Dies Ecclesiae
Reflection
on the Eucharistic Assembly: Heart of
Sunday
Just
as the engine is the heart of the vehicle, without it the vehicle can not move,
so the Eucharist too is the heart of Sunday, the Lord’s day. Jesus Christ is
present within the Church and he will continue to be present till the end of time,
as he himself said, ‘I will be with you always, to the end of the age’ (Mt
28:20).The Lords day or Sunday, is not only the remembrance of the past event
but also a celebration of the living presence of the risen Lord. To appreciate
this presence, in order for it to be proclaimed and lived, it is not necessary
that the disciples of Jesus pray individually and commemorate his death in
secrecy of their heart. Those baptized are not saved as individuals but as a
mystical body of Christ, having become part of the people of God. It is
therefore necessary that they come together to express fully the identity of
the church, the assembly called together by the risen lord who offered his life
to reunite the scattered children of God.
The
holy Eucharist is in a sense a fountain head of the church and it gives growth
to the church since they is one bread, we who are many are one body for we
partake of one bread. Because of the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord,
the mystery of the Church is proclaimed. The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s day
and his Eucharistic is at the heart of the church’s life. What is celebrated on
Sunday, that is, the Eucharist is not different from the Eucharist celebrated
on ordinary days. The Eucharist is the manifestation of the church and this is
evidenced when the diocesan community gathers in prayer with it’s pastor. In
celebrating the Eucharist, the community opens itself to communion with the
universal church. Therefore the day of the lord is also the day of the church.
The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s day is very important among the activities
of the church.
The
Lord’s day is not only the day of faith but Christian hope too. Participating
in the Lord’s Supper anticipates the eschatological feast of the marriage of
the lamb. Celebrating this memorial of Christ, the community awaits in joyful
hope for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ. In the Eucharistic celebration,
the risen lord is met into two ways: that is in the table of the word and of
the bread of life. The table of the word offers history of salvation as it is
Christ himself who speaks, present as he is in the word when scripture is read.
In the bread of life the risen lord becomes really substantially and enduring
present through the memorial of his passion and resurrection and the bread of
life is offered as pledge of future glory. Having asserted that Eucharist is
the heart of Sunday, the early pastors emphasized and never ceased to encourage
the faithful of the need to take part in liturgical assembly. The mass should
be prepared with special care and ensure that it has a festival character
appropriate to the day commemorating the Lord’s resurrection.
****
Vatican
II Document, S.C.R., Ecclesiae Semper
Reflection
on the Decree on Celebration and Communion under both Species
During
the celebration of the Eucharist, the church is very attentive to this point of
communion under both species. It monitors and regulates the different forms of
Eucharistic celebration to the end so that they might express the aspect of
sacrifice and impress them to the faithful. In every mass, be it simple or not,
all the qualities and properties of mass are to be found, if not it ceases to
be mass. Hence the following are to be noted: first and foremost, the unity of
the sacrifice of the cross in as much as a multiplicity of masses represent but
the one and only sacrifice of Christ and owe their sacrificial character to the
fact that they are a memorial of blood immolation accomplished on the cross.
Besides
the unity of sacrifice of the cross, the unity of priesthood is necessary and obligatory.
The priests who celebrate mass are many worldwide but they are ministers of
Jesus Christ who exercises priesthood through them and makes each of the priests
a sharer in a special way in his priesthood by means of sacrament of orders. When
offering sacrifice all of them do so by the power of the same priesthood. All
of them act in the place of the high priest Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the
action of the whole people of God appears with greater clarity. Each mass is
the celebration of sacrament by which the church grows and lives in which the
church’s own nature is manifested. The three characteristics which have been
articulated are found in every mass but they are more visible in the rite by
which many priests concelebrate the same mass. While concelebrating, all
priests act together with one voice and one will by the power of the priesthood
and in the high priest.
The
faithful takes part when the sacrifice is being celebrated and are conscious of
what they are doing that befits the community. Thus the rite of concelebrating
expresses and inculcates the truths of great moment for the spiritual and
pastoral lives of priests and Christian formation of the faithful. Due to the
above mentioned reasons, the concelebrating of the mystery of Christ has been
in existence since antiquity in different forms and survived to our day.
