteries.
This theory became the central linking idea of German liturgical propaganda
not only from the Abbey of Maria Laach, but also through the periodical Liturgische
Zeitschrift, whose director, John Piusk, fully accepted the theory of mysteries. He
was convinced that only that way a full understanding and effectiveness of the
liturgy could be reached.
On November 20, 1947 Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Mediator Dei.
Some of Casel's detractors considered it a mortal blow to the Caselian theory and
therefore renewed their attacks supported by the words of the Pontiff. However,

Casel and his supporters, with an exaggerated optimism, considered the encyclical
as a confirmation of the substance of his conception of the mystery of worship.
Casel suddenly died of a stroke on March 21, 1948, immediately after the
Easter Mass, after the celebration in which culminated the Mystery of the Cult to
which had devoted his entire life. [6]

ODO CASEL'S THEORY: THE DOCTRINE OF MYSTERY

Casel developed a particular interpretation of the essence of all liturgical

actions, based on theology, the New Testament, the Fathers of the Church and the
liturgy itself.[7]
For Casel there are analogies between the Christian Mystery and the ancient
pagan mysteries. For example, the mysteries of the Syrian Adonis, the Asiatic Attis,
the Egyptian Issis and Osiris and the Persian Mithra were all formed in the same
pattern: a kind of religious drama, a liturgical representation of a death and
resurrection of a god, in which people associated themselves with the resurrection
of their gods. Through the dramas and representations, they thought they were
born again to a new and divine life and shared the triumph over death of their God.
[8]
The Kyrios of a mystery is a God who has entered into human misery and struggle,
has made his appearance on earth (epiphany) and fought here, suffered, even been
defeated; the whole sorrow of mankind in pain is brought together in a mourning for
the god who must die. But then in some way comes a return to life through which
the God's companions, indeed the whole of nature revives and lives on. This was the
way of pious faith and sacred teaching (ieros logoz), of society in the earliest
mythical age. But the world, society is always in need of life; so the epiphany goes
on and on in worship; the saving, healing act of God is performed over and over.[9]

Although Casel agreed that these mysteries did not directly influence the
first Christian rituals, he claims that they were a kind of providential preparation in
human nature that would be brought about in Christ. He claims that these mysteries
gave Christianity the pattern in which the divine grace would be brought about to
human nature.[10] For Casel the mystery is "a sacred ritual action in which a saving
deed is made present through the rite; the congregation, by performing the rite,
takes part in the saving act, and thereby wins salvation."[11]

1. Mystery and Christianity,

For Casel, the Christian mystery is the transitus, Christ's passage from death
to life, through the Cross to the Resurrection: The Paschal Mystery. For him, "The
content of the mystery of Christ is, therefore, the person of the god-man and his

saving deed for the Church; the Church, in turn, enters the mystery through this
deed."[12] The mystery is the cross, the Resurrection of Christ, His ascension into
glory, and through whom, salvation is given to man. He has become the now the
Pneuma, the life-giving Spirit, that radiates all the gifts he gained to all human kind.
[13] Casel affirms:
But the high-point of the whole saving drama is the death and crown of
resurrection, when Christ entered the inmost heart of God in all his manhood, and
found everlasting redemption. The pasch of the Lord, his death and exaltation is the
mystery of redemption proper, the high-point of God's plan. The saved Church
comes out from it; the new covenant is built on it, the eternal covenant of Christ's
blood. Upon it rests all salvation.[14]

This mystery of Christ is an action that took place in the past and can never
be repeated, because it is perfect. However, the mystery of Christ is made actual by
the Church in the mystery of worship. Christian worship is an action in which Christ,
invisible but present in Spirit, performs his saving work through the Church. In
Christian worship it is the Lord who acts in the mystery himself, not alone, as he did
in the primeval mystery of the Cross, but now together with his Church.[15] Louis
Bouyer comments that for Casel, "... the Mystery is permanently embodied in the
liturgy,more especially in the Mass, but also in all the sacraments and even in the
sacramentals, in the Divine Office, in the feasts of the liturgical year, and in the
whole Christian life, since this life is nothing less than the expansion of what is given
in the sacramental order."[16]

