Spiritual > THE EUCHARIST: TO BE LIVED
There is a caption hanging in the sacristy of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Allahabad. It reads: “O Priest, celebrate this mass as if this is your first mass, last mass and the only mass.” The first time I read this caption was in the Bishop’s House chapel at Bhopal, a few years ago. I was really edified by the deep rooted call it gives us for a meaningful celebration of the Eucharist.
The question now is: why do we speak of a meaningful celebration of the Eucharist? Does Eucharist have any effect on our lives? Can it give any meaning to our lives?
The Eucharist is not a matter of intellectual knowledge but a mystery to be lived with and experienced through our lives. It must also be kept in mind that the real goal of all catechesis can never be merely knowing or understanding the sacrament of the Eucharist and having an active participation in the liturgy. The real goal is to move the faithful to turn to God and to realize in their day-to-day lives the values of the Eucharist. In other words, there must exist a close connection between lex orandi and lex vivendi.
The celebration of the Eucharist in the Church impels the believers to live their Christian vocation in society. We become signs of hope to one another. We deepen the bonds of friendship among us, simply because of the Eucharistic Lord, here present in this most holy sacrament of the altar. The Eucharist thus creates communion and fosters communion. Sunday Mass in our parishes is fundamental for the life of the Church and the lives of individual believers. At each Sunday Mass we are sent forth to build communion with those who are not at the Eucharistic table. We must go forth to those who are left out - to the poor and the hungry, to those who are unemployed, those who are sick and feeble, those who are lonely, those who are slaves to drugs, alcohol and other vices. We are sent forth, empowered by the Eucharist, to live our goals and values of charity and love.
We have the documents of the Church constantly strengthening our view telling that the Eucharist is the source and the summit of our Christian life. It was first expressed the Vatican Council II through the document on the Dogmatic Constitution of Liturgy. Pope John Paul II further strengthened this notion through his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia. He introduced the Year of Eucharist with the Apostolic Letter Mane Nobiscum Domine.
Ever since Vatican Council II, drastic changes are made in the celebration of the liturgy. Yet, it is sad to note that we have made changes in the liturgy, but the liturgy has not changed us. Quite many of us think that the liturgy is a wasting of time. Why such reaction? What, indeed, is wrong with our liturgy today? Following are some of the drawbacks that are found in our liturgy today.
Our Liturgy is too Vertical
We still celebrate liturgy according to our traditional way of understanding: liturgy, a worship offered to God. Thus, our worship is always oriented to God. A liturgy which is too vertical does not have much to do with the lives of the people. Therefore, we ‘find it hard' to take interest in a liturgy in which there is gap." between life and worship.
Routine Way of Celebration
Variety is the spice of life. This is very much true with the liturgy. Variety in liturgy is necessary not to make it interesting but an experiential one. Unfortunately, our liturgy today is celebrated in a routine way. The priest performs it mechanically without any feeling or emotion, sometimes even without knowing what he says and does. At times, the priest performs the sacraments in hurry without any devotion. Our liturgy lacks silence, a time for interiorisation.
Symbols used are not meaningful
Symbol is a media of communication which goes beyond the reality, creates experience and provokes response. It is through the symbols that we celebrate the Paschal mystery of Christ in liturgy. Often, our liturgy is celebrated by merely following the letter of the law. The symbols that we use do not help us for the emotional sharing of our faith. They are not intelligible to us, mainly because they do not spring from our life situation. They are taken from an alien culture. Fr. Paul Puthanangady observes, "Most people are attracted to worship not because of the transcendent greatness and beauty of God; they want to meet God who can be experienced as their personal saviour, answering the deep-felt desires of their heart. To evoke such a feeling, it is necessary that we use meaningful and intelligible symbols in liturgy. It is also note worthy that most of the homilies are bookish or highly theological. At times they appear to be lectures on biblical exegesis.
Lack of Cooperation from the Community
At times it is possible that the community is not open to the creativity. It may not be cooperating with the call given to the active cooperation, rather remains passive. This indeed will kill the enthusiasm and creativity of the priest. For example, say a priest is calling the members of the community to pray for a member who is celebrating her Birthday that day, or asking the members to speak out some of the good qualities, and the community is totally indifferent or passive will it not affect the creativity of the priest?
