Presented by: Damasceno
Barão, José Domingos
Student Number: 11033T.
Different
Perspectives
1.
Reaffirm the centrality of the Eucharist in
the life of the Church
The
chief intention of the Pope in bringing out the encyclical Ecclesia de
Eucharistia has been to show, with new force, the centrality of the Eucharist
the life of the Church. “The church draws her life from the Eucharist. And it
is the source, center, and summit of her life”[1].
2. Rekindle
the joy and wonder generated by the Eucharist
Since
the Church is founded on the Eucharist all the faithful especially the priests,
who effect the consecration, should approach it with amazement and gratitude.
Here, the Pontiff tries to rekindle the Eucharistic amazement the heart of
every faithful.
3. The
Eucharist enables us to contemplate the face of Christ
As
a good shepherd the pope desires that his folk are enabled to contemplate the
face of Christ, along with Mary. In his own words “I wish to involve the whole
Church more fully in this Eucharistic reflection”[2].
4. Orientate
the mind to recognize the mystery
Moreover, through this encyclical he planned
to orient the minds of the Church to recognize the mystery of the Eucharist and
the mystery of the Church.
5. Encourages
the faithful to nourish their spiritual life
John
Paul II has written Ecclesia de Eucharistia in order to urge every “believer to
draw nourishment for his or her whole life from the Eucharist and to experience
it ever new”[3].
6. The
pope was able to witness to cosmic character of the Eucharist celebrations with
people of different cultures enabled him to witness publicly “the universal and
so to speak, cosmic character of the Eucharist”[4].
7. Commitment
to transform the world
As
a philosopher Pope tries to relate the sacrament of the Eucharist to the very
existence of human beings to eschatological hope, which the Eucharist conveys,
urges its participants to work for the upliftment of humanity and the world.
According to John Paul II the sacrament of the Eucharist not only gives us the
aspiration for a new heaven but also aspiration for a new earth. Moreover, the
Eucharist increases, rather than lessens our responsibility for the world
today, and it spurs us on our journey through history and plants a seed of
living hope in our daily commitment to the work before us. This Eucharistic
vision compels the Christians to be faithful in their duties as citizens of
this world. Theirs is the task of contributing with the light of the Gospel to
the building of a more human world, a world fully in harmony with God’s plan.
Furthermore, the sacrament of the Eucharist urges its participants to work for
peace, justice, solidarity, and human values and ethics. Thus the transfigured
existence which the sacrament of the Eucharist provides for its participants
demands for them a commitment to transform the world in accordance with the
message of the Gospel.
[
Reflection on the Eucharist
Reveals God’s love
presented by: Damasceno Barão, José Domingos.
Student Number: 11033T.
John
Paul II treats the Eucharist as: “the sacrament of the love of Christ for the
Church”[1].
The Eucharistic love of Christ is unconditional and total. The Banquet of the
Lord expresses God’s unfathomable love for his people. The Eucharist symbolizes
this selfless love, and therefore recalls it, makes it present and at the same
time brings it about. There at the table of the Lord, God’s charity is revealed
in its fullest degree to his people. “The Eucharist expresses Christ’s love,
which he revealed through his incarnation, redemptive sacrifice and
resurrection which crowned his sacrifice”[2].
The pope qualified it as Triduum sacrum,
Mysterium paschal, Mysterium eucharisticum, according the pope the content
of the Eucharistic celebration embraces the paschal Triduum, the events of the Holy Thursday evening to Sunday morning.
The
pope makes it clear that the Eucharist represents the actions and words of
Christ on the altar of the Church. In other words the Eucharist reveals the
profound love of Christ on the Cross to humanity. “The mass makes present the
sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to that sacrifice of the Cross; it does
not add to that sacrifice nor does it multiply it. What is repeated is its
memorial celebration, its commemorative representation which makes Christ’s one
definitive redemptive sacrifice always present in time”[3].
Here the victim and the offered is the same Christ who offers himself through
the ministry of the priest. The mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the
sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice on the cross is perpetuated and the
sacred banquet tells us about the inseparable relationship between the Mass,
the sacrificial memorial of Christ, and the sacrifice of the Cross in which the
faithful receive the Lord’s body and blood.
