| The
Eucharist, a Mystery to be proclaimed
The Eucharist and Mission
In the Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum
Caritatis[1],
Benedict XVI reflects on the relation of the Eucharist and the missionary
vocation of all the members of the Church. In this sense, the Pope says that
“there is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the
encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to
speak to others of our friendship with him.” In the Eucharist, we celebrate the
encounter with Jesus Christ, the encounter with his Good News. The love that we
celebrate in the Eucharist is the experience to be shared with all people
around us. The world needs to do this experience of God’s love. The world is in
need of encounter Jesus Christ and to believe in Him. In relation to this,
Benedict XVI says that “the Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of
the Church’s life, but also of her mission” and he also adds that “an
authentically Eucharistic Church is a Missionary Church.” All of us, the members of the Community of
Believers, disciples of Jesus Christ, are called to tell our brothers and
sisters with conviction: “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to
you, so that you may have fellowship with us” (1 Jn 1:3). In the Eucharist, we
encounter Christ, we know him, and we are called to make him known to all
people, to proclaim that “He is the one sent by the Father for the redemption
of the world (cf. Jn 3:16-17; Rom 8:32).” It is important to recall, Benedict
XVI says, that “at the Last Supper, Jesus entrusts to his disciples the
sacrament which makes present his self-sacrifice for the salvation of us all,
in obedience to the Father’s will.” And it is why, the Pope adds, that “we
cannot approach the Eucharistic table without being drawn into the mission
which, beginning in the very heart of God, is meant to reach all people.” For
these reasons, the Eucharist, which is the encounter with Jesus Christ, the
encounter with his Gospel, makes us missionaries who are sent to proclaim God’s
love to the entire world.
The
Eucharist, a Mystery to be proclaimed
The Eucharist and Witness
Benedict XVI, in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, points out that
to bear witness by our lives is the first and fundamental mission that we
receive from the celebration of the sacred mysteries. God has manifested his
love to us in Christ, and the wonder we experience at this gift of God gives
new impulse to our lives and commits us to be witnesses of his love. Benedict
XVI tells us that “we become witnesses when, through our actions, words and way
of being, Another makes himself present.” In this sense, the Pope states that
“witness could be described as the means by which the truth of God’s love comes
to men and women in history, inviting them to accept freely this radical newness.”
And reflecting on witness, it is “Jesus himself [who] is the faithful and true
witness (cf. Rev 1:5; 3:14), the one who came to testify to the truth (cf. Jn
18:37).” Benedict XVI, likewise, invites us to reflect on how the early
Christians where witnesses of Christ even to the offering of their own lives,
to the point of martyrdom. And he also says that “throughout the history of the
Church, this has always been seen as the culmination of the new spiritual
worship: ‘Offer your bodies’ (Rom 12:1)”. Related to this new spiritual
worship, the Pope invites to recall “the Eucharistic imagery whit which Saint
Ignatius of Antioch describes his own imminent martyrdom”. Saint Ignatius “sees
himself as ‘God’s wheat’ and desires to become in martyrdom ‘Christ’s pure
bread’”. All Christians who offer their lives through martyrdom, the Holy
Father says, “enter into full communion with the Pasch of Jesus Christ and thus
become Eucharist with him.” Finally, the Pope also says that today the Church
has many members who continue to offer their lives through martyrdom; they are
witnesses of the Lord, witnesses who offer their lives as a new spiritual
worship. They are witnesses who make us to remember that “such worship
culminates in the joyful and convincing testimony of a consistent Christian
life”, Benedict XVI says. God’s love manifested in Christ is the love we
celebrate in the sacred mysteries, and it is the love that all of us are called
to announce to all people, bearing witness by our lives.
The
Eucharist, a Mystery to be offered to the world
The Social Implications of
the Eucharistic Mystery
Benedict XVI, in his
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum
Caritatis, also reflects on the relation between the Eucharist and the
social commitment of the believers. The union with Christ through the Sacrament
of the Eucharist brings newness to our social relations because the “union with
Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself.” We belong to
Christ “only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his
own”, the Pope says. Through the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Lord makes us
to be in communion with our brothers and sisters. It is the Lord, who through
the memorial of his sacrifice, “strengthens our fraternal communion and, in a
particular way, urges those in conflict to hasten their reconciliation by
opening themselves to dialogue and a commitment to justice.” In this sense,
Benedict XVI also says that in order to build true peace, the conditions of the
restoration of justice, reconciliation and forgiveness are fundamental. These
conditions are central “to transform unjust structures and to restore respect
for the dignity of all men and women, created in God’s image and likeness.” All
Christians are called to fulfill their social commitment for a more just world.
Then, “through the concrete fulfillment of this responsibility, the Eucharist
becomes in life what it signifies in its celebration.” The Eucharist and the
social commitment of all Christians are united because “the sacrifice of Christ
is a mystery of liberation that constantly and insistently challenges us”. All of us, Benedict XVI says, are called to
be promoters of peace and justice because “all who partake of the Eucharist
must commit themselves to peacemaking in our world scarred by violence and war,
and today in particular, by terrorism, economic corruption and sexual exploitation”.
