INDEX
Introduction
[1]
The food of truth [2]
The development of the eucharistic rite [3]
The Synod of Bishops and the Year of the Eucharist [4]
The purpose of the present Exhortation [5]
PART ONE:
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED
The
Church's eucharistic faith [6]
The blessed
Trinity and the Eucharist
The bread come down from heaven [7]
A free gift of the Blessed Trinity [8]
The
Eucharist: Jesus the true Sacrificial Lamb
The new and eternal covenant in the blood of the Lamb [9]
The institution of the Eucharist [10]
Figura transit in veritatem [11]
The Holy Spirit and
the Eucharist
Jesus and the Holy Spirit [12]
The Holy Spirit and the eucharistic celebration [13]
The Eucharist and the
Church
The Eucharist, causal principle of the Church [14]
The Eucharist and ecclesial communion [15]
The Eucharist and
the Sacraments
The sacramentality of the Church [16]
I. The
Eucharist and Christian initiation
The Eucharist, the fullness of Christian initiation [17]
The order of the sacraments of initiation [18]
Initiation, the ecclesial community and the family [19]
II. The
Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation
Their intrinsic connection [20]
Some pastoral concerns [21]
III. The
Eucharist and the anointing of the sick [22]
IV. The
Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders
In persona Christi capitis [23]
The Eucharist and priestly celibacy [24]
The clergy shortage and the pastoral care of vocations
[25]
Gratitude and hope [26]
V. The
Eucharist and matrimony
The Eucharist, a nuptial sacrament [27]
The Eucharist and the unicity of marriage [28]
The Eucharist and the indissolubility of marriage [29]
The Eucharist and
Eschatology
The Eucharist: a gift to men and women on their journey [30]
The eschatological banquet [31]
Prayer for the dead [32]
The Eucharist and
the Virgin Mary [33]
PART TWO:
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE CELEBRATED
Lex orandi and lex credendi [34]
Beauty and the liturgy [35]
The Eucharistic celebration, the work of “Christus Totus”
Christus totus in capite et in corpore [36]
The Eucharist and the risen Christ [37]
Ars celebrandi
[38]
The Bishop, celebrant par excellence [39]
Respect for the liturgical books and the richness of signs
[40]
Art at the service of the liturgy [41]
Liturgical song [42]
The
Structure of the Eucharistic Celebration
[43]
The intrinsic unity of the liturgical action [44]
The liturgy of the word [45]
The homily [46]
The presentation of the gifts [47]
The Eucharistic Prayer [48]
The sign of peace [49]
The distribution and reception of the Eucharist [50]
The dismissal: “Ite, missa est” [51]
Actuosa participatio
[52]
Authentic participation [53]
Participation and the priestly ministry [53]
The eucharistic celebration and inculturation [54]
Personal conditions for an “active participation” [55]
Participation by Christians who are not Catholic [56]
Participation through the communications media [57]
Active participation by the sick [58]
Care for prisoners [59]
Migrants and participation in the Eucharist [60]
Large-scale celebrations [61]
The Latin language [62]
Eucharistic celebrations in small groups [63]
Interior
participation in the celebration
Mystagogical catechesis [64]
Reverence for the Eucharist [65]
Adoration and
Eucharistic devotion
The intrinsic relationship between celebration and adoration
[66]
The practice of eucharistic adoration [67]
Forms of eucharistic devotion [68]
The location of the tabernacle [69]
PART THREE:
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE LIVED
The
Eucharistic form of the Christian life
Spiritual worship – logiké latreía (Rom 12:1)
[70]
The all-encompassing effect of eucharistic worship [71]
Iuxta dominicam viventes – living in accordance with the
Lord's Day [72]
Living the Sunday obligation [73]
The meaning of rest and of work [74]
Sunday assemblies in the absence of a priest [75]
A eucharistic form of Christian life, membership in the
Church [76]
Spirituality and eucharistic culture [77]
The Eucharistic and the evangelization of cultures [78]
The Eucharist and the lay faithful [79]
The Eucharist and priestly spirituality [80]
The Eucharist and the consecrated life [81]
The Eucharist and moral transformation [82]
Eucharistic consistency [83]
The
Eucharist, a mystery to be proclaimed
The Eucharist and mission [84]
The Eucharist and witness [85]
Christ Jesus, the one Saviour [86]
Freedom of worship [87]
The Eucharist, a mystery to be offered to the world
The Eucharist, bread broken for the life of the world [88]
The social implications of the eucharistic mystery [89]
The food of truth and human need [90]
The Church's social teaching [91]
The sanctification of the world and the protection of
creation [92]
The usefulness of a Eucharistic Compendium [93]
Conclusion
[94]
INTRODUCTION
1.
The sacrament of charity (1), the Holy Eucharist is the gift
that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God's
infinite love for every man and woman. This wondrous sacrament
makes manifest that "greater" love which led him to "lay down
his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). Jesus did indeed
love them "to the end" (Jn 13:1). In those words the
Evangelist introduces Christ's act of immense humility: before
dying for us on the Cross, he tied a towel around himself and
washed the feet of his disciples. In the same way, Jesus
continues, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, to love us "to the
end," even to offering us his body and his blood. What amazement
must the Apostles have felt in witnessing what the Lord did and
said during that Supper! What wonder must the eucharistic
mystery also awaken in our own hearts!
The food of truth
2.
In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women
created in God's image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27), and
becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord
truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and
freedom. Since only the truth can make us free (cf. Jn
8:32), Christ becomes for us the food of truth. With deep human
insight, Saint Augustine clearly showed how we are moved
spontaneously, and not by constraint, whenever we encounter
something attractive and desirable. Asking himself what it is
that can move us most deeply, the saintly Bishop went on to say:
"What does our soul desire more passionately than truth?" (2)
Each of us has an innate and irrepressible desire for ultimate
and definitive truth. The Lord Jesus, "the way, and the truth,
and the life" (Jn 14:6), speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim
hearts, our hearts yearning for the source of life, our hearts
longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing
the world to himself. "Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom:
without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge
of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to
empty caprice. With him, freedom finds itself." (3) In the
sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus shows us in particular the
truth about the love which is the very essence of God. It is
this evangelical truth which challenges each of us and our whole
being. For this reason, the Church, which finds in the Eucharist
the very centre of her life, is constantly concerned to proclaim
to all, opportune importune (cf. 2 Tim 4:2), that
God is love.(4) Precisely because Christ has become for us the
food of truth, the Church turns to every man and woman, inviting
them freely to accept God's gift.
The development of the eucharistic rite
3. If we consider the bimillenary history
of God's Church, guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we can
gratefully admire the orderly development of the ritual forms in
which we commemorate the event of our salvation. From the varied
forms of the early centuries, still resplendent in the rites of
the Ancient Churches of the East, up to the spread of the Roman
rite; from the clear indications of the Council of Trent and the
Missal of Saint Pius V to the liturgical renewal called for by
the Second Vatican Council: in every age of the Church's history
the eucharistic celebration, as the source and summit of her
life and mission, shines forth in the liturgical rite in all its
richness and variety. The
Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,
held from 2-23 October 2005 in the Vatican, gratefully
acknowledged the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this rich
history. In a particular way, the Synod Fathers acknowledged and
reaffirmed the beneficial influence on the Church's life of the
liturgical renewal which began with the
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (5).
The Synod of Bishops was able to evaluate the reception of the
renewal in the years following the Council. There were many
expressions of appreciation. The difficulties and even the
occasional abuses which were noted, it was affirmed, cannot
overshadow the benefits and the validity of the liturgical
renewal, whose riches are yet to be fully explored. Concretely,
the changes which the Council called for need to be understood
within the overall unity of the historical development of the
rite itself, without the introduction of artificial
discontinuities.(6)
The Synod of Bishops and the Year of the Eucharist
4. We should also emphasize the
relationship between the recent Synod of Bishops on the
Eucharist and the events which have taken place in the Church's
life in recent years. First of all, we should recall the Great
Jubilee of the Year 2000, with which my beloved Predecessor, the
Servant of God John Paul II, led the Church into the third
Christian millennium. The Jubilee Year clearly had a significant
eucharistic dimension. Nor can we forget that the Synod of
Bishops was preceded, and in some sense prepared for, by the
Year of the Eucharist which John Paul
II had, with great foresight, wanted the whole Church to
celebrate. That year, which began with the
International Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara in October
2004, ended on
23 October 2005, at the conclusion of
the XI Synodal Assembly, with the canonization of five saints
particularly distinguished for their eucharistic piety: Bishop
Józef Bilczewski, Fathers Gaetano Catanoso, Zygmunt Gorazdowski
and Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, and the Capuchin Fra Felice da
Nicosia. Thanks to the teachings proposed by John Paul II in the
Apostolic Letter
Mane Nobiscum Domine (7) and to
the helpful suggestions of the Congregation for Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments,(8) many initiatives were
undertaken by Dioceses and various ecclesial groups in order to
reawaken and increase eucharistic faith, to improve the quality
of eucharistic celebration, to promote eucharistic adoration and
to encourage a practical solidarity which, starting from the
Eucharist, would reach out to those in need. Finally, mention
should be made of the significance of my venerable Predecessor's
last Encyclical,
Ecclesia de Eucharistia (9), in
which he left us a sure magisterial statement of the Church's
teaching on the Eucharist and a final testimony of the central
place that this divine sacrament had in his own life.
The purpose of this Exhortation
5. This Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
seeks to take up the richness and variety of the reflections and
proposals which emerged from the recent
Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
– from the
Lineamenta to the Propositiones,
along the way of the
Instrumentum Laboris, the
Relationes ante and post disceptationem, the
interventions of the Synod Fathers, the auditores and the
fraternal delegates – and to offer some basic directions aimed
at a renewed commitment to eucharistic enthusiasm and fervour in
the Church. Conscious of the immense patrimony of doctrine and
discipline accumulated over the centuries with regard to this
sacrament,(10) I wish here to endorse the wishes expressed by
the Synod Fathers (11) by encouraging the Christian people to
deepen their understanding of the relationship between the
eucharistic mystery, the liturgical action, and the
new spiritual worship which derives from the Eucharist as
the sacrament of charity. Consequently, I wish to set the
present Exhortation alongside my first Encyclical Letter,
Deus Caritas Est, in which I frequently mentioned the
sacrament of the Eucharist and stressed its relationship to
Christian love, both of God and of neighbour: "God incarnate
draws us all to himself. We can thus understand how agape
also became a term for the Eucharist: there God's own agape
comes to us bodily, in order to continue his work in us and
through us" (12).
PART ONE
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY
TO BE BELIEVED
"This is the work of God: that you believe
in him whom he has sent" (Jn 6:29)
The Church's eucharistic faith
6.
"The mystery of faith!" With these words, spoken
immediately after the words of consecration, the priest
proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder
before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body
and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human
understanding. The Eucharist is a "mystery of faith" par
excellence: "the sum and summary of our faith." (13) The
Church's faith is essentially a eucharistic faith, and it is
especially nourished at the table of the Eucharist. Faith and
the sacraments are two complementary aspects of ecclesial life.
Awakened by the preaching of God's word, faith is nourished and
grows in the grace-filled encounter with the Risen Lord which
takes place in the sacraments: "faith is expressed in the rite,
while the rite reinforces and strengthens faith." (14) For this
reason, the Sacrament of the Altar is always at the heart of the
Church's life: "thanks to the Eucharist, the Church is reborn
ever anew!" (15) The more lively the eucharistic faith of the
People of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in
steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his
disciples. The Church's very history bears witness to this.
Every great reform has in some way been linked to the
rediscovery of belief in the Lord's eucharistic presence among
his people.
The Blessed
Trinity and the Eucharist
The bread come down from heaven
7.
The first element of eucharistic faith is the mystery of God
himself, trinitarian love. In Jesus' dialogue with Nicodemus, we
find an illuminating expression in this regard: "God so loved
the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the
Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world
might be saved through him" (Jn 3:16-17). These words
show the deepest source of God's gift. In the Eucharist Jesus
does not give us a "thing," but himself; he offers his own body
and pours out his own blood. He thus gives us the totality of
his life and reveals the ultimate origin of this love. He is the
eternal Son, given to us by the Father. In the Gospel we hear
how Jesus, after feeding the crowds by multiplying the loaves
and fishes, says to those who had followed him to the synagogue
of Capernaum: "My Father gives you the true bread from heaven;
for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives
life to the world" (Jn 6:32-33), and even identifies
himself, his own flesh and blood, with that bread: "I am the
living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this
bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give
for the life of the world is my flesh" (Jn 6:51). Jesus
thus shows that he is the bread of life which the eternal Father
gives to mankind.
A free gift of the Blessed Trinity
8.
The Eucharist reveals the loving plan that guides all of
salvation history (cf. Eph 1:10; 3:8- 11). There the
Deus Trinitas, who is essentially love (cf. 1 Jn
4:7-8), becomes fully a part of our human condition. In the
bread and wine under whose appearances Christ gives himself to
us in the paschal meal (cf. Lk 22:14-20; 1 Cor
11:23-26), God's whole life encounters us and is sacramentally
shared with us. God is a perfect communion of love between
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At creation itself, man was called
to have some share in God's breath of life (cf. Gen 2:7).
But it is in Christ, dead and risen, and in the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit, given without measure (cf. Jn 3:34),
that we have become sharers of God's inmost life. (16) Jesus
Christ, who "through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
blemish to God" (Heb 9:14), makes us, in the gift of the
Eucharist, sharers in God's own life. This is an absolutely free
gift, the superabundant fulfilment of God's promises. The Church
receives, celebrates and adores this gift in faithful obedience.
The "mystery of faith" is thus a mystery of trinitarian love, a
mystery in which we are called by grace to participate. We too
should therefore exclaim with Saint Augustine: "If you see love,
you see the Trinity." (17)
The
Eucharist: Jesus the true Sacrificial lamb
The new and eternal covenant in the blood of the Lamb
9.
The mission for which Jesus came among us was accomplished in
the Paschal Mystery. On the Cross from which he draws all people
to himself (cf. Jn 12:32), just before "giving up the
Spirit," he utters the words: "it is finished" (Jn
19:30). In the mystery of Christ's obedience unto death, even
death on a Cross (cf. Phil 2:8), the new and eternal
covenant was brought about. In his crucified flesh, God's
freedom and our human freedom met definitively in an inviolable,
eternally valid pact. Human sin was also redeemed once for all
by God's Son (cf. Heb 7:27; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10). As I
have said elsewhere, "Christ's death on the Cross is the
culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he
gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is
love in its most radical form." (18) In the Paschal Mystery, our
deliverance from evil and death has taken place. In instituting
the Eucharist, Jesus had spoken of the "new and eternal
covenant" in the shedding of his blood (cf. Mt 26:28;
Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20). This, the ultimate purpose of
his mission, was clear from the very beginning of his public
life. Indeed, when, on the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist
saw Jesus coming towards him, he cried out: "Behold, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29). It
is significant that these same words are repeated at every
celebration of Holy Mass, when the priest invites us to approach
the altar: "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his
supper." Jesus is the true paschal lamb who freely gave
himself in sacrifice for us, and thus brought about the new and
eternal covenant. The Eucharist contains this radical newness,
which is offered to us again at every celebration. (19)
The institution of the Eucharist
10.
This leads us to reflect on the institution of the Eucharist at
the Last Supper. It took place within a ritual meal
commemorating the foundational event of the people of Israel:
their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. This ritual meal, which
called for the sacrifice of lambs (cf. Ex 12:1-28,
43-51), was a remembrance of the past, but at the same time a
prophetic remembrance, the proclamation of a deliverance yet to
come. The people had come to realize that their earlier
liberation was not definitive, for their history continued to be
marked by slavery and sin. The remembrance of their ancient
liberation thus expanded to the invocation and expectation of a
yet more profound, radical, universal and definitive salvation.
This is the context in which Jesus introduces the newness of his
gift. In the prayer of praise, the Berakah, he does not
simply thank the Father for the great events of past history,
but also for his own "exaltation." In instituting the sacrament
of the Eucharist, Jesus anticipates and makes present the
sacrifice of the Cross and the victory of the resurrection. At
the same time, he reveals that he himself is the true
sacrificial lamb, destined in the Father's plan from the
foundation of the world, as we read in The First Letter of
Peter (cf. 1:18-20). By placing his gift in this context,
Jesus shows the salvific meaning of his death and resurrection,
a mystery which renews history and the whole cosmos. The
institution of the Eucharist demonstrates how Jesus' death, for
all its violence and absurdity, became in him a supreme act of
love and mankind's definitive deliverance from evil.
Figura transit in veritatem
11.
Jesus thus brings his own radical novum to the ancient
Hebrew sacrificial meal. For us Christians, that meal no longer
need be repeated. As the Church Fathers rightly say, figura
transit in veritatem: the foreshadowing has given way to the
truth itself. The ancient rite has been brought to fulfilment
and definitively surpassed by the loving gift of the incarnate
Son of God. The food of truth, Christ sacrificed for our sake,
dat figuris terminum. (20) By his command to "do this in
remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:25), he
asks us to respond to his gift and to make it sacramentally
present. In these words the Lord expresses, as it were, his
expectation that the Church, born of his sacrifice, will receive
this gift, developing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the
liturgical form of the sacrament. The remembrance of his perfect
gift consists not in the mere repetition of the Last Supper, but
in the Eucharist itself, that is, in the radical newness of
Christian worship. In this way, Jesus left us the task of
entering into his "hour." "The Eucharist draws us into Jesus'
act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the
incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his
self-giving." (21) Jesus "draws us into himself." (22) The
substantial conversion of bread and wine into his body and blood
introduces within creation the principle of a radical change, a
sort of "nuclear fission," to use an image familiar to us today,
which penetrates to the heart of all being, a change meant to
set off a process which transforms reality, a process leading
ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world, to the
point where God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).
The Holy Spirit and
the Eucharist
Jesus and the Holy Spirit
12.