2. The Tree-Fold Notion of Mystery

In all of Casel's works is present the question of the meaning of the notion of
mystery. It is a divine action, a God's salvific action manifested in space and time,
this means the epiphany of the salvific actions of God. The Mystery is the plan of
redemption, hidden in God from all eternity and revealed and carried out in Christ
for his Church. In the historical development of such a plan, Casel distinguished
three fundamental stages and notions. For him Mystery means three things and
one[17]:
a)
Mystery is God. "First of all it is God considered in himself, as the
infinitely distant, holy, unapproachable, to whom no man may draw near and
live."[18] It is the god besides whom man, in his limited condition, recognizes his
mysteries, impurities and sins. It is God manifested in the Old Testament. In the
mystery of revelation he is not fully manifested to the profane world, but he is
hidden and manifests only to the chosen, to the believer and just. The essence of
God is superior to all creation; He is at the same time transcendent and immanent,
and He supports his creation with his eternal presence and actions.[19]
b)
Mystery is the person of Christ. For St. Paul the mystery is the
revelation of God in Christ. God "who dwells in unapproachable light, and whom no

human being has seen or can see" (1Ti 6:16) has revealed himself in Christ. In other
words, the Mystery is he who dies in a human way on the Cross, revealing the love
of the Father . It is the mystery that John affirms: "No one has ever seen God. The
only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him" (Joh 1:18)" Therefore,
Christ is the Mystery of God manifested in a personal and earthly way to man. It is
the union of the Word of God and the human nature in the person of Jesus Christ.
This mystery involves all and each one of the theandric and savings actions of Jesus
Christ: His incarnation, life, passion, death and Resurrection. Consequently, all of
Christ's actions can be called mysteries. This mystery of salvation is transmitted
through the Church to all generations, leading all humanity to salvation, not only
through words, but also through sacred actions. Consequently, Christ lives in the
Church by means of faith and the mystery celebrated and lived.[20]
c)
Through the Church, especially in the Sacraments, Christians meet the
person of Christ, his saving actions, and the working of his grace. Casel affirms:
"Since Christ is no longer visible among us, in St Leo the Great's words, 'What was
visible in the Lord has passed over into the mysteries.' We meet his person, his
saving deeds, the workings of his grace in the mysteries of his worship. St Ambrose
writes: 'I find you in your mysteries.'"[21]

3. The Mystery and the Church

For Casel, the mystery of Christ is carried on and made actual in the mystery
of worship. It is through the Church's liturgy that Christ performs His saving work,
invisible, but present in Spirit. Consequently, the Church is not only the bride of
Christ, she is also at the same time the beneficiary of Christ's sacramental presence
and his helpmate:
Bridegroom and bride, head and members act as one. If the man, the head is the
leading actor, the stimulus to action, his bride, his members' work with him, use the
power which is theirs. Christ is saviour, the one who accomplishes salvation; the
Church for its part shares in the act of Christ, receiving the influence of every act he
does, but receiving actively; healthy members share in the action of a body. Indeed,
just this makes the body a live one: a living bride, a loving bride and spouse,
sharing in the actions of Christ.[22]

As we read above, Christ is present in the sacramental mysteries, these

mysteries are the "bridal gift" for the Church, but they are also the means for her to
express her love for her bridegroom. Casel claims that "Every act of worship
performed by the Church directed towards God... under the new covenant, is joined
essentially with the mystery, and is stamped by it with the mark of Christ; God
receives nothing without this mark, under the new alliance. The mystery belongs to
those unspeakable riches which God has given us in Christ."[23]
For Casel, without the Lord's liturgical presence the Church would not be the
Church. She would be like a priest without a sacrifice, like an altar without offering,

like a wife separated from her husband, unconsecrated and unable to come to the
Father. But then too, without the Church, it is through the Church that Christ is fully
Christ. Without the Church Christ would be priest without people, no high priest, nor
"prince of Salvation." Without the Church he would not be able to be the one who
saves and glorifies his people.[24] Casel never reduced the life of the Church only to
Liturgy. However he claims that "The all-important fact is that Christianity is a
mystery religion in virtue of its own very nature and the liturgy of mysteries is the
central and essential activity of this religion."[25]

4. The unity of the Liturgy

For Casel the Mystery of Christ, the inner essence of the Mystery is
permanently embodied in the Liturgy.[26] The salvific action of Christ, the Paschal
Mystery is found in all the Liturgy of the Church. In all the Sacraments, the
sacramentals, the divine Office, the feast of the liturgical year, and in the whole
Christian life, since this life is the expansion of the sacramental order, the mystery
is found. All the liturgical action of the Church are united by the same mystery, the
Paschal Mystery. Bouyer affirms that for Casel it is that "in and through the Liturgy,
the all-saving act of Christ, giving life through his death, is truly and really present
in its fullness as in its unity."[27]
Casel saw all liturgical actions as a whole. All of these, in their different
ways, bring the people to the presence of the mystery and enable them to enter
into it. However, although the Mystery of worship is found all these liturgical
actions, it is found supremely in the Eucharist.[28]

CASEL'S INFLUENCE IN THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL'S

CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY, SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

Odo Casel was an authentic precursor of the Second Vatican Council.

