Living Liturgy™ integrates spirituality and celebration, catechesis and pastoral practice, the ministry of the assembly and other ministries so that celebrating and living go hand-in-hand. Written by a pastorally experienced team with expertise in Scripture, spiritual direction, liturgy, and liturgical music, Living Liturgy™ teaches that we learn from each other of the fullness of God’s mystery, and by learning and worshiping together we enrich each other.

Living Liturgy™ helps people live a liturgical spirituality. This is a way of living rooted in liturgy, which opens their vision to their baptismal identity as the body of Christ and shapes their living according to the dying and rising rhythm of paschal mystery. The paschal mystery is the entire salvific mystery of Jesus Christ—his life, mission, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, sending of the Spirit, and promised second coming—and our participation in this mystery. Liturgy enacts in the here and now Christ’s mystery and sends each one of us forth to live this mystery.

Anyone involved directly with liturgical planning and preparation will benefit from using this resource, including pastors, pastoral ministers, liturgy directors, musicians, and liturgy committee members. Living Liturgy™ also assists those who serve the community in the visible liturgical ministries—presiders, deacons, music ministers, hospitality ministers, altar ministers, lectors, eucharistic ministers—because it clearly shows that each ministry deserves not only practical preparation but even more importantly spiritual preparation, suggestions that are a key component of Living Liturgy™. Further, catechumens, candidates, and sponsors use Living Liturgy™ to support and deepen their liturgical journey within the RCIA. Members of faith-sharing groups use this resource as the focus of weekly prayer and reflection together. Parents and teachers improve their ministry by simplifying Living Liturgy™ when sharing it with younger members of the liturgical community.

Joyce Ann Zimmerman, C.PP.S., is the director of the Institute for Liturgical Ministry in Dayton, Ohio, and is the founding editor and columnist for Liturgical Ministry. She is also an adjunct professor of liturgy, liturgical consultant, and frequent facilitator of workshops on liturgy. She has published numerous scholarly and pastoral liturgical works including The Ministry of Liturgical Environment, Liturgy and Music, Liturgy and Hermeneutics, and Pray without Ceasing, published by Liturgical Press. She holds civil and pontifical doctorates of theology.

Thomas A. Greisen is a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, who is presently the director of the Lay Ministry Formation Office for the Archdiocese of Omaha and a spiritual director. He has been the director of spiritual formation for college seminarians and a professor of spirituality. He holds graduate degrees in both theology and spirituality.

Kathleen Harmon, S.N.D. de N., is the music director for programs of the Institute for Liturgical Ministry in Dayton, Ohio, and is the author of The Ministry of Cantors, The Ministry of Music, and the Music Notes column for Liturgical Ministry, published by Liturgical Press. An educator and musician, she facilitates liturgical music workshops and cantor formation programs, teaches private voice lessons, and has been a parish liturgical music director. She holds a graduate degree in music and a doctorate in liturgy.

Thomas L. Leclerc, M.S., has been director of theology for his congregation, an associate pastor in parishes in Georgia and Connecticut, as well as being involved with adult education in the Archdioceses of Atlanta and Boston. He has been a professor of Sacred Scripture and holds a doctorate of theology in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

"Many more of us, priests, pastoral ministers and people who celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday are aware that our most important activity each week is the time we spend preparing the weekly liturgy. We can do that work well by preparing the texts for each Sunday Eucharist. We can do that even better by having a copy of Living Liturgy to study and ponder and pray with, either alone or in a group, each week. . . . This volume will be the user’s best investment of the year."

"This is a great resource . . . check it out."

"Living Liturgy now sits right next to my Lectionary and Sacramentary as a primary source for liturgical planning, and my own personal preparation for entering into liturgical celebration. An absolute must for liturgists, pastors, and parish music ministers."

"This is an excellent resource that contains not only helpful biblical insights for each Sunday but a methodology focusing on the spiritual, liturgical, and catechetical aspects of a specific celebration."