Pope Benedict XVI

The Eucharist
Sacrament of Charity

'OSTOLIC EXH

THE EUCHARI

TCE AND SUMr

IRCH’s LIFE Af



Let us encourage one

another to walk joyfully, our

hearts filled with wonder
,

towards our encounter with

the Holy Eucharist . .

.

— Pope Benedict XVI

Agnus Ima;

Wonder . .

.

The word reminds us of parents gazing on their new-

born for the first time, the joy of a bride and groom as

they commit their lives to each other in Christ, the sight

of a loved one returning home after a prodigal absence.

It is that sense of amazement, of awe, of joy quickening

our hearts, that Pope Benedict XVI calls us to experi-

ence when we participate in the Eucharist, “the gift that

Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us

Gods infinite love for every man and woman.”

Writing to Catholics worldwide— not just as a the-
ologian but as a pastor— in The Sacrament ofCharity,
the Holy Father explains that he wishes to encourage

“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.”

Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation

Following Pope John Paul IPs “Year of the

Eucharist,” bishops from around the world gathered

in Rome in the fall of 2005 for a special meeting

called a synod. The propositions that emerged from

this meeting were forwarded to Pope Benedict, who

used them as the basis of his “Post-Synodal

Apostolic Exhortation” on The Sacrament ofCharity

(available at www.vatican.va).

The Source and Summit

The Eucharist is both the

“source and summit” of our

spiritual life. As Catholics, our

faith is awakened by hearing

God’s word and “nourished at

the table of the Eucharist.” The

Eucharist is not only the para-

© Scala / Art Resource



mount sign of God’s presence in our lives but is also the

wellspring of our inspiration to live truly Christian

lives. Pope Benedict urges all Catholics to rediscover

this source of energy in order to transform our lives:

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.

Mystery of Love

It can be difficult to put into words the love one has

for a spouse, a child, or a parent— but the Holy Father
eloquently communicates to us the rich reality of the

Eucharist in our Faith when he writes:

In his sacrifice, his death on the Cross, Jesus

redeemed us from evil and death. “This is love in its

most radical form.”

“In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a ‘thing,’ but

himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own

blood.”

Through his gift of the Eucharist, Jesus gives us the

means of transformation through which “we become

sharers of God’s inmost life.” At the Eucharist, we

encounter in a tangible way the real and living God

who sets off “a sort of ‘nuclear fission’. . . which pene-

trates to the heart of all being,” transforming reality,

transfiguring the world, and transcending the bound-

Agnus

Images



aries of human limitation. Thus, when we receive the

Eucharist,

... It is not the Eucharistic food that is changed

into us, but rather we who are mysteriously trans-

formed by it. Christ nourishes us by uniting us to

himself; “he draws us into himself.”

This union with Christ, brought about by our

Communion with him, permeates our entire life:

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 rela-

tionship with Christ and as an offering to God.

With the Church as his Bride, Jesus makes his redeem-

ing sacrifice sacramentally present in every culture.

The Eucharist energizes our lives and serves as the

root of our global community as Catholics. “ . . in the

celebration of the Eucharist, the individual members of

the faithful find themselves in their Church, that is, in

the Church of Christ.” As members of this one Church,

with a common mission and common goal rooted in

the Eucharist, we go forth as one body to make a differ-

ence in the world.

What Our Souls Desire

Made in the image and likeness of

God, we are drawn spontaneously

toward beauty as the reflection of the

splendor of God’s glory. Pope Benedict

reminds us that the celebration of the

Eucharist, “like the rest of Christian

Revelation ... is inherently linked to beauty.” This

beauty is not “mere decoration, but rather an essential

element of the liturgical action since it is an attribute of

God himself and his revelation.” He adds:

This is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way

in which the truth of God’s love in Christ encoun-

ters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to

emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our

true vocation, which is love.



The inherent beauty of how the Eucharist is celebrat-

ed is reflected in the “sense of the sacred and the use of

outward signs which help to cultivate this sense,” for

“everything related to the Eucharist should be marked

by beauty” This includes the harmony of the ritual

itself; the vestments; the furnishings; the sacred vessels;

the music, especially Gregorian chant; even the space of

worship. All should combine to “foster awe for the mys-

tery of God.” We contribute to that beauty by the way

we participate in the Eucharist.

A Gift to Die For

Those of us who live where freedom of reli-

gion is a given must never forget our brothers

and sisters who are persecuted and sometimes

killed for their faith. Pope Benedict recalls that,

even today, men and women die as martyrs for

the faith, and “such worship culminates in the

joyful and convincing testimony of a consistent

Christian life, wherever the Lord calls us to be

his witnesses.”

Words and

Actions

The liturgy

of the word

and the

Eucharistic

liturgy “form

but one single

act of wor-

ship,” Pope

Benedict

reminds us.

