The
Effects of the Eucharist
Mwale Peter [11074T]
Does the Eucharist have any effect on the one who
receives it? And if so, what are the fruits of the Eucharist? In order to answer these two questions, I
will rely on the Catechism of the
Catholic Church especially with numbers 1328 – 1398. According to this section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I will
single out three main important effects of the Eucharist on those who
participate in this sacrament faithfully in the following paragraphs.
The first and most obvious effect of the Eucharist
is the union with Christ. Just as our bodies need food to survive, so the body of
our Lord Jesus Christ nourishes the new life of God within us which is received
at baptism. This life is strengthened as we celebrate and receive the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist (CCC,
1391). As true meal, the Eucharist is an act of union. This union is
principally a personal one, based on knowing and loving God. It is a living and
loving communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Eucharist strengthens
and deepens within us that life by which we can know and love Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
The second effect of the Eucharist is the
forgiveness of sins, for the celebration of the Eucharist helps us grow in love
for God and our neighbor (CCC, 1393).
The Eucharistic Sacrifice and Holy Communion purify us from venial sins and give
us strength to struggle against greater evil. As we grow in charity and love we
are better prepared to resist temptations and to grow more and more in
Christian virtues. Through the sacrifice and presence of Jesus in the Holy
Eucharist we are united to God for whom sin and evil try to separate us. This
notion of forgiveness of sins is central to the Eucharist as it is a sacrifice
of atonement. In so far as in the Holy Eucharist we have that same offering of
Calvary made present in a ritual way, the Church has always believed that the
Eucharist is to be offered for the sins of the living and the dead. The
Eucharistic sacrifice reaches its consummation in Holy Communion.
The third effect of the Eucharist is our
ever-deepening union with the Church (CCC,
1396). Holy Communion is very much
linked to our bond with the Church. St. Paul reminds us that the Church is the
body of Christ and we are its members. Linked to Jesus we are linked to the
Church. This is why any playing down of the divine mystery of the Eucharist in
the name of some facile ‘relevance’ and superficial ‘togetherness’ is not only
false to what God has revealed to His Church about the Eucharist, but it also
undermines in advance that genuine human brotherhood which the Eucharist is
meant to inspire and deepen.
Finally, each time we receive Holy Communion, we
should be reminded that it is a sign of our friendship with Jesus; it should
help us to keep and renew the life of grace we received at Baptism and it is
should strengthen our love for God, family and neighbour and to wipe away our
venial sins, and preserve us from committing mortal sin.
****
THE EUCHARIST: Life of the Church - Mwale Peter
[11074T]
Pope John Paul II in 2005 issued the apostolic letter, Ecclesia
de Eucharistia, on the mystery and worship of the Holy Eucharist. He
emphasized that the priest and the deacon have a close relationship with the
Eucharist. According to John Paul II, the Eucharist “is the principal and
central raison d’etre of the Sacrament of the priesthood. Priests derive
from the Eucharist and exist for the Eucharist” (EE, 31). Priests are in a special way responsible
for and entrusted with the Eucharist for others. The people of God expect from
priests a particular veneration and Eucharistic piety. The Eucharist gives Catholics their unique identity. The
non-celebration of the Eucharist because of the shortage of priests weakens
this Catholic identity.
The Eucharist is also the source and summit of all that
the Church is and does. The breaking of the bread has always been at the centre
of the life of the Church. The Eucharist holds within itself the whole spiritual
treasure of the Church. Christ
Himself is the Sacrament of Unity. He came to reconcile us to God and to each
other. He gave his followers, the Church, the role of continuing this mission.
Therefore, the Church is a Sacrament of Unity. John Paul II, points out that
the Eucharist describes the Church as ‘a Sacrament’ for humanity (EE, 22).
As “source and
summit” of the Church’s life, the Eucharist itself is essentially a Sacrament
of Unity. John Paul states that: “In the sacrament of the Eucharistic bread,
the unity of the faithful, who form one body in Christ, is both expressed and
brought about” (EE, 21). It is interesting
to note that the Eucharist not just as and ‘expression’ of unity achieved, but
also as a means for ‘bringing about’ unity. There is a ‘unifying power of
sharing in the Eucharist” (EE, 23).
