Joyful liturgies are what we are about as Christians – reflecting on Sancrosanctum Concilium
Analysis and Comment – Thomas O’Loughlin – September 16, 2025
“The angels” he said, “have no senses; their experience is purely intellectual and spiritual. That is why we know something about God which they don’t.
There are particular aspects of His love and joy which can be communicated to a created being only by sensuous experience. Something of God which the Seraphim can never quite understand flows into us from the blue of the sky, the taste of honey, the delicious embrace of water whether cold or hot, and even from sleep itself … ” – C.S Lewis
We humans, do we even need to say it, are passionate animals!
We have our loves and our hates, our up days and down days, and the times where we just want to sit quietly and be left alone.
Moreover, these emotional swings are not simply mood swings or based on how we feel when we get up in the morning.
There are times of genuine rejoicing – both for us as individuals and members of families, and for us as members of larger groups.
Likewise, there are hard times, sad times, lonely times, and even dangerous times.
And then there are all the times when we ‘just are’: neither good nor bad, neither particularly joyful nor sad, and we just keep moving on.
It is as people, individually and as members of communities, with all the changes in what is going on around and in our lives that we gather to worship God and to thank him as our Father in heaven.
So how do these ups and downs in our circumstances affect us as we gather for liturgy?