With his word and with the elements of bread and wine, the Lord
himself has given us the essentials of this new worship. The
Church, his Bride, is called to celebrate the eucharistic
banquet daily in his memory. She thus makes the redeeming
sacrifice of her Bridegroom a part of human history and makes it
sacramentally present in every culture. This great mystery is
celebrated in the liturgical forms which the Church, guided by
the Holy Spirit, develops in time and space. (23) We need a
renewed awareness of the decisive role played by the Holy Spirit
in the evolution of the liturgical form and the deepening
understanding of the sacred mysteries. The Paraclete, Christ's
first gift to those who believe, (24) already at work in
Creation (cf. Gen 1:2), is fully present throughout the
life of the incarnate Word: Jesus Christ is conceived by the
Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Mt 1:18;
Lk 1:35); at the beginning of his public mission, on the
banks of the Jordan, he sees the Spirit descend upon him in the
form of a dove (cf. Mt 3:16 and parallels); he acts,
speaks and rejoices in the Spirit (cf. Lk 10:21), and he
can offer himself in the Spirit (cf. Heb 9:14). In the
so-called "farewell discourse" reported by John, Jesus clearly
relates the gift of his life in the paschal mystery to the gift
of the Spirit to his own (cf. Jn 16:7). Once risen,
bearing in his flesh the signs of the passion, he can pour out
the Spirit upon them (cf. Jn 20:22), making them sharers
in his own mission (cf. Jn 20:21). The Spirit would then
teach the disciples all things and bring to their remembrance
all that Christ had said (cf. Jn 14:26), since it falls
to him, as the Spirit of truth (cf. Jn 15:26), to guide
the disciples into all truth (cf. Jn 16:13). In the
account in Acts, the Spirit descends on the Apostles
gathered in prayer with Mary on the day of Pentecost (cf. 2:1-4)
and stirs them to undertake the mission of proclaiming the Good
News to all peoples. Thus it is through the working of the
Spirit that Christ himself continues to be present and active in
his Church, starting with her vital centre which is the
Eucharist.
The Holy Spirit and the eucharistic celebration
13.
Against this backdrop we can understand the decisive role played
by the Holy Spirit in the eucharistic celebration, particularly
with regard to transubstantiation. An awareness of this is
clearly evident in the Fathers of the Church. Saint Cyril of
Jerusalem, in his Catecheses, states that we "call upon
God in his mercy to send his Holy Spirit upon the offerings
before us, to transform the bread into the body of Christ and
the wine into the blood of Christ. Whatever the Holy Spirit
touches is sanctified and completely transformed" (25). Saint
John Chrysostom too notes that the priest invokes the Holy
Spirit when he celebrates the sacrifice: (26) like Elijah, the
minister calls down the Holy Spirit so that "as grace comes down
upon the victim, the souls of all are thereby inflamed" (27).
The spiritual life of the faithful can benefit greatly from a
better appreciation of the richness of the anaphora: along with
the words spoken by Christ at the Last Supper, it contains the
epiclesis, the petition to the Father to send down the gift of
the Spirit so that the bread and the wine will become the body
and blood of Jesus Christ and that "the community as a whole
will become ever more the body of Christ" (28). The Spirit
invoked by the celebrant upon the gifts of bread and wine placed
on the altar is the same Spirit who gathers the faithful "into
one body" and makes of them a spiritual offering pleasing to the
Father (29).
The Eucharist and the
Church
The Eucharist, causal principle of the Church
14.
Through the sacrament of the Eucharist Jesus draws the faithful
into his "hour;" he shows us the bond that he willed to
establish between himself and us, between his own person and the
Church. Indeed, in the sacrifice of the Cross, Christ gave birth
to the Church as his Bride and his body. The Fathers of the
Church often meditated on the relationship between Eve's coming
forth from the side of Adam as he slept (cf. Gen 2:21-23)
and the coming forth of the new Eve, the Church, from the open
side of Christ sleeping in death: from Christ's pierced side,
John recounts, there came forth blood and water (cf. Jn
19:34), the symbol of the sacraments (30). A contemplative gaze
"upon him whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37) leads us to
reflect on the causal connection between Christ's sacrifice, the
Eucharist and the Church. The Church "draws her life from the
Eucharist" (31). Since the Eucharist makes present Christ's
redeeming sacrifice, we must start by acknowledging that "there
is a causal influence of the Eucharist at the Church's very
origins" (32). The Eucharist is Christ who gives himself to us
and continually builds us up as his body. Hence, in the striking
interplay between the Eucharist which builds up the Church, and
the Church herself which "makes" the Eucharist (33), the primary
causality is expressed in the first formula: the Church is able
to celebrate and adore the mystery of Christ present in the
Eucharist precisely because Christ first gave himself to her in
the sacrifice of the Cross. The Church's ability to "make" the
Eucharist is completely rooted in Christ's self-gift to her.
Here we can see more clearly the meaning of Saint John's words:
"he first loved us" (1 Jn 4:19). We too, at every
celebration of the Eucharist, confess the primacy of Christ's
gift. The causal influence of the Eucharist at the Church's
origins definitively discloses both the chronological and
ontological priority of the fact that it was Christ who loved us
"first." For all eternity he remains the one who loves us first.
The Eucharist and ecclesial communion
15.
The Eucharist is thus constitutive of the Church's being and
activity. This is why Christian antiquity used the same words,
Corpus Christi, to designate Christ's body born of the
Virgin Mary, his eucharistic body and his ecclesial body.(34)
This clear datum of the tradition helps us to appreciate the
inseparability of Christ and the Church. The Lord Jesus, by
offering himself in sacrifice for us, in his gift effectively
pointed to the mystery of the Church. It is significant that the
Second Eucharistic Prayer, invoking the Paraclete, formulates
its prayer for the unity of the Church as follows: "may all
of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought
together in unity by the Holy Spirit." These words help us
to see clearly how the res of the sacrament of the
Eucharist is the unity of the faithful within ecclesial
communion. The Eucharist is thus found at the root of the Church
as a mystery of communion (35).
The relationship between Eucharist and
communio had already been pointed out by the Servant of God
John Paul II in his Encyclical
Ecclesia de Eucharistia. He spoke
of the memorial of Christ as "the supreme sacramental
manifestation of communion in the Church" (36). The unity of
ecclesial communion is concretely manifested in the Christian
communities and is renewed at the celebration of the Eucharist,
which unites them and differentiates them in the particular
Churches, "in quibus et ex quibus una et unica Ecclesia
catholica exsistit" (37). The fact that the one Eucharist is
celebrated in each Diocese around its own Bishop helps us to see
how those particular Churches subsist in and ex
Ecclesia. Indeed, "the oneness and indivisibility of the
eucharistic body of the Lord implies the oneness of his mystical
body, which is the one and indivisible Church. From the
eucharistic centre arises the necessary openness of every
celebrating community, of every particular Church. By allowing
itself to be drawn into the open arms of the Lord, it achieves
insertion into his one and undivided body." (38) Consequently,
in the celebration of the Eucharist, the individual members of
the faithful find themselves in their Church, that is, in
the Church of Christ. From this eucharistic perspective,
adequately understood, ecclesial communion is seen to be
catholic by its very nature (39). An emphasis on this
eucharistic basis of ecclesial communion can also contribute
greatly to the ecumenical dialogue with the Churches and
Ecclesial Communities which are not in full communion with the
See of Peter. The Eucharist objectively creates a powerful bond
of unity between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches,
which have preserved the authentic and integral nature of the
eucharistic mystery. At the same time, emphasis on the ecclesial
character of the Eucharist can become an important element of
the dialogue with the Communities of the Reformed tradition
(40).
The Eucharist and the
Sacraments
The sacramentality of the Church
16.
The Second Vatican Council recalled that "all the sacraments,
and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the
apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed
towards it. For in the most blessed Eucharist is contained the
entire spiritual wealth of the Church, namely Christ himself our
Pasch and our living bread, who gives life to humanity through
his flesh – that flesh which is given life and gives life by the
Holy Spirit. Thus men and women are invited and led to offer
themselves, their works and all creation in union with Christ."
(41) This close relationship of the Eucharist with the other
sacraments and the Christian life can be most fully understood
when we contemplate the mystery of the Church herself as a
sacrament. (42) The Council in this regard stated that "the
Church, in Christ, is a sacrament – a sign and instrument – of
communion with God and of the unity of the entire human race."
(43) To quote Saint Cyprian, as "a people made one by the unity
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," (44) she is the
sacrament of trinitarian communion.
The
fact that the Church is the "universal sacrament of salvation"
(45) shows how the sacramental economy ultimately determines the
way that Christ, the one Saviour, through the Spirit, reaches
our lives in all their particularity. The Church receives
and at the same time expresses what she herself is in the
seven sacraments, thanks to which God's grace concretely
influences the lives of the faithful, so that their whole
existence, redeemed by Christ, can become an act of worship
pleasing to God. From this perspective, I would like here to
draw attention to some elements brought up by the Synod Fathers
which may help us to grasp the relationship of each of the
sacraments to the eucharistic mystery.
I. The Eucharist and Christian initiation
The Eucharist, the fullness of Christian initiation
17.
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. As the Synod Fathers said, we need to ask ourselves
whether in our Christian communities the close link between
Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist is sufficiently recognized.
(46) It must never be forgotten that our reception of Baptism
and Confirmation is ordered to the Eucharist. Accordingly, our
pastoral practice should reflect a more unitary understanding of
the process of Christian initiation. The sacrament of Baptism,
by which we were conformed to Christ,(47) incorporated in the
Church and made children of God, is the portal to all the
sacraments. It makes us part of the one Body of Christ (cf. 1
Cor 12:13), a priestly people. Still, it is our
participation in the Eucharistic sacrifice which perfects within
us the gifts given to us at Baptism. The gifts of the Spirit are
given for the building up of Christ's Body (1 Cor 12) and
for ever greater witness to the Gospel in the world. (48) The
Holy Eucharist, then, brings Christian initiation to completion
and represents the centre and goal of all sacramental life. (49)
The order of the sacraments of initiation
18.
In this regard, attention needs to be paid to the order of the
sacraments of initiation. Different traditions exist within the
Church. There is a clear variation between, on the one hand, the
ecclesial customs of the East (50) and the practice of the West
regarding the initiation of adults, (51) and, on the other hand,
the procedure adopted for children. (52) Yet these variations
are not properly of the dogmatic order, but are pastoral in
character. Concretely, it needs to be seen which practice better
enables the faithful to put the sacrament of the Eucharist at
the centre, as the goal of the whole process of initiation. In
close collaboration with the competent offices of the Roman
Curia, Bishops' Conferences should examine the effectiveness of
current approaches to Christian initiation, so that the faithful
can be helped both to mature through the formation received in
our communities and to give their lives an authentically
eucharistic direction, so that they can offer a reason for the
hope within them in a way suited to our times (cf. 1 Pet
3:15).
Initiation, the ecclesial community and the family
19.
It should be kept in mind that the whole of Christian initiation
is a process of conversion undertaken with God's help and with
constant reference to the ecclesial community, both when an
adult is seeking entry into the Church, as happens in places of
first evangelization and in many secularized regions, and when
parents request the sacraments for their children. In this
regard, I would like to call particular attention to the
relationship between Christian initiation and the family. In
pastoral work it is always important to make Christian families
part of the process of initiation. Receiving Baptism,
Confirmation and First Holy Communion are key moments not only
for the individual receiving them but also for the entire
family, which should be supported in its educational role by the
various elements of the ecclesial community. (53) Here I would
emphasize the importance of First Holy Communion. For many of
the faithful, this day continues to be memorable as the moment
when, even if in a rudimentary way, they first came to
understand the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus.
Parish pastoral programmes should make the most of this highly
significant moment.
II. The Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Their intrinsic relationship
20.
The Synod Fathers rightly stated that a love for the Eucharist
leads to a growing appreciation of the sacrament of
Reconciliation. (54) Given the connection between these
sacraments, an authentic catechesis on the meaning of the
Eucharist must include the call to pursue the path of penance
(cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29). We know that the faithful are
surrounded by a culture that tends to eliminate the sense of sin
(55) and to promote a superficial approach that overlooks the
need to be in a state of grace in order to approach sacramental
communion worthily. (56) The loss of a consciousness of sin
always entails a certain superficiality in the understanding of
God's love. Bringing out the elements within the rite of Mass
that express consciousness of personal sin and, at the same
time, of God's mercy, can prove most helpful to the
faithful.(57) Furthermore, the relationship between the
Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation reminds us that
sin is never a purely individual affair; it always damages the
ecclesial communion that we have entered through Baptism. For
this reason, Reconciliation, as the Fathers of the Church would
say, is laboriosus quidam baptismus; (58) they thus
emphasized that the outcome of the process of conversion is also
the restoration of full ecclesial communion, expressed in a
return to the Eucharist. (59)
Some pastoral concerns
21.
The Synod recalled that Bishops have the pastoral duty of
promoting within their Dioceses a reinvigorated catechesis on
the conversion born of the Eucharist, and of encouraging
frequent confession among the faithful. All priests should
dedicate themselves with generosity, commitment and competency
to administering the sacrament of Reconciliation. (60) In this
regard, it is important that the confessionals in our churches
should be clearly visible expressions of the importance of this
sacrament. I ask pastors to be vigilant with regard to the
celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation, and to limit the
practice of general absolution exclusively to the cases
permitted, (61) since individual absolution is the only form
intended for ordinary use. (62) Given the need to rediscover
sacramental forgiveness, there ought to be a Penitentiary
in every Diocese. (63) Finally, a balanced and sound practice of
gaining indulgences, whether for oneself or for the dead,
can be helpful for a renewed appreciation of the relationship
between the Eucharist and Reconciliation. By this means the
faithful obtain "remission before God of the temporal punishment
due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven." (64) The use
of indulgences helps us to understand that by our efforts alone
we would be incapable of making reparation for the wrong we have
done, and that the sins of each individual harm the whole
community. Furthermore, the practice of indulgences, which
involves not only the doctrine of Christ's infinite merits, but
also that of the communion of the saints, reminds us "how
closely we are united to each other in Christ ... and how the
supernatural life of each can help others." (65) Since the
conditions for gaining an indulgence include going to confession
and receiving sacramental communion, this practice can
effectively sustain the faithful on their journey of conversion
and in rediscovering the centrality of the Eucharist in the
Christian life.
III. The Eucharist and the Anointing of the sick
22.
Jesus did not only send his disciples forth to heal the sick
(cf. Mt 10:8; Lk 9:2, 10:9); he also instituted a
specific sacrament for them: the Anointing of the Sick.(66) The
Letter of James attests to the presence of this sacramental
sign in the early Christian community (cf. 5:14-16). If the
Eucharist shows how Christ's sufferings and death have been
transformed into love, the Anointing of the Sick, for its 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. The
relationship between these two sacraments becomes clear in
situations of serious illness: "In addition to the Anointing of
the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this
life the Eucharist as viaticum." (67) On their journey to the
Father, communion in the Body and Blood of Christ appears as the
seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection: "Anyone who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will
raise him up on the last day" (Jn 6:54). Since viaticum
gives the sick a glimpse of the fullness of the Paschal Mystery,
its administration should be readily provided for. (68)
Attentive pastoral care shown to those who are ill brings great
spiritual benefit to the entire community, since whatever we do
to one of the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus
himself (cf. Mt 25:40).
IV. The Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders
In persona Christi capitis
23.
The intrinsic relationship between the Eucharist and the
sacrament of Holy Orders clearly emerges from Jesus' own words
in the Upper Room: "Do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:19).
On the night before he died, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and
at the same time established the priesthood of the New
Covenant. He is priest, victim and altar: the mediator
between God the Father and his people (cf. Heb 5:5-10),
the victim of atonement (cf. 1 Jn 2:2, 4:10) who offers
himself on the altar of the Cross. No one can say "this is my
body" and "this is the cup of my blood" except in the name and
in the person of Christ, the one high priest of the new and
eternal Covenant (cf. Heb 8-9). Earlier meetings of the
Synod of Bishops had considered the question of the ordained
priesthood, both with regard to the nature of the ministry (69)
and the formation of candidates.(70) Here, in the light of the
discussion that took place during the last Synod, I consider it
important to recall several important points about the
relationship between the sacrament of the Eucharist and Holy
Orders. First of all, we need to stress once again that 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.
The
Church teaches that priestly ordination is the indispensable
condition for the valid celebration of the Eucharist.(71)
Indeed, "in the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it
is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his
Body, Shepherd of his flock, High Priest of the redemptive
sacrifice." (72) Certainly the ordained minister also acts "in
the name of the whole Church, when presenting to God the prayer
of the Church, and above all when offering the eucharistic
sacrifice." (73) As a result, priests should be conscious of the
fact that in their ministry they must never put themselves or
their personal opinions in first place, but Jesus Christ. Any
attempt to make themselves the centre of the liturgical action
contradicts their very identity as priests. The priest is above
all a servant of others, and he must continually work at being a
sign pointing to Christ, a docile instrument in the Lord's
hands. This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the
liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself
to it in mind and heart, and avoiding anything that might give
the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality.
I encourage the clergy always to see their eucharistic ministry
as a humble service offered to Christ and his Church. The
priesthood, as Saint Augustine said, is amoris officium,
(74) it is the office of the good shepherd, who offers his life
for his sheep (cf. Jn 10:14-15).
The Eucharist and priestly celibacy
24. The Synod Fathers wished to emphasize
that the ministerial priesthood, through ordination, calls for
complete configuration to Christ. While respecting the different
practice and tradition of the Eastern Churches, there is a need
to reaffirm the profound meaning of priestly celibacy, which is
rightly considered a priceless treasure, and is also confirmed
by the Eastern practice of choosing Bishops only from the ranks
of the celibate. These Churches also greatly esteem the decision
of many priests to embrace celibacy. This choice on the part of
the priest expresses in a special way the dedication which
conforms him to Christ and his exclusive offering of himself for
the Kingdom of God. (75) The fact that Christ himself, the
eternal priest, lived his mission even to the sacrifice of the
Cross in the state of virginity constitutes the sure point of
reference for understanding the meaning of the tradition of the
Latin Church. It is not sufficient to understand priestly
celibacy in purely functional terms. Celibacy is really a
special way of conforming oneself to Christ's own way of life.
This choice has first and foremost a nuptial meaning; it is a
profound identification with the heart of Christ the Bridegroom
who gives his life for his Bride. In continuity with the great
ecclesial tradition, with the
Second Vatican Council (76) and with
my predecessors in the papacy, (77) I reaffirm the beauty and
the importance of a priestly life lived in celibacy as a sign
expressing total and exclusive devotion to Christ, to the Church
and to the Kingdom of God, and I therefore confirm that it
remains obligatory in the Latin tradition. Priestly celibacy
lived with maturity, joy and dedication is an immense blessing
for the Church and for society itself.
The clergy shortage and the pastoral care of vocations
25.
In the light of the connection between the sacrament of Holy
Orders and the Eucharist, the Synod considered the difficult
situation that has arisen in various Dioceses which face a
shortage of priests. This happens not only in some areas of
first evangelization, but also in many countries of
long-standing Christian tradition. Certainly a more equitable
distribution of clergy would help to solve the problem. Efforts
need to be made to encourage a greater awareness of this
situation at every level. Bishops should involve Institutes of
Consecrated Life and the new ecclesial groups in their pastoral
needs, while respecting their particular charisms, and they
should invite the clergy to become more open to serving the
Church wherever there is need, even if this calls for sacrifice.
