Formality in Liturgy

The strict formality of all sacred “language” (gestures, signs, words) . . . is not only necessitated by the communal character of the sacred action, though it is true that free improvisation, on the spur of the moment, would always be the action of the individual only. No, such formality has perhaps more to do with an inherent quality of not being at any one’s disposal, the same way a completed poem may not be changed at will.
— Josef Pieper, In Search of the Sacred

This perhaps helps one to see that the Sacrifice of the Mass is one with Christ’s sacrifice.

The “doing” action of the liturgist corresponds to the analogous “contemplating” coaction of the congregation.
— Ibid.

This should be read in the light of Guardini: Looking as a Liturgical Act.