After the conciliar constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium was promulgated by
Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963, Louis Bouyer wrote that:
The heart of the teaching on the liturgy In the conciliar constitution is also the heart
of Dom Casel's teaching. The Constitution's constant citation of the patristic,
liturgical, and earlier conciliar texts on which Casel based his interpretation, and its
interpretation of these texts on the same lines as Casel show a relation of filiation
that will strike all future historians.[29]

The language and basic theological positions of Odo Casel undoubtedly

influenced the formulations and statements of Sacrosanctum Concilium. For
example, in the fundamental principles set forth in the Chapter 1 of the
Constitution:

For the liturgy, "through which the work of our redemption is accomplished,"
...is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and
manifest to others, the mystery of Christ...[30]

Here we can notice the influence of Casel's language and theological ideas:
Christ's mystery in God's revelation in the saving action of his incarnate Son
and the redemption and healing of the Church. It continues after the glorified Godman has returned to his Father, until the full number of the Church's members is
complete; the mystery of Christ is carried on and made actual in the mystery of
worship. Here Christ performs his saving work, invisible, but present in Spirit and
acting upon all men of good-will.[31]

1. The Paschal Mystery

Before Second Vatican Council, the Church had always considered the
Resurrection as a truth of faith; and the death of Christ on the Cross was the saving
event celebrated in the liturgy.[32]
One of the novelties of Casel's theology is his understanding of the mystery of
Christ, that is His redemptive work celebrated in the Christian liturgy. It is not
limited to his death on the Cross. As is stated above, the Christian mystery is
Christ's passage from death to life, through the Cross to the Resurrection, that is the
Paschal Mystery:
The content of the mystery of Christ is, therefore, the person of the god-man and
his saving deed for the Church; the Church, in turn, enters the mystery through this
deed. For Paul, Peter, and John, the heart of faith is not the teachings of Christ, not
the deeds of his ministry, but the acts by which he saved us. 'We can see one who
was made a little lower than the angels, I mean Jesus, crowned now with glory and
honour for the pains of his death.. . .' Through his death and resurrection, through
his blood the Lord has found 'everlasting redemption'.[33]

The liturgical-theological term "Paschal Mystery" had not been used before in any
magisterial document of the Church. In Sacrosanctum Concilium this expression
appears eight times. It is found in the central passages of the Constitution and the
meaning of the term nucleates all the conciliar doctrine regarding the Christian
liturgy. This means it is in the "Paschal Mystery" in which the Sacrosanctum
Conciluim's teachings regarding the worship and liturgical celebration is based.
For example in chapter 1, when talking about the nature of the sacred
liturgy, the document begins with a Christological approach, which includes Casel's

notion of Paschal Mystery. The document states that Christ fulfilled his redemptive
work through the Pascal Mystery:
The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were
but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving
perfect glory to God. He achieved His task principally by the paschal mystery of His
blessed passions resurrection from the dead, and the glorious ascension, whereby
"dying, he destroyed our death and, rising, he restored our life". For it was from the
side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth
"the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church"[34]

The Paschal Mystery and its celebration constitutes the essence of Christian
worship in its daily, weekly and yearly unfolding. The Second Vatican Council clearly
teaches this.[35]

2. Understanding of the apostolic mission of the Church through the

Liturgy
For Odo Casel the Church is the spouse and helpmate of Christ; liturgy has a
nuptial meaning. It is through the liturgy that the Church becomes at the same time
the Body and the bride of Christ. She is conformed to her glorified bridegroom, and
through the liturgy she collaborates with him in the furtherance of man's salvation.
It is through the Mystery of worship that Christ continues His salvific work. Casel
affirms:
The pasch is a sacrifice with the consecration of the person that flows from
it; it is the sacrifice of the God-man in death on the cross, and his resurrection to
glory: it is the Church's sacrifice in communion with and by the power of the
crucified God-man, and the wonderful joining to God, the divinization which is its
effect.
Both of these sacrifices flow together; they are fundamentally one; the
Church, as the woman of the new paradise and the bride of Christ, acts and offers in
his strength. Christ living in time made his sacrifice alone on the cross; Christ raised
up by the Spirit makes the sacrifice together with his Church which he has purified
with the blood from his own side, and thus won her for himself.[36]
Because of the inmost oneness of being, and the realm of action following
upon it, which grows up between bride and bridegroom, between head and body, it
follows that the Church must take a share in Christ's sacrifice, in a feminine,
receptive way, yet one which is no less active for that. She stands beneath the
cross, sacrifices her bridegroom, and with him, herself. But she does so not merely
in faith or in some mental act, but rather in a real and concrete fashion, in mystery;
she fulfils the 'likening' of that sacrifice through which the Lord offered himself in
the presence of earth and heaven, in utter openness, in the total giving of his body,

to the Father. Here again we meet the essential meaning of the mystery of worship.
[37]