(78) The Synod also discussed pastoral initiatives aimed at
promoting, especially among the young, an attitude of interior
openness to a priestly calling. The situation cannot be resolved
by purely practical decisions. On no account should Bishops
react to real and understandable concerns about the shortage of
priests by failing to carry out adequate vocational discernment,
or by admitting to seminary formation and ordination candidates
who lack the necessary qualities for priestly ministry (79). An
insufficiently formed clergy, admitted to ordination without the
necessary discernment, will not easily be able to offer a
witness capable of evoking in others the desire to respond
generously to Christ's call. The pastoral care of vocations
needs to involve the entire Christian community in every area of
its life. (80) Obviously, this pastoral work on all levels also
includes exploring the matter with families, which are often
indifferent or even opposed to the idea of a priestly vocation.
Families should generously embrace the gift of life and bring up
their children to be open to doing God's will. In a word, they
must have the courage to set before young people the radical
decision to follow Christ, showing them how deeply rewarding it
is.
Gratitude and hope
26.
Finally, we need to have ever greater faith and hope in God's
providence. Even if there is a shortage of priests in some
areas, we must never lose confidence that Christ continues to
inspire men to leave everything behind and to dedicate
themselves totally to celebrating the sacred mysteries,
preaching the Gospel and ministering to the flock. In this
regard, I wish to express the gratitude of the whole Church for
all those Bishops and priests who carry out their respective
missions with fidelity, devotion and zeal. Naturally, the
Church's gratitude also goes to deacons, who receive the laying
on of hands "not for priesthood but for service." (81) As the
Synod Assembly recommended, I offer a special word of thanks to
those Fidei Donum priests who work faithfully and
generously at building up the community by proclaiming the word
of God and breaking the Bread of Life, devoting all their energy
to serving the mission of the Church. (82) Let us thank God for
all those priests who have suffered even to the sacrifice of
their lives in order to serve Christ. The eloquence of their
example shows what it means to be a priest to the end. Theirs is
a moving witness that can inspire many young people to follow
Christ and to expend their lives for others, and thus to
discover true life.
V. The Eucharist and Matrimony
The Eucharist, a nuptial sacrament
27.
The Eucharist, as the sacrament of charity, has a particular
relationship with the love of man and woman united in marriage.
A deeper understanding of this relationship is needed at the
present time. (83) Pope John Paul II frequently spoke of the
nuptial character of the Eucharist and its special relationship
with the sacrament of Matrimony: "The Eucharist is the sacrament
of our redemption. It is the sacrament of the Bridegroom and of
the Bride." (84) Moreover, "the entire Christian life bears the
mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already
Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery;
it is so to speak the nuptial bath which precedes the wedding
feast, the Eucharist." (85) The Eucharist inexhaustibly
strengthens the indissoluble unity and love of every Christian
marriage. By the power of the sacrament, the marriage bond is
intrinsically linked to the eucharistic unity of Christ the
Bridegroom and his Bride, the Church (cf. Eph 5:31-32).
The mutual consent that husband and wife exchange in Christ,
which establishes them as a community of life and love, also has
a eucharistic dimension. Indeed, in the theology of Saint Paul,
conjugal love is a sacramental sign of Christ's love for his
Church, a love culminating in the Cross, the expression of his
"marriage" with humanity and at the same time the origin and
heart of the Eucharist. For this reason the Church manifests her
particular spiritual closeness to all those who have built their
family on the sacrament of Matrimony. (86) The family – the
domestic Church (87) – is a primary sphere of the Church's life,
especially because of its decisive role in the Christian
education of children. (88) In this context, the Synod also
called for an acknowledgment of the unique mission of women in
the family and in society, a mission that needs to be defended,
protected and promoted. (89) Marriage and motherhood represent
essential realities which must never be denigrated.
The Eucharist and the unicity of marriage
28.
In the light of this intrinsic relationship between marriage,
the family and the Eucharist, we can turn to several pastoral
problems. The indissoluble, exclusive and faithful bond uniting
Christ and the Church, which finds sacramental expression in the
Eucharist, corresponds to the basic anthropological fact that
man is meant to be definitively united to one woman and vice
versa (cf. Gen 2:24, Mt 19:5). With this in mind,
the Synod of Bishops addressed the question of pastoral practice
regarding people who come to the Gospel from cultures in which
polygamy is practised. Those living in this situation who open
themselves to Christian faith need to be helped to integrate
their life-plan into the radical newness of Christ. During the
catechumenate, Christ encounters them in their specific
circumstances and calls them to embrace the full truth of love,
making whatever sacrifices are necessary in order to arrive at
perfect ecclesial communion. The Church accompanies them with a
pastoral care that is gentle yet firm, (90) above all by showing
them the light shed by the Christian mysteries on nature and on
human affections.
The Eucharist and the indissolubility of marriage
29.
If the Eucharist expresses the irrevocable nature of God's love
in Christ for his Church, we can then understand why it implies,
with regard to the sacrament of Matrimony, that indissolubility
to which all true love necessarily aspires. (91) There was good
reason for the pastoral attention that the Synod gave to the
painful situations experienced by some of the faithful who,
having celebrated the sacrament of Matrimony, then divorced and
remarried. This represents a complex and troubling pastoral
problem, a real scourge for contemporary society, and one which
increasingly affects the Catholic community as well. The
Church's pastors, out of love for the truth, are obliged to
discern different situations carefully, in order to be able to
offer appropriate spiritual guidance to the faithful
involved.(92) The Synod of Bishops confirmed the Church's
practice, based on Sacred Scripture (cf. Mk 10:2- 12), of
not admitting the divorced and remarried to the sacraments,
since their state and their condition of life objectively
contradict the loving union of Christ and the Church signified
and made present in the Eucharist. Yet the divorced and
remarried continue to belong to the Church, which accompanies
them with special concern and encourages them to live as fully
as possible the Christian life through regular participation at
Mass, albeit without receiving communion, listening to the word
of God, eucharistic adoration, prayer, participation in the life
of the community, honest dialogue with a priest or spiritual
director, dedication to the life of charity, works of penance,
and commitment to the education of their children.
When
legitimate doubts exist about the validity of the prior
sacramental marriage, the necessary investigation must be
carried out to establish if these are well-founded. Consequently
there is a need to ensure, in full respect for canon law (93),
the presence of local ecclesiastical tribunals, their pastoral
character, and their correct and prompt functioning (94). Each
Diocese should have a sufficient number of persons with the
necessary preparation, so that the ecclesiastical tribunals can
operate in an expeditious manner. I repeat that "it is a grave
obligation to bring the Church's institutional activity in her
tribunals ever closer to the faithful" (95). At the same time,
pastoral care must not be understood as if it were somehow in
conflict with the law. Rather, one should begin by assuming that
the fundamental point of encounter between the law and pastoral
care is love for the truth: truth is never something
purely abstract, but "a real part of the human and Christian
journey of every member of the faithful" (96). Finally, where
the nullity of the marriage bond is not declared and objective
circumstances make it impossible to cease cohabitation, the
Church encourages these members of the faithful to commit
themselves to living their relationship in fidelity to the
demands of God's law, as friends, as brother and sister; in this
way they will be able to return to the table of the Eucharist,
taking care to observe the Church's established and approved
practice in this regard. This path, if it is to be possible and
fruitful, must be supported by pastors and by adequate ecclesial
initiatives, nor can it ever involve the blessing of these
relations, lest confusion arise among the faithful concerning
the value of marriage (97).
Given the complex cultural context which the Church today
encounters in many countries, the Synod also recommended
devoting maximum pastoral attention to training couples
preparing for marriage and to ascertaining beforehand their
convictions regarding the obligations required for the validity
of the sacrament of Matrimony. Serious discernment in this
matter will help to avoid situations where impulsive decisions
or superficial reasons lead two young people to take on
responsibilities that they are then incapable of honouring. (98)
The good that the Church and society as a whole expect from
marriage and from the family founded upon marriage is so great
as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area.
Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted
and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true
nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to
society itself.
The Eucharist and
Eschatology
The Eucharist: a gift to men and women on their journey
30.
If it is true that the sacraments are part of the Church's
pilgrimage through history (99) towards the full manifestation
of the victory of the risen Christ, it is also true that,
especially in the liturgy of the Eucharist, they give us a real
foretaste of the eschatological fulfilment for which every human
being and all creation are destined (cf. Rom 8:19ff.).
Man is created for that true and eternal happiness which only
God's love can give. But our wounded freedom would go astray
were it not already able to experience something of that future
fulfilment. Moreover, to move forward in the right direction, we
all need to be guided towards our final goal. That goal is
Christ himself, the Lord who conquered sin and death, and who
makes himself present to us in a special way in the eucharistic
celebration. Even though we remain "aliens and exiles" in this
world (1 Pet 2:11), through faith we already share in the
fullness of risen life. The eucharistic banquet, by disclosing
its powerful eschatological dimension, comes to the aid of our
freedom as we continue our journey.
The eschatological banquet
31.
Reflecting on this mystery, we can say that Jesus' coming
responded to an expectation present in the people of Israel, in
the whole of humanity and ultimately in creation itself. By his
self-gift, he objectively inaugurated the eschatological age.
Christ came to gather together the scattered People of God (cf.
Jn 11:52) and clearly manifested his intention to gather
together the community of the covenant, in order to bring to
fulfilment the promises made by God to the fathers of old (cf.
Jer 23:3; Lk 1:55, 70). In the calling of the
Twelve, which is to be understood in relation to the twelve
tribes of Israel, and in the command he gave them at the Last
Supper, before his redemptive passion, to celebrate his
memorial, Jesus showed that he wished to transfer to the entire
community which he had founded the task of being, within
history, the sign and instrument of the eschatological gathering
that had its origin in him. Consequently, every eucharistic
celebration sacramentally accomplishes the eschatological
gathering of the People of God. For us, the eucharistic banquet
is a real foretaste of the final banquet foretold by the
prophets (cf. Is 25:6-9) and described in the New
Testament as "the marriage-feast of the Lamb" (Rev
19:7-9), to be celebrated in the joy of the communion of saints
(100).
Prayer for the dead
32.
The eucharistic celebration, in which we proclaim that Christ
has died and risen, and will come again, is a pledge of the
future glory in which our bodies too will be glorified.
Celebrating the memorial of our salvation strengthens our hope
in the resurrection of the body and in the possibility of
meeting once again, face to face, those who have gone before us
marked with the sign of faith. In this context, I wish, together
with the Synod Fathers, to remind all the faithful of the
importance of prayers for the dead, especially the offering of
Mass for them, so that, once purified, they can come to the
beatific vision of God. (101) A rediscovery of the
eschatological dimension inherent in the Eucharist, celebrated
and adored, will help sustain us on our journey and comfort us
in the hope of glory (cf. Rom 5:2; Tit 2:13).
The Eucharist and
the Virgin Mary
33.
From the relationship between the Eucharist and the individual
sacraments, and from the eschatological significance of the
sacred mysteries, the overall shape of the Christian life
emerges, a life called at all times to be an act of spiritual
worship, a self-offering pleasing to God. Although we are all
still journeying towards the complete fulfilment of our hope,
this does not mean that we cannot already gratefully acknowledge
that God's gifts to us have found their perfect fulfilment in
the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. Mary's Assumption
body and soul into heaven is for us a sign of sure hope, for it
shows us, on our pilgrimage through time, the eschatological
goal of which the sacrament of the Eucharist enables us even now
to have a foretaste.
In
Mary most holy, we also see perfectly fulfilled the
"sacramental" way that God comes down to meet his creatures and
involves them in his saving work. From the Annunciation to
Pentecost, Mary of Nazareth appears as someone whose freedom is
completely open to God's will. Her immaculate conception is
revealed precisely in her unconditional docility to God's word.
Obedient faith in response to God's work shapes her life at
every moment. A virgin attentive to God's word, she lives in
complete harmony with his will; she treasures in her heart the
words that come to her from God and, piecing them together like
a mosaic, she learns to understand them more deeply (cf. Lk
2:19, 51); Mary is the great Believer who places herself
confidently in God's hands, abandoning herself to his will.
(102) This mystery deepens as she becomes completely involved in
the redemptive mission of Jesus. In the words of the Second
Vatican Council, "the blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage
of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son
until she stood at the Cross, in keeping with the divine plan
(cf. Jn 19:25), suffering deeply with her only-begotten
Son, associating herself with his sacrifice in her mother's
heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim
who was born of her. Finally, she was given by the same Christ
Jesus, dying on the Cross, as a mother to his disciple, with
these words: ‘Woman, behold your Son."' (103) From the
Annunciation to the Cross, Mary is the one who received the
Word, made flesh within her and then silenced in death. It is
she, lastly, who took into her arms the lifeless body of the one
who truly loved his own "to the end" (Jn 13:1).
Consequently, every time we approach the Body and Blood of
Christ in the eucharistic liturgy, we also turn to her who, by
her complete fidelity, received Christ's sacrifice for the whole
Church. The Synod Fathers rightly declared that "Mary
inaugurates the Church's participation in the sacrifice of the
Redeemer." (104) She is the Immaculata, who receives God's gift
unconditionally and is thus associated with his work of
salvation. Mary of Nazareth, icon of the nascent Church, is the
model for each of us, called to receive the gift that Jesus
makes of himself in the Eucharist.
PART TWO
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY
TO BE CELEBRATED
"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the
bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven" (Jn 6:32)
Lex orandi and lex credendi
34.
The Synod of Bishops reflected at length on the intrinsic
relationship between eucharistic faith and eucharistic
celebration, pointing out the connection between the lex
orandi and the lex credendi, and stressing the
primacy of the liturgical action. The Eucharist should be
experienced as a mystery of faith, celebrated authentically and
with a clear awareness that "the intellectus fidei has a
primordial relationship to the Church's liturgical action."
(105) Theological reflection in this area can never prescind
from the sacramental order instituted by Christ himself. On the
other hand, the liturgical action can never be considered
generically, prescinding from the mystery of faith. Our faith
and the eucharistic liturgy both have their source in the same
event: Christ's gift of himself in the Paschal Mystery.
Beauty and the liturgy
35.
This relationship between creed and worship is evidenced in a
particular way by the rich theological and liturgical category
of beauty. Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is
inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor.
The liturgy is a radiant expression of the paschal mystery, in
which Christ draws us to himself and calls us to communion. As
Saint Bonaventure would say, in Jesus we contemplate beauty and
splendour at their source. (106) This is no mere aestheticism,
but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ
encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to
emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation,
which is love. (107) God allows himself to be glimpsed first in
creation, in the beauty and harmony of the cosmos (cf. Wis
13:5; Rom 1:19- 20). In the Old Testament we see many
signs of the grandeur of God's power as he manifests his glory
in his wondrous deeds among the Chosen People (cf. Ex 14;
16:10; 24:12-18; Num 14:20- 23). In the New Testament
this epiphany of beauty reaches definitive fulfilment in God's
revelation in Jesus Christ: (108) Christ is the full
manifestation of the glory of God. In the glorification of the
Son, the Father's glory shines forth and is communicated (cf.
Jn 1:14; 8:54; 12:28; 17:1). Yet this beauty is not simply a
harmony of proportion and form; "the fairest of the sons of men"
(Ps 45[44]:3) is also, mysteriously, the one "who had no
form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty
that we should desire him" (Is 53:2). Jesus Christ shows
us how the truth of love can transform even the dark mystery of
death into the radiant light of the resurrection. Here the
splendour of God's glory surpasses all worldly beauty. The
truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed
himself to us in the paschal mystery.
The
beauty of the liturgy is part of this mystery; it is a sublime
expression of God's glory and, in a certain sense, a glimpse of
heaven on earth. The memorial of Jesus' redemptive sacrifice
contains something of that beauty which Peter, James and John
beheld when the Master, making his way to Jerusalem, was
transfigured before their eyes (cf. Mk 9:2). Beauty,
then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of
the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself
and his revelation. These considerations should make us realize
the care which is needed, if the liturgical action is to reflect
its innate splendour.
The Eucharistic celebration, the work of "Christus Totus"
Christus totus in capite et in corpore
36.
The "subject" of the liturgy's intrinsic beauty is Christ
himself, risen and glorified in the Holy Spirit, who includes
the Church in his work. (109) Here we can recall an evocative
phrase of Saint Augustine which strikingly describes this
dynamic of faith proper to the Eucharist. The great Bishop of
Hippo, speaking specifically of the eucharistic mystery,
stresses the fact that Christ assimilates us to himself: "The
bread you see on the altar, sanctified by the word of God, is
the body of Christ. The chalice, or rather, what the chalice
contains, sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ.
In these signs, Christ the Lord willed to entrust to us his body
and the blood which he shed for the forgiveness of our sins. If
you have received them properly, you yourselves are what you
have received." (110) Consequently, "not only have we become
Christians, we have become Christ himself." (111) We can thus
contemplate God's mysterious work, which brings about a profound
unity between ourselves and the Lord Jesus: "one should not
believe that Christ is in the head but not in the body; rather
he is complete in the head and in the body." (112)
The Eucharist and the risen Christ
37.
Since the eucharistic liturgy is essentially an actio Dei
which draws us into Christ through the Holy Spirit, its basic
structure is not something within our power to change, nor can
it be held hostage by the latest trends. Here too Saint Paul's
irrefutable statement applies: "no one can lay any foundation
other than the one that has been laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1
Cor 3:11). Again it is the Apostle of the Gentiles who
assures us that, with regard to the Eucharist, he is presenting
not his own teaching but what he himself has received (cf. 1
Cor 11:23). The celebration of the Eucharist implies and
involves the living Tradition. The Church celebrates the
eucharistic sacrifice in obedience to Christ's command, based on
her experience of the Risen Lord and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. For this reason, from the beginning, the Christian
community has gathered for the fractio panis on the
Lord's Day. Sunday, the day Christ rose from the dead, is also
the first day of the week, the day which the Old Testament
tradition saw as the beginning of God's work of creation. The
day of creation has now become the day of the "new creation,"
the day of our liberation, when we commemorate Christ who died
and rose again (113).
Ars celebrandi
38.
In the course of the Synod, there was frequent insistence on the
need to avoid any antithesis between the ars celebrandi,
the art of proper celebration, and the full, active and fruitful
participation of all the faithful. The primary way to foster the
participation of the People of God in the sacred rite is the
proper celebration of the rite itself. The ars celebrandi
is the best way to ensure their actuosa participatio.
(114) The ars celebrandi is the fruit of faithful
adherence to the liturgical norms in all their richness; indeed,
for two thousand years this way of celebrating has sustained the
faith life of all believers, called to take part in the
celebration as the People of God, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation (cf. 1 Pet 2:4-5, 9) (115).
The Bishop, celebrant par excellence
39.