Overwhelmingly, researches have been submitting requests to extend the
concelebrating and the rite be reformed. The second Vatican council had
extended the faculty of concelebrating to a number of cases and ordered preparation
of new rite of concelebrating to be inserted into the pontifical and Roman
missal.
In
accordance with the need of the council, the constitution on sacred Liturgy
prepared a rite for the administration of communion under both species and
defined the manner in which the clergy, religious and laity may receive Eucharist
under both species.
****
The
Eucharist Life of the Church
Reflection
on the Eucharist builds the Church
The
human body depends entirely on food for it’s growth. Food is at the centre of
the process of body growth. From food the body gains strength and growth. Food
remains the basic need in one’s life. Basing on this analogy of food giving
growth to human body, we find that the celebration of the Eucharist is the
growth process of the church according to the teaching of the second Vatican council.
The church grows visibly in the world through the power of the God. The
existence of the Eucharist has been there since the time of the origin of the church.
It was the apostles who gathered with Jesus at the last supper that the
Eucharist was inaugurated and this detail is important because the Apostles
were both the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of sacred hierarchy.
Christ incorporated his Apostles in the sacrifice which was completed at the Calvary
by offering them his body and blood as food. By welcoming the invitation of
Jesus: ‘take eat, drink of it, all of you’, the Apostles entered for the first
time into sacramental communion with Jesus. From that moment onwards until the
end of time, the church is built up through sacramental communion with Jesus’s
body and blood.
The
Church incorporation into Christ caused by baptism is renewed and strengthened
by sharing into the Eucharistic sacrifice. It is not only that the Church
receives Christ but Christ receives the Church too. The church finds life
through him because it is him who said, ‘who eats me will live because of me’.
So just as a person who does not eat food would die from hunger, also a person
who does not take of Jesus body and blood will die too, in other way he/she
will not have life just as the church without Eucharist there is no life in it.
Partaking of the body and blood of Jesus confirms the Church in her as a unity
as the body of Christ just as the food confirms the human body in it as a unity.
What the church receives in Eucharistic communion fulfils the yearning for
fraternal unity rooted in the human heart. The church is more deeply in Christ
in the nature of a sacrament only by her communion with the body of Christ and
this is a sign and instrument of intimate unity of the whole human race. The
aspect of disunity which is deeply present in humanity due to sin is countered
by the building power of the body of Christ. The human community is only
created when the Eucharist builds the church.
The
worship of Eucharist outside mass has its own value for the growth and life of
the church. It is therefore advisable for pastors to encourage Christians, also
by their personal witness the practice of Eucharistic adoration and exposition
of the Blessed Sacrament as well as prayer of adoration before Christ present
under the Eucharistic species. It is nice to spend time with Christ present
under Eucharistic species, to lie close to his breast just like the beloved
disciple and to feel his infinite love present in his heart.
***
BWALYA
ROBBY [11032T]
General Instruction of the Roman Missal
Reflection on the Requisites for the celebration of
the Eucharist
First
and foremost, the church uses bread and wine as one of the requisites for the
celebration of Eucharist following the example of Jesus Christ. The bread must
be made from wheat, baked and must be unleavened in accordance with the
tradition of the church. The bread must be made in such a way that a priest
would be able to break it into parts for distribution to some of the faithful.
The wine to be used should be made from the fruit of grapevine, should be
natural and unadulterated, that is without a mixture of extra substance. The
church does not compromise priests to use any other wine apart the wine made
from grapevine. But why not use any wine apart from grapevine wine? The church
follows Christ tradition, Jesus used grapevine wine and that what he chose and
that was his will. Just as you cannot baptize someone against his or her will,
neither can we go against the will of Jesus of using wine made from fruit of grapevine.
Bread and wine should be kept in a good state of conservation.