Today, when we speak
of the ‘Real Presence’ we normally mean the sacramental presence of Christ in
the Eucharist under the form of bread and wine. And when we speak of the
‘Mystical Body’, we normally mean the Church. For more than half of the
Church’s history – that is, until the twelfth century – the very opposite was
true. The ‘real’ body of Christ was the Church. And the ‘mystical’ body of
Christ was the sacramental bread and wine. When we see this usage in operation
in the passage from St John Chrysostom which John Paul quotes in his Encyclical
on the Eucharist (EE, 20).
Eucharistic adoration is another act of witnessing when
one sees many gathered in silence before the Lord. Adoration should become part
and parcel of our way of being Church. Every Eucharist unites us with the
adoration of the whole Communion of Saints and reminds us of our unity with our
whole human family alive today. John Paul II says that he has celebrated Mass
in all sorts of places on his travels, yet he is always aware that even in the
humblest of settings, Mass is still celebrated “on the altar of the world” (EE, 8). This brings out its ‘cosmic
character’ of the Eucharist.
In conclusion, the Pope uses the beautiful phrase,
“Eucharistic amazement” (EE, 6). At
the end of the same paragraph, he links it to the disciples of the Emmaus road
and says we can “re-live their experience, when their eyes were opened and they
recognized him.” Through the
ministry of the priest, Christ entrusted to us a memorial of his own passion
and resurrection. The memorial makes effectively present here and now an event
in the past, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The power of these
events touches and transforms us (EE,
31).
***
MWALE PETER [11074T]
The Role of the Extraordinary Minister of
Holy Communion
The topic on the role of the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion
is very important in our Church and needs careful consideration. It has been
clarified a number of times in the Redemptionis
Sacramentum (RS) which was issued
by the Congregation of Divine Worship in 2004 and in the General Instructions of the Roman Missal (GIRM).These valuable documents addresses the mystery of the
Eucharist and the norms pertaining to the respect to be given to the Eucharist
by its ministers.
The ordinary minister of Holy Communion is a bishop, priest or a deacon.
Any other authorized minister is always considered extraordinary, that is,
exceptional. This means that when there are enough priests or deacons present
at Mass, it is their duty to distribute Communion. It is not the duty of other
ministers, and it would be incorrect for these ministers to distribute the Holy
Communion (RS, 88). More especially,
the Church disapproves of priests or deacons who are able to distribute
Communion but who do not do so, rather letting laypersons do this instead.
The services of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are required
only for reasons of real necessity, and must not be regarded as the norm (RS, 88). When there is only one priest
and possibly one deacon, as happens often during well attended Sunday Masses,
the Instruction allows the extraordinary ministers to assist in the
distribution. Also, if the priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age from
giving Communion at Mass, the services of the extraordinary ministers will be
necessary.
In the parish liturgy there is generally no problem because both priest
and people appreciate that if only one or two are giving out Communion to large
numbers of communicants, it can prolong the Mass unduly. In unforeseen
circumstances, the Instruction says the priest may depute a person who is not a
commissioned extraordinary minister to administer Communion for that single
occasion. These are some of the things the extraordinary ministers are expected
to do. What they may not do is to ask other persons who are not extraordinary
ministers to take over from them and distribute Communion. The Instruction
specifically will not allow an extraordinary minister permit a family member of
a sick person to give Communion to that person, unless, naturally, the family
member has been commissioned by the Church as an extraordinary minister.
The taking of Communion to the sick often leaves much to be desired in
some places. Usually consecrated hosts are distributed to lay ministers after
Communion. Lay ministers carrying Communion often stop to chat with
friends before going to the sick. At times they rush to shop before proceeding
to the sick. Some keep the consecrated hosts at home because they did not find
the sick person or because on their return, they found the church locked.
To conclude: “ In an altogether particular manner, let everyone do all
that is in their power to ensure that the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
will be protected from any and every irreverence or distortion and that all
abuses be thoroughly corrected. This is a most serious duty incumbent upon each
and every one, and all are bound to carry it out without any favouristism” (RS, 183).
RECOGNIZING
HIM IN THE BREAKING OF BREAD
Peter Mwale
The
reflection is inspired by the topic we dealt with in class on the short History
of the Eucharistic Doctrine especially on the Biblical Evidence. I want to
focus much on some of the letters of St Paul as regards how the disciples of
Jesus recognized him in the breaking of the bread and it is impact on their
lives and how it can influence us.
The
disciples recognized the Lord in the specific act of breaking the bread.