This idea is found in Section 6 of Sacrosanctum Concilium. It states that the

work of Salvation brought about by the Paschal Mystery of Christ is now the mission
of the Church. It is through the liturgical celebrations, especially the Sacraments,
that the Church fulfills her mission.
Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with
the Holy Spirit. This He did that, by preaching the gospel to every creature, they
might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us
from the power of Satan and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His
Father. His purpose also was that they might accomplish the work of salvation which
they had proclaimed, by means of sacrifice and sacraments, around which the
entire liturgical life revolves. Thus by baptism men are plunged into the paschal
mystery of Christ... In like manner, as often as they eat the supper of the Lord they
proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes... the Church has never failed to
come together to celebrate the paschal mystery: reading those things "which were
in all the scriptures concerning him" (Luke 24:27), celebrating the Eucharist in which
"the victory and triumph of his death are again made present", and at the same
time giving thanks "to God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15) in Christ Jesus, "in
praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:12), through the power of the Holy Spirit.[38]

Fr. Vagaggini explains how the person and the work of Christ are continued
in the Church according to section 6:
- Christ was sent by the Father, and he sent his apostles.
.- He was anointed with the Holy Spirit to carry out his work, and He sent the Holy
Spirit over his Apostles to do the same.
- He fulfilled His office by preaching salvation, by His theandric acts, but especially
by His Paschal mystery.
.- Similarly, He ordered his Apostles and gave the power to preach, exercise and
apply the Salvation.
- They preached the Salvation through the Sacraments and the Sacrifice, around
which the whole Church was built and grew.
- The Church was born, that is, the great Sacrament, whose center, from the very
beginning was and has been always her liturgical life.
- Consequently, all men, through the Liturgy of the Church, are inserted into the
Paschal Mystery of Christ, receive divine life, and as adopted sons of God, are able
to adore and glorify God.[39]

The Sacrosanctum Concilium affirms that in the origin of the Church the
paschal event is present, "For it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of
death upon the cross that there came forth the wondrous sacrament of the whole
Church."[40] Since that moment the Church became effectively associated by
Christ, as a loving wife, to the historic realization of the salvific project of God. The
Paschal Mystery of Christ is the constant object of the preaching of the Church and
the sole content of her celebrations. To the extent that believers are introduced into
this mystery through the faith and the Sacraments, the Church continues
concentrating and actualizing her life, she continues forming and building herself.
[41] The sacramental celebrations signify for the Church the most privileged
moments for the communion with the mystery of Christ, from whom she has her
origin. That is why that through the liturgy the Church fulfills her apostolic mission.
[42]

3. The various modes of Christ's presence in the liturgy

When the bishops gathered for the Second Vatican Council, one of the main
points immediately established in relation to the liturgy is that Christ is always
present in the Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. In these celebrations,
he is present in different ways; in the Eucharist, in the minister, in the Sacraments,
in the Word of God, and in the assembled people:
To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church,
especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass,
not only in the person of His minister... but especially under the Eucharistic
species...He is present in the sacraments... He is present in His word... He is
present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings... Rightly, then, the liturgy is
considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ... in the liturgy the
whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by
the Head and His members... every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of
Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing
all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and
to the same degree.[43]

In the liturgical celebrations, the presence of Christ is so real that the

actions of the Church are the actions of Christ himself in the Church and through the
Church. Jesus Christ is present principally in the Sacraments, on which He pours out
into them as instrument for effecting sanctification.[44]
The last sentence of the paragraph speaks about the preeminence of the
liturgy over any other action of the Church. Since the intimate nature of the
liturgical acts is that they are preeminently the action of Christ himself, the liturgy
has a special efficacy that surpasses any other action of the Church.[45]

In a similar way, Odo Casel affirms that:

... the mystery of Christ is carried on and made actual in the mystery of worship.
Here Christ performs his saving work, invisible, but present in Spirit and acting upon
all men of good-will. It is the Lord himself who acts this mystery; not as he did the
primeval mystery of the Cross, alone, but with his bride, which he won there, his
Church; to her he has now given all his treasures; she is to hand them on to the
children she has got of him...[46] The mystery of Christ which was completed in our
Lord in all reality in time is, therefore, fulfilled; fulfilled on us first of all in
representative, symbolic forms, not purely external ones, but rather images filled
with the reality of the new life which is communicated to us through Christ. This
special sharing in the life of Christ, both symbolic and real, is what the ancients
called mystical; it is something mediate between a merely outward symbol and the
purely real...[47] Thus it is possible that the Lord, though eternally glorified in
heaven and visible to all, should be still hidden in the world, and go on revealing the
whole strength of his glory. The Lord's manner of presence in the mystery therefore,
holds a position between that in his life on earth before the resurrection, and his
glorified life in heaven: the divine power is fully in action, yet faith must be there to
see it; there is not yet simple vision.[48]

