| The Church's liturgy is a unique locus theologicus that the systematic theologian must consider for a complete picture of any doctrine. The Roman Missal makes frequent reference to merit, an important theological category for understanding the relationship between God and the human person. Yet, no systematization exists of what the lex orandi of the Church, as embodied in the prayers of the Roman Missal, contributes to a theology of merit. After an historical survey of the doctrine of merit, this study systematically analyzes these orations, seeking a unified vision of merit as expressed through the liturgy.;As will be demonstrated, in speaking of merit, the prayers of the Roman Missal follow the major themes which had already arisen in Augustine, but also point the faithful to the centrality of the spiritual attitude of humility with regard to merits. The orations also stress the ecclesial context and the importance of the communion of saints for the doctrine of merit. Moreover, the Roman Missal presents merit in the context of a series of tensions that depict the relationship between divine and human work, a kind of non-competitive or participatory conception of the relation between God's action and human cooperation. Finally, the theology of merit in all its tensions as found in the prayers of the Roman Missal is best synthesized and explained by viewing merit as an exercise of the theological virtue of hope.;To demonstrate these conclusions, the various prayer texts are arranged and evaluated according to the subject and objects of merit, the means by which the subject merits, and the antecedents, conditions, or any other attendant factors of merit. Special attention is given to the spiritual posture of the human person before God implied in the text. |
