Eucharist Encyclical Provides New Ways to Discover Holy Communion

VATICAN CITY—“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist,” opens Pope John Paul II's latest encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Church of the Eucharist), released Holy Thursday, April 17. “This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church.”

ANALYSIS

An encyclical on the Eucharist is not likely to have anything of striking novelty in it—it would be surprising if it did. Yet John Paul's 14th encyclical does propose some interesting angles, as it were, from which to look at the Eucharistic mystery.

A Jubilee Program

“In a word this sacrament is, as it were, the very soul of the Church; and to it the grace of the priesthood is ordered and directed ... From the same source the Church draws and has all her strength, all her glory, her every supernatural endowment and adornment, every good thing that is here.”

That's not from Eucharistia but from Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical on the Eucharist, Mirae Caritatis (Wondrous Love). John Paul refers to that encyclical, published on Corpus Christi 1902—the 25th year of Leo's pontificate. A hundred years later, John Paul is following Leo's lead, marking his 25 years as Pope with an encyclical on the Eucharist.

The pontificate's 25th year gives Eucharistia a special significance, and the Holy Father indicates that he intends it to be part of his “program” for the Church in the third millennium.

“I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic ‘amazement’ by the present encyclical letter, in continuity with the Jubilee heritage which I have left to the Church in the apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte and its Marian crowning, Rosarium Virginis Mariae,” John Paul writes (No. 6), explaining his reasons for the new document. “To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the ‘program’ which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium. ... To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize him wherever he manifests himself, in his many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of his body and his blood.”

A Perpetual Sacrifice

Eucharistia is quite clear that the Church's doctrine on the Eucharist is unchangeable, formulated most completely by the Council of Trent (1545-1563), whose decrees remain “a dogmatic reference point” (No. 9) for the Church's faith in the Eucharist. Yet John Paul wishes to highlight a key element of that doctrine—namely that the Eucharist is primarily the sacrifice of Calvary made present.

“At every celebration of the Eucharist, we are spiritually brought back to the paschal Triduum: to the events of the evening of Holy Thursday, to the Last Supper and to what followed it. The institution of the Eucharist sacramentally anticipated the events which were about to take place, beginning with the agony in Gethsemane,” John Paul writes (No. 3).

What happened on Holy Thursday is what happens at every Mass; the sacrifice of Calvary is made present through the offering of Jesus Christ—truly, substantially present under the appearance of bread and wine—to the Father. There is only sacrifice—one Passion, one cross. On Holy Thursday it was made present in anticipation; at every other Mass it is made present after the fact.

“By virtue of its close relationship to the sacrifice of Golgotha, the Eucharist is a sacrifice in the strict sense, and not only in a general way, as if it were simply a matter of Christ's offering himself to the faithful as their spiritual food,” Eucharistia says (No. 13). “The gift of his love and obedience to the point of giving his life is in the first place a gift to his Father. Certainly it is a gift given for our sake, and indeed that of all humanity, yet it is first and foremost a gift to the Father.”

John Paul does not hesitate to speak of the Eucharist as “a true banquet” but underscores that what is being consumed is the sacrifice of Christ himself. The animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant were also eaten, but the sacrificial character remained primary. Eucharistia warns against obscuring this point.

“At times one encounters an extremely reductive understanding of the Eucharistic mystery,” it says (No. 10). “Stripped of its sacrificial meaning, it is celebrated as if it were simply a fraternal banquet.

“Furthermore, the necessity of the ministerial priesthood, grounded in apostolic succession, is at times obscured and the sacramental nature of the Eucharist is reduced to its mere effectiveness as a form of proclamation. ... How can we not express profound grief at all this? The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate ambiguity and depreciation.”

Apostolicity

Apostolicity is the principle “angle” from which Eucharistia looks at the Eucharist—and from this apostolic character several important practical consequences follow.

“The Eucharist [like the Church] has its foundation in the apostles, not in the sense that it did not originate in Christ himself but because it was entrusted by Jesus to the apostles and has been handed down to us by them and by their successors. It is in continuity with the practice of the apostles, in obedience to the Lord's command, that the Church has celebrated the Eucharist down the centuries,” John Paul explains (No. 27).