For Odo Casel, the Mystery of Liturgy, the cultic mystery, the mystery of
worship, das Kulmisterium, means the presence of the saving actions of Christ in
the Christian liturgical rituals. The Salvation achieved once two thousand years ago
can now be reached by all humanity through the Christian liturgy.
For Casel, the function of the liturgy goes beyond than a merely functional of
phenomenological activity. Liturgy is the Mystery of Christ in the entire worship of
the Church; all the theandric actions of Jesus are present in each of all the rites of
the Church. The essence of the sacred rites or liturgical actions is the redemptive
work which Jesus Christ continues in his Church by means of her rites.[49]
When Casel affirms that what is present in the liturgical celebrations is the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ, he is not excluding, either the person of Christ, or
the incorporation of the community of believers to the redemptive work through the
worship celebration. Also, Casel affirms that what is present in the liturgical
celebration is not exclusively the redemptive work of the Cross, but the totality of
the life of Christ, understood and interpreted as the Paschal Mystery, this means the
events from the Incarnation to the glorification of Christ to the right of the Father.
[50]
When Casel talks about the totality of the presence of the Paschal Mystery of
Christ in the liturgy, he never understands it in the historical modality, but as a
pneumatic event. The historical event cannot be repeated again, it is irreversible.
What is made present in the liturgical rite, is the eternal substance of the salvific
event; the accessory circumstances are not present. He does not refer to a historical
presence as if it was a new historical event of the mystery of Christ, nor as a
repetition of the event.

For him, the presence of the Paschal Mystery of Christ takes place in a
sacramental way, or "in mysterio," under the veils of rites and symbols. What
occurred in another time under the historical accidents, takes place now under the
veil of sacramental signs. The salvific act, which is out of time because it is a
theandric act attributed to the Divine Word enters through the Sacrament in time
and history, in such way that can be shared by the worship community.[51]

4. The view of the liturgy as the summit towards which the activity of the
Church is directed and the source from which all her power flows.

As we read above, the liturgy is the source of the greatest efficacious Grace.
It is in the Liturgy where Jesus and the entire Pascal Mystery is present. It is and has
been the center of the life of the Church since her beginning. It is the best means of
sanctification of men in Christ, and of glorification of God. Consequently is to the
liturgy that all the works of the Church are directed and have as the end. [52] That
is why Sacrosanctum Concilium affirms that the entire liturgy, but specially the
Eucharistic Mystery, is the final end of all the actions of the Church and it is also the
source of power of such actions:

Nevertheless the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is
directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim
and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and
baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part
in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.[53]

All the extra-liturgical activities of the Church are oriented to the

Eucharistic Mystery as to their end.[54] The Eucharistic Mystery is the center,
source and soul of the whole liturgy. Liturgy cannot be conceived without the
Eucharist, since the latter, in the historic order of Salvation, is its center and
essence. Consequently, the liturgy is the summit towards which the activity of the
Church is directed and the source from which all her power flows. Fr. Vagaggini
affirms:
From the whole Liturgy, which is its source, from its center, which is the Eucharistic
mystery, grace flows out to us and with the greatest efficacy is obtained that
sanctification of men in Christ and that glorification of God to which as to their end
all the other works of the Church are directed... Full participation in liturgical
celebrations, participation that is as far as possible perfect both internally and
externally, not only individually but also socially, is thus pointed out as the summit
toward which everyone in the Church must strive, and the source from which all
other things in their own manner flow. Thus the full liturgical life of the faithful is
shown to be not that which should absorb everything else in the life of the Church

and reduce all to itself -God forbid- but as that which directs, inspires and
permeates with its own spirit everything else, without prejudice to the nature and
function of each.[55]

For Odo Casel, Christianity is a mystery. This means a work of God, the
attainment of a salvific and eternal plan for man, and fulfilled in time and in the
world, and returning to God as its end. This saving Mystery is realized by Christ the
Savior together with his mystical body, the Church in all her actions.[56] He says:
When we place the words 'mystery' and 'liturgy' side by side, and take mystery as
mystery of worship, they will mean the same thing considered from two different
points of view. Mystery means the heart of the action, that is to say, the redeeming
work of the risen Lord, through the sacred actions he has appointed: liturgy,
corresponding to its original sense of 'people's work', 'service', means rather the
action of the Church in conjunction with this saving action of Christ's. We saw
above, that Christ and the Church work together inseparably in the mystery...[57]

