"The liturgy, 'making the work of our redemption a present actuality,' most of all in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church...
...The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fount from which all the Church's power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made children of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of his Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's Supper...
...The liturgy is the source for achieving in the most effective way possible human sanctification and God's glorification, the end to which all the Church's other activities are directed...
...The Church earnestly desires that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the litrugy. Such participation by the Christian people...is their right and duty by reason of their baptism"
-(Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 2; 10; 14).