It is the bishop, therefore, as a successor of the apostles and as a member of the apostolic college, who is entrusted with the celebration of the Eucharist. This means that only a validly ordained bishop (apostolicity) in communion with the pope (collegiality) can be the minister of the Eucharist for the local Church.

“This minister is a gift which the assembly receives through episcopal succession going back to the apostles. It is the bishop who, through the sacrament of Holy Orders, makes a new presbyter by conferring upon him the power to consecrate the Eucharist,” Eucharistia says, explaining why only an ordained priest may celebrate Mass (No. 29).

John Paul's teaching in Eucharistia is that the Church can only have access, so to speak, to the Eucharist through the apostles and their successors because Jesus himself entrusted the Eucharist to them. From that starting point, the Holy Father argues that a lack of such apostolic communion excludes one from receiving the Eucharist.

“The celebration of the Eucharist, however, cannot be the starting point for communion; it presupposes that communion already exists, a communion which it seeks to consolidate and bring to perfection,” he teaches (No. 35).

Therefore, non-Catholics, because they are not in communion with a bishop who is a member of the apostolic college, cannot receive holy Communion, except in truly exceptional circumstances foreseen in canon law (which relate mostly to the Orthodox Churches).

Likewise, “Catholics may not receive communion in those communities which lack a valid sacrament of orders” (No. 46), which rules out all Anglican and Protestant ecclesial communities.

This same principle of Communion applies to Catholics who, through mortal sin or grave public scandal, have separated themselves from full communion with the Church. Sacramental confession is required before reception of holy Communion in such cases.

“The judgment of one's state of grace obviously belongs only to the person involved, since it is a question of examining one's conscience,” Eucharistia states (No.

37). “However, in cases of outward conduct which is seriously, clearly and steadfastly contrary to the moral norm, the Church, in her pastoral concern for the good order of the community and out of respect for the sacrament, cannot fail to feel directly involved. The Code of Canon Law refers to this situation of a manifest lack of proper moral disposition when it states that those who ‘obstinately persist in manifest grave sin’ are not to be admitted to Eucharistic communion.”

While no examples were given, relevant cases would include the divorced and remarried, those living in public common-law relationships and—as has been seen in recent cases in the United States and Peru—politicians who persistently promote abortion.

Eucharistic Adoration

The Holy Father indicates that a new disciplinary document on the Eucharist will be forthcoming from the responsible Vatican departments, which will “effectively help to banish the dark clouds of unacceptable doctrine and practice, so that the Eucharist will continue to shine forth in all its radiant mystery (No. 10).”

Nevertheless, there are positive signs, including Vatican II liturgical reform, which have “greatly contributed to a more conscious, active and fruitful participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar on the part of the faithful.”

In particular, John Paul notes that Eucharistic adoration is a growing practice, which says is the “responsibility of pastors to encourage, also by their personal witness (No. 25).”

“How can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heart-felt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament?” John Paul writes. “How often, dear brother and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation and support!”

Mass of All Time

In his own spiritual reflections on the Eucharist, John Paul broadens his vision—seeing in the Mass the whole sweep of salvation history, not only looking back but also forward to the end of time. He encourages Catholics to see in the Eucharist a promise of the future resurrection of the body that will take place at the end of time.

“This pledge of the future resurrection comes from the fact that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection. With the Eucharist we digest, as it were, the 's ecret’ of the resurrection,” he writes (No. 18).

Mass of All Creation

No priest has celebrated the Mass in as many locations as John Paul has as Pope—his numerous international pilgrimages are built around celebrations of the Eucharist. He writes of that experience in terms the cosmic dimension of the Mass—all creation participates.

“When I think of the Eucharist, and look at my life as a priest, as a bishop and as the successor of Peter, I naturally recall the many times and places in which I was able to celebrate it,” he writes (No.8). “I remember the parish church of Niegowic, where I had my first pastoral assignment, the collegiate church of St. Florian in Krakow, Wawel Cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica and so many basilicas and churches in Rome and throughout the world. I have been able to celebrate holy Mass in chapels built along mountain paths, on lake-shores and seacoasts; I have celebrated it on altars built in stadiums and in city squares ... This varied scenario of celebrations of the Eucharist has given me a powerful experience of its universal and, so to speak, cosmic character. Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation.”

Father Raymond J. de Souza writes from Rome.