For Casel, the redemptive work of Christ is made present in all the liturgical
actions, but the Eucharistic liturgy has a major place. Due to the centrality of the
Eucharist in the sacramental organism, testified for all the theological tradition and
the organic reference of all the Sacraments to the Eucharist, Casel always placed
the Eucharist in the preeminent place.
For him, the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is higher in grade
compared to the other Sacraments and liturgical actions. He established a criterion
of analogy to determine the grade or way of presence of the Salvific act in the
liturgical actions of the Church. In the other Sacraments and liturgical actions the
presence of the Passion is not associated to the substantial presence of the Body
and Blood as it is in the Eucharist. In the liturgical actions it is present only as virtus
participata a Christo. However, this presence is also an objective reality that cannot
be conceived without the presence of the salvific act of Christ.[58] The sense of the
preeminence of the Eucharist over all other liturgical actions and activities of the
Church can be noticed in the Casel's following statements:
The mass is a memorial of Christ's death; his body, sacrificed and his blood poured
out are shown to us. But that this body and blood should become food and drink for
life is fruit and symbol of the resurrection to everlasting life. Through these
mysteries the Church takes her share in the passion of Christ, the passion by which
'he died to sin', and through this dying she takes her share in his life which 'he lives
for God'. Through the cross she is filled with the pneuma, made holy, brought to
glory, deified..[59]
The mass is always the high-point of liturgy, because it contains the mystery of
redemption in its source, the passion and resurrection of Jesus. But from the source

a mighty stream of mysteries flows into the Church's ground, and on its banks the
Spirit's Word forms ever new pictures in the liturgy, to clothe and express the rites.
[60]

CONCLUSION:

One of the problems that Pope Paul VI faced during the redaction of
Sacrosanctum Concilium was the question of the presence of Christ in the liturgical
actions of the Church. For Pope Paul VI, Christ is not present in the same way in
each of the actions of the Church. In the Constitution, it can be seen a certain
hierarchy or levels of such presence, having preeminence the Eucharistic liturgy.
When Pope Paul VI assures that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is "real" he
does mean in an exclusive way, as if in the other ways of Christ's presence were not
"real." All and each of the ways of presence mentioned by the pope in the
constitution are "real." However, the realism of the presence correspond to the
Eucharist per excellence. It was in this matter in which the Doctrine of Mysteries of
Odo Casel was vital, since it gives a balanced, logical and theologically acceptable
conception of the presence of Christ in the Christian Mysteries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Casel, Odo. The Mystery of Christian Worship. New York: Crossroad Publications,
1999.

Casel,Odo. El Misterio del Culto Cristiano. San Sebastian: Ediciones Dinor, 1953.

Bouyer, Louis. Liturgical Piety, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,
1955.

Ferrone, Rita. Liturgy : Sacrosanctum Concilium. New York: Paulist Press, 2007.

Flores Arcas, Juan Javier. Introduccin a la Teologa Litrgica. Barcelona: Centre de

Pastoral Litrgica, 2003.

Bernal, Jos Manuel. "La presencia de Cristo en la Liturgia." In Costituzione Liturgica

Sacrosanctum Concilium Studi, ed. Congregazione per il Culto Divino, 123-156.
Roma: C.L.V.-Edizioni liturgiche, 1986.

Oatiba, Ignacio. "La Eclesiologa en la Sacrosanctum Concilium." In Costituzione

Liturgica Sacrosanctum Concilium Studi, ed. Congregazione per il Culto Divino,
171-182. Roma: C.L.V.-Edizioni liturgiche, 1986.

Vagaggini, Cipriano, "General Norms for the Reform and Fostering of the Liturgy," in
The Commentary on the Constitution and on the Instruction on the Sacred Liturgy
by a Committee of Liturgical Experts, ed. Congregatio Sacrorum Rituum, 62-78.
New York: Benziger Bros., 1965.

Martimort, Aime Georges, ed. The Church at Prayer: Introduction to the Liturgy/New
Edition. "From the Council of Trent to Vatican Council II", by P. Jounel, Collegeville,
MN: The Liturgical Press, 1987.

Vogel, Dwight W., ed. Primary Sources of Liturgical Theology: A Reader. "Mystery
and Liturgy," by Odo Casel. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000.

Nichols, Aidan, ed. Beyond the Blue Glass: Catholic Essays on Faith and Culture. Vol
1, Odo Casel Revisited, by Aidan Nichols. London: Saint Austin Press, 2002.

White, James F. 1964. "What is the liturgical movement." Perkins School of Theology
journal 17, no. 2-3: 20-25. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost
(accessed September 15, 2011).

Tuzik, Robert L. 1994. "The Liturgical Movement and the Future Church." Liturgical
Ministry 3, 100-106. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed
September 15, 2011).

White, James F. 1964. "What is the liturgical movement." Perkins School of Theology
journal 17, no. 2-3: 20-25. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost
(accessed September 15, 2011).

Neunheuser, Burkhard. 1960. "Mystery presence." Worship 34, no. 3: 120-127. ATLA
Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed September 22, 2011).

