How could we understand the Mass without having in mind the word “mystery?” “The Eucharist is not a meal with friends. It is the mystery of a covenant. ‘The prayers and rites of the Eucharistic sacrifice revive the whole history of salvation continuously before the eyes of our soul, in the course of the liturgical cycle and make us enter its significance ever more deeply’ (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein], Wege zu inneren Stille, Aschaffenburg, 1987, p. 67).” (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily for the closing of the 49th international Eucharistic conference in Québec, Canada, June 22, 2008)
The school of Maria-Laach in Germany examined the presence of the work of redemption in worship, and presented it as a mystery: a concrete action that makes of a past action, a present event.
Christian worship, they said was the real actualization of redemption, hidden under the veil of the rites and symbols of the liturgy. A monk from the Maria-Laach monastery, contributed to build that “doctrine of the mysteries” (Mysterienlehre), his name was Odo Casel (1886-1948).
Odo Casel entered the monastery in 1905 and was ordained priest in 1911, his formation was influenced by the abbot Ildefons Herwegen from Mariaa-Laach. Dom Casel studied theology at St. Anselm Institute in Rome and defended his doctoral thesis in 1913 about the Eucharistic doctrine of St. Justine. In 1922 he was appointed as chaplain of the Benedictine monastery of the Holy Cross of Herstelle, where he resided until his death in 1948.
In 1918 he published his first study about liturgy, “The memorial of the Lord in ancient Christian liturgy” (Das Gedächtnis des Herrn in der altchristlichen Liturgie). In 1922 he writes “The liturgy as the celebration of the mysteries” (Die Liturgie als Misterienfeier). In 1932 he presents another book, which is a complete description of the Christian mystery as he saw it, “The mystery of Christian worship” (Das christliche Kultmysterium). Many of his ideas presented in that book provoked controversies; in response to them, nine years later he writes an essay defending his stance on Christian mystery, “Faith, gnosis and mystery” (Glaube, Gnosis und Mysterium).
The mystery of Christian worship
In “The mystery of Christian worship,” Cassel outlines his vision of liturgy and mystery. He begins his book with this question, what is Christianity? As St. Paul responded, it’s a mystery; it is a divine action, the accomplishment of God’s eternal plan by an action coming from eternity. Therefore, the first meaning of mystery is God himself.
This mystery is also expressed with a word, Christ; and that is Casel’s second definition of mystery. Because of sin, this mystery became redemption, nailing the sins of humanity in the cross. The mystery revealed himself, through the ones he chose, the Apostles, and then to the faithful.
The third meaning of mystery is found in worship. According to Dom Casel, man becomes Christian through baptism, and his own personal itinerary of salvation is done together with Christ; in order to do that he needs to follow the path of Christ and it is through the mysteries of worship that he is able to do that journey.
Sacrifice
God descends to man and then he is lifted up to God; that reciprocity is expressed through sacrifice. For Casel, in Christianity we find an authentic idea of sacrifice. Christ represents the entire humanity that is given up to the Father. During Mass, the divine action of consecration of the species -- made by the priest -- reconstruct again, through the mystery, the sacrifice of immolation and death of Christ; therefore it becomes present and is actualized. Without this cultic mystery, the mystery of Christ could not be actualized throughout time.
Christ is given up again for us sacramentally. The church carries the sacrifice of his spouse but it is at the same time her own sacrifice. The word mystery has also another aspect, the sacramental. Christ is the bread of life, who gives and maintains the spiritual life through his Word and Spirit. The immolated and glorified Lord is the basic foundation of the church, who lives through the mysteries of worship; through them God continues his salvific action. It is through the divine mysteries that Christ communicates his life to the church, making real his communion of life and action.
Dom Casel affirms that the liturgy of these mysteries constitutes the central and essential activity of Christianity. Vatican Council II would retake this idea, “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.” (Paul VI, Motu Proprio, Mysterri Paschalis, 1969)
Analysis of the cultic mysteries in ancient cultures
When speaking about sacrifice Casel recognizes the importance of anthropology, not only for Christians but for ancient cultures. He tried to get to the root of the anthropological meaning of mystery in ancient civilizations, especially the ones present at the time of Jesus. He first mentions the Israelites, according to him, the Old Testament did not know the mysteries because God was not present yet as man and had not suffered the passion in the cross. For Dom Casel, a mystery involves the joint work of God and man through One mediator that can be only God, God and man, in other words Jesus Christ.
Casel then presents his vision of mystery in the extra-biblical context, in ancient pagan cultures and makes a comparison between them and the Christian mystery; in the same way he did with the biblical cultures. The Hellenistic or Romans civilizations, tried to join the divine, he said, and were linked to nature; however they did not lead to the supranatural life of the true God; they were empty shadows, hazy presages that expressed nostalgia for the divine.
Liturgy and mystery
The mystery of Christ continues in the cultic mystery of the church. It is Christ himself who carries the worship, but he does not do it alone, he does it always with the church.
At this point Dom Casel considers necessary to define the etymological meaning of liturgy, in Greek leitourgía, comes from laós (people) and érgon (work); therefore based on its etymological meaning, it designates the service offered by a citizen to the state; for example in the construction of a ship aim for military services. However this word also means the divine service for public worship.
Casel explains that if we put together the two words: “mystery” and “liturgy,” they mean the same but with two different aspects; mystery signifies the inner part of the action, the redemptive work from the glorified Lord -made through the holy actions constituted by him. On the other hand, based on this idea, liturgy matches the second etymological meaning “work of the people,” “service,” specifically service from the church in union with the salvific work of Christ. The church and the mystery were born together from the blood of Christ; and that is the ultimate reason why the cultic mystery becomes liturgy.
The content and form of the mysteries were instituted and ordered by the Lord, but their celebration was entrusted to the church; by granting to her his Spirit, God gave her the power to administer the inexhaustible treasuries of the mystery. The various sacred liturgical texts used in liturgy, the eloquence of the rites, the objects and the instruments serve to express and formulate the content of that mystery.
Contributions to liturgical theology
Many of Casel’s ideas were criticized at his time, especially his view of the ancient Hellenistic culture and their relation to Christianity. He responded to some of those critics in an essay named “Faith, gnosis and mystery;” in spite of these controversies, his contribution to both liturgical theology and the liturgical movement was remarkable: “Thus was born the liturgical movement which was destined to exercise a prominent influence on the church of the 20th century, by virtue of the contribution of many eminent men, noted for their learning, piety and commitment, and in which the supreme pontiffs recognized the promptings of the Spirit. The ultimate aim of the liturgical movement (Among those involved with the movement mention must be made of Lambert Beauduin, Odo Casel, Pius Parsch, Bernard Botte, Romano Guardini, Josef A. Jungmann, Cipriano Vagaggini, Aimé-Georges Martimort) was pastoral in nature, namely, to encourage in the faithful a knowledge of, and love for, the divine mysteries and to restore to them the idea that these same mysteries belong to a priestly people (cf. 1 Pt 2,5).” (Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy Principles and Guidelines, Vatican, 2001)
When speaking about his contribution to liturgical theology how can we not mention Casel’s valuable analysis of the mystery and the rigorousness he tried to have in his research? To sustain his ideas and get a deep theological understanding of liturgy Dom Casel studied various liturgical sources, such as the works of the Fathers of the Church, and ancient liturgical books; he wanted to get to the root of the mystery and emphasized the importance of these sources in order to get a serious theological, liturgical method. For Casel liturgical theology seeks to understand how the worship symbols bring in themselves the divine reality of the work of salvation, how they represent it, how they make it present and real. It’s a theology that seeks to penetrate in the divine mystery through liturgy.