The U.S. bishops hope to revive the significance of the Eucharist in the life of the Catholic Church. There is a deep concern that many of the faithful lack a proper understanding of the sacrament. Some recent polls point out this lack of understanding.
For example, a 2019 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center claimed that many Catholics had lost a spiritual connection with the Eucharist at Mass.
While more recent polls suggest that Catholics may understand eucharistic theology better than the prior poll found, there still seems to be a general lack of awareness about what the Church teaches about the sacrament.
This summer will see the conclusion of the Eucharistic Revival movement in the United States.
This three-year programme began on June 19, 2022, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, and it will conclude with the Tenth National Eucharistic Congress this Saturday in Indianapolis.
Changing perspective
One suggestion for reviving the meaning of the Eucharist, which I would like to propose here, is to shift our perspective on the sacrament.
Much of the current discussion concerns what we receive in holy Communion, focusing upon the host and consuming the body of Christ. Of course, this is necessary for a discussion of the Eucharist.
However, we hear less discussion about what happens to those of us who partake of the Lord’s Supper, namely, the expectation that we should be transformed by this celebration.
The Eucharist involves a receiving and a sending forth.
Indeed, in one promotional notice for the Revival, we read a statement from Pope Francis in which he describes the Eucharist as “a summons to go forth, as missionaries to bring the message of the Father’s tenderness, forgiveness and mercy to every man, woman and child.”
This statement seems to follow an earlier declaration by Pope St. John Paul II, in his 1980 encyclical “Dominicae Cenae” (“The Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist”). Here John Paul II explained:
“The authentic sense of the Eucharist becomes of itself the school of active love for neighbor . . .
“Let us learn to discover with respect the truth about the inner self that becomes the dwelling-place of God present in the Eucharist . . . (and) how the image of each and every one changes when we become aware of this reality . . .
“The sense of the Eucharistic mystery leads us to love for our neighbor, to love for every human being” (6)
Celebrating the Eucharist should transform Christians into compassionate missionaries for Christ who practice active love for their neighbour.
With this in mind, perhaps the U.S. church could gain a greater appreciation for the Eucharist from the perspective of the LGBTQ community, that is to say, from those who have been marginalised in society.
Jesus is for everyone
Jesus promised to gather everyone.
Upon his triumphal entry into Jerusalem — on Palm Sunday — Jesus announced to a crowd of people, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
In his Gospel, St. John explains, “He said this indicating the kind of death he would die” (Jn. 12:32-33). He would be lifted up on a cross.
Earlier in the Gospel, John records Jesus making another reference to being lifted up. He said, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn. 3:14-15).
Moses saved the Israelites by lifting up a serpent.
At one point in their long exodus through the desert, they were attacked by seraphs, poisonous snakes with a burning bite.
Moses pleaded to God for help. God instructed him to wrap a snake around a pole, hold it up high for all to see and those who look upon it will be saved.
Moses followed the Lord’s instruction. He wrapped a bronze replica of a seraph around a pole and lifted it up. Those who looked upon it were saved (Num. 21:8-9).
Jesus remembers the story of Moses as he imagines himself being lifted up for execution.
Those who see him and believe will be saved. There is a great irony here: the very thing that threatened people became the sign of their salvation.
When Christians gather to celebrate the Eucharist, Sunday after Sunday, we remember the body of the Lord lifted up for our salvation, and we remember his promise that he will draw everyone to himself.
For the Jewish disciples of Jesus, they would have remembered the Passover lamb, whose blood was painted on their ancestors’ doorposts, signaling their fidelity to the covenant with God and saving their first-born child from death. Jesus of Nazareth became the Passover lamb which saved his followers.
Re-membering
As we pray in the liturgy, “This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”
By this memory we are not merely recalling an event of more than 2,000 years ago. Rather, it is more like a “re-membering” in which we are made members once again with Jesus Christ and with one another.
In light of this re-membering, we recall the many people Jesus welcomed into his company who were shunned by the greater society.
For example, recall the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4:7-30), and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:29-37).
Remember Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who was desperate to see Jesus (Lk. 19:1-10), and the weeping woman who crashed a dinner party so she could wash Jesus’ feet (Lk. 7:36-50), as well as that most ungrateful young man, the Prodigal Son, whose father welcomed him home with a feast (Luke 15:11-32).
Either by law or by custom these individuals were considered offensive or outcast, yet Jesus shows us how God draws them into the eternal embrace and how they were transformed. Jesus moved beyond the barriers of social standards.
This movement illustrates what Pope Francis called going out to the peripheria.
The periphery of society is where we find those who have been marginalised, lacking a voice or any social status.
Jesus reached out to the people on the periphery. Those who accept him are transformed. So much of Christian discipleship is about being transformed by Christ.
- Thomas J. Scirghi, S.J.is an associate professor of theology at Fordham, where he specialises in the theology of sacraments and liturgy, as well as the theory and practice of preaching.