Paul VI, Mysterii Paschalis, (February 14, 1969),

Http://Www.Vatican.Va/Holy_Father/Paul_Vi/Motu_Proprio/Documents/Hf_P-Vi_MotuProprio_19690214_Mysterii-Paschalis_En.Html (Accessed September 15, 2011)

Second Vatican Council. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. (December 4, 1963),

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html (accessed September 15,
2011).

[1] Jos Manuel Bernal, "La presencia de Cristo en la Liturgia," in Costituzione

Liturgica Sacrosanctum Concilium Studi, ed. Congregazione per il Culto Divino
(Roma: C.L.V.-Edizioni liturgiche, 1986), 130-131.

[2] Acta Sanctae Sedis 36:28 (1904)

[3]White, James F. 1964. "What is the liturgical movement?" Perkins School of
Theology journal 17, no. 2-3: 20-25. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials,
EBSCOhost (accessed September 15, 2011).
[4] Tuzik, Robert L. 1994. "The Liturgical Movement and the Future Church."
Liturgical Ministry 3, 100-106. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost
(accessed September 15, 2011).
[5] White, James F. 1964. "What is the liturgical movement." Perkins School of
Theology journal 17, no. 2-3: 20-25. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials,
EBSCOhost (accessed September 15, 2011).
[6] Odo Casel, El Misterio del Culto Cristiano (San Sebastian: Ediciones Dinor, 1953),
9-14.
[7] Neunheuser, Burkhard. 1960. "Mystery presence." Worship 34, no. 3: 120-127.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed September 22,
2011).
[8] Louis Bouyer, Liturgical Piety (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,
1955), 87.
[9] Odo Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship (New York: Crossroad Publications,
1999), 53.
[10] Bouyer, 87.
[11] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 54.
[12] Ibid, 12.
[13] Bouyer, 88.
[14] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 58.
[15] Dwight W. Vogel, ed. Primary Sources of Liturgical Theology: A Reader.
(Collegeville, MN : Liturgical Press, 2000), Mystery and Liturgy, by Odo Casel, 29-35.
[16] Bouyer, 88.
[17] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 5.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 7.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid, 14.
[23] Ibid, 30.

[24] Ibid, 21-22

[25] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 92, notes from the editor.
[26] Ibid, 30.
[27] Bouyer, 88.
[28] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 22 .
[29] Aime Georges Martimort, ed. The Church at Prayer: Introduction to the
Liturgy/New Edition (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press:1987), From the Council
of Trent to Vatican Council II, by P. Jounel, 63-84.
[30] Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, (December 4,
1963) art. 2,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html (accessed September 15,
2011)
[31] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 38.
[32] Rita Ferrone, Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (New York: Paulist Press, 2007),
24.
[33] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 12.
[34] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 5.
[35] Paul VI, "Mysterii Paschalis," (February 14, 1969),
Http://Www.Vatican.Va/Holy_Father/Paul_Vi/Motu_Proprio/Documents/Hf_P-Vi_MotuProprio_19690214_Mysterii-Paschalis_En.Html (Accessed September 15, 2011)
[36] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 13.
[37] Ibid, 21.
[38] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 6.
[39] Vagaggini, Cipriano, "General Norms for the Reform and Fostering of the
Liturgy," in The Commentary on the Constitution and on the Instruction on the
Sacred Liturgy by a Committee of Liturgical Experts, ed. Congregatio Sacrorum
Rituum (New York: Benziger Bros., 1965), 66.
[40] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 5.
[41] Ibid, 6.
[42] Ignacio Oatiba, "La Eclesiologa en la Sacrosanctum Concilium," in
Costituzione Liturgica Sacrosanctum Concilium Studi, ed. Congregazione per il
Culto Divino (Roma: C.L.V.-Edizioni liturgiche, 1986), 175.
[43] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 7.
[44] Vagaggini, 67.

[45] Ibid, 69.

[46] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 38.
[47] Ibid, 16.
[48] Ibid, 84.
[49] Nichols, Aidan, ed. Beyond the Blue Glass: Catholic Essays on Faith and
Culture (London: Saint Austin Press, 2002), vol 1, Odo Casel Revisited, by Aidan
Nichols, 151-168.
[50] Bernal, 141.
[51] Ibid, 142.
[52] Vagaggini, 72.
[53] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 10.
[54] Juan Javier Flores Arcas, Introduccin a la Teologa Litrgica (Barcelona: Centre
de Pastoral Litrgica, 2003), 230.
[55] Vagaggini, 74-75.
[56] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 9.
[57] Ibid, 40.
[58] Bernal, 144.
[59] Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship, 29.
[60] Ibid, 69.
Posted 7th August 2013 by Fr. Manuel-Alfredo Razo-Canales, S.T.L.
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Fr. Manuel-Alfredo Razo-Canales, S.T.L.

