is just what happens in the liturgy .  .  .

faith, indeed, is more than a

condition for the liturgy, and the liturgy is more than a confirmation
of faith already present, since faith is not fully realized unless it is
­expressed in a symbolic mode. Only in words, in symbols, and in
symbolic actions of the liturgy can faith be realized as my faith. The
expression of faith in the liturgy is therefore not something added on,
something utterly accidental. On the contrary: it is of essential impor-
tance that the faith be translated ‘into action.’”24

In this sense the Christian liturgy is in the category of urgia; it is

poietic, and it is ritual action. As an action it is relevant to the univer-
sality of human behavior; as a ritual it is an action that is the vehicle
for a behavior, which in our case opens to the salvific event, to the
paschal mystery, which, as has been noted, involves the aesthetic
­dimension. “The agreement between religious experience and ritual
­action is expressed completely in celebration, given that this is pre-
cisely the ‘act’ of turning to the sacred or historical-salvific event
through a ritual mode of performing that act.”25

WORD OF GOD AND POIETIC FUNCTION:

SOURCES OF THE AESTHETIC AND THE POIETIC
Our reflection up until now has led us to establish the bases concern-
ing what are the aesthetic and the poietic in liturgy, and why these
two dimensions are constitutive of the communication of salvation.
Also addressed is how the aesthetic and the poietic in their articula-
tion can respond to their operative significance: not just the dynamics
underlying the two dimensions, nor underlying the constitutive ele-
ments whether of historical or theological origin, but rather under­
lying their roots of meaning and their source bases.

The Word of God

Reference is constantly made to the paschal event to signify the ulti-
mate origin of every possible consideration of ours in the liturgical-

24 
G. Lukken, “Nella liturgia la fede si realizza in modo insostituibile,” in Conc
9/2 (1973) 27–8; by the same author, also see “La liturgie comme lieu théologique
irremplaçable, méthodes d’analyse et de vérification théologiques,” QL 56 (1975)
97–112. For further inquiry see A. Vergote, Interprétation du langage religieux (Paris,
1974); L.-M. Chauvet, Linguaggio e simbolo .  .  . (Torino, 1982) (original French ed.
1979); ibid., Simbolo e sacramento .  .  . (Turin, 1990) (original French ed. 1987).
25 
G. Bonaccorso, op. cit., 44.

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