At
the moment of the celebration the believers not only know and experience love
but they themselves begin to love, Moreover, “the celebration of the Eucharist
perfects the image of God that we bear within us. At the same time the mass
satisfies the hunger of humanity for truth and love”[4].
Thus, the Eucharist is the mystery of love and it requires a response of love
from us. The Eucharist makes its believers love their neighbor and to respect
the dignity of each individual person. Naturally it requires that we are
sensitive to all human suffering and misery, to all injustice and wrong, to all
kinds of slavery and exploitation and to seek the way to redress them
effectively. John Paul reminds the sense of the Eucharistic mystery leads us to
a love of our neighbor, to a love for every human being. It is the obligation
of Christians to express this love by an act of charity and by fostering a new
culture of love.
In
1993, while addressing his audience at Dos hermana, in Serville, the pope urged
the believers that “Eucharistic devotion must find tangible expression in
dedication to the needy and their human dignity”[5].
“The celebration of the sacrament at the altar urges the faithful to promote
the inalienable dignity of every human being through justice and condor; to
give us generously as the bread of life for others. It requires of us to
respect the right and dignity of every person. It insists that the faithful proclaim
a more just world marked by equality, freedom, fraternity, solidarity and
sharing”[6].
[1] CF. JOHN PAUL II, Dominice Cenae, 5.
[2] CF. JOHN PAUL II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 14.
[3] CF. JOHN PAUL II, Ecclesia
de Eucharistia, 12, 3.
[4] CF. JOHN PAUL II. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 12.
[5] CF. JOHN PAUL II. Christ Satisfies the Hunger for Truth and
Love,1.
[6]CF. JOHN PAUL II. Eucharistic Devotion Must Find Tangible
Expression in Dedication to the Needy and their human Dignity, 6.
*****
Reflection on the Eucharist
as Great Mystery of God
by: Damasceno Barão,
José Domingos.
Student Number: 11033T.
In the sacramental celebration of the
Eucharist the mysteium paschal
manifests itself and the work of our redemption is carried out. Hence, the pope
John Paul II called the Eucharist: “as great mystery, a mystery of mercy”[1].
This added emphasis given to the mystery dimension of the Eucharist will enable
the Church more to explain and experience the reality of the third sacrament.
Following the institutional narrative of the synoptic Gospels, the pope
categorically affirms the mystery aspect of the Eucharist. Those words would
only be fully clear at the end of the Triduum
sacrum, the time from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. Those days
embrace the mysterium paschal; they
also embrace the mysterium eucharisticum.
It shows the intrinsic relationship between the sacrifice of Christ at the
Cenacle, Golgotha and at the altar of the Church. “That is, the sacrifice of
Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice. In other
words by virtue of its close relationship to the sacrifice of Golgotha, the
Eucharist is a sacrifice in the strict sense”[2].
In
fact the presence of Christ and his saving activity in the Eucharist make it a
wonderful mystery at all time. The sacramental representation of Christ’s
paschal mystery involves a most special presence of the glorified Christ in the
Eucharistic species of bread and wine. To sate very clearly the uniqueness of
Christ’s presence in the Eucharist John Paul II refers to the teachings of Pope
Paul VI’s Mysterium Fidei, where the
Eucharistic presence is: “distinguished from all other presence by using the
term presence in the fullest sense and presence par excellence mounting mystery
presence. That is, in the Eucharist, Christ the God Man is substantially,
wholly, and entirely present”[3].
To
a great extent the mystery dimension of the Eucharist is seen in the sacrament
of matrimony. According to John Paul II: “the marriage of the baptized has special
relationship with the mystery of God, that is, the sacrament of marriage has
not lonely a natural dimension but also a supernatural dimension. It is a sign
and instrument of the grace of Christ. In the communion of the couple both
human and the divine are interwoven in a wonderful way”[4].