While it is true that the whole People of God participates in
the eucharistic liturgy, a correct ars celebrandi
necessarily entails a specific responsibility on the part of
those who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders. Bishops,
priests, and deacons, each according to his proper rank, must
consider the celebration of the liturgy as their principal duty
(116). Above all, this is true of the Diocesan Bishop: as "the
chief steward of the mysteries of God in the particular Church
entrusted to his care, he is the moderator, promoter, and
guardian of the whole of its liturgical life" (117). This is
essential for the life of the particular Church, not only
because communion with the Bishop is required for the lawfulness
of every celebration within his territory, but also because he
himself is the celebrant par excellence within his Diocese
(118). It is his responsibility to ensure unity and harmony in
the celebrations taking place in his territory. Consequently the
Bishop must be "determined that the priests, the deacons, and
the lay Christian faithful grasp ever more deeply the genuine
meaning of the rites and liturgical texts, and thereby be led to
an active and fruitful celebration of the Eucharist" (119). I
would ask that every effort be made to ensure that the liturgies
which the Bishop celebrates in his Cathedral are carried out
with complete respect for the ars celebrandi, so that
they can be considered an example for the entire Diocese (120).
Respect for the liturgical books and the richness of signs
40.
Emphasizing the importance of the ars celebrandi also
leads to an appreciation of the value of the liturgical norms.
(121) The ars celebrandi should foster a sense of the
sacred and the use of outward signs which help to cultivate this
sense, such as, for example, the harmony of the rite, the
liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the sacred space. The
eucharistic celebration is enhanced when priests and liturgical
leaders are committed to making known the current liturgical
texts and norms, making available the great riches found in the
General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Order of
Readings for Mass. Perhaps we take it for granted that our
ecclesial communities already know and appreciate these
resources, but this is not always the case. These texts contain
riches which have preserved and expressed the faith and
experience of the People of God over its two-thousand-year
history. Equally important for a correct ars celebrandi
is an attentiveness to the various kinds of language that the
liturgy employs: words and music, gestures and silence,
movement, the liturgical colours of the vestments. By its very
nature the liturgy operates on different levels of communication
which enable it to engage the whole human person. The simplicity
of its gestures and the sobriety of its orderly sequence of
signs communicate and inspire more than any contrived and
inappropriate additions. Attentiveness and fidelity to the
specific structure of the rite express both a recognition of the
nature of Eucharist as a gift and, on the part of the minister,
a docile openness to receiving this ineffable gift.
Art at the service of the liturgy
41.
The profound connection between beauty and the liturgy should
make us attentive to every work of art placed at the service of
the celebration. (122) Certainly an important element of sacred
art is church architecture, (123) which should highlight the
unity of the furnishings of the sanctuary, such as the altar,
the crucifix, the tabernacle, the ambo and the celebrant's
chair. Here it is important to remember that the purpose of
sacred architecture is to offer the Church a fitting space for
the celebration of the mysteries of faith, especially the
Eucharist. (124) The very nature of a Christian church is
defined by the liturgy, which is an assembly of the faithful (ecclesia)
who are the living stones of the Church (cf. 1 Pet 2:5).
This
same principle holds true for sacred art in general, especially
painting and sculpture, where religious iconography should be
directed to sacramental mystagogy. A solid knowledge of the
history of sacred art can be advantageous for those responsible
for commissioning artists and architects to create works of art
for the liturgy. Consequently it is essential that the education
of seminarians and priests include the study of art history,
with special reference to sacred buildings and the corresponding
liturgical norms. Everything related to the Eucharist should be
marked by beauty. Special respect and care must also be given to
the vestments, the furnishings and the sacred vessels, so that
by their harmonious and orderly arrangement they will foster awe
for the mystery of God, manifest the unity of the faith and
strengthen devotion (125).
Liturgical song
42.
In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent
place. (126) Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon
that "the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of
joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love"
(127). The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the
praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history,
the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which
represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must
not be lost. Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we
cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic
improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail
to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. As an
element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the
overall celebration (128). Consequently everything – texts,
music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the
mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the
liturgical seasons (129). Finally, while respecting various
styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I
desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod
Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed
(130) as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy (131).
The
structure of the Eucharistic Celebration
43. After mentioning the more significant
elements of the ars celebrandi that emerged during the
Synod, I would now like to turn to some specific aspects of the
structure of the eucharistic celebration which require special
attention at the present time, if we are to remain faithful to
the underlying intention of the liturgical renewal called for by
the
Second Vatican Council, in continuity
with the great ecclesial tradition.
The intrinsic unity of the liturgical action
44.
First of all, there is a need to reflect on the inherent unity
of the rite of Mass. Both in catechesis and in the actual manner
of celebration, one must avoid giving the impression that the
two parts of the rite are merely juxtaposed. The liturgy of the
word and the Eucharistic liturgy, with the rites of introduction
and conclusion, "are so closely interconnected that they form
but one single act of worship." (132) There is an intrinsic bond
between the word of God and the Eucharist. From listening to the
word of God, faith is born or strengthened (cf. Rom
10:17); in the Eucharist the Word made flesh gives himself to us
as our spiritual food. (133) Thus, "from the two tables of the
word of God and the Body of Christ, the Church receives and
gives to the faithful the bread of life." (134) Consequently it
must constantly be kept in mind that the word of God, read and
proclaimed by the Church in the liturgy, leads to the Eucharist
as to its own connatural end.
The liturgy of the word
45.
Together with the Synod, I ask that the liturgy of the word
always be carefully prepared and celebrated. Consequently I urge
that every effort be made to ensure that the liturgical
proclamation of the word of God is entrusted to well- prepared
readers. Let us never forget that "when the Sacred Scriptures
are read in the Church, God himself speaks to his people, and
Christ, present in his own word, proclaims the Gospel"(135).
When circumstances so suggest, a few brief words of introduction
could be offered in order to focus the attention of the
faithful. If it is to be properly understood, the word of God
must be listened to and accepted in a spirit of communion with
the Church and with a clear awareness of its unity with the
sacrament of the Eucharist. Indeed, the word which we proclaim
and accept is the Word made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14); it is
inseparably linked to Christ's person and the sacramental mode
of his continued presence in our midst. Christ does not speak in
the past, but in the present, even as he is present in the
liturgical action. In this sacramental context of Christian
revelation (136), knowledge and study of the word of God enable
us better to appreciate, celebrate and live the Eucharist. Here
too, we can see how true it is that "ignorance of Scripture is
ignorance of Christ" (137).
To
this end, the faithful should be helped to appreciate the riches
of Sacred Scripture found in the lectionary through pastoral
initiatives, liturgies of the word and reading in the context of
prayer (lectio divina). Efforts should also be made to
encourage those forms of prayer confirmed by tradition, such as
the Liturgy of the Hours, especially Morning Prayer, Evening
Prayer and Night Prayer, and vigil celebrations. By praying the
Psalms, the Scripture readings and the readings drawn from the
great tradition which are included in the Divine Office, we can
come to a deeper experience of the Christ-event and the economy
of salvation, which in turn can enrich our understanding and
participation in the celebration of the Eucharist (138).
The homily
46. Given the importance of the word of
God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved. The homily is
"part of the liturgical action" (139), and is meant to foster a
deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear
fruit in the lives of the faithful. Hence ordained ministers
must "prepare the homily carefully, based on an adequate
knowledge of Sacred Scripture" (140). Generic and abstract
homilies should be avoided. In particular, I ask these ministers
to preach in such a way that the homily closely relates the
proclamation of the word of God to the sacramental celebration
(141) and the life of the community, so that the word of God
truly becomes the Church's vital nourishment and support (142).
The catechetical and paraenetic aim of the homily should not be
forgotten. During the course of the liturgical year it is
appropriate to offer the faithful, prudently and on the basis of
the three-year lectionary, "thematic" homilies treating the
great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has
been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the four
"pillars" of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
and the recent
Compendium, namely: the profession
of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in
Christ and Christian prayer (143).
The presentation of the gifts
47.
The Synod Fathers also drew attention to the presentation of the
gifts. This is not to be viewed simply as a kind of "interval"
between the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the
Eucharist. To do so would tend to weaken, at the least, the
sense of a single rite made up of two interrelated parts. This
humble and simple gesture is actually very significant: in the
bread and wine that we bring to the altar, all creation is taken
up by Christ the Redeemer to be transformed and presented to the
Father. (144) In this way we also bring to the altar all the
pain and suffering of the world, in the certainty that
everything has value in God's eyes. The authentic meaning of
this gesture can be clearly expressed without the need for undue
emphasis or complexity. It enables us to appreciate how God
invites man to participate in bringing to fulfilment his
handiwork, and in so doing, gives human labour its authentic
meaning, since, through the celebration of the Eucharist, it is
united to the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.
The Eucharistic Prayer
48.
The Eucharistic Prayer is "the centre and summit of the entire
celebration" (145). Its importance deserves to be adequately
emphasized. The different Eucharistic Prayers contained in the
Missal have been handed down to us by the Church's living
Tradition and are noteworthy for their inexhaustible theological
and spiritual richness. The faithful need to be enabled to
appreciate that richness. Here the General Instruction of the
Roman Missal can help, with its list of the basic elements
of every Eucharistic Prayer: thanksgiving, acclamation,
epiclesis, institution narrative and consecration, anamnesis,
offering, intercessions and final doxology (146). In a
particular way, eucharistic spirituality and theological
reflection are enriched if we contemplate in the anaphora the
profound unity between the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the
institution narrative (147) whereby "the sacrifice is carried
out which Christ himself instituted at the Last Supper" (148).
Indeed, "the Church implores the power of the Holy Spirit that
the gifts offered by human hands be consecrated, that is, become
Christ's Body and Blood, and that the spotless Victim to be
received in communion be for the salvation of those who will
partake of it" (149).
The sign of peace
49.
By its nature the Eucharist is the sacrament of peace. At Mass
this dimension of the eucharistic mystery finds specific
expression in the sign of peace. Certainly this sign has great
value (cf. Jn 14:27). In our times, fraught with fear and
conflict, this gesture has become particularly eloquent, as the
Church has become increasingly conscious of her responsibility
to pray insistently for the gift of peace and unity for herself
and for the whole human family. Certainly there is an
irrepressible desire for peace present in every heart. The
Church gives voice to the hope for peace and reconciliation
rising up from every man and woman of good will, directing it
towards the one who "is our peace" (Eph 2:14) and who can
bring peace to individuals and peoples when all human efforts
fail. We can thus understand the emotion so often felt during
the sign of peace at a liturgical celebration. Even so, during
the Synod of Bishops there was discussion about the
appropriateness of greater restraint in this gesture, which can
be exaggerated and cause a certain distraction in the assembly
just before the reception of Communion. It should be kept in
mind that nothing is lost when the sign of peace is marked by a
sobriety which preserves the proper spirit of the celebration,
as, for example, when it is restricted to one's immediate
neighbours (150).
The distribution and reception of the Eucharist
50.
Another moment of the celebration needing to be mentioned is the
distribution and reception of Holy Communion. I ask everyone,
especially ordained ministers and those who, after adequate
preparation and in cases of genuine need, are authorized to
exercise the ministry of distributing the Eucharist, to make
every effort to ensure that this simple act preserves its
importance as a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus in the
sacrament. For the rules governing correct practice in this
regard, I would refer to those documents recently issued on the
subject. (151) All Christian communities are to observe the
current norms faithfully, seeing in them an expression of the
faith and love with which we all must regard this sublime
sacrament. Furthermore, the precious time of thanksgiving after
communion should not be neglected: besides the singing of an
appropriate hymn, it can also be most helpful to remain
recollected in silence. (152)
In
this regard, I would like to call attention to a pastoral
problem frequently encountered nowadays. I am referring to the
fact that on certain occasions – for example, wedding Masses,
funerals and the like – in addition to practising Catholics
there may be others present who have long since ceased to attend
Mass or are living in a situation which does not permit them to
receive the sacraments. At other times members of other
Christian confessions and even other religions may be present.
Similar situations can occur in churches that are frequently
visited, especially in tourist areas. In these cases, there is a
need to find a brief and clear way to remind those present of
the meaning of sacramental communion and the conditions required
for its reception. Wherever circumstances make it impossible to
ensure that the meaning of the Eucharist is duly appreciated,
the appropriateness of replacing the celebration of the Mass
with a celebration of the word of God should be considered.
(153)
The dismissal: "Ite, missa est"
51.
Finally, I would like to comment briefly on the observations of
the Synod Fathers regarding the dismissal at the end of the
eucharistic celebration. After the blessing, the deacon or the
priest dismisses the people with the words: Ite, missa est.
These words help us to grasp the relationship between the Mass
just celebrated and the mission of Christians in the world. In
antiquity, missa simply meant "dismissal." However in
Christian usage it gradually took on a deeper meaning. The word
"dismissal" has come to imply a "mission." These few words
succinctly express the missionary nature of the Church. The
People of God might be helped to understand more clearly this
essential dimension of the Church's life, taking the dismissal
as a starting- point. In this context, it might also be helpful
to provide new texts, duly approved, for the prayer over the
people and the final blessing, in order to make this connection
clear (154).
Actuosa participatio
Authentic participation
52. The Second Vatican Council rightly
emphasized the active, full and fruitful participation of the
entire People of God in the eucharistic celebration (155).
Certainly, the renewal carried out in these past decades has
made considerable progress towards fulfilling the wishes of the
Council Fathers. Yet we must not overlook the fact that some
misunderstanding has occasionally arisen concerning the precise
meaning of this participation. It should be made clear that the
word "participation" does not refer to mere external activity
during the celebration. In fact, the active participation called
for by the Council must be understood in more substantial terms,
on the basis of a greater awareness of the mystery being
celebrated and its relationship to daily life. The conciliar
Constitution
Sacrosanctum Concilium
encouraged the faithful to take part in
the eucharistic liturgy not "as strangers or silent spectators,"
but as participants "in the sacred action, conscious of what
they are doing, actively and devoutly" (156). This exhortation
has lost none of its force. The Council went on to say that the
faithful "should be instructed by God's word, and nourished at
the table of the Lord's Body. They should give thanks to God.
Offering the immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of
the priest but also together with him, they should learn to make
an offering of themselves. Through Christ, the Mediator, they
should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God
and each other" (157).
Participation and the priestly ministry
53.
The beauty and the harmony of the liturgy find eloquent
expression in the order by which everyone is called to
participate actively. This entails an acknowledgment of the
distinct hierarchical roles involved in the celebration. It is
helpful to recall that active participation is not per se
equivalent to the exercise of a specific ministry. The active
participation of the laity does not benefit from the confusion
arising from an inability to distinguish, within the Church's
communion, the different functions proper to each one. (158)
There is a particular need for clarity with regard to the
specific functions of the priest. He alone, and no other, as the
tradition of the Church attests, presides over the entire
eucharistic celebration, from the initial greeting to the final
blessing. In virtue of his reception of Holy Orders, he
represents Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, and, in a
specific way, also the Church herself. (159) Every celebration
of the Eucharist, in fact, is led by the Bishop, "either in
person or through priests who are his helpers."(160) He is
helped by a deacon, who has specific duties during the
celebration: he prepares the altar, assists the priest,
proclaims the Gospel, preaches the homily from time to time,
reads the intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful, and
distributes the Eucharist to the faithful. (161) Associated with
these ministries linked to the sacrament of Holy Orders, there
are also other ministries of liturgical service which can be
carried out in a praiseworthy manner by religious and properly
trained laity. (162)
The eucharistic celebration and inculturation
54. On the basis of these fundamental
statements of the Second Vatican Council, the Synod Fathers
frequently stressed the importance of the active participation
of the faithful in the eucharistic sacrifice. In order to foster
this participation, provision may be made for a number of
adaptations appropriate to different contexts and cultures.
(163) The fact that certain abuses have occurred does not
detract from this clear principle, which must be upheld in
accordance with the real needs of the Church as she lives and
celebrates the one mystery of Christ in a variety of cultural
situations. In the mystery of the Incarnation, the Lord Jesus,
born of woman and fully human (cf. Gal 4:4), entered
directly into a relationship not only with the expectations
present within the Old Testament, but also with those of all
peoples. He thus showed that God wishes to encounter us in our
own concrete situation. A more effective participation of the
faithful in the holy mysteries will thus benefit from the
continued inculturation of the eucharistic celebration, with due
regard for the possibilities for adaptation provided in the
General Instruction of the Roman Missal, (164) interpreted
in the light of the criteria laid down by the Fourth Instruction
of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments Varietates Legitimae of 25 January 1994 (165)
and the directives expressed by Pope John Paul II in the
Post-Synodal Exhortations
Ecclesia in Africa,
Ecclesia in America,
Ecclesia in Asia,
Ecclesia in Oceania and
Ecclesia in Europa (166). To this
end, I encourage Episcopal Conferences to strive to maintain a
proper balance between the criteria and directives already
issued and new adaptations (167), always in accord with the
Apostolic See.
Personal conditions for an "active participation"
55.
In their consideration of the actuosa participatio of the
faithful in the liturgy, the Synod Fathers also discussed the
personal conditions required for fruitful participation on the
part of individuals. (168) One of these is certainly the spirit
of constant conversion which must mark the lives of all the
faithful. Active participation in the eucharistic liturgy can
hardly be expected if one approaches it superficially, without
an examination of his or her life. This inner disposition can be
fostered, for example, by recollection and silence for at least
a few moments before the beginning of the liturgy, by fasting
and, when necessary, by sacramental confession. A heart
reconciled to God makes genuine participation possible. The
faithful need to be reminded that there can be no actuosa
participatio in the sacred mysteries without an accompanying
effort to participate actively in the life of the Church as a
whole, including a missionary commitment to bring Christ's love
into the life of society.
Clearly, full participation in the Eucharist takes place when
the faithful approach the altar in person to receive communion
(169). Yet true as this is, care must be taken lest they
conclude that the mere fact of their being present in church
during the liturgy gives them a right or even an obligation to
approach the table of the Eucharist. Even in cases where it is
not possible to receive sacramental communion, participation at
Mass remains necessary, important, meaningful and fruitful. In
such circumstances it is beneficial to cultivate a desire for
full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual
communion, praised by Pope John Paul II (170) and recommended by
saints who were masters of the spiritual life (171).
Participation by Christians who are not Catholic
56. The subject of participation in the
Eucharist inevitably raises the question of Christians belonging
to Churches or Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with
the Catholic Church. In this regard, it must be said that the
intrinsic link between the Eucharist and the Church's unity
inspires us to long for the day when we will be able to
celebrate the Holy Eucharist together with all believers in
Christ, and in this way to express visibly the fullness of unity
that Christ willed for his disciples (cf. Jn 17:21). On
the other hand, the respect we owe to the sacrament of Christ's
Body and Blood prevents us from making it a mere "means" to be
used indiscriminately in order to attain that unity. (172) The
Eucharist in fact not only manifests our personal communion with
Jesus Christ, but also implies full communio with the
Church. This is the reason why, sadly albeit not without hope,
we ask Christians who are not Catholic to understand and respect
our conviction, which is grounded in the Bible and Tradition. We
hold that eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion are so
linked as to make it generally impossible for non-Catholic
Christians to receive the former without enjoying the latter.
