“Performing” the Presence of Christ in the Mass: The Liturgical-Theological Significance of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Concepts of “Symbol”, “Image” and “Sign”

The paper applies Hans-Georg Gadamer’s categories of ‘symbol’, ‘image’ (and ‘sign’) to the ritual world of liturgy. In the author’s view, this Gadamerian view does is helpful for liturgical theology as it allows organising the ritual structure of the liturgy: the rituals (‘images’) centred around the core sacramental act (‘symbol’: transubstantiation) present to the liturgical community the person of Christ, who comes to us through in this core act. The ‘image-rites’ all ‘depict” the God-man who comes among us. Moreover, this approach shows that the various rituals, organised around a centre, are not arbitrary, negligible ornaments of the liturgy, but have an immense function: to illuminate and thus explain, through the optics of Church teaching, the core act performing the divine representation.