THE EUCHARIST: A MYSTERY TO BELIEVE, CELEBRATE, AND LIVE
On this Sunday, our parish community is united in prayer and thanksgiving to conclude our annual Forty Hours Devotion. What does this event mean for our parish community?
For our reflection, I thought that I might make a reference to the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, translated ‘the Sacrament of Love,’ given in 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI following a meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. This document will help us to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of this grace-filled parish event of Forty Hours of prayer and adoration in the presence of the Risen Lord, truly present in the Consecrated Host, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Benedict XVI gives an extensive doctrine on the Church’s Eucharistic faith, how to celebrate it fruitfully, and what the Eucharist does and should do in our way of Christian living. He did this in three major parts of the Exhortation, which are the Eucharist: a Mystery to be believed; the Eucharist: a Mystery to be celebrated; and the Eucharist: a Mystery to be lived.
As such, our celebration of the Forty Hours Devotion should bring about a renewal and revival in the Church’s Eucharistic faith as it is something we believe. As Benedict XVI teaches “The Eucharist is a mystery of faith par excellence: the source and summit of our faith. The Church's faith is essentially a Eucharistic faith, and it is especially nourished at the table of the Eucharist. 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! 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” (Sac. Car. 6).
The Eucharist: a Sacrament to be celebrated. Although our parish liturgy is marked and known for its beauty, dignity and order, and of being cared for, thanks to our Pastor, Fr. Howe, and our music director, Sam Backman, this Forty Hours Devotion should encourage each of us to continue making our liturgy a true action of faith, a true moment of our encounter with God. As Benedict XVI teaches, “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. 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” (Sac. Car. 34).
The Eucharist: a mystery to be lived. Benedict XVI further teaches “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” (Sac. Car. 70). The Forty Hours Devotion, therefore, must be a transforming event for us, through which we experience renewal of identity as Catholic Christians and commitment to the mission of the Church. As the Sacrament of Unity, it should not only enhance our unity as a parish community, but also enforce unity in our homes, our families, and in our relationships with every member of our society. The Eucharist must make an impact on our lives and enable us to bear fruits as true witnesses of the Gospel and of the Church as the presence of the Kingdom of God here on earth. Blessed be Jesus Christ true God and true Man, present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
~Fr. Justus