There would be even less sense in actually concelebrating with
ministers of Churches or ecclesial communities not in full
communion with the Catholic Church. Yet it remains true that,
for the sake of their eternal salvation, individual non-Catholic
Christians can be admitted to the Eucharist, the sacrament of
Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. But this is
possible only in specific, exceptional situations and requires
that certain precisely defined conditions be met (173). These
are clearly indicated in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
(174) and in its
Compendium (175). Everyone is
obliged to observe these norms faithfully.
Participation through the communications media
57.
Thanks to the remarkable development of the communications
media, the word "participation" has taken on a broader meaning
in recent decades. We all gladly acknowledge that the media have
also opened up new possibilities for the celebration of the
Eucharist. (176) This requires a specific preparation and a keen
sense of responsibility on the part of pastoral workers in the
sector. When Mass is broadcast on television, it inevitably
tends to set an example. Particular care should therefore be
taken to ensure that, in addition to taking place in suitable
and well-appointed locations, the celebration respects the
liturgical norms in force.
Finally, with regard to the value of taking part in Mass via the
communications media, those who hear or view these broadcasts
should be aware that, under normal circumstances, they do not
fulfil the obligation of attending Mass. Visual images can
represent reality, but they do not actually reproduce it.(177)
While it is most praiseworthy that the elderly and the sick
participate in Sunday Mass through radio and television, the
same cannot be said of those who think that such broadcasts
dispense them from going to church and sharing in the
eucharistic assembly in the living Church.
Active participation by the sick
58.
In thinking of those who cannot attend places of worship for
reasons of health or advanced age, I wish to call the attention
of the whole Church community to the pastoral importance of
providing spiritual assistance to the sick, both those living at
home and those in hospital. Their situation was often mentioned
during the Synod of Bishops. These brothers and sisters of ours
should have the opportunity to receive sacramental communion
frequently. In this way they can strengthen their relationship
with Christ, crucified and risen, and feel fully involved in the
Church's life and mission by the offering of their sufferings in
union with our Lord's sacrifice. Particular attention needs to
be given to the disabled. When their condition so permits, the
Christian community should make it possible for them to attend
the place of worship. Buildings should be designed to provide
ready access to the disabled. Finally, whenever possible,
eucharistic communion should be made available to the mentally
handicapped, if they are baptized and confirmed: they receive
the Eucharist in the faith also of the family or the community
that accompanies them. (178)
Care for prisoners
59.
The Church's spiritual tradition, basing itself on Christ's own
words (cf. Mt 25:36), has designated the visiting of
prisoners as one of the corporal works of mercy. Prisoners have
a particular need to be visited personally by the Lord in the
sacrament of the Eucharist. Experiencing the closeness of the
ecclesial community, sharing in the Eucharist and receiving holy
communion at this difficult and painful time can surely
contribute to the quality of a prisoner's faith journey and to
full social rehabilitation. Taking up the recommendation of the
Synod, I ask Dioceses to do whatever is possible to ensure that
sufficient pastoral resources are invested in the spiritual care
of prisoners. (179)
Migrants and participation in the Eucharist
60.
Turning now to those people who for various reasons are forced
to leave their native countries, the Synod expressed particular
gratitude to all those engaged in the pastoral care of migrants.
Specific attention needs to be paid to migrants belonging to the
Eastern Catholic Churches; in addition to being far from home,
they also encounter the difficulty of not being able to
participate in the eucharistic liturgy in their own rite. For
this reason, wherever possible, they should be served by priests
of their rite. In all cases I would ask Bishops to welcome these
brothers and sisters with the love of Christ. Contacts between
the faithful of different rites can prove a source of mutual
enrichment. In particular, I am thinking of the benefit that can
come, especially for the clergy, from a knowledge of the
different traditions. (180)
Large-scale concelebrations
61.
The Synod considered the quality of participation in the case of
large-scale celebrations held on special occasions and involving
not only a great number of the lay faithful, but also many
concelebrating priests. (181) On the one hand, it is easy to
appreciate the importance of these moments, especially when the
Bishop himself celebrates, surrounded by his presbyterate and by
the deacons. On the other hand, it is not always easy in such
cases to give clear expression to the unity of the presbyterate,
especially during the Eucharistic Prayer and the distribution of
Holy Communion. Efforts need to be made lest these large-scale
concelebrations lose their proper focus. This can be done by
proper coordination and by arranging the place of worship so
that priests and lay faithful are truly able to participate
fully. It should be kept in mind, however, that here we are
speaking of exceptional concelebrations, limited to
extraordinary situations.
The Latin language
62. None of the above observations should
cast doubt upon the importance of such large-scale liturgies. I
am thinking here particularly of celebrations at international
gatherings, which nowadays are held with greater frequency. The
most should be made of these occasions. In order to express more
clearly the unity and universality of the Church, I wish to
endorse the proposal made by the Synod of Bishops, in harmony
with the directives of the
Second Vatican Council, (182) that,
with the exception of the readings, the homily and the prayer of
the faithful, such liturgies could be celebrated in Latin.
Similarly, the better-known prayers (183) of the Church's
tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible,
selections of Gregorian chant should be sung. Speaking more
generally, I ask that future priests, from their time in the
seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to
celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute
Gregorian chant; nor should we forget that the faithful can be
taught to recite the more common prayers in Latin, and also to
sing parts of the liturgy to Gregorian chant. (184)
Eucharistic celebrations in small groups
63.
A very different situation arises when, in the interest of more
conscious, active and fruitful participation, pastoral
circumstances favour small group celebrations. While
acknowledging the formative value of this approach, it must be
stated that such celebrations should always be consonant with
the overall pastoral activity of the Diocese. These celebrations
would actually lose their catechetical value if they were felt
to be in competition with, or parallel to, the life of the
particular Church. In this regard, the Synod set forth some
necessary criteria: small groups must serve to unify the
community, not to fragment it; the beneficial results ought to
be clearly evident; these groups should encourage the fruitful
participation of the entire assembly, and preserve as much as
possible the unity of the liturgical life of individual
families. (185)
Interior
participation in the celebration
Mystagogical catechesis
64.
The Church's great liturgical tradition teaches us that fruitful
participation in the liturgy requires that one be personally
conformed to the mystery being celebrated, offering one's life
to God in unity with the sacrifice of Christ for the salvation
of the whole world. For this reason, the Synod of Bishops asked
that the faithful be helped to make their interior dispositions
correspond to their gestures and words. Otherwise, however
carefully planned and executed our liturgies may be, they would
risk falling into a certain ritualism. Hence the need to provide
an education in eucharistic faith capable of enabling the
faithful to live personally what they celebrate. Given the vital
importance of this personal and conscious participatio,
what methods of formation are needed? The Synod Fathers
unanimously indicated, in this regard, a mystagogical approach
to catechesis, which would lead the faithful to understand more
deeply the mysteries being celebrated. (186) In particular,
given the close relationship between the ars celebrandi
and an actuosa participatio, it must first be said that
"the best catechesis on the Eucharist is the Eucharist itself,
celebrated well." (187) By its nature, the liturgy can be
pedagogically effective in helping the faithful to enter more
deeply into the mystery being celebrated. That is why, in the
Church's most ancient tradition, the process of Christian
formation always had an experiential character. While not
neglecting a systematic understanding of the content of the
faith, it centred on a vital and convincing encounter with
Christ, as proclaimed by authentic witnesses. It is first and
foremost the witness who introduces others to the mysteries.
Naturally, this initial encounter gains depth through catechesis
and finds its source and summit in the celebration of the
Eucharist. This basic structure of the Christian experience
calls for a process of mystagogy which should always respect
three elements:
a)
It interprets the rites in the light of the events of our
salvation, in accordance with the Church's living tradition.
The celebration of the Eucharist, in its infinite richness,
makes constant reference to salvation history. In Christ
crucified and risen, we truly celebrate the one who has united
all things in himself (cf. Eph 1:10). From the beginning,
the Christian community has interpreted the events of Jesus'
life, and the Paschal Mystery in particular, in relation to the
entire history of the Old Testament.
b)
A mystagogical catechesis must also be concerned with
presenting the meaning of the signs contained in the rites.
This is particularly important in a highly technological age
like our own, which risks losing the ability to appreciate signs
and symbols. More than simply conveying information, a
mystagogical catechesis should be capable of making the faithful
more sensitive to the language of signs and gestures which,
together with the word, make up the rite.
c)
Finally, a mystagogical catechesis must be concerned with
bringing out the significance of the rites for the Christian
life in all its dimensions – work and responsibility,
thoughts and emotions, activity and repose. Part of the
mystagogical process is to demonstrate how the mysteries
celebrated in the rite are linked to the missionary
responsibility of the faithful. The mature fruit of mystagogy is
an awareness that one's life is being progressively transformed
by the holy mysteries being celebrated. The aim of all Christian
education, moreover, is to train the believer in an adult faith
that can make him a "new creation", capable of bearing witness
in his surroundings to the Christian hope that inspires him.
If
we are to succeed in carrying out this work of education in our
ecclesial communities, those responsible for formation must be
adequately prepared. Indeed, the whole people of God should feel
involved in this formation. Each Christian community is called
to be a place where people can be taught about the mysteries
celebrated in faith. In this regard, the Synod Fathers called
for greater involvement by communities of consecrated life,
movements and groups which, by their specific charisms, can give
new impetus to Christian formation. (188) In our time, too, the
Holy Spirit freely bestows his gifts to sustain the apostolic
mission of the Church, which is charged with spreading the faith
and bringing it to maturity. (189)
Reverence for the Eucharist
65.
A convincing indication of the effectiveness of eucharistic
catechesis is surely an increased sense of the mystery of God
present among us. This can be expressed in concrete outward
signs of reverence for the Eucharist which the process of
mystagogy should inculcate in the faithful. (190) I am thinking
in general of the importance of gestures and posture, such as
kneeling during the central moments of the Eucharistic Prayer.
Amid the legitimate diversity of signs used in the context of
different cultures, everyone should be able to experience and
express the awareness that at each celebration we stand before
the infinite majesty of God, who comes to us in the lowliness of
the sacramental signs.
Adoration and
Eucharistic devotion
The intrinsic relationship between celebration and adoration
66.
One of the most moving moments of the Synod came when we
gathered in Saint Peter's Basilica, together with a great number
of the faithful, for eucharistic adoration. In this act of
prayer, and not just in words, the assembly of Bishops wanted to
point out the intrinsic relationship between eucharistic
celebration and eucharistic adoration. A growing appreciation of
this significant aspect of the Church's faith has been an
important part of our experience in the years following the
liturgical renewal desired by the Second Vatican Council. During
the early phases of the reform, the inherent relationship
between Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was not
always perceived with sufficient clarity. For example, an
objection that was widespread at the time argued that the
eucharistic bread was given to us not to be looked at, but to be
eaten. In the light of the Church's experience of prayer,
however, this was seen to be a false dichotomy. As Saint
Augustine put it: "nemo autem illam carnem manducat, nisi
prius adoraverit; peccemus non adorando – no one eats that
flesh without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to
adore it." (191) In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet
us and desires to become one with us; eucharistic adoration is
simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration,
which is itself the Church's supreme act of adoration. (192)
Receiving the Eucharist means adoring him whom we receive. Only
in this way do we become one with him, and are given, as it
were, a foretaste of the beauty of the heavenly liturgy. The act
of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that
takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. Indeed,
"only in adoration can a profound and genuine reception mature.
And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that
then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist,
which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the
Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that
separate us from one another." (193)
The practice of eucharistic adoration
67.
With the Synod Assembly, therefore, I heartily recommend to the
Church's pastors and to the People of God the practice of
eucharistic adoration, both individually and in community. (194)
Great benefit would ensue from a suitable catechesis explaining
the importance of this act of worship, which enables the
faithful to experience the liturgical celebration more fully and
more fruitfully. Wherever possible, it would be appropriate,
especially in densely populated areas, to set aside specific
churches or oratories for perpetual adoration. I also recommend
that, in their catechetical training, and especially in their
preparation for First Holy Communion, children be taught the
meaning and the beauty of spending time with Jesus, and helped
to cultivate a sense of awe before his presence in the
Eucharist.
Here
I would like to express appreciation and support for all those
Institutes of Consecrated Life whose members dedicate a
significant amount of time to eucharistic adoration. In this way
they give us an example of lives shaped by the Lord's real
presence. I would also like to encourage those associations of
the faithful and confraternities specifically devoted to
eucharistic adoration; they serve as a leaven of contemplation
for the whole Church and a summons to individuals and
communities to place Christ at the centre of their lives.
Forms of eucharistic devotion
68.
The personal relationship which the individual believer
establishes with Jesus present in the Eucharist constantly
points beyond itself to the whole communion of the Church and
nourishes a fuller sense of membership in the Body of Christ.
For this reason, besides encouraging individual believers to
make time for personal prayer before the Sacrament of the Altar,
I feel obliged to urge parishes and other church groups to set
aside times for collective adoration. Naturally, already
existing forms of eucharistic piety retain their full value. I
am thinking, for example, of processions with the Blessed
Sacrament, especially the traditional procession on the
Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Forty Hours devotion,
local, national and international Eucharistic Congresses, and
other similar initiatives. If suitably updated and adapted to
local circumstances, these forms of devotion are still worthy of
being practised today. (195)
The location of the tabernacle
69.
In considering the importance of eucharistic reservation and
adoration, and reverence for the sacrament of Christ's
sacrifice, the Synod of Bishops also discussed the question of
the proper placement of the tabernacle in our churches. (196)
The correct positioning of the tabernacle contributes to the
recognition of Christ's real presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
Therefore, the place where the eucharistic species are reserved,
marked by a sanctuary lamp, should be readily visible to
everyone entering the church. It is therefore necessary to take
into account the building's architecture: in churches which do
not have a Blessed Sacrament chapel, and where the high altar
with its tabernacle is still in place, it is appropriate to
continue to use this structure for the reservation and adoration
of the Eucharist, taking care not to place the celebrant's chair
in front of it. In new churches, it is good to position the
Blessed Sacrament chapel close to the sanctuary; where this is
not possible, it is preferable to locate the tabernacle in the
sanctuary, in a sufficiently elevated place, at the centre of
the apse area, or in another place where it will be equally
conspicuous. Attention to these considerations will lend dignity
to the tabernacle, which must always be cared for, also from an
artistic standpoint. Obviously it is necessary to follow the
provisions of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal
in this regard. (197) In any event, final judgment on these
matters belongs to the Diocesan Bishop.
PART THREE
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY
TO BE LIVED
"As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,
so he who eats me will live because of me" (Jn 6:57)
The
Eucharistic form of the Christian life
Spiritual worship – logiké latreía (Rom 12:1)
70.
The Lord Jesus, who became for us the food of truth and love,
speaks of the gift of his life and assures us that "if any one
eats of this bread, he will live for ever" (Jn 6:51).
This "eternal life" begins in us even now, thanks to the
transformation effected in us by the gift of the Eucharist: "He
who eats me will live because of me" (Jn 6:57). These
words of Jesus make us realize how the mystery "believed" and
"celebrated" contains an innate power making it the principle of
new life within us and the form of our Christian existence. By
receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ we become sharers
in the divine life in an ever more adult and conscious way. Here
too, we can apply Saint Augustine's words, in his Confessions,
about the eternal Logos as the food of our souls.
Stressing the mysterious nature of this food, Augustine imagines
the Lord saying to him: "I am the food of grown men; grow, and
you shall feed upon me; nor shall you change me, like the food
of your flesh, into yourself, but you shall be changed into me."
(198) It is not the eucharistic food that is changed into us,
but rather we who are mysteriously transformed by it. Christ
nourishes us by uniting us to himself; "he draws us into
himself."(199)
Here
the eucharistic celebration appears in all its power as the
source and summit of the Church's life, since it expresses at
once both the origin and the fulfilment of the new and
definitive worship of God, the logiké latreía. (200)
Saint Paul's exhortation to the Romans in this regard is a
concise description of how the Eucharist makes our whole life a
spiritual worship pleasing to God: "I appeal to you therefore,
my brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship" (Rom 12:1). In these words the new
worship appears as a total self-offering made in communion with
the whole Church. The Apostle's insistence on the offering of
our bodies emphasizes the concrete human reality of a worship
which is anything but disincarnate. The Bishop of Hippo goes on
to say that "this is the sacrifice of Christians: that we,
though many, are one body in Christ. The Church celebrates this
mystery in the sacrament of the altar, as the faithful know, and
there she shows them clearly that in what is offered, she
herself is offered." (201) Catholic doctrine, in fact, affirms
that the Eucharist, as the sacrifice of Christ, is also the
sacrifice of the Church, and thus of all the faithful. (202)
This insistence on sacrifice – a "making sacred" – expresses all
the existential depth implied in the transformation of our human
reality as taken up by Christ (cf. Phil 3:12).
The all-encompassing effect of eucharistic worship
71.
Christianity's new worship includes and transfigures every
aspect of life: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31). Christians, in
all their actions, are called to offer true worship to God. Here
the intrinsically eucharistic nature of Christian life begins to
take shape. The Eucharist, since it embraces the concrete,
everyday existence of the believer, makes possible, day by day,
the progressive transfiguration of all those called by grace to
reflect the image of the Son of God (cf. Rom 8:29ff.).
There is nothing authentically human – our thoughts and
affections, our words and deeds – that does not find in the
sacrament of the Eucharist the form it needs to be lived to the
full. Here we can see the full human import of the radical
newness brought by Christ in the Eucharist: the worship of God
in our lives cannot be relegated to something private and
individual, but tends by its nature to permeate every aspect of
our existence. Worship pleasing to God thus becomes a new way of
living our whole life, each particular moment of which is lifted
up, since it is lived as part of a relationship with Christ and
as an offering to God. The glory of God is the living man (cf.
1 Cor 10:31). And the life of man is the vision of God.
(203)
Iuxta dominicam viventes – living in accordance with the
Lord's Day
72.
From the beginning Christians were clearly conscious of this
radical newness which the Eucharist brings to human life. The
faithful immediately perceived the profound influence of the
eucharistic celebration on their manner of life. Saint Ignatius
of Antioch expressed this truth when he called Christians "those
who have attained a new hope," and described them as "those
living in accordance with the Lord's Day" (iuxta dominicam
viventes). (204) This phrase of the great Antiochene martyr
highlights the connection between the reality of the Eucharist
and everyday Christian life. The Christians' customary practice
of gathering on the first day after the Sabbath to celebrate the
resurrection of Christ – according to the account of Saint
Justin Martyr(205) – is also what defines the form of a life
renewed by an encounter with Christ. Saint Ignatius' phrase –
"living in accordance with the Lord's Day" – also emphasizes
that this holy day becomes paradigmatic for every other day of
the week. Indeed, it is defined by something more than the
simple suspension of one's ordinary activities, a sort of
parenthesis in one's usual daily rhythm. Christians have always
experienced this day as the first day of the week, since it
commemorates the radical newness brought by Christ. Sunday is
thus the day when Christians rediscover the eucharistic form
which their lives are meant to have. "Living in accordance with
the Lord's Day" means living in the awareness of the liberation
brought by Christ and making our lives a constant self-offering
to God, so that his victory may be fully revealed to all
humanity through a profoundly renewed existence.
