Francis Cardinal Arinze

The Eucharistic Convention
2010

HOLY EUCHARIST: MYSTERY OF FAITH

Address at Eucharistic Convention,
Diocese of Auckland, NZ,
Mercy Sunday, 11 April 2010

+ Francis Cardinal Arinze

The Holy Eucharist, mystery of faith, sacrifice and sacrament, is the ineffable parting gift of our beloved Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ to his Church. This mystery has powerful symbols in the Old Testament. The institution is a major highlight in the New Testament. As sacrifice, the Holy Eucharist is the supreme act of worship in the life of the Church. As sacrament, it is the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ who nourishes us and brings us most precious gifts. On this Second Sunday of Easter, the Divine Mercy Sunday, we adore and thank God for the inestimable mystery and gift of the Holy Eucharist.

Let us now reflect on these dimensions of the Eucharist mystery.

1. Eucharist Symbols in the Old Testament

Some signs and symbols of the Holy Eucharist are given us by God in the Old Covenant.

Isaac carrying the wood on which he was meant to be sacrificed (cf Gen 22:6) can be seen as a figure of Christ carrying his cross to die on Golgotha.

The paschal lamb without blemish, the blood of which was smeared at the gates of all family houses of the chosen people to save them from the destroying angel, and this lamb was slain and eaten by the family (cf Exod. 12) – this lamb was a symbol of Christ who saved us with his Blood on the Cross and who feeds us with his Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist.

During their forty years in the desert in their journey towards the promised land, God fed the chosen people with manna, bread from heaven (cf Exod. 16). This manna was a figure of the Holy Eucharist with which Jesus feeds his people during all their years of their earthly pilgrimage until they reach the promised land of heaven.

When the prophet Elijah was fleeing from Ahab and Jezebel and was very tired, an angel fed him with “cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water”. Elijah “walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God” (1 Kings 19:6,8). This food was a symbol of the Holy Eucharist which is our spiritual food and drink for all the days of our earthly journey until we reach heaven.

St Thomas Aquinas, in his masterly Lauda Sion Salvatorem, summarizes the first three signs thus:

“Oft in the olden types foreshadowed;
In Isaac on the altar bowed,
And in the ancient paschal food,
And in the manna sent from heaven
(Roman Lectionary: Sequence, “Lauda Sion”)
2. Institution of the Holy Eucharist

Jesus prepared his Apostles proximately for the mystery of the Holy Eucharist that he was about to institute. He took occasion of his multiplication of loaves and fishes to teach that he was the bread from heaven, that he would give his Body as food and his Blood as drink, and that those who believe in him and receive him in this Sacrament would have eternal life. The whole of Chapter 6 of St John’s Gospel will repay prayerful reading.

At the Last Supper, on the night before he suffered and died on the Cross, Jesus washed the feet of his Apostles and taught them mutual love which was to be central in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (cf Jn 13:1-15).

While they were at supper “he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’. And likewise the chalice after supper, saying ‘this chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”’ (Lk 22:19-20; cf Mt 26:17-29; Mk 14: 12-25). And St Paul in his account adds: “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:25-26).

Jesus, therefore, not only did the unheard-of miracle of turning bread into his Body and wine into his Blood, and giving the Apostles to eat and drink, but he also commanded them to do this in remembrance of him. “Thereby he constituted them priests of the new Testament” (Council of Trent (1562): DS 1740).

3. Holy Eucharist a Sacrifice

The Church carries out this command of her Lord to celebrate the memorial of his sacrifice. We offer to God the Father what he has given us: the gifts of his creation, bread and wine which, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Christ, have become the Body and Blood of Christ (cf CCC, 1357).

The Eucharist Sacrifice is a sacramental re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Cross. “The Mass makes present the Sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to that sacrifice nor does it multiply it. What is repeated is its memorial celebration, its ‘commemorative representation’, which makes Christ’s one, definitive redemption sacrifice always present in time” (Eccl. De Euch, 12). “As often as the Sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed’ is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out” (Lumen Gentium, 3).

The Mass is a sacrifice of adoration, praise and thanksgiving to God for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic Sacrifice the whole of creation loved by God is presented to the Father through the death and the resurrection of Christ. It is at the same time a sacrifice of praise by which the Church signs the glory of God in the name of all creation (cf CCC 1359-1361).

The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. Christ associates his mystical Bride with him in this sacrifice. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer and work are united with those of Christ and with his total offering. They thus acquire a new value which they would not otherwise have (cf CCC, 1368).

The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. The Church on earth celebrates because the Pope and the Bishop of the place where the Mass is celebrated are always named; the celebrating priest is Christ’s minister, and the deacons and the people have their different roles to play. The Church in heaven is mentioned in every Mass with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and the Saints highlighted. And the suffering Church in purgatory is prayed for so that these people who “have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified” (Council of Trent (1562): DS 1743) may soon enter into the light and peace of Christ (cf CCC, 1368-1371).