Gap between liturgy and life
The liturgy that we celebrate, most often, does not help people to know themselves better. There is an excessive stress on verticalism and an absence of concern for temporal realities and human experiences which should be part and parcel of our life. Our liturgy, quite often, does not address to the present with its challenges and problems. Fr. Joe Mannath is very clear in saying: "The liturgy does not make sense to a young person in a vacuum. He/she gets involved in it to the degree it celebrates what the Christian community is doing the rest of the time.”
Gap between the Minister and the Community
Quite often, the relation between the minister and the community is restricted to the chapel only. The community is concerned only about the mass, the shortest. They are content if the daily obligation of mass is fulfilled. On the other hand, if the minister becomes the part of the community it becomes a family. In such cases the life with its ups and downs could be brought to the liturgy.
Liturgy lacks active participation
Most often, we are mere spectators in our liturgies today. Primarily, it is because the liturgy makes no sense to them. On the other hand we see, either the people refrain from active participation or their active participation not sufficiently encouraged and promoted. At times, the president dominates and performs all the functions by himself leaving no room for the participant. Sacrosanctum Concilium is very clear that the faithful should be present in the liturgies not as mere spectators but as active performers of the act of worship. We need to ask a question to ourselves: even when the minister is open are we ready for an active participation with some meaningful varieties? Recently, I asked the superior of one of the communities, where I go for mass, whether somebody could give, in turn, reflection for mass once a week. The answer was very blunt, “No Father, it is the duty of the priest.” Yes, very few of us want to come prepared for mass. We are comfortable to be a ‘kaddu’, I mean a vegetable, in the chapel. Vegetable has no life in itself. It does not have feelings. We are happy with that sort of participation. Quite often instead of answering the prayers we comfortably ‘nod’ and say ‘oh Father, all that you are saying is true.”
Besides the factors affecting the liturgy itself there are also extra-liturgical factors affecting the liturgy. To name them a few: the relationship between priest and people, dichotomy between preaching and practicing, counter witness by the Church, lack of cordiality among the people, lack of faith formation, deteriorating sense of sacredness, etc.
So, the Eucharist becomes meaningful if it is creative and calls for active participation. Vatican II has given us a good amount of chances to improvise, to compose, and thus bring in spontaneity, and relevance in the liturgy, leading to a creative liturgy. “To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalms, antiphons, hymns, as well as actions, gestures and bodily attitudes. And at proper time reverent silence should be observed.” (SC 30)
What do we do to make the Eucharist meaningful to us? What creativity do we bring about? Isn’t it the fact that we stress more on externals for any celebration of our Christian feasts? Don’t we spend lots of time in decoration of the Church, etc. What preparations do we make for the liturgy, except just the singing practice? Liturgy should not be a one-man show. Therefore, all need to work hand in hand to make Eucharist meaningful.
What are the Effects of a Meaningful Eucharist?
The effects of the Eucharist are like the effects of food for our body. Food sustains life, and the Eucharist sustains the life of the soul. It gives us the grace we need to deny ourselves and to live for Christ. The more love we have for Christ, the less self-love we have. The more we love God, the more we can resist temptation, and so the Eucharist strengthens us spiritually.
Boylan, the author of the book “The Tremendous Love”, tells us that the results of reception of the Eucharist can be considered in three ways: union with Christ, spiritual nutrition, and its special signification with the Passion of Christ.
Eucharist: Union with Christ
With regard to the first effect, union with Christ, St. Paul tells us in 1Cor 10:16-17, that we do in fact receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. He refers to it specifically as communion, not as participation. For St. Paul, it is a common union of God and man. St. John Chrysostom says, referring to St. Paul, that we do not just participate with Christ in receiving communion, we unite with Him. This union is not mere metaphor; it is reality. A reality that calls forth from us the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
Boylan also tells us that when we receive the Eucharist, mindful of what is taking place, we should take this opportunity to give Him our heartfelt thanks for the privilege of receiving him, recognize our need for His love and express our love for Him, to request the grace to conform our lives to His will for us, and offer ourselves to Him for Him to take of us that which He wants us to be.
