United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

214 • Part II. The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated

spiritual wealth of the liturgy. He started a magazine, Liturgy and Christian Culture , in which he published articles on liturgy that he translated into Spanish from English and French journals. He gradually gathered a number of students and professors together in a Liturgy Circle that met at the University Center. He taught them how to live out the liturgy and the Easter mystery of Christ’s dying and rising, especially at the Easter Vigil. He organized Christian Life days for the students to renew their spiritu ality through the liturgy. He promoted the active participation of the laity in the Mass and the use of the vernacular. Carlos anticipated a number of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, especially those found in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy ( Sacrosanctum Concilium ). Carlos did not let his deteriorating physical condition get in the way of his calling. He knew he was rising with Christ even as his body was dying. He kept reminding his disciples at the university that they should be joyful because they are called to live the joy and hope that Jesus brings with his Resurrection. He frequently said, “ Vivimos para esa noche de la Resurreción ” (We live for the night of the Resurrection). He entered eternal life on July 13, 1963, at age forty-four. A crowd that traveled to Rome from Puerto Rico cheered and waved their island’s flag in St. Peter’s Square on April 29, 2001, when St. John Paul II beatified Carlos Manuel Rodriguez. The pope pointed out that this lay activist witnessed the fact that all Christians are called to pursue holiness “in a conscious and responsible way.” Blessed Carlos loved the Eucharist, which is the center of the liturgy. Remarkably, in the twenty years before the Second Vatican Council when the voices for liturgical renewal were being heard from Benedictine monks, scholarly theologians, and visionary priests, this alert Puerto Rican layman showed university students how to base their faith life on the lit urgy, especially the Eucharist. •