These situations are also related to other problems which affect negatively the
dignity of human life. For these reasons, we, who remember in the Eucharist how
Christ has loved us, are also called by Christ to renew our social commitment in
the promotion of human dignity because it is He who unites us all, through his
Sacrifice, as brothers and sisters, as children of God.
The
Eucharist, a Mystery to be offered to the world
The Eucharist, Bread broken
for the life of the world
The Pope Benedict XVI, in
his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, states that the
Eucharist is Bread broken for the life of the world. Reflecting on this aspect
of the Eucharist, the Holy Father quotes the words of Saint John the evangelist:
“The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). It is
the Lord who gives his life for the salvation of all people. The Lord is close
to every person, he shows his compassion and mercy to all people. Jesus’ life
and his offering in the cross express God’s plan of salvation for all people,
so they may have true life. The celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist
“makes sacramentally present the gift that the crucified Lord made of his life,
for us and for the whole world.” When we celebrate the Eucharist, we are
witnesses of God’s love and compassion for humankind. The Eucharist also “gives
rise to a service of charity” to all people. This service of charity “consists
in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do
not like or even know.” This service of charity implies to look on my
neighbours from the perspective of Jesus Christ. My neighbours are brothers and
sisters “for whom the Lord gave his life, loving them ‘to the end’” (Jn 13:1).
When we celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist in our communities, we “must
become ever more conscious that the Sacrifice of Christ is for all, and that
the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in him to become ‘bread that is
broken’ for others”. The believers in Jesus Christ are called to become bread
that is broken to build a more just and fraternal world. The Pope Benedict XVI
also reminds us the episode of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes
through which Jesus Christ continues to exhort us to become more committed
towards our brothers and sisters. It is the Lord who says to us today: “You
yourselves, give them something to eat” (Mt 14:16). Every time we are gathered
as a community to celebrate the Mystery of the Eucharist, we are called,
together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world.
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Mejia Zelada , Carlos Dario - 10088 |
Stay with us Lord
John
Paul II, in his apostolic letter: Stay with
us Lord,[1]
invites us to deepen in the Mystery of
the Eucharist, mystery of our faith in which the Risen Lord comes to our encounter
as He did so with the disciples of Emmaus. It is the Risen Lord who explains
the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, an experience which
makes "their hearts burning within them (cf. v 32)", and He is the
one who also opens the disciples' eyes to recognize Him in the Breaking of the Bread. This experience of the disciples of
Emmaus who encounter the Risen Lord, talks to us about the centrality of the
Eucharist in the Church's life. In this sense, John Paul II, invites us to
reflect on the Eucharist as a mystery of light,
as source and manifestation of communion and as principle and plan of mission.
First, the Eucharist is a mystery of light because Jesus Himself is the Light
of the world. Jesus is the Light which enlightens our minds to understand the Scriptures
and in this way all believers are led "into the depths of the divine
life." The experience of listening to the Word of God in our celebrations
allows us to open "ourselves up to the dimensions of the Mystery" of
our faith. The proclamation of the Word of God, which is the first part of the
liturgy of the Eucharist, prepares us to the second part of the celebration,
where we come to the table of the altar to eat the Body and to drink the Blood
of the Lord. This is the moment in which we recognize the Lord who is
"substantially present, whole and entire, in the reality of his body and
blood." It is the Risen Lord who is telling us in the Eucharistic
celebration: “I am with you always…” (Mt 28:20) It is the Lord’s presence in
the Eucharistic bread “which makes us one body”, one community of believers who
are united in His name to celebrate, to worship and to contemplate the mystery
of our faith. Second, John Paul II also
says that the Eucharist is a source and manifestation of communion. It is the Risen Lord who has decided to stay
“in” us through the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Then, “receiving the Eucharist
means entering into a profound communion with Jesus,” as He says in the Gospel
of John: “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4). It is the Lord’s presence in the
Eucharist “which makes us one body”. It is the Risen Lord who “builds up the
Church as a communion, in accordance with the supreme model evoked in his
priestly prayer: ‘Even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may
also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me’ (Jn 17:21)”. Third, the Eucharist is also, principle and
plan of “mission”, John Paul II says. After recognizing the Risen One in the
breaking of the bread, the two disciples of Emmaus went to Jerusalem to report
what they had seen and heard; what they had experienced. As the disciples of
Emmaus, “the encounter with Christ, constantly intensified and deepened in the
Eucharist, issues in the Church and in every Christian an urgent summons to
testimony and evangelization.” In this sense, John Paul II says that “the
Eucharist not only provides the interior strength needed for this mission, but
is also – in some sense – its plan.” The Eucharist is plan of mission because
it is “a mode of being, which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through
whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout society and culture.” Then, the Eucharist is a “project of
solidarity for all humanity” where all Christians are called to live at the
service of the least. Finally, the Risen Lord is the One who opens our eyes to
recognize Him in the breaking of the bread, in the Eucharist, which is for that
mystery of light. Eating the Lord’s body and drinking the Lord’s blood is source
and manifestation of communion with the Church and the world. In this sense
also, the Eucharist becomes principle and plan of mission because it invites us
to share with others, being in solidarity with people, especially the least so
that all of us may live in an attitude of thanksgiving to God.
[1] The apostolic letter “Mane Nobiscum Domine” was written for the year of the Eucharist,
which was celebrated from October 2,004 to October 2,005.
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