Eucharist: Spiritual nutrition
As our spiritual food, when we receive the Eucharist we participate in the mystery whereby we become that which we consume, instead of that which we consume becoming us. It is by means of the Eucharist that the Mystical Body is put into effect, for it is through the Eucharist and the effect of its transforming union of us with Christ that we become full members of this Mystical Body. In Baptism we receive that which is essential and sufficient for our salvation. In the Eucharist, we receive that which is essential for the perfection of the Mystical Body and our individual perfection as Christians.
If we consider again the words of Christ in John 6:57, “He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, abides in me and I in him”, we see a profound expression of His love for us. If we love another, we desire to be identified with that other. This expression of Jesus’ love for us reported in John tells of His desire to be united with us in a most intimate, and eternal, way. He could only express this desire if He also had the love which calls it forth. He gave his all of Himself on the Cross for the sake of this unity, and continues to give of Himself every day in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass.
Eucharist: Signification with the Passion of Christ
St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, “There is nothing in our selves or in our past that one Communion cannot more than repair – if we have but enough faith.” He further says, “This sacrament contains in itself Christ crucified. Whence whatever is the effect of the Passion of Our Lord, all that is likewise the effect of this sacrament.” St. Thomas also tells us that all the sacraments receive their power from the Passion of Christ, but “the Eucharist is ‘the perfect sacrament of the Passion’ for it contains Christ and the whole power of His Passion.”
Boylan so aptly puts it, “whatever our sins have done to us, the Holy Communion can repair; and whatever our sins have done to God, the Mass – which is part of the Eucharist – can restore.”
Pope Leo I tells, “The effect of our communion in the Body and Blood of Christ is that we are transformed into what we consume, and that he in whom we have died and in whom we have risen from the dead lives and is manifested in every movement of our body and our spirit.” The Eucharist is the visible presence of Jesus our Redeemer. Receiving the Eucharist calls for a transformation of self to the real nature of Jesus. Is there a transformation in me?
Eucharist in my life
I said, by consuming Jesus in the Eucharist we become what we consumed. To speak in terms of Indian philosophy, it is “aham brahmasmi”, ‘I am the Brahman’. I receive ‘brahman’ and the whole of my self becomes ‘Brahman’. Similarly, by consuming Christ in the Eucharist we become “Christ.” If so, we should be able to say like St. Paul, it is not I but Christ who lives in me. Do I have the courage to say that? Do I really have Christ within me? Do I see Jesus in each other? It is required that we reflect upon our lives and see the reality within me.
Does my daily Eucharist become a living experience for me and for others with whom I live, work, talk, meet, share etc? The people experienced ‘the Abba’ in every action of Jesus. Can I say that the people are able to experience the love, kindness, forgiveness of Jesus through me? Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” “The Father is in me and I in Him.” We religious are supposed to be witnessing to this fact. When I look into my life – can I say that the people encounter Jesus when they meet me?
Do I give Christ to others? Once I was discussing the conversion issue with my friend. He asked me why I would think that in India conversions now are less compare to yester years. Instead of answering his question directly, I just put a counter question to him. I asked; which milk do you think is nourishing and life giving: pure milk or the diluted milk? He said, “Pure milk.” I said, “You are right.” There was a time in the Church in India when the priests, sisters and catechists involved in the direct evangelization. They enthusiastically went to the villages and proclaimed Christ. I would say that they gave them ‘pure milk’, Christ to them. Now we are giving the ‘diluted Christ’. We have entered into something called ‘comfort zones’. We now play safe games.