Living the Sunday obligation
73. Conscious of this new vital principle
which the Eucharist imparts to the Christian, the Synod Fathers
reaffirmed the importance of the Sunday obligation for all the
faithful, viewing it as a wellspring of authentic freedom
enabling them to live each day in accordance with what they
celebrated on "the Lord's Day." The life of faith is endangered
when we lose the desire to share in the celebration of the
Eucharist and its commemoration of the paschal victory.
Participating in the Sunday liturgical assembly with all our
brothers and sisters, with whom we form one body in Jesus
Christ, is demanded by our Christian conscience and at the same
time it forms that conscience. To lose a sense of Sunday as the
Lord's Day, a day to be sanctified, is symptomatic of the loss
of an authentic sense of Christian freedom, the freedom of the
children of God. (206) Here some observations made by my
venerable predecessor John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter
Dies Domini (207) continue to have
great value. Speaking of the various dimensions of the Christian
celebration of Sunday, he said that it is Dies Domini
with regard to the work of creation, Dies Christi as the
day of the new creation and the Risen Lord's gift of the Holy
Spirit, Dies Ecclesiae as the day on which the Christian
community gathers for the celebration, and Dies hominis
as the day of joy, rest and fraternal charity.
Sunday thus appears as the primordial holy day, when all
believers, wherever they are found, can become heralds and
guardians of the true meaning of time. It gives rise to the
Christian meaning of life and a new way of experiencing time,
relationships, work, life and death. On the Lord's Day, then, it
is fitting that Church groups should organize, around Sunday
Mass, the activities of the Christian community: social
gatherings, programmes for the faith formation of children,
young people and adults, pilgrimages, charitable works, and
different moments of prayer. For the sake of these important
values – while recognizing that Saturday evening, beginning with
First Vespers, is already a part of Sunday and a time when the
Sunday obligation can be fulfilled – we need to remember that it
is Sunday itself that is meant to be kept holy, lest it end up
as a day "empty of God." (208)
The meaning of rest and of work
74.
Finally, it is particularly urgent nowadays to remember that the
day of the Lord is also a day of rest from work. It is greatly
to be hoped that this fact will also be recognized by civil
society, so that individuals can be permitted to refrain from
work without being penalized. Christians, not without reference
to the meaning of the Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, have seen
in the Lord's Day a day of rest from their daily exertions. This
is highly significant, for it relativizes work and
directs it to the person: work is for man and not man for work.
It is easy to see how this actually protects men and women,
emancipating them from a possible form of enslavement. As I have
had occasion to say, "work is of fundamental importance to the
fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society.
Thus, it must always be organized and carried out with full
respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good.
At the same time, it is indispensable that people not allow
themselves to be enslaved by work or to idolize it, claiming to
find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life." (209)
It is on the day consecrated to God that men and women come to
understand the meaning of their lives and also of their work.
(210)
Sunday assemblies in the absence of a priest
75.
Rediscovering the significance of the Sunday celebration for the
life of Christians naturally leads to a consideration of the
problem of those Christian communities which lack priests and
where, consequently, it is not possible to celebrate Mass on the
Lord's Day. Here it should be stated that a wide variety of
situations exists. The Synod recommended first that the faithful
should go to one of the churches in their Diocese where the
presence of a priest is assured, even when this demands a
certain sacrifice. (211) Wherever great distances make it
practically impossible to take part in the Sunday Eucharist, it
is still important for Christian communities to gather together
to praise the Lord and to commemorate the Day set apart for him.
This needs, however, to be accompanied by an adequate
instruction about the difference between Mass and Sunday
assemblies in the absence of a priest. The Church's pastoral
care must be expressed in the latter case by ensuring that the
liturgy of the word – led by a deacon or a community leader to
whom this ministry has been duly entrusted by competent
authority – is carried out according to a specific ritual
prepared and approved for this purpose by the Bishops'
Conferences. (212) I reiterate that only Ordinaries may grant
the faculty of distributing holy communion in such liturgies,
taking account of the need for a certain selectiveness.
Furthermore, care should be taken that these assemblies do not
create confusion about the central role of the priest and the
sacraments in the life of the Church. The importance of the role
given to the laity, who should rightly be thanked for their
generosity in the service of their communities, must never
obscure the indispensable ministry of priests for the life of
the Church. (213) Hence care must be taken to ensure that such
assemblies in the absence of a priest do not encourage
ecclesiological visions incompatible with the truth of the
Gospel and the Church's tradition. Rather, they should be
privileged moments of prayer for God to send holy priests after
his own heart. It is touching, in this regard, to read the words
of Pope John Paul II in his Letter to Priests for Holy
Thursday 1979 about those places where the faithful, deprived of
a priest by a dictatorial regime, would meet in a church or
shrine, place on the altar a stole which they still kept and
recite the prayers of the eucharistic liturgy, halting in
silence "at the moment that corresponds to the
transubstantiation," as a sign of how "ardently they desire to
hear the words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously
utter." (214) With this in mind, and considering the
incomparable good which comes from the celebration of the
Eucharist, I ask all priests to visit willingly and as often as
possible the communities entrusted to their pastoral care, lest
they remain too long without the sacrament of love.
A eucharistic form of Christian life, membership in the
Church
76.
The importance of Sunday as the Dies Ecclesiae brings us
back to the intrinsic relationship between Jesus' victory over
evil and death, and our membership in his ecclesial body. On the
Lord's Day, each Christian rediscovers the communal dimension of
his life as one who has been redeemed. Taking part in the
liturgy and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ intensifies
and deepens our belonging to the one who died for us (cf. 1
Cor 6:19ff; 7:23). Truly, whoever eats of Christ lives for
him. The eucharistic mystery helps us to understand the profound
meaning of the communio sanctorum. Communion always and
inseparably has both a vertical and a horizontal sense: it is
communion with God and communion with our brothers and sisters.
Both dimensions mysteriously converge in the gift of the
Eucharist. "Wherever communion with God, which is communion with
the Father, with the Son and with the Holy Spirit, is destroyed,
the root and source of our communion with one another is
destroyed. And wherever we do not live communion among
ourselves, communion with the Triune God is not alive and true
either."(215) Called to be members of Christ and thus members of
one another (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), we are a reality grounded
ontologically in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, a
reality that demands visible expression in the life of our
communities.
The
eucharistic form of Christian life is clearly an ecclesial and
communitarian form. Through the Diocese and the parish, the
fundamental structures of the Church in a particular territory,
each individual believer can experience concretely what it means
to be a member of Christ's Body. Associations, ecclesial
movements and new communities – with their lively charisms
bestowed by the Holy Spirit for the needs of our time – together
with Institutes of Consecrated Life, have a particular
responsibility for helping to make the faithful conscious that
they belong to the Lord (cf. Rom 14:8).
Secularization, with its inherent emphasis on individualism, has
its most negative effects on individuals who are isolated and
lack a sense of belonging. Christianity, from its very
beginning, has meant fellowship, a network of relationships
constantly strengthened by hearing God's word and sharing in the
Eucharist, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit.
Spirituality and eucharistic culture
77.
Significantly, the Synod Fathers stated that "the Christian
faithful need a fuller understanding of the relationship between
the Eucharist and their daily lives. Eucharistic spirituality is
not just participation in Mass and devotion to the Blessed
Sacrament. It embraces the whole of life." (216) This
observation is particularly insightful, given our situation
today. It must be acknowledged that one of the most serious
effects of the secularization just mentioned is that it has
relegated the Christian faith to the margins of life as if it
were irrelevant to everyday affairs. The futility of this way of
living – "as if God did not exist" – is now evident to everyone.
Today there is a need to rediscover that Jesus Christ is not
just a private conviction or an abstract idea, but a real
person, whose becoming part of human history is capable of
renewing the life of every man and woman. Hence the Eucharist,
as the source and summit of the Church's life and mission, must
be translated into spirituality, into a life lived "according to
the Spirit" (Rom 8:4ff.; cf. Gal 5:16, 25). It is
significant that Saint Paul, in the passage of the Letter to
the Romans where he invites his hearers to offer the new
spiritual worship, also speaks of the need for a change in their
way of living and thinking: "Do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may
prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect" (12:2). In this way the Apostle of the Gentiles
emphasizes the link between true spiritual worship and the need
for a new way of understanding and living one's life. An
integral part of the eucharistic form of the Christian life is a
new way of thinking, "so that we may no longer be children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine"
(Eph 4:14).
The Eucharist and the evangelization of cultures
78.
From what has been said thus far, it is clear that the
eucharistic mystery puts us in dialogue with various
cultures, but also in some way challenges them. (217) The
intercultural character of this new worship, this logiké
latreía, needs to be recognized. The presence of Jesus
Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are events capable
of engaging every cultural reality and bringing to it the leaven
of the Gospel. It follows that we must be committed to promoting
the evangelization of cultures, conscious that Christ himself is
the truth for every man and woman, and for all human history.
The Eucharist becomes a criterion for our evaluation of
everything that Christianity encounters in different cultures.
In this important process of discernment, we can appreciate the
full meaning of Saint Paul's exhortation, in his First Letter
to the Thessalonians, to "test everything; and hold fast to
what is good" (5:21).
The Eucharist and the lay faithful
79.
In Christ, Head of his Body, the Church, all Christians are "a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he
claims for his own, to declare his wonderful deeds" (1 Pet
2:9). The Eucharist, as a mystery to be "lived", meets each
of us as we are, and makes our concrete existence the place
where we experience daily the radical newness of the Christian
life. The eucharistic sacrifice nourishes and increases within
us all that we have already received at Baptism, with its call
to holiness, (218) and this must be clearly evident from the way
individual Christians live their lives. Day by day we become "a
worship pleasing to God" by living our lives as a vocation.
Beginning with the liturgical assembly, the sacrament of the
Eucharist itself commits us, in our daily lives, to doing
everything for God's glory.
And
because the world is "the field" (Mt 13:38) in which God
plants his children as good seed, the Christian laity, by virtue
of their Baptism and Confirmation, and strengthened by the
Eucharist, are called to live out the radical newness brought by
Christ wherever they find themselves. (219) They should
cultivate a desire that the Eucharist have an ever deeper effect
on their daily lives, making them convincing witnesses in the
workplace and in society at large. (220) I encourage families in
particular to draw inspiration and strength from this sacrament.
The love between man and woman, openness to life, and the
raising of children are privileged spheres in which the
Eucharist can reveal its power to transform life and give it its
full meaning. (221) The Church's pastors should unfailingly
support, guide and encourage the lay faithful to live fully
their vocation to holiness within this world which God so loved
that he gave his Son to become its salvation (cf. Jn
3:16).
The Eucharist and priestly spirituality
80.
The eucharistic form of the Christian life is seen in a very
special way in the priesthood. Priestly spirituality is
intrinsically eucharistic. The seeds of this spirituality are
already found in the words spoken by the Bishop during the
ordination liturgy: "Receive the oblation of the holy people to
be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you
celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord's
Cross." (222) In order to give an ever greater eucharistic form
to his existence, the priest, beginning with his years in the
seminary, should make his spiritual life his highest priority.
(223) He is called to seek God tirelessly, while remaining
attuned to the concerns of his brothers and sisters. An intense
spiritual life will enable him to enter more deeply into
communion with the Lord and to let himself be possessed by God's
love, bearing witness to that love at all times, even the
darkest and most difficult. To this end I join the Synod Fathers
in recommending "the daily celebration of Mass, even when the
faithful are not present." (224) This recommendation is
consistent with the objectively infinite value of every
celebration of the Eucharist, and is motivated by the Mass's
unique spiritual fruitfulness. If celebrated in a faith-filled
and attentive way, Mass is formative in the deepest sense of the
word, since it fosters the priest's configuration to Christ and
strengthens him in his vocation.
The Eucharist and the consecrated life
81.
The relationship of the Eucharist to the various ecclesial
vocations is seen in a particularly vivid way in "the prophetic
witness of consecrated men and women, who find in the
celebration of the Eucharist and in eucharistic adoration the
strength necessary for the radical following of Christ,
obedient, poor and chaste." (225) Though they provide many
services in the area of human formation and care for the poor,
education and health care, consecrated men and women know that
the principal purpose of their lives is "the contemplation of
things divine and constant union with God in prayer." (226) The
essential contribution that the Church expects from consecrated
persons is much more in the order of being than of doing. Here I
wish to reaffirm the importance of the witness of virginity,
precisely in relation to the mystery of the Eucharist. In
addition to its connection to priestly celibacy, the eucharistic
mystery also has an intrinsic relationship to consecrated
virginity, inasmuch as the latter is an expression of the
Church's exclusive devotion to Christ, whom she accepts as her
Bridegroom with a radical and fruitful fidelity.(227 In the
Eucharist, consecrated virginity finds inspiration and
nourishment for its complete dedication to Christ. From the
Eucharist, moreover, it draws encouragement and strength to be a
sign, in our own times too, of God's gracious and fruitful love
for humanity. Finally, by its specific witness, consecrated life
becomes an objective sign and foreshadowing of the "wedding-
feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7-9) which is the goal of all
salvation history. In this sense, it points to that
eschatological horizon against which the choices and life
decisions of every man and woman should be situated.
The Eucharist and moral transformation
82.
In discovering the beauty of the eucharistic form of the
Christian life, we are also led to reflect on the moral energy
it provides for sustaining the authentic freedom of the children
of God. Here I wish to take up a discussion that took place
during the Synod about the connection between the eucharistic
form of life and moral transformation. Pope John Paul
II stated that the moral life "has the value of a 'spiritual
worship' (Rom 12:1; cf. Phil 3:3), flowing from
and nourished by that inexhaustible source of holiness and
glorification of God which is found in the sacraments,
especially in the Eucharist: by sharing in the sacrifice of the
Cross, the Christian partakes of Christ's self-giving love and
is equipped and committed to live this same charity in all his
thoughts and deeds" (228). In a word, "'worship' itself,
eucharistic communion, includes the reality both of being loved
and of loving others in turn. A Eucharist which does not pass
over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically
fragmented" (229).
This
appeal to the moral value of spiritual worship should not be
interpreted in a merely moralistic way. It is before all else
the joy-filled discovery of love at work in the hearts of those
who accept the Lord's gift, abandon themselves to him and thus
find true freedom. The moral transformation implicit in the new
worship instituted by Christ is a heartfelt yearning to respond
to the Lord's love with one's whole being, while remaining ever
conscious of one's own weakness. This is clearly reflected in
the Gospel story of Zacchaeus (cf. Lk 19:1-10). After
welcoming Jesus to his home, the tax collector is completely
changed: he decides to give half of his possessions to the poor
and to repay fourfold those whom he had defrauded. The moral
urgency born of welcoming Jesus into our lives is the fruit of
gratitude for having experienced the Lord's unmerited closeness.
Eucharistic consistency
83.
Here it is important to consider what the Synod Fathers
described as eucharistic consistency, a quality which our
lives are objectively called to embody. Worship pleasing to God
can never be a purely private matter, without consequences for
our relationships with others: it demands a public witness to
our faith. Evidently, this is true for all the baptized, yet it
is especially incumbent upon those who, by virtue of their
social or political position, must make decisions regarding
fundamental values, such as respect for human life, its defence
from conception to natural death, the family built upon marriage
between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children
and the promotion of the common good in all its forms (230).
These values are not negotiable. Consequently, Catholic
politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave
responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on
the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce and
support laws inspired by values grounded in human nature (231).
There is an objective connection here with the Eucharist (cf.
1 Cor 11:27-29). Bishops are bound to reaffirm constantly
these values as part of their responsibility to the flock
entrusted to them (232).
The
Eucharist, a mystery to be proclaimed
The Eucharist and mission
84.
In my homily at the eucharistic celebration solemnly
inaugurating my Petrine ministry, I said 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."
(233) These words are all the more significant if we think of
the mystery of the Eucharist. The love that we celebrate in the
sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very
nature it demands to be shared with all. What the world needs is
God's love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him.
The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of the
Church's life, but also of her mission: "an authentically
eucharistic Church is a missionary Church." (234) We too must be
able 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). Truly,
nothing is more beautiful than to know Christ and to make him
known to others. The institution of the Eucharist, for that
matter, anticipates the very heart of Jesus' mission: he is the
one sent by the Father for the redemption of the world (cf.
Jn 3:16-17; Rom 8:32). 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. 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. Missionary outreach is
thus an essential part of the eucharistic form of the Christian
life.
The Eucharist and witness
85.
The first and fundamental mission that we receive from the
sacred mysteries we celebrate is that of bearing witness by our
lives. The wonder we experience at the gift God has made to us
in Christ gives new impulse to our lives and commits us to
becoming witnesses of his love. We become witnesses when,
through our actions, words and way of being, Another makes
himself present. 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. Through
witness, God lays himself open, one might say, to the risk of
human freedom. Jesus himself 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). Here I would like to reflect on a
notion dear to the early Christians, which also speaks
eloquently to us today: namely, witness even to the offering of
one's own life, to the point of martyrdom. 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). One thinks, for example, of the account of the martyrdom
of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of Saint John: the
entire drama is described as a liturgy, with the martyr himself
becoming Eucharist. (235) We might also recall the eucharistic
imagery with which Saint Ignatius of Antioch describes his own
imminent martyrdom: he sees himself as "God's wheat" and desires
to become in martyrdom "Christ's pure bread." (236) The
Christian who offers his life in martyrdom enters into full
communion with the Pasch of Jesus Christ and thus becomes
Eucharist with him. Today too, the Church does not lack martyrs
who offer the supreme witness to God's love. Even if the test of
martyrdom is not asked of us, we know that worship pleasing to
God demands that we should be inwardly prepared for it. (237)
Such worship culminates in the joyful and convincing testimony
of a consistent Christian life, wherever the Lord calls us to be
his witnesses.
Christ Jesus, the one Saviour
86.
Emphasis on the intrinsic relationship between the Eucharist and
mission also leads to a rediscovery of the ultimate content of
our proclamation. The more ardent the love for the Eucharist in
the hearts of the Christian people, the more clearly will they
recognize the goal of all mission: to bring Christ to others.
Not just a theory or a way of life inspired by Christ, but the
gift of his very person. Anyone who has not shared the truth of
love with his brothers and sisters has not yet given enough. The
Eucharist, as the sacrament of our salvation, inevitably reminds
us of the unicity of Christ and the salvation that he won for us
by his blood. The mystery of the Eucharist, believed in and
celebrated, demands a constant catechesis on the need for all to
engage in a missionary effort centred on the proclamation of
Jesus as the one Saviour. (238) This will help to avoid a
reductive and purely sociological understanding of the vital
work of human promotion present in every authentic process of
evangelization.