From the Scripture readings, through which “God him-

self speaks to his people,” to the presentation of the

gifts, when “we bring to the altar all the pain and suffer-

ing of the world,” to the Eucharistic prayer itself, hand-

ed down “by the Church’s living Tradition,” to the final

dismissal, which sends us into the world on our “mis-

sion,” the Mass empowers us to live out our faith in

daily life. “Worship pleasing to God can never be a

purely private matter,” Pope Benedict says. “It demands

a public witness to our faith.”



W.P.Wittman

Extending his insights to

the practical, the Holy

Father reminds us that par-

ticipating in the Sunday

liturgy not only “is

demanded by our Christian

conscience” but also “forms

that conscience.” Sunday is

to be set aside as a holy day,

way or experiencing time, relationships, work,

death,” centered around the celebration of the

^marist. Setting aside Sunday gives new meaning to

both work and rest, keeps us from being enslaved by

our work, and fosters our being present to one another.

In addition, because our faith must always have a

public component and witness, the Holy Father

encourages the use of Latin, especially at international

gatherings, “in order to express more clearly the unity

and universality of the Church.” He also encourages all

members of the faithful to learn the more common

prayers of the Mass in Latin as a concrete way of shar-

ing in this sign of unity and universality.

Finally, he suggests that all the faithful pray the

Liturgy of the Hours and remember the souls of the

departed in their prayers and in Mass intentions.

Adoration,

Eucharistic Devotion,

and Reconciliation

In the Eucharist, the Son of

God comes to meet us; in

Eucharistic adoration, we go

to meet the Son of God.

“Eucharistic adoration is

simply the natural conse-

quence of the Eucharistic celebration, which is itself the

Church’s supreme act of adoration,” Pope Benedict

explains. He encourages all of us “to make time for per-

sonal prayer before the Sacrament of the Altar,” as well

as other devotions dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration.

He reminds us that the “meaning of the Eucharist

must include the call to pursue the path of penance,”

and thus, we need to partake of the sacrament of

Reconciliation as part of the process of conversion.

L’Osservatore

Romano



Participation without Reception

Participation in the Eucharist is more than

receiving communion. A Catholic is asked to

approach the Eucharist only after “an examina-

tion of his or her life ” If we, for whatever reason,

are in a position where reception “objectively

contradicts the loving union of Christ and the

Church made present in the Eucharist,” we are

asked to prayerfully and sacrificially refrain from

receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.

This is the case, for instance, with divorced

and remarried Catholics whose first marriages

have not been annulled, non-Catholic

Christians, and those who are in a state of seri-

ous sin.

Catholics in public life are also reminded of

their grave responsibility to stand up for funda-

mental values like the defense of human life

from conception to natural death, traditional

marriage, and parental rights in education.

What It All Means

It is easy for us to say

that the Eucharist is the

center of our lives; it is a

bit harder to actually live it.

What holds us back? Is it

that we don’t fully under-

stand this gift? Has going

to Mass become a routine?

Pope Benedict’s Sacrament ofCharity is a gift given as

encouragement to open our hearts to this great mystery

of the Eucharist— the Real Presence of Jesus, the Son
of God. It is a gentle and loving reminder that we can

always approach Jesus with an open heart, despite our

sinful and often doubting natures.

However, we are never to be “strangers or silent spec-

tators” at the Eucharist, but rather to be actively,

devoutly, and fully engaged in the sacred action. The

Holy Father explains that active participation “does not

refer to mere external activity” but instead involves

“greater awareness of the mystery being celebrated and

its relationship to daily life.” Christian life takes its



shape through the Eucharist, the Holy Father says:

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 Son of God. 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.

Jesus’ gift of himself is not merely an action; it is the

source of our lives. “We too cannot live without partak-

ing of the sacrament of our salvation,” Pope Benedict

reminds us.

The Wonder of It All

The Holy Father concludes by affirming that the only

true joy in life is found in recognizing the Lord is still

with us. Through the Eucharist, we meet the risen

Christ, living today in the mystery of the Church, his

Body, fulfilling the promise he made to be “with you

always until the end of the world!” When we fully rec-

ognize the Lord’s presence in the Eucharist, “What

wonder must the Eucharistic mystery also awaken in

our own hearts!”

The full text of the Apostolic Exhortation is available

at www.vatican.va.

For additional Catholic resources

or to order bulk copies of this pamphlet contact:

200 Noll Plaza • Huntington, IN 46750

1-800-348-2440 • Fax: 1-800-498-6709 • www.osv.com

Copyright © 2007 by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

By Woodeene Koenig-Bricker

Inventory No. P498

US $14.95
Photo

by

Stefano

Spaziani