This thesis tries to present the theology of the liturgy of Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI. The liturgical life of the Church has been at the forefront throughout all the periods of his life and represents the living space of his personal faith. He has been returning to the topic not only as a theologian, but also as a priest, bishop and pope, spreading the correct understanding of worship through his work. He believes that the way we attend to liturgy determines the fate of the faith and the Church and devotes himself to the topic on many occasions. In his writings and rulings he does not dwell on the technical questions of conducting rites, instead presenting his insights into the spirit of liturgy and thus encouraging a new liturgical movement whose fruits will be a renewed discovery of and a deepened, permeated with the spirit of worship, celebration of liturgy. He has based his thoughts on the liturgy, stressing its cosmical, historical and mystical dimensions. The worship which is completely centered on the mystery of the Holy Trinity is the participation in the trinitarian dialogue of love, and the praise which the created world directs towards its Creator, the Lord of life and death; thus, the liturgy encompasses the entire cosmos. Its first subject is the incarnated Son of God Jesus Christ who, in his paschal mystery, returns the lost dignity to the Creation. Liturgy is not only an empty remembering of past events, but is, due to the presence of the Holy Spirit, the living presence of God in the world. An authentic environment for the liturgy is the Church, a community of the saints of all times, where the Father, through the Son and the Holy Spirit, is worshipped in a sacramental way by the entire Creation, sanctified in His liturgy. The liturgy is Divine and given in advance, and thus cannot be created or changed at will. It is closely linked with life, encompassing the right attitude to God which is instrumental for the right attitude to people and the world. Ratzinger stresses that the liturgy contains the total human and the whole human life and is able to transform our everyday life; the coming of the Divine into our world that takes place during liturgy must transform all our reality.
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