Panel: THE SACRAMENTALITY OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT: THE ROLE OF THE RELIGIOUS IMAGINATION FOR PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE TRANSFORMATION



154.7 - "HEAR HIM, YE DEAF:" THE LITURGY, MYSTICAL BODY THEOLOGY AND THE "WORKING-THROUGH" OF POLARIZATION

AUTHORS:
Witherington D. (Loyola University Chicago ~ Chicago ~ United States of America)
Text:
Conceptualizing the Church as the "Mystical Body of Christ" was a central theme of many pioneers of the 20th-century liturgical movement (e.g., Guardini, Beauduin, Michel). These thinkers emphasized that regular liturgical worship conformed individuals to Christ through Word and Sacrament, fostering both personal transformation and a communal identity as members of the Mystical Body. Liturgical worship formed Christocentric subjects who were also ecclesial subjects, deeply connected to Christ the Head through their incorporation into the Church as His Body. This vision challenged Modern individualism, which paradoxically contributed to destructive collectivist ideologies like Fascism and Communism. This paper argues that such a theology remains profoundly relevant for contemporary Western societies, where polarization is a defining characteristic. A renewed and creative engagement with the Mystical Body theology can serve as a corrective and healing balm, enabling individuals to move beyond division into spaces of dialogue, receptive listening, and understanding. Building on Louis-Marie Chauvet's insight that liturgy offers a space for "working-through" narcissistic tendencies and Timothy Gabrielli's contextualization of this within Mystical Body theology, the paper explores how liturgy addresses the root cause of polarization: the original sin of narcissism. Liturgical worship transforms individuals from isolation into unity with Christ and others, fostering mutual understanding and connection. By forming participants as ecclesial subjects, liturgy empowers them to resist polarization and promote reconciliation. This transformation, rooted in participation in the Mystical Body, equips individuals to confront societal division and seek communal healing. By addressing polarization as a primary obstacle to social renewal, this paper aligns with the conference theme, offering a liturgically and ecclesially grounded framework for meaningful societal transformation.