At the general audience at the Vatican June 3, Pope Leo XIV called Catholics to be open to an “encounter with God by rediscovering the signs and symbols of the sacred liturgy.”
“We need to let ourselves be educated by the rites of the liturgy, tending to the beauty of our celebrations with a delicate hand and without arbitrariness,” Pope Leo said.
Pope Leo’s remarks were part of his catechesis on the liturgy, focusing on the Second Vatican Council’s document “Sacrosanctum Concilium.” In his remarks, the pope explained the council’s teaching about participation in the liturgy through its signs and symbols.
“In the liturgy, we are invited to participate — body, mind and heart — and enter into a dimension inhabited by the Holy Spirit. In order to enter into this dimension, the liturgy is woven with signs and symbols that have a performative and transformative dimension,” Pope Leo said.
He also called on Catholics to recall the meaning of the various gestures associated with the liturgy, such as the sign of peace and kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. He explained that these symbols and signs are not arbitrary gestures but are important for helping Catholics experience “the presence of God through Jesus Christ.”
“The rites of the Christian liturgy are not an outward covering of the sacramental mystery or a set of arbitrary ceremonies,” Pope Leo said. “Rather, they are the ecclesial mediation through which the divine gift reaches us. Through the sacred rite, we are thus formed in listening to the Word of God, in thanksgiving and adoration, in fraternal sharing, and in ecclesial communion.”
In an appeal at the end of the general audience, Pope Leo invited Catholics to bear public witness to the mystery of the Eucharist during the upcoming eucharistic processions for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.
“The processions with the Blessed Sacrament that take place in the streets of many towns are an expression of popular eucharistic piety; in this regard, I encourage you to keep alive this beautiful manifestation of public witness to the faith,” Pope Leo said.
He also gave a special greeting to priests serving in the Middle East amid continuing armed conflicts in the region.