My dear friends, whether you agree with me or not, most of us have become the victims to this ‘safe game.’ Recently while going to Ajmer, I went to Gurgaon on my way. I met a Claretian priest who was narrating me the amount of devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament taking place in the Family of Mani in Faridabad. The bishop of Delhi has permitted them to keep the Blessed Sacrament there in the family. The Claretian priest said that besides the people who gather there for the 24 hours adoration, about 7000 people gather every Sunday in the School there, most of who are non-Christians. It is a fact that lots of people are healed there from various infirmities. It is said; once a priest from Delhi was called to offer mass there. He had a wonderful opportunity to preach Christ to them. But then he was a bit afraid and so played the ‘safe game.’ When it was the time for homily, he told the people gathered there to close their eyes, to call to mind their own gods and to pray to them. The people really felt unhappy with the incident. They seem to have told him that they had already left their gods and come there to believe in one and the true God. They have come to receive Christ.
My dear friends, to play our safe games we have invented the alternatives ministries like education, social work and health ministry, where we give only the diluted Christ. Some times I wonder whether we really speak about Christ openly in such ministries. Most of you present here are involved in education, health and social work ministries? How often do you speak about Christ to the people in contact with you? At times we confine ourselves to the four walls of our building and say that we are on house arrest. Friends, let us get out and give Christ to others vigourously.
Last year I was speaking to the Junior Sisters in Allahabad on renewal of religious life. I asked them. ‘Some of you are teachers, some nurses and yet some social workers. How do you differ from other co workers?’ They were trying to give me some points which I was not very happy with. Then I said, ‘My dear sisters, you are called to be committed and to make a real difference in the lives of the children or people. You are not there as an additional source of income to your congregation or community. You are there to witness to Christ to whom you have dedicated your lives. If you are not convinced with this, you better take off your habits and go home.’ I know, friends, I was a bit hard with my reply. But don’t you think there are so many of us who just go about lethargically, without taking our call and mission seriously? Quite often we don’t realize that we tread on the wrong path. Once, a Sardarji wanted to go to Mumbai from Delhi. He boarded a train and slept in his berth. In the night he felt very thirsty and so got out drinking water. By the time he returned the train on which he was traveling had already left. And the train going to Delhi was at the same platform. He got into the train and slept on the berth which he thought was his. After some time, he asked the passenger on the lower berth where he is traveling to. He said, “To Delhi.” And the Sardarji exclaimed, “What a tremendous progress India has made in the field of Railways! The lower berth is going to Delhi and the upper berth to Mumbai.” Friends, are we off the track? Is the zeal within us dying out? Is the flame of commitment in our religious life quenching?
It is worth reflecting how many of us are really pastoral? You may ask me, what is the measuring stick to consider whether some one is pastoral? I would say, the more people come to you to receive Jesus or to solve their life problems, the more pastoral you are. How many people come to you for faith-direction? I know people come to us to seek direction in temporal matters. For example, if someone has to put up a building people might come to you to consult what kind of bricks are good, which cement and which iron is better, etc. Similarly, if some one is planning to open a school, he/she might come to you to discuss the method of going about or the method of maintaining discipline, etc. We have proved to be good administrators. Are we good animators too? Do people come to you to receive Jesus? If not, perhaps they do not see Christ in us. When I shared these notions with some fathers and sisters, they counter questioned me: you are saying we are good administrators. Are we really good administrators? At times, the good name of our institutions is founded on the goodness built up by the previous people. Aren’t there many others who run the institutions, may it school or hospital, better than us?
Wherever Jesus went he built up relation with the people. Even the tax collectors and sinners became his friends and disciples. With how many people have you built a good relationship? Isn’t our relationship only superficial?
Eucharist brings about a union: a union with God and union with people. Is there unity among us? Do the people, especially the teachers, doctors, nurses, animators who are working with us see us united? Is there a common planning and sharing of the responsibility? Recently, during the Vocation Sunday celebration at St. Joseph’s College, Allahabad I met a sister who was appearing very sickly and exhausted. I asked her why she did not rest and ask any other sister to accompany the youth. She said that nobody else was ready. Isn’t it something surprising? Even when a member is sick we are not ready to shoulder and share the responsibility. We think it is her/his duty, let her/him do it by herself/himself. It’s worth asking yourself: Do I love my sisters and safeguard their good name? Do I allow my sisters to use their talents to do some good to the society? Am I the victim of crab mentality? Is there a kind of collaboration within us? Do you collaborate with the Church and the Church personnel in your common mission? Many a time, there are religious who are aglow with zeal and want to give their best to spread the love of Christ. But the community in which they live is not open for such a reach out. Once, a sister asked her Mother Superior whether she could go for prayer service in the families with the parish priests. “Why not? Please go. But then be back by 6.30 for our community prayer.” “Mother, the prayer service is at 6.30 only.” “Oh! In that case I don’t advise you. You will miss the community prayer.” Friends, this is how, at times, we make options for our ministry.