Freedom of worship
87.
In this context, I wish to reiterate the concern expressed by
the Synod Fathers about the grave difficulties affecting the
mission of those Christian communities in areas where Christians
are a minority or where they are denied religious freedom. (239)
We should surely give thanks to the Lord for all those Bishops,
priests, consecrated persons and laity who devote themselves
generously to the preaching of the Gospel and practise their
faith at the risk of their lives. In not a few parts of the
world, simply going to church represents a heroic witness that
can result in marginalization and violence. Here too, I would
like to reaffirm the solidarity of the whole Church with those
who are denied freedom of worship. As we know, wherever
religious freedom is lacking, people lack the most meaningful
freedom of all, since it is through faith that men and women
express their deepest decision about the ultimate meaning of
their lives. Let us pray, therefore, for greater religious
freedom in every nation, so that Christians, as well as the
followers of other religions, can freely express their
convictions, both as individuals and as communities.
The Eucharist, a mystery to be offered to the world
The Eucharist, bread broken for the life of the world
88.
"The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world" (Jn
6:51). In these words the Lord reveals the true meaning of
the gift of his life for all people. These words also reveal his
deep compassion for every man and woman. The Gospels frequently
speak of Jesus' feelings towards others, especially the
suffering and sinners (cf. Mt 20:34; Mk 6:34;
Lk 19:41). Through a profoundly human sensibility he
expresses God's saving will for all people – that they may have
true life. Each celebration of the Eucharist makes sacramentally
present the gift that the crucified Lord made of his life, for
us and for the whole world. In the Eucharist Jesus also makes us
witnesses of God's compassion towards all our brothers and
sisters. The eucharistic mystery thus gives rise to a service of
charity towards neighbour, which "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 can only take place on the basis of an
intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a
communion of will, affecting even my feelings. Then I learn to
look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my
feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ." (240) In
all those I meet, I recognize brothers or sisters for whom the
Lord gave his life, loving them "to the end" (Jn 13:1).
Our communities, when they celebrate the Eucharist, 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, and to work for the building
of a more just and fraternal world. Keeping in mind the
multiplication of the loaves and fishes, we need to realize that
Christ continues today to exhort his disciples to become
personally engaged: "You yourselves, give them something to eat"
(Mt 14:16). Each of us is truly called, together with
Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world.
The social implications of the eucharistic mystery
89.
The union with Christ brought about by the Eucharist also brings
a newness to our social relations: "this sacramental ‘mysticism'
is social in character." Indeed, "union with Christ is also
union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess
Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with
all those who have become, or who will become, his own."(241)
The relationship between the eucharistic mystery and social
commitment must be made explicit. The Eucharist is the sacrament
of communion between brothers and sisters who allow themselves
to be reconciled in Christ, who made of Jews and pagans one
people, tearing down the wall of hostility which divided them
(cf. Eph 2:14). Only this constant impulse towards
reconciliation enables us to partake worthily of the Body and
Blood of Christ (cf. Mt 5:23-24). (242) In the memorial
of his sacrifice, the Lord 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. Certainly, the restoration of justice,
reconciliation and forgiveness are the conditions for building
true peace.(243) The recognition of this fact leads to a
determination to transform unjust structures and to restore
respect for the dignity of all men and women, created in God's
image and likeness. Through the concrete fulfilment of this
responsibility, the Eucharist becomes in life what it signifies
in its celebration. As I have had occasion to say, it is not the
proper task of the Church to engage in the political work of
bringing about the most just society possible; nonetheless she
cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the struggle for
justice. The Church "has to play her part through rational
argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without
which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail
and prosper." (244)
In
discussing the social responsibility of all Christians, the
Synod Fathers noted that the sacrifice of Christ is a mystery of
liberation that constantly and insistently challenges us. I
therefore urge all the faithful to be true promoters of peace
and justice: "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." (245) All these problems give rise in
turn to others no less troubling and disheartening. We know that
there can be no superficial solutions to these issues. Precisely
because of the mystery we celebrate, we must denounce situations
contrary to human dignity, since Christ shed his blood for all,
and at the same time affirm the inestimable value of each
individual person.
The food of truth and human need
90.
We cannot remain passive before certain processes of
globalization which not infrequently increase the gap between
the rich and the poor worldwide. We must denounce those who
squander the earth's riches, provoking inequalities that cry out
to heaven (cf. Jas 5:4). For example, it is impossible to
remain silent before the "distressing images of huge camps
throughout the world of displaced persons and refugees, who are
living in makeshift conditions in order to escape a worse fate,
yet are still in dire need. Are these human beings not our
brothers and sisters? Do their children not come into the world
with the same legitimate expectations of happiness as other
children?" (246) The Lord Jesus, the bread of eternal life,
spurs us to be mindful of the situations of extreme poverty in
which a great part of humanity still lives: these are situations
for which human beings bear a clear and disquieting
responsibility. Indeed, "on the basis of available statistical
data, it can be said that less than half of the huge sums spent
worldwide on armaments would be more than sufficient to liberate
the immense masses of the poor from destitution. This challenges
humanity's conscience. To peoples living below the poverty line,
more as a result of situations to do with international
political, commercial and cultural relations than as a result of
circumstances beyond anyone's control, our common commitment to
truth can and must give new hope" (247).
The
food of truth demands that we denounce inhumane situations in
which people starve to death because of injustice and
exploitation, and it gives us renewed strength and courage to
work tirelessly in the service of the civilization of love. From
the beginning, Christians were concerned to share their goods
(cf. Acts 4:32) and to help the poor (cf. Rom
15:26). The alms collected in our liturgical assemblies are an
eloquent reminder of this, and they are also necessary for
meeting today's needs. The Church's charitable institutions,
especially Caritas, carry out at various levels the
important work of assisting the needy, especially the poorest.
Inspired by the Eucharist, the sacrament of charity, they become
a concrete expression of that charity; they are to be praised
and encouraged for their commitment to solidarity in our world.
The Church's social teaching
91.
The mystery of the Eucharist inspires and impels us to work
courageously within our world to bring about that renewal of
relationships which has its inexhaustible source in God's gift.
The prayer which we repeat at every Mass: "Give us this day our
daily bread," obliges us to do everything possible, in
cooperation with international, state and private institutions,
to end or at least reduce the scandal of hunger and malnutrition
afflicting so many millions of people in our world, especially
in developing countries. In a particular way, the Christian
laity, formed at the school of the Eucharist, are called to
assume their specific political and social responsibilities. To
do so, they need to be adequately prepared through practical
education in charity and justice. To this end, the Synod
considered it necessary for Dioceses and Christian communities
to teach and promote the Church's social doctrine. (248) In this
precious legacy handed down from the earliest ecclesial
tradition, we find elements of great wisdom that guide
Christians in their involvement in today's burning social
issues. This teaching, the fruit of the Church's whole history,
is distinguished by realism and moderation; it can help to avoid
misguided compromises or false utopias.
The sanctification of the world and the protection of
creation
92.
Finally, to develop a profound eucharistic spirituality that is
also capable of significantly affecting the fabric of society,
the Christian people, in giving thanks to God through the
Eucharist, should be conscious that they do so in the name of
all creation, aspiring to the sanctification of the world and
working intensely to that end.(249) The Eucharist itself
powerfully illuminates human history and the whole cosmos. In
this sacramental perspective we learn, day by day, that every
ecclesial event is a kind of sign by which God makes himself
known and challenges us. The eucharistic form of life can thus
help foster a real change in the way we approach history and the
world. The liturgy itself teaches us this, when, during the
presentation of the gifts, the priest raises to God a prayer of
blessing and petition over the bread and wine, "fruit of the
earth," "fruit of the vine" and "work of human hands." With
these words, the rite not only includes in our offering to God
all human efforts and activity, but also leads us to see the
world as God's creation, which brings forth everything we need
for our sustenance. The world is not something indifferent, raw
material to be utilized simply as we see fit. Rather, it is part
of God's good plan, in which all of us are called to be sons and
daughters in the one Son of God, Jesus Christ (cf. Eph
1:4-12). The justified concern about threats to the environment
present in so many parts of the world is reinforced by Christian
hope, which commits us to working responsibly for the protection
of creation. (250) The relationship between the Eucharist and
the cosmos helps us to see the unity of God's plan and to grasp
the profound relationship between creation and the "new
creation" inaugurated in the resurrection of Christ, the new
Adam. Even now we take part in that new creation by virtue of
our Baptism (cf. Col 2:12ff.). Our Christian life,
nourished by the Eucharist, gives us a glimpse of that new world
– new heavens and a new earth – where the new Jerusalem comes
down from heaven, from God, "prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband" (Rev 21:2).
The usefulness of a Eucharistic Compendium
93. At the conclusion of these
reflections, in which I have taken up a number of themes raised
at the Synod, I also wish to accept the proposal which the Synod
Fathers advanced as a means of helping the Christian people to
believe, celebrate and live ever more fully the mystery of the
Eucharist. The competent offices of the Roman Curia will publish
a Compendium which will assemble texts from the
Catechism of the Catholic Church,
prayers, explanations of the Eucharistic Prayers of the Roman
Missal and other useful aids for a correct understanding,
celebration and adoration of the Sacrament of the Altar (251).
It is my hope that this book will help make the memorial of the
Passover of the Lord increasingly the source and summit of the
Church's life and mission. This will encourage each member of
the faithful to make his or her life a true act of spiritual
worship.
CONCLUSION
94.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Eucharist is at the root of every
form of holiness, and each of us is called to the fullness of
life in the Holy Spirit. How many saints have advanced along the
way of perfection thanks to their eucharistic devotion! From
Saint Ignatius of Antioch to Saint Augustine, from Saint Anthony
Abbot to Saint Benedict, from Saint Francis of Assisi to Saint
Thomas Aquinas, from Saint Clare of Assisi to Saint Catherine of
Siena, from Saint Paschal Baylon to Saint Peter Julian Eymard,
from Saint Alphonsus Liguori to Blessed Charles de Foucauld,
from Saint John Mary Vianney to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, from
Saint Pius of Pietrelcina to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, from
Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati to Blessed Ivan Mertz, to name only
a few, holiness has always found its centre in the sacrament of
the Eucharist.
This
most holy mystery thus needs to be firmly believed, devoutly
celebrated and intensely lived in the Church. Jesus' gift of
himself in the sacrament which is the memorial of his passion
tells us that the success of our lives is found in our
participation in the trinitarian life offered to us truly and
definitively in him. The celebration and worship of the
Eucharist enable us to draw near to God's love and to persevere
in that love until we are united with the Lord whom we love. The
offering of our lives, our fellowship with the whole community
of believers and our solidarity with all men and women are
essential aspects of that logiké latreía, spiritual
worship, holy and pleasing to God (cf. Rom 12:1), which
transforms every aspect of our human existence, to the glory of
God. I therefore ask all pastors to spare no effort in promoting
an authentically eucharistic Christian spirituality. Priests,
deacons and all those who carry out a eucharistic ministry
should always be able to find in this service, exercized with
care and constant preparation, the strength and inspiration
needed for their personal and communal path of sanctification. I
exhort the lay faithful, and families in particular, to find
ever anew in the sacrament of Christ's love the energy needed to
make their lives an authentic sign of the presence of the risen
Lord. I ask all consecrated men and women to show by their
eucharistic lives the splendour and the beauty of belonging
totally to the Lord.
95.
At the beginning of the fourth century, Christian worship was
still forbidden by the imperial authorities. Some Christians in
North Africa, who felt bound to celebrate the Lord's Day, defied
the prohibition. They were martyred after declaring that it was
not possible for them to live without the Eucharist, the food of
the Lord: sine dominico non possumus. (252) May these
martyrs of Abitinae, in union with all those saints and beati
who made the Eucharist the centre of their lives, intercede for
us and teach us to be faithful to our encounter with the risen
Christ. We too cannot live without partaking of the sacrament of
our salvation; we too desire to be iuxta dominicam viventes,
to reflect in our lives what we celebrate on the Lord's Day.
That day is the day of our definitive deliverance. Is it
surprising, then, that we should wish to live every day in that
newness of life which Christ has brought us in the mystery of
the Eucharist?
96.
May Mary Most Holy, the Immaculate Virgin, ark of the new and
eternal covenant, accompany us on our way to meet the Lord who
comes. In her we find realized most perfectly the essence of the
Church. The Church sees in Mary – "Woman of the Eucharist," as
she was called by the Servant of God John Paul II (253) – her
finest icon, and she contemplates Mary as a singular model of
the eucharistic life. For this reason, the priest, standing in
the presence of the verum Corpus natum de Maria Virgine
on the altar and speaking in the name of the liturgical
assembly, says in the words of the canon: "We honour Mary, the
ever- virgin mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God." (254) Her
holy name is also invoked and venerated in the canons of the
Eastern Christian traditions. The faithful, for their part,
"commend to Mary, Mother of the Church, their lives and the work
of their hands. Striving to have the same sentiments as Mary,
they help the whole community to become a living offering
pleasing to the Father." (255) She is the tota pulchra,
the all- beautiful, for in her the radiance of God's glory
shines forth. The beauty of the heavenly liturgy, which must be
reflected in our own assemblies, is faithfully mirrored in her.
From Mary we must learn to become men and women of the Eucharist
and of the Church, and thus to present ourselves, in the words
of Saint Paul, "holy and blameless" before the Lord, even as he
wished us to be from the beginning (cf. Col 1:22; Eph
1:4). (256)
97.
Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may the
Holy Spirit kindle within us the same ardour experienced by the
disciples on the way to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35) and
renew our "eucharistic wonder" through the splendour and beauty
radiating from the liturgical rite, the efficacious sign of the
infinite beauty of the holy mystery of God. Those disciples
arose and returned in haste to Jerusalem in order to share their
joy with their brothers and sisters in the faith. True joy is
found in recognizing that the Lord is still with us, our
faithful companion along the way. The Eucharist makes us
discover that Christ, risen from the dead, is our contemporary
in the mystery of the Church, his body. Of this mystery of love
we have become witnesses. Let us encourage one another to walk
joyfully, our hearts filled with wonder, towards our encounter
with the Holy Eucharist, so that we may experience and proclaim
to others the truth of the words with which Jesus took leave of
his disciples: "Lo, I am with you always, until the end of the
world" (Mt 28:20).
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 22 February, the Feast of
the Chair of Peter, in the year 2007, the second of my
Pontificate.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
(1)
Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 73, a.
3.
(2)
Saint Augustine, In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus, 26,5:
PL 35, 1609.
(3)
Benedict XVI, Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (10 February
2006): AAS 98 (2006), 255.
(4)
Benedict XVI, Address to the Members of the Ordinary Council of
the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops (1 June 2006):
L'Osservatore Romano, 2 June 2006, p. 5.
(5)
Cf. Propositio 2.
(6)
I am referring here to the need for a hermeneutic of continuity
also with regard to the correct interpretation of the liturgical
development which followed the Second Vatican Council: cf.
Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (22 December 2005): AAS
98 (2006), 44-45.
(7)
Cf. AAS 97 (2005), 337-352.
(8)
The Year of the Eucharist: Suggestions and Proposals (15
October 2004): L'Osservatore Romano, 15 October 2004,
Supplement.
(9)
Cf. AAS 95 (2003), 433-475. Also, the Instruction of the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments Redemptionis Sacramentum (25 March 2004): AAS
96 (2004), 549-601, expressly desired by John Paul II.
(10)
To name only the more important documents: Ecumenical Council of
Trent, Doctrina et canones de ss. Missae sacrificio, DS
1738-1759; Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Mirae Caritatis
(28 May 1902): ASS (1903), 115-136; Pius XII, Encyclical Letter
Mediator Dei (20 November 1947): AAS 39 (1947), 521-595;
Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Mysterium Fidei (3 September
1965): AAS 57 (1965), 753-774; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Ecclesia de Eucharistia (17 April 2003): AAS 95 (2003),
433-475; Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments, Instruction Eucharisticum Mysterium (25
May 1967): AAS 59 (1967), 539-573; Instruction Liturgiam
Authenticam (28 March 2001): AAS 93 (2001), 685-726.
(11)
Cf. Propositio 1.
(12)
No. 14: AAS 98 (2006), 229.
(13)
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1327.
(14)
Propositio 16.
(15)
Benedict XVI, Homily at the Mass of Installation in the
Cathedral of Rome (7 May 2005): AAS 97 (2005), 752.
(16)
Cf. Propositio 4.
(17)
De Trinitate, VIII, 8, 12: CCL 50, 287.
(18)
Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est (25 December 2005),
12: AAS 98 (2006), 228.
(19)
Cf. Propositio 3.
(20)
Roman Breviary, Hymn for the Office of Readings of the
Solemnity of Corpus Christi.
(21)
Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est (25
December 2005), 13: AAS 98 (2006), 228.
(22)
Benedict XVI, Homily at Marienfeld Esplanade (21 August 2005):
AAS 97 (2005), 891-892.
(23)
Cf. Propositio 3.
(24)
Cf. Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV.
(25)
Cat. XXIII, 7: PG 33, 1114ff.
(26)
Cf. De Sacerdotio, VI, 4: PG 48, 681.
(27)
Ibid., III, 4: PG 48, 642.
(28)
Propositio 22.
(29)
Cf. Propositio 42: "This eucharistic encounter takes
place in the Holy Spirit, who transforms and sanctifies us. He
re- awakens in the disciple the firm desire to proclaim boldly
to others all that he has heard and experienced, to bring them
to the same encounter with Christ. Thus the disciple, sent forth
by the Church, becomes open to a mission without frontiers."
(30)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 3; for an example, see: Saint
John Chrysostom, Catechesis 3, 13-19: SC 50, 174-177.
(31)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia
(17 April 2003), 1: AAS 95 (2003), 433.
(32)
Ibid., 21: AAS 95 (2003), 447.
(33)
Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4
March 1979), 20: AAS 71 (1979), 309-316; Apostolic Letter
Dominicae Cenae (24 February 1980), 4: AAS 72 (1980),
119-121.
(34)
Cf. Propositio 5.
(35)
Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 80,
a. 4.
(36)
No. 38: AAS 95 (2003), 458.
(37)
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium, 23.
(38)
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter on Some
Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion Communionis
Notio (28 May 1992), 11: AAS 85 (1993), 844-845.
(39)
Propositio 5: "The term ‘catholic' expresses the
universality deriving from the unity that the Eucharist,
celebrated in each Church, fosters and builds up. The particular
Churches in the universal Church thus have, in the Eucharist,
the duty to make visible their own unity and diversity. This
bond of fraternal love allows the trinitarian communion to
become apparent. The Councils and Synods express in history this
fraternal aspect of the Church."
(40)
Cf. ibid.
