Reflections on the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict
XVI
Sacramentum Caritatis
Allow the Eucharist
to enter life and change it
by Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes
President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum
The title of the Apostolic
Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis already points to the
mystery that constitutes the heart of the Sacrament of the
Eucharist: charity.
Let us remember first of all that we recognize charity — agape —
as the root of this Sacrament. Indeed, it is the memorial of the
death and Resurrection of Christ. It is the constant
implementation of the mystery in which God in his love not only
wished to become like us but also to give himself to us in a
form that would extend his loving presence in every epoch, until
it reached us today and every corner of the earth.
"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. I 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; I Cor 11:23-26), the entire
divine 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. Gn 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" (n. 8).
It is therefore in the Trinitarian life that we must seek the
origins of the Eucharist, the sacrament of charity, hence, of
all charity. We have a true reflection of it in the gift which
Christ made of himself for the world's salvation.
The charity which the Church spreads throughout the world is not
rooted in human good will, neither is it a form of heroism or
merely the result of commitment.
It cannot be understood outside of divine revelation.
In Christ on the Cross, the abyss of divine charity which
reveals and teaches us the true meaning of love is opened to us.
In the celebration of this Sacrament, the believer is enabled to
give himself to his neighbour so that the moral life of the
faithful is extended. Much depends on our readiness to be open
to signs.
It is necessary first of all to learn to exercise in the
celebration the whole of our humanity, including the senses
which God has given us, hearing and sight.
Real encounter with
God's Love
The Eucharist is not a rite to be celebrated but rather a place
where God truly manifests himself in signs which our
sensibility, together with our intelligence and our will, is
called to accept.
Indeed, even "physical" communion is brought about in it, the
real meeting with his love that is given.
Precisely in this regard I remember the prayer that the priest
would say after Communion in its original form: "Quod ore
sumpsimus, mente capiamus": the mystery celebrated becomes part
of life and changes it.
And this communion is extended in turn to all the brothers and
sisters, to the Body of the Church. This is what the Holy Father
wrote in his Encyclical Deus Caritas Est: "In sacramental
Communion I become one with the Lord, like all the other
communicants. As St. Paul says, 'Because there is one bread, we
who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread'
(I Cor 10:17). Union with Christ is also union with all those to
whom he gives himself" (n. 14).
It is from this intense participation in Christ that brotherly
love flows.
Once again, in the words of the Encyclical: "Communion draws me
out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all
Christians. We become 'one body', completely joined in a single
existence. Love of God and love of neighbour are now truly
united: 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. Only by keeping in mind
this Christological and sacramental basis can we correctly
understand Jesus' teaching on love.
"The transition which he makes from the Law and the Prophets to
the twofold commandment of love of God and of neighbour, and his
grounding the whole life of faith. on this central precept, is
not simply a matter of morality — something that could exist
apart from and alongside faith in Christ and its sacramental
re-actualization.
"Faith, worship and ethos are interwoven as a single reality
which takes shape in our encounter with God's agape. Here the
usual contraposition between worship and ethics simply falls
apart.
"'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.
"Conversely, as we shall have to consider in greater detail
below, the 'commandment' of love is only possible because it is
more than a requirement. Love can be 'commanded' because it has
first been given" (ibid.).
True charity rooted
in agape
It is impossible to ' understand or to establish the charitable
activity of the Church's members outside personal participation
in God's agape.
All this can then be summed up in the recognition that charity
is the experience of love received from God, which qualifies
Christians for a life of love.
In other words, the Eucharist generates in an individual member
of the faithful the power to give life in the measure of Christ
whom we receive in the Sacrament. In this way every faithful
person, nourished by Christ's charity, like the Son of God
becomes a gift for others. And it is precisely this existential
implication which in turn witnesses to the authenticity of the
life of faith and its liturgical celebration.
However, it is in turn its condition, since the Sacrament is
effective to the extent that the human heart is willing to allow
the mystery to be brought about within it.
This personal dynamic was unfolded in the course of the Church's
history and produced an untold number of works that are an
expression of divine charity.
Motivated by this same dynamic, a vast number of lay people,
missionaries, priests and founders of orders and congregations
expressed in practical initiatives the love of God, his
closeness to men and women, his mystery of communion which calls
all people to unity.
This is the mission of the Church which she has exercised for
the poor and for the lowliest, perhaps as no other, impressing
the indelible mark of charity upon human civilization.
The Apostolic Exhortation Sacramenturn Caritatis takes up
these points: "'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 each may have true life. Each
celebration of the Eucharist makes sacramentally present the
gift that Jesus made of his life on the Cross, for us and for
the whole world".
At the same time, "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" (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, n.
88).
The reality of the sacrament induces the real gift. Without the
Eucharist, there is no ecclesial communio and without the
Eucharist there is likewise no ecclesial charity.
Sacramentum Caritatis presents to the faithful a journey
of the rediscovery of the roots of our commitment to human
beings.
We are grateful to the Holy Father who has thus desired to point
out further to all those who work with great merit in the sector
of charity that the Eucharist is a continuous source of vitality
for our work on behalf of humankind.
© Copyright L'Osservatore Romano
October 3, 2007
