The Assembly as Corporate Worshiping Subject: Affecting Cohesion and Prosociality

That individual members of the faithful become a corporate worshiping subject in liturgical celebration is a mainstay of Catholic liturgical ecclesiology, but how corporate subjectivity is established in liturgy has not been specified. This article investigates some key scientific factors contributing to the cohesion of the corporate worshiping subject and theorizes that corporeality ideally leads to prosociality. It points to theological underpinnings of liturgical corporeality and studies how the Holy Spirit may shape the corporate bond utilizing affective and neurophysiological mechanisms, particularly emotional contagion, postural and gestural mirroring, synchrony, and hormones.