(41)
Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum
Ordinis, 5.
(42)
Cf. Propositio 14.
(43)
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1.
(44)
De Orat. Dom., 23: PL 4, 553.
(45)
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium, 48, cf. ibid., 9.
(46)
Cf. Propositio 13.
(47)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 7.
(48)
Cf. ibid., 11; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree
on the Church's Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, 9, 13.
(49)
Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Dominicae Cenae (24
February 1980), 7: AAS 72 (1980), 124-127; Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests
Presbyterorum Ordinis, 5.
(50)
Cf. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, can. 710.
(51)
Cf. Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults, General
Introduction, 34-36.
(52)
Cf. Rite of Baptism for Children, Introduction, 18-19.
(53)
Cf. Propositio 15.
(54)
Cf. Propositio 7; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Ecclesia de Eucharistia (17 April 2003), 36: AAS 95 (2003),
457-458.
(55)
Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (2 December 1984), 18: AAS 77
(1985), 224-228.
(56)
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1385.
(57)
For example, the Confiteor, or the words of the priest
and people before receiving Communion: "Lord, I am not worthy
to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."
Not insignificantly does the liturgy also prescribe certain very
beautiful prayers for the priest, handed down by tradition,
which speak of the need for forgiveness, as, for example, the
one recited quietly before inviting the faithful to sacramental
communion: "By the mystery of your body and blood, free me
from all my sins and from every evil. Keep me always faithful to
your teachings and never let me be parted from you."
(58)
Cf. Saint John Damascene, Exposition of the Faith, IV, 9:
PG 94, 1124C; Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio 39, 17: PG
36, 356A; Ecumenical Council of Trent, Doctrina de sacramento
paenitentiae, Chapter 2: DS 1672.
(59)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 11; John Paul II, Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (2
December 1984), 30: AAS 77 (1985), 256-257.
(60)
Cf. Propositio 7.
(61)
Cf. John Paul II, Motu Proprio Misericordia Dei (7 April
2002): AAS 94 (2002), 452-459.
(62)
Together with the Synod Fathers I wish to note that the
non-sacramental penitential services mentioned in the ritual of
the sacrament of Reconciliation can be helpful for increasing
the spirit of conversion and of communion in Christian
communities, thereby preparing hearts for the celebration of the
sacrament: cf. Propositio 7.
(63)
Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 508.
(64)
Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution Indulgentiarum Doctrina
(1 January 1967), Norms, No. 1: AAS 59 (1967), 21.
(65)
Ibid., 9: AAS 59 (1967), 18-19.
(66)
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1499-1532.
(67)
Ibid., 1524.
(68)
Cf. Propositio 44.
(69)
Cf. Synod of Bishops, Second General Assembly, Document on the
Ministerial Priesthood Ultimis Temporibus (30 November
1971): AAS 63 (1971), 898-942.
(70)
Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores
Dabo Vobis (25 March 1992), 42-69: AAS 84 (1992), 729-778.
(71)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 10; Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Letter on Certain Questions Concerning
the Minister of the Eucharist Sacerdotium Ministeriale (6
August 1983): AAS 75 (1983), 1001-1009.
(72)
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1548.
(73)
Ibid., 1552.
(74)
Cf. In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus, 123, 5: PL 35,
1967.
(75)
Cf. Propositio 11.
(76)
Cf. Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum
Ordinis, 16.
(77)
Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia
(1 August 1959): AAS 51 (1959), 545-579; Paul VI, Encyclical
Letter Sacerdotalis Coelibatus (24 June 1967): AAS 59
(1967), 657-697; John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25 March 1992), 29: AAS
84 (1992), 703-705; Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (22
December 2006): L'Osservatore Romano, 23 December 2006,
p. 6.
(78)
Cf. Propositio 11.
(79)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on Priestly
Formation Optatam Totius, 6; Code of Canon Law, can. 241,
§ 1 and can. 1029; Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, can.
342 § 1 and can. 758; John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25 March 1992), 11, 34,
50: AAS 84 (1992), 673-675; 712-714; 746-748; Congregation for
the Clergy, Directory for the Ministry and Life of Priests
Dives Ecclesiae (31 March 1994), 58; Congregation for
Catholic Education, Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the
Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual
Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to
Holy Orders (4 November 2005): AAS 97 (2005), 1007-1013.
(80)
Cf. Propositio 12; John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (25 March 1992), 41: AAS
84 (1992), 726-729.
(81)
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium, 29.
(82)
Cf. Propositio 38.
(83)
Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981), 57: AAS 74 (1982),
149-150.
(84)
Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August 1988),
26: AAS 80 (1988), 1715-1716.
(85)
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1617.
(86)
Cf. Propositio 8.
(87)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 11.
(88)
Cf. Propositio 8.
(89)
Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem
(15 August 1988): AAS 80 (1988), 1653-1729; Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic
Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and
in the World (31 May 2004): AAS 96 (2004), 671-687.
(90)
Cf. Propositio 9.
(91)
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1640.
(92)
Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981), 84: AAS 74 (1982),
184- 186; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to
the Bishops of the Catholic Church concerning the Reception of
Holy Communion by Divorced and Remarried Members of the Faithful
Annus Internationalis Familiae (14 September 1994): AAS
86 (1994), 974-979.
(93)
Cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Instruction on the
Norms to be Observed at Ecclesiastical Tribunals in Matrimonial
Proceedings Dignitas Connubii (25 January 2005), Vatican
City, 2005.
(94)
Cf. Propositio 40.
(95)
Benedict XVI, Address to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota for the
Inauguration of the Judicial Year (28 January 2006): AAS 98
(2006), 138.
(96)
Cf. Propositio 40.
(97)
Cf. ibid.
(98)
Cf. ibid.
(99)
Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church Lumen Gentium, 48.
(100) Cf. Propositio 3.
(101) Here I would recall the words filled with hope and
consolation found in Eucharistic Prayer II: "Remember our
brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest in the hope of
rising again. Bring them and all the departed into the light of
your presence."
(102) Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily (8 December 2005): AAS 98 (2006),
15-16.
(103) Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
58.
(104) Propositio 4.
(105) Relatio post disceptationem, 4: L'Osservatore
Romano, 14 October 2005, p. 5.
(106) Cf. Serm. 1, 7; 11, 10; 22, 7; 29, 76: Sermones
dominicales ad fidem codicum nunc denuo editi,
Grottaferrata, 1977, pp. 135, 209ff., 292ff.; 337; Benedict XVI,
Message to Ecclesial Movements and New Communities (22 May
2006): AAS 98 (2006), 463.
(107) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et
Spes, 22.
(108) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 2, 4.
(109) Propositio 33.
(110) Sermo 227, 1: PL 38, 1099.
(111) In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus, 21, 8: PL 35,
1568.
(112) Ibid., 28, 1: PL 35, 1622.
(113) Cf. Propositio 30. Weekday Masses, which the
faithful are encouraged to attend, find their proper form on the
day of the Lord, the day of Christ's resurrection; Propositio
43.
(114) Cf. Propositio 2.
(115) Cf. Propositio 25.
(116) Cf. Propositio 19. Propositio 25 states: "An
authentic liturgical action expresses the sacredness of the
eucharistic mystery. This should be evident from the words and
actions of the priest who celebrates, as he intercedes to God
the Father both with the faithful and on their behalf."
(117) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 22; Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
Sacrosanctum Concilium, 41; cf. Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Instruction
Redemptionis Sacramentum (25 March 2004), 19-25: AAS 96
(2004), 555-557.
(118) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the
Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus,
14; Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum
Concilium, 41.
(119) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 22.
(120) Cf. ibid.
(121) Cf. Propositio 25.
(122) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 112-130.
(123) Cf. Propositio 27.
(124) Cf. ibid.
(125) In these matters the provisions of the General
Instruction of the Roman Missal, 319-351, are to be
faithfully observed.
(126) Cf. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 39-41;
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 112-118.
(127) Sermo 34, 1: PL 38, 210.
(128) Cf. Propositio 25: "Like every artistic expression,
singing must be closely adapted to the liturgy and contribute
effectively to its aim; in other words, it must express faith,
prayer, wonder and love of Jesus present in the Eucharist."
(129) Cf. Propositio 29.
(130) Cf. Propositio 36.
(131) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 116; General
Instruction of the Roman Missal, 41.
(132) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 28; cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 56; Sacred Congregation
of Rites, Instruction Eucharisticum Mysterium (25 May
1967), 3: AAS 57 (1967), 540-543.
(133) Cf. Propositio 18.
(134) Ibid.
(135) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 29.
(136) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio
(14 September 1998), 13: AAS 91 (1999), 15-16.
(137) Saint Jerome, Comm. in Is., Prol.: PL 24, 17; cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 25.
(138) Cf. Propositio 31.
(139) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 29; cf.
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred
Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7, 33, 52.
(140) Cf. Propositio 19.
(141) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 52.
(142) Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution
on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 21.
(143) To this end the Synod has called for the preparation of
pastoral aids based on the three-year lectionary, to help
connect the proclamation of the readings with the doctrine of
the faith; cf. Propositio 19.
(144) Cf. Propositio 20.
(145) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 78.
(146) Cf. ibid., 78-79.
(147) Cf. Propositio 22.
(148) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 79d.
(149) Ibid., 79c.
(150) Taking into account ancient and venerable customs and the
wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have asked the
competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the
sign of peace to another place, such as before the presentation
of the gifts at the altar. To do so would also serve as a
significant reminder of the Lord's insistence that we be
reconciled with others before offering our gifts to God (cf.
Mt 5:23 ff.); cf. Propositio 23.
(151) Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments, Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (25
March 2004), 80-96: AAS 96 (2004), 574-577.
(152) Cf. Propositio 34.
(153) Cf. Propositio 35.
(154) Cf. Propositio 24.
(155) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14-20; 30ff.;
48ff; Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments, Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (25
March 2004), 36-42: AAS 96 (2004), 561-564.
(156) No. 48.
(157) Ibid.
(158) Cf. Congregation for the Clergy, Instruction on Certain
Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non- Ordained
Faithful in the Ministry of Priests Ecclesiae de Mysterio
(15 August 1997): AAS 89 (1997), 852-877.
(159) Cf. Propositio 33.
(160) General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 92.
(161) Cf. ibid., 94.
(162) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the
Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem, 24;
General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 95-111;
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the
Sacraments, Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (25
March 2004), 43-47: AAS 96 (2004), 564-566; Propositio
33: "These ministries must be introduced in accordance with a
specific mandate and in accordance with the real needs of the
celebrating community. Those entrusted with these liturgical
services must be chosen with care, well prepared, and provided
with ongoing formation. Their appointment must be for a limited
term. They must be known to the community and be gratefully
acknowledged by the community."
(163) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 37-42.
(164) Cf. General Instruction of the Roman Missal,
386-399.
(165) Cf. Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments, Instruction on the Roman Liturgy and
Inculturation Varietates Legitimae (25 January 1994): AAS
87 (1995), 288-314.
(166) Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa
(14 September 1995), 55-71: AAS 88 (1996), 34-47; Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America (22 January
1999), 16, 40, 64, 70-72: AAS 91 (1999), 752-753, 775-776, 799,
805-809; Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia
(6 November 1999), 21ff.: AAS 92 (2000), 482-487;
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania
(22 November 2001), 16: AAS 94 (2002), 382-384; Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa (28 June 2003),
58-60: AAS 95 (2003), 685-686.
(167) Cf. Propositio 26.
(168) Cf. Propositio 35; Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum
Concilium, 11.
(169) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1388; Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
Sacrosanctum Concilium, 55.
(170) Cf. Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia (17
April 2003), 34: AAS 95 (2003), 456.
(171) See, for example, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theologiae, III, q. LXXX, a. 1, 2; Saint Teresa of Jesus,
The Way of Perfection, Chapter 35. The doctrine was
authoritatively confirmed by the Council of Trent, Session XIII,
c. VIII.
(172) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint
(25 May 1995), 8: AAS 87 (1995), 925-926.
(173) Cf. Propositio 41; Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 8,
15; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint (25 May
1995), 46: AAS 87 (1995), 948; Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de
Eucharistia (17 April 2003), 45-46: AAS 95 (2003), 463-464;
Code of Canon Law, can. 844 §§ 3-4; Code of Canons of
the Eastern Churches, can. 671 §§ 3-4; Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity, Directoire pour l'application
des principes et des normes sur l'œcuménisme (25 March
1993), 125, 129-131: AAS 85 (1993), 1087, 1088-1089.
(174) Cf. Nos. 1398-1401.
(175) Cf. No. 293.
(176) Cf. Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Pastoral
Instruction on Social Communications on the Twentieth
Anniversary of "Communio et Progressio" Aetatis Novae (22
February 1992): AAS 84 (1992), 447-468.
(177) Cf. Propositio 29.
(178) Cf. Propositio 44.
(179) Cf. Propositio 48.
(180) Candidates for the priesthood can be introduced to these
traditions as part of their seminary training: cf. Propositio
45.
(181) Cf. Propositio 37.
(182) Cf. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum
Concilium, 36, 54.
(183) Propositio 36.
(184) Cf. ibid.
(185) Cf. Propositio 32.
(186) Cf. Propositio 14.
(187) Propositio 19.
(188) Cf. Propositio 14.
(189) Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily at First Vespers of Pentecost (3
June 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 509.
(190) Cf. Propositio 34.
(191) Enarrationes in Psalmos 98:9, CCL XXXIX, 1385; cf.
Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (22 December
2005): AAS 98 (2006), 44-45.
(192) Cf. Propositio 6.
(193) Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia (22 December
2005): AAS 98 (2006), 45.
(194) Cf. Propositio 6; Congregation for Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular
Piety and the Liturgy (17 December 2001), Nos. 164-165,
Vatican City, 2002; Sacred Congregation of Rites, Instruction
Eucharisticum Mysterium (25 May 1967): AAS 57 (1967),
539-573.
(195) Cf. Relatio post disceptationem, 11:
L'Osservatore Romano, 14 October 2005, p. 5.
(196) Cf. Propositio 28.
(197) Cf. No. 314.
(198) VII, 10, 16: PL 32, 742.
(199) Benedict XVI, Homily at Marienfeld Esplanade (21 August
2005): AAS 97 (2005), 892; cf. Homily for the Vigil of Pentecost
(3 June 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 505.
(200) Cf. Relatio post disceptationem, 6, 47:
L'Osservatore Romano, 14 October 2005, pp. 5-6;
Propositio 43.
(201) De Civitate Dei, X, 6: PL 41, 284.
(202) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1368.
(203) Cf. Saint Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., IV, 20, 7: PG 7,
1037.
(204) Ad Magnes., 9, 1: PG 5, 670.
(205) Cf. I Apologia, 67, 1-6; 66: PG 6, 430ff., 427,
430.
(206) Cf. Propositio 30.
(207) Cf. AAS 90 (1998), 713-766.
(208) Propositio 30.
(209) Homily (19 March 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 324.
(210) The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,
258, rightly notes in this regard: "For man, bound as he is to
the necessity of work, this rest opens to the prospect of a
fuller freedom, that of the eternal Sabbath (cf. Heb
4:9-10). Rest gives men and women the possibility to remember
and experience anew God's work, from Creation to Redemption, to
recognize themselves as his work (cf. Eph 2:10), and to
give thanks for their lives and for their subsistence to him who
is their author."
(211) Cf. Propositio 10.
(212) Cf. ibid.
(213) Cf. Benedict XVI, Address to the Bishops of Canada –
Quebec during their Visit ad Limina (11 May 2006): cf.
L'Osservatore Romano, 12 May 2006, p. 5.
(214) No. 10: AAS 71 (1979), 414-415.
(215) Benedict XVI, General Audience of 29 March 2006:
L'Osservatore Romano, 30 March 2006, p. 4.
(216) Propositio 39.
(217) Cf. Relatio post disceptationem, 30:
L'Osservatore Romano, 14 October 2005, p. 6.
(218) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 39-42.
(219) Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Christifideles Laici (30 December 1988), 14, 16: AAS 81
(1989), 409-413; 416-418.
(220) Cf. Propositio 39.
(221) Cf. ibid.
(222) The Roman Pontifical, Rites of Ordination of a
Bishop, of Priests and of Deacons, Ordination of a Priest,
No. 163.
(223) Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Pastores Dabo Vobis (25 March 1992), 19-33; 70-81: AAS 84
(1992), 686-712; 778-800.
(224) Propositio 38.
(225) Propositio 39. Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (25 March 1996),
95: AAS 88 (1996), 470-471.
(226) Code of Canon Law, can. 663 § 1.
(227) Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Vita Consecrata (25 March 1996), 34: AAS 88 (1996), 407-408.
(228) Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (6 August
1993), 107: AAS 85 (1993), 1216-1217.
(229) Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est
(25 December 2005), 14: AAS 98 (2006), 229.
(230) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae
(25 March 1995): AAS 87 (1995), 401-522; Benedict XVI, Address
to the Pontifical Academy for Life (27 February 2006): AAS 98
(2006), 264-265.
(231) Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal
Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics
in Political Life (24 November 2002): AAS 96 (2004), 359-370.
(232) Cf. Propositio 46.
(233) AAS 97 (2005), 711.
(234) Propositio 42.
(235) Cf. Mart. Polycarp., XV, 1: PG 5, 1039, 1042.
(236) Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Ad. Rom., IV, 1: PG 5,
690.
(237) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 42.
(238) Cf. Propositio 42; Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, Declaration on the Unicity and Salvific Universality
of Jesus Christ and the Church Dominus Iesus (6 August
2000), 13- 15: AAS 92 (2000), 754-755.
(239) Cf. Propositio 42.
(240) Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est
(25 December 2005), 18: AAS 98 (2006), 232.
(241) Ibid., 14.
(242) During the Synod sessions we heard very moving and
significant testimonies about the effectiveness of the Eucharist
in peacemaking. In this regard, Propositio 49 states
that: "Thanks to eucharistic celebrations, peoples engaged in
conflict have been able to gather around the word of God, hear
his prophetic message of reconciliation through gratuitous
forgiveness, and receive the grace of conversion which allows
them to share in the same bread and cup."
(243) Cf. Propositio 48.
(244) Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est
(25 December 2005), 28: AAS 98 (2006), 239.
(245) Propositio 48.
(246) Benedict XVI, Address to the Diplomatic Corps Accredited
to the Holy See (9 January 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 127.
(247) Ibid.
(248) Cf. Propositio 48. In this regard, the
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church has proved
most helpful.
(249) Cf. Propositio 43.
(250) Cf. Propositio 47.
(251) Cf. Propositio 17.
(252) Martyrium Saturnini, Dativi et aliorum plurimorum,
7, 9, 10: PL 8, 707, 709-710.
(253) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de
Eucharistia (17 April 2003), 53: AAS 95 (2003), 469.
(254) Eucharistic Prayer I (Roman Canon).
(255) Propositio 50.
(256) Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily (8 December 2005): AAS 98 (2006),
15.