4. The Liturgical Celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice

All along the centuries the Church has carried out the Lord’s command to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in commemoration of him.

Of the early Church in Jerusalem it is written: “And they held steadfastly to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2: 42,46).

St Justin Martyr, as early as the second century, gives beautiful witness of the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic Celebration (cf Apol. 1,65-67: PC6, 428-429; CCC, 1345).

The fundamental structure of how the Mass is celebrated has been preserved in all the rites in the Church, Latin and Oriental. There are two parts that form a fundamental unity. There is first the liturgy of the Word with readings, homily and general intercessions. Then follows the liturgy of the Eucharist, with the presentation of bread and wine, the consecratory thanksgiving, communion and dismissal. Both parts, the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist together form “one single act of worship” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 56). The Eucharistic table set for us is the table both of the Word of God and of the Body of the Lord (cf Dei Verbum, 21).

Since the Eucharist Celebration is the supreme act of Christian worship, it is no surprise that Holy Mother Church surrounds this celebration with very meaningful words and gestures hallowed in tradition, faith and theology. And the Church does not allow anyone, cleric or otherwise, to add or subtract from her approved rites. Liturgical norms for the Eucharistic celebration are therefore “a concrete expression of the authentically ecclesial nature of the Eucharist; this is their deepest meaning. Liturgy is never anyone’s private property, be it of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated” (Eccl. De Euch., 52; cf also Sacramentum Caritatis, 40).

5. Holy Eucharist a Sacrament

As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ offered at Mass, received by us in Holy Communion, and adored by us in the tabernacle.

The mode of presence of Christ in this Sacrament is altogether special, unique. It raises the Holy Eucharist above all the Sacraments as “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the Sacraments tend” (St Thomas Aquinas, S. Th III, 73,3C). In this most holy Sacrament “the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained” (Council of Trent (1551): DS: 1651; cf CCC, 1374).

“Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine in the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation” (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1642).

6. Faith is Required

This real presence of Christ in the Eucharist mystery asks for our faith, our obedience of faith. We must not react like the unbelieving disciples who objected: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (Jn 6:60). Many of these doubting disciples left Jesus and no longer walked with him. “Jesus said to the Twelve: “Will you also go away? Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God”’ (Jn 6:67-69). This is the response of faith which each of us should make personally.

The Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, enlightens us: “That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that ‘cannot be apprehended by the senses but only by faith, which relies on divine authority’. For this reason, in a commentary on Luke 22:19 (‘This is my body which is given for you’), St Cyril says: ‘Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Saviour in faith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie”’ (St Thomas Aquinas, S Th III,75,1; St Cyril of Alexandria, In Luc. 22,19: PG 72,912; Paul VI: Mysterium Fidei, 18, CCC, 1381).

7. The Fruits of Holy Communion

When we prepare ourselves well and then receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, wonderful and beautiful fruits begin to be realized.

Holy Communion increases our union with Christ. He himself has told us: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (Jn 6:56). This union with the Eucharistic Christ preserves, increases and renews the life of grace received at Baptism.

Holy Communion separates us from sin. As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins (cf Council of Trent (1551): DS 1638) and helps preserve us from future mortal sins (cf CCC, 1393-1395).

The Eucharist promotes the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ. Holy Communion renews, strengthens and deepens the incorporation into the Church already achieved in Baptism.

The Eucharist urges us to work harder towards Christian unity because divided Christians cannot participate in the same Eucharist table. This is to be the celebration of achieved reunion, not a means to it (cf CCC, 1398-1401; Eccl. De Euch., 44-46).

Holy Communion gives us a pledge of eternal life. Jesus has said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day: (Jn 6:54). Every time this mystery is celebrated, we “break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ (St Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20,2: Sch 10,76; cf CCC, 1402-1405).

8. Holy Eucharist, Divine Mercy Manifested

Today, Second Sunday of Easter, is Divine Mercy Sunday. The mystery of our redemption is a work, a manifestation of Divine mercy. Out of love for sinful men and women, the Eternal Father, after preparing humanity for centuries, in the fullness of time, sent his Only-begotten Son to be our Saviour. Jesus saved us by his incarnation and his entire life on earth. The high point of the work of redemption is the paschal mystery of the suffering, death, resurrection and ascension.

Jesus gave us his Church so that through her everyone can make personal contact with the mercy of God and attain salvation. In his Church he gave us himself in the Holy Eucharist. By receiving his Body and Blood at Holy Mass we draw abundantly from the fountains of mercy (cf Roman Missal: Votive Mass of Divine Mercy, Postcommunion Prayer).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the Second Vatican Council reminds us that “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10). And at the centre and the summit of the sacred liturgy is the Eucharistic Celebration.

May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Redeemer, intercede for us so that we may grow daily in Eucharistic faith, live this faith with increasing commitment, and share it with other people through dynamic apostolate.

Signed: + Francis Cardinal Arinze

11 April 2010

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