Secondly,
the Church permits the structure of the building to be built according to the style
of each region as long best companion of genuine art is maintained. Furthermore
sacred vessels are among the requisites that are held with high esteem such as
the chalice and the paten from which bread and wine are consecrated. Sacred
vessels should be made from precious metal or any solid material which is
considered precious in any region provided they do not break. Chalice and other
vessels intended to be used as receptacles of the blood of the Lord, they
should have bowls of non-absorbent material.
Just
as the body has many different parts which have different duties of functions,
the church as well which are the body of Christ have members with different offices.
The variety of offices in the Eucharistic celebration is seen outwardly by
diversity of sacred vestments which are a sign of office proper to each minister.
The vestments add to the beauty of sacred action. Therefore vestments worn by priests,
deacons and lay ministers should be blessed according to the rite prescribed in
the Roman ritual before they are put on. The alb is the common vestment used by
ordained and instituted ministers of any rank. The alb must not be
replaced by a surplus not even a
cassock, on occasions when a chasuble is to be worn. The vestments proper to
priest celebrated at mass is the chasuble worn over the alb and the stole, the
deacon is dalmatic worn over the alb and the stole. The so called communion
helpers have to wear the albs even the alter servants have to wear vestments
proper to the Eucharistic celebration. The tradition colors of the vessels must
be upheld such as white used during Easter and Christmas seasons, red used o palm Sunday and on good
Friday, green for ordinary time, violet and purple for advent and lent.
Furthermore, great care is to be paid to whatever is associated with alter and
Eucharistic celebration such as the cross carried in procession, alter cross,
liturgical books, candles as well as the alter linen.
SACRAMENT OF REDEMPTION
REFLECTION
ON THE PARTICIPATION OF THE LAY CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL IN THE EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION
The
lay Christian faithful have a role to play in the Eucharistic celebration and
the Vatican Council II was a catalyst for their full participation. Mass is the
action of Christ and of the church as well. Central to Christian life both for
the universal and particular Church as well as the individual is Mass.The
individual participate in various ways according to diversity of orders and
ministries. Through this participation, the Christian person, the people God
has made his own reveals its coherent and hierarchical ordering. The Christians
released from bondage of sin and incorporated into the church through Baptism are
deputed by means of sacramental
character for the worship of Christian religion so that they may offer
themselves as a living and holy sacrifice pleasing to God by virtue of their
priesthood. Therefore, the participation of the lay faithful in the Eucharist
and other celebrations of the church rites is not a mere presence but rather a
true exercise of faith and baptism dignity.
To
encourage active participation of the lay faithful, the recent renewal of
liturgical books according to the mind of the council fostered acclamations of
the people, responses, psalmody, antiphons, canticles as well as movements and
gesture and demanded silence to be maintained at proper times. In view of these
acclamations of people fostered by the council, we could presume that coming
late to Eucharistic celebration was and is not encouraged by the church. The
advice to those coming late or if they come late after the liturgy of the word,
is that they are not to receive communion. The reason could be that Jesus is
the word made flesh as we read in the Gospel of John. The interpretation could
be that we must first participate in the liturgy of the word before
participating in the liturgy of the Eucharist. This could be related to St.
Paul’s aphorism in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians 3:10, which states
that the one who does not want to work, should not eat. St. Paul’s aphorism is
an encouragement to the lazy people, and not receiving communion due to late
coming to mass could be an encouragement to the lay faithful to consistently
come early for mass and participate fully in the liturgy of the word before
participating in the liturgy of the Eucharist. To foster interior understanding
of liturgical participation, the celebration of the liturgy of the hours, the
use of sacramental and exercise of Christian popular piety are highly helpful. Some
of the lay faithful exercise the ministries in the celebration of sacred
liturgy. Therefore, it is necessary that they distribute among themselves
various ministries. Most important are those of acolyte and lector. Other
functions are washing the liturgical linen and preparing the hosts.
Distributing Communion as communion helpers is one area where the lay
participates as well as catechizing the catechumens. All Christians mandated to
give assistance at liturgical celebration should be well initiated and must choose
Christians whose morals are in conformity to the church magisterium.
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