Jesus broke himself to be shared with others. The bread that is offered today at the altar represents each one of us - our life, our personality, our body, our desires and convictions, our expectations and happiness - our whole being. If we wish to offer ourselves in sacrifice we have to be broken. Breaking ones' personality is much painful than breaking the body. When broken for the sake of becoming Eucharist, no personality is destroyed rather it is made whole through Christ. St. Paul considered everything as rubbish, so that he may gain Christ and be found in Christ. (Cf. Phil 3:7-9). Though He was in the form of God, Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. Therefore God exalted him high (cf. Phil 2:6-9). Let us also earnestly desire and pray that we get the grace to consider the gains of the world as rubbish and fulfill the will of the Father. For God wants all those whom he called to be confirmed to the image of His son (cf. Rom. 8:29).
Do I break myself for others? At times our selfishness blinds us so much that we forget that we are religious who have sacrificed our lives for the sake of Christ? Have you ever thought: what indeed have you sacrificed in your lives? Make a list of all that you are having and all that you are not having in comparison with the people. I am sure, we have not sacrificed anything except the fact that you don’t have a husband and I don’t have a wife. We hear at times people making comments: What do fathers and sisters lack in life? They have every thing … they have comfortable houses to live in, food on time set at tables to be eaten with forks and spoons, fashionable clothes to put on, variety of vehicles to move on, invertors and generators when the electricity fails, go home whenever they want etc, etc … It is indeed worth reflecting what actually we are sacrificing? If God has endowed us with all that is necessary am I bringing out a good result in utilizing my energy for the spread of God’s love. How committed am I to the responsibilities that are given to me?
Quite often as priests and religious we say that we have dedicated our lives for God and others. In addition to it we say, we have the preferential option for the poor. Is it really true? We have quite a number of our institutions which are a source of income to our diocese or congregation. The question is, for what purpose do we use the money which we collect through our institutions? Is it for our comforts or for the poor? How much of this money is really spent for the poor?
The wine that is offered resembles our daily sufferings- our pains, sicknesses, helplessness, the blames and criticisms we bear, the persecutions we undergo - our every day death. "For while we are still alive, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our own mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:11).How do we take our daily sufferings? How do we react when we are criticized, blamed, not given importance or misunderstood? Do we accept all these with the spirit of Christ, the innocent, yet silent sufferer? Mother Teresa used to tell the priests, "Father, the drop of water you add to the wine is me." She wanted to offer herself - her concern, her pains, the passion that ever ignited within her for the downtrodden and the lost - in the Eucharist, for her to become the Eucharist. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lords' death until He comes" (1 Cor 11:26).
I would like to end my reflections with an anecdote: Once there was an estate sale for a wealthy man who had just died. Among the items up for bid was a painting of a young man. As the auction progressed, all the furniture and antiques were sold off at pretty high process. But when the painting of the young man came up for bid, no one was interested, and the painting remained with the auction house. A maid whose job was to clean up the auction gallery saw the picture of the young man, liked it, and asked if she could have it. The chairman of the auction was all too happy to be relieved of it.
When the maid took the picture home that night, she found a piece of paper hidden underneath the matting on the back of the picture. On this paper, she found an inscription that said, “This is a painting of my only son, who died at a young age. Whoever owns this picture is entitled to all of the proceeds from my estate sale.” Now the maid who was freely given this picture was very much rich overnight.
God “gave his Son,” for us. Those who take Jesus into their hearts are entitled to a great inheritance from God.
Dear friends, let us make Eucharist meaningful to our lives. Let us LIVE EUCHARIST.
Fr. Isidore D’Souza