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Feb
5

"SCIENCE-RELIGION, MATER-SPIRIT, CREATION-EVOLUTION." INCOMPATIBLE

THEORIES OR COMPLEMENTARY NOTIONS? COSMOLOGY OF TEILHARD DE
CHARDIN
INTRODUCTION
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), was a Jesuit priest, geologist and
paleontologist who developed, parallel to his scientific career, a system of original
thought that can be placed between the frontiers of science, philosophy, theology
and mysticism.
Teilhard was prolific writer, his writings arise almost 500 titles. His work is
distinguished in various planes and distinct levels but not separated from one
another. First, his scientific work as an eminent paleontologist; second, is
phenomenology, this means his vision of the world after forty years of research and

reflection; and finally his theological work, which includes Christology, spirituality
and mysticism.

Aug
7

THE INFLUENCE OF ODO CASEL'S "DOCTRINE OF MYSTERIES" IN

SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM
INTRODUCTION
Odo Casel is considered as a preeminent theologian of the Liturgy, as the great
father of the 20th century liturgical movement that led to the liturgical reform.
Actually his liturgical theology of mysteries is considered as the most fruitful
theological idea of the 20th century, and it had a great influence in the Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council.

May
25

THE ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST

THE ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST
The High Priest in Judaism is a mystical and intriguing figure in the history of
Judaism. In the biblical narrative, he is introduced in the book of Exodus with a great
exalted significance for the spiritual welfare of his community. Later, during the
period covered by the canonical literature, he surprisingly appears as lower in
profile and significance.

May
20

THE EXISTENCE OF PURGATORY

Purgatory exists.
For Catholic theology, Purgatory is a place or condition of temporal punishment,
purification and atonement due to sin. It is a place for those who, departing this life

in God's grace, are not entirely free from venial faults or have not fully paid the
satisfaction due to their transgressions. Temporal punishment is even after the sin
itself has been pardoned by God.

Apr
14

EUCHARISTIC ECCLESIOLOGY OF HENRI DE LUBAC

INTRODUCTION
One of the most important intellectuals of the Catholic Thoughts in the XX century is
Henri de Lubac. He was born in Cambrai France on February 20th, 1896. In 1913, at
17, he joined the Society of Jesus. Between 1915 and 1917 interrupted his formation
when was called to the French-German front of the Word War I were he received
head wounds.

Apr
5

REFLECTION ON MARTIN LUTHER'S LIFE AND HIS WORK "THE PLACE OF

TRUST"
THE PLACE OF TRUST.
I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat,
drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? Look at the birds in the sky!
They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in
heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds? (Mt 6:25-26)
This passage is used by Martin Luther to begin his reflection on the Sermon on the
Mount.

Apr
2

THE DIFFERENT NOTIONS OF THE EUCHARIST IN THE PROTESTANT

REFORMATION

The most keenly debated theme in the reformation was the meaning of the central
Christian rite, variously called "the Eucharist," "the Mass," "the Sacrament of the
Altar," "the Breaking of Bread," "Holy Communion," or "the Lord's Supper."<!--[if !
supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]-->
In order to understand what the Reformers of the Eucharist intended to refute and
modify, it is necessary to study the Eucharistic teaching of the Church of the Middle
Ages.

Mar
28

The root of the Eucharist (Chapter 3 and Conclusion)

CHAPTER 3
WAS THE LAST SUPPER A PASSOVER MEAL?
This is a thorny question that has been the issue of many studies and controversies.
[1] The data found in Jesus' Last Supper accounts in the Synoptic Gospels, in the
Gospel of John, and in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, give rise to the
problem of the time and nature of the Last Supper.[2] Most people assume that
Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples in the context of the celebration of the
Jewish Passover Meal as it is state

Mar
28

The roots of the Eucharist. (Chapter 2)

CHAPTER 2
POSSIBLE JEWISH PRAYERS AND GATHERINGS
When Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper with his disciples, he was
doing something different from the regular festival meals. The biblical accounts do
not give ordinary details of the supper. They put emphasis on the unique and
different actions, elements and words of Jesus. This makes it difficult to identify
what kind of meal Jesus was celebrating, or if it was an amalgam of different meal
celebrations.

Mar
28

The roots of the Eucharist. (Introduction and Chapter 1)

INTRODUCTION
The Sacrament of the Eucharist is a Sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of
charity, a banquet in which the participants are filled with grace and a promise of
the future glory. [1] That is why, for Catholics, the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the
fount and apex of all the life of the Church.[2]
For the believers it is important to know the significance of this Sacrament, to
discover its history, and to know its constitutive elements for a better and proper
celebration.

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