In every marriage the mystery of redemption becomes present, brought about by a
real participation in the Cross of the Saviour, accepting the Christian paradox
that joins happiness with suffering in the spirit of faith. It shows that
Christian marriage is both a natural institution and at the same time, a
sacramental reality. It has both secular and religious dimensions.[5]
While
creating man and woman in his own image God treated marriage as sacred. The
image of God is found in the duality of man and woman and in their
interpersonal communion. For this reason, transcendence is inherent in the
existence of marriage, right from the start, because it belongs to the natural
distinction between man and woman in the order of creation. In their being one
flesh, the man, and the woman, in their mutual assistance and fruitfulness,
participate in something sacred and religious. In the state of original
innocence Adam and Eve already had the supernatural gift of grace.
The
effects of original sin distorted and dehumanized all family relationships. But
in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God restored the
primordial purpose of marriage intended by the heavenly Father in paradise. “Therefore,
in the state of redeemed nature, the union between man and woman not only
regains its original holiness, freed from sin but is really inserted into the
very mystery of the covenant of Christ with the Church. In other words family
life is sanctified in the joining of man and woman in the sacramental
institution of holy matrimony”[6].
In this way Jesus
Christ re-established the transcendental dimension of the marriage. Therefore
St. Paul treats the sacrament of marriage as a great mystery. “The magisterium
of the Church always valued the sacredness of the marriage; Christian spouses,
in virtue of the sacrament of matrimony, signify and partake of the mystery of
that unity and fruitful love which exist between Christ and his Church. The
spouses thereby help each other to attain to holiness in their married life and
by the acceptance and education of their children. And so, their state of and
way of life, they have their own special gift among the people of God”[7].
[1] Cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia
de Eucharistia, 3.
[2] Cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia
de Eucharistia, 2,12,1.
[3] Cf. John Paul
II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 15, 1.
[4] Cf. John Paul
II, Natural Marriage Already has sacred
dimension, 6.
[5] Cf. John Paul
II, Promote Solid Family Life as model of united Church life, 3.
[6] Cf. John Paul
II, Promote Solid Family Life as model of
united Church life, 3.
Reflection on
the SundayEucharist as the Day of Faith
Sunday appears as the supreme day of faith. It is the day when, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, the appearance of the Risen Lord becomes an event
renewed, in the breaking of the Bread. On Sunday or the day of the Lord, “TheEucharistic Assembly is the Heart of
Sunday”[1];
Sunday is not a remembrance of a past event, it is a celebration of the living
presence of the Risen Lord in the midst of his own people. It is therefore to
come together as a people of God gathered in one heart and one mind, to express
fully our identity as Church and people of the Risen Lord,
who offered his life to reunite the
scattered children of God.
Through the gift of the Holy Eucharist, on
Sunday our heart by faith becomes one in Christ. “Each community, gathering all its members for the breaking of the bread,
becomes the place where the mystery of the Church is concretely made present in
our heart in act of faith and love”[2].
In the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, we are called to be united with our
Lord. In this year of faith, we are invited to be united, particularly, with
the Church and the nation of Kenya. We have had time to deepen our relationship
with our sisters and brothers from different Christiansand Non- Christian
denominations.
We have prayed for unity among us especially
among Kenyans. This year of Faith is helping us to be mindful in our personal
and community prayers about our future, our nation, and the most needed. The
Lord has promised to stay with us always and we are called to be closer to Him.
In this very moment where politicians are spreading moment of emotion in high
level in this country of Kenya, we remind ourselves that our Lord has a
privileged place in our heart. The Sunday Eucharist Celebration is a moment in
which we meet Jesus who unities us with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the
sacrament of the Holy Eucharist Received.
We through the Sacrament of the Eucharist are
invited to be united in a perfect union, as the Father, and the Son and in the
Holy Spirit to beunited: in one body, one mind and one spirit with our brothers
and sisters of Kenya and of the world. Viewed in this way, the Sunday’s
Celebration would be, not only the day of Faith, but also the day of Unity,
Love and, Hope.
Presented by:
Damasceno. José Domingos
Student Number:
11033T
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