Breaking bread and sharing it was a deeply symbolic act for the Jews, but it
was all the more so for the disciples as it evoked the memory of the last meal
they had shared with Jesus before he was crucified. It is a symbol that
captures the central thrust of the life and death of Jesus – his self-emptying
love, his complete giving of himself, his final testament. “On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus
took some bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, “This
is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me” (1Cor. 11:24-25).
The
Eucharist is above all else a memorial of the dying of Jesus: “Whenever you eat this bread then, and drink
this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Cor.
11:26). Proclaiming the Lord’s death, holding it up in an act of worship and
emulation, in a declaration that one identifies with it, in a public commitment
that one wants to do likewise. For the disciple, it is the touchstone of his
life, the act that gives meaning to his existence, the assurance that grounds
the hope that keeps him going. It enables him to say with St Paul, “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me,
with Christ I hang on the cross” (Gal. 2:19).
The
breaking of bread is both an act of participation in the death of Jesus and a
concretization of his risen presence among us. It is both a memorial of his
dying and an actualization of his redemptive mission, a furtherance of his work
among us. It both re-enacts his act of total giving on Calvary and absorbs the
present into the gathering together of all things in the Kingdom, into that
great communion of all things in Christ. It is a sacred sign that effects what
it signifies: it impels one outward to the service of the poor.
And
finally when we recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread, we are invited to
be in Christ in His reaching out to the poor. To share in the Lord’s Supper is
to commit oneself to the breaking of bread with the multitude.
THE EUCHARIST AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER
SACRAMENTS
The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis of the Holy Father
Benedict XVI on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and
Mission, “seeks to take up the richness and variety of the reflections and
proposals which emerged from the recent Ordinary General Assembly of Synod of
Bishops…and to offer some basic directions aimed at a renewed commitment to
Eucharistic enthusiasm and fervor in the Church”.[1] In this reflection I will focus is on the
relationship that the Eucharist has with the other sacraments based on this
document.
The Eucharistic celebration gives us a new understanding
and purpose to our life because of a new relationship and link it has to other
sacraments. It is the centre and summit of our Church and Christian life. As
such it relates and sustains other sacraments as they draw life from its
Trinitarian communion.[2]
“If the Eucharist is truly the source and summit of
the Church’s life and mission, it follows that the process of Christian
initiation must constantly be directed to the reception of this sacrament”. [3] In
Baptism we are reborn into God’s family and acquire new life in Christ. The
Eucharist nourishes and perfects the baptismal graces of this new life. In Confirmation
we are strengthened by the Eucharist to be true disciples of the Lord as we
witness to the baptismal promises through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hence
the Eucharist plays a big role in strengthening the bond and relationship of
the sacraments of Christian Initiation.
“The Synod Fathers rightly stated that a love for
the Eucharist leads to a growing appreciation of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation”.[4] It is true that the Christians experience
God’s love and forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation as they are
reconciled to each other and to God. The Eucharist is related to the sacrament
of reconciliation in that it recreates an intrinsic relationship of healing and
forgiveness in the community through the sacrifice of Christ. In the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick,
“ the Eucharist shows how Christ’s sufferings and death have been transformed
into love,… for this part, unites the sick with Christ’s self-offering for the
salvation of all, so that they too, within the mystery of the communion of
saints, can participate in the redemption of the world”.[5] In the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick,
Christ reaches out to those suffering and this brings healing and comfort to
them. In the Eucharist there is also the reaching out of Christ to us and this
heals our brokenness and relationships with each other and God.
“The Eucharist, as the sacrament of charity, has a
particular relationship with the love of man and woman united in marriage”.[6] It
strengthens the unity and love of the marriage of Christians. The “marriage
bond is intrinsically linked to the Eucharistic unity of Christ the Bridegroom
and his Bride, the Church (cf. Eph 5:31-32)”.[7] In the Eucharist, Christ gives himself out to
us willingly and out of love. And finally in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, “the
connection between Holy Orders and the
Eucharist is seen most clearly at Mass, when the Bishop or priest presides in the person of Christ the Head”.[8]
Finally,
the Eucharist leads all believers to live their lives in a new manner in that
all sacraments are interrelated to it and the recipients of these sacraments
share in the life of the Trinity and of the Church. This experience is renewed
at every Eucharistic celebration since the goal and aim of this experience is
to help Christians to grow more and more into the image of Christ
