The theology of the Church’s conciliar life has as its cornerstone the nature of the Divine Liturgy. Conciliar decrees are binding in that they specify the boundaries of those who will be brought into canonical apostolic succession or occupy a given See. You must profess *these* Councils to be installed as head of the particular Church of Antioch. And the bishop realizes the local Church *as* the local Church through his celebration of the Holy Eucharist as an heir of the apostolically consecrated episcopate. The continuity of faith *in the context of ecclesiastical communion* stitches the Church together with its extension in time through ages past and its extension in space across continents.
Jesus says of the Eucharist: "Do this as my Memorial” or “in memory of me.” The Sacrament is united to Christ such that Christ is made present in those creatures placed in relation to the Sacrament. If I tell you a person’s name, you will likely see their face in your mind’s eye if you know them. The reality internal to the person is attached to the sign so that they invariably become present in one’s mind whenever the sign is expressed. To see the named individual in the mind’s eye is immediate, not subject to deliberation and consent of will.
All creation is redeemed insofar as it is ingathered into the boundaries of the Church where the presence of God flows all through all. The world was made by wisdom and it is “through the church [that] the many-colored wisdom of God [is] now proclaimed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies.” The particularity of the Church’s history- the unique *way* in which God outpours of His infinitely diverse sanctities to grace the world- that is likewise present in the Eucharist. Our mind is interior, through the Spirit, to Christ (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) and we also “have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16) The revelation of Christ in the Eucharist is revelation of the *totus Christus.*- the whole Christ, head and body, Lord and Church.
This is perpetuated into the world through the concreteness of space and time- we “com-memor-ate” a given set of saints, feasts, and key events in church history on a given day. Nearly every day *if the whole liturgical cycle is celebrated* is the occasion for the coming of Jesus Christ in His Body on the altar. The Memory (self-knowledge) of God resides in the Church from Christ. And that means we actively incorporate the thoughts of God into our thoughts by the commemoration of those who are most excellently members of Christ. To remember is both to call an existing memory to mind and to fortify the memory called to mind.