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INTRODUCTION
1. The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not
simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart
of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully
experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you
always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy
Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood
of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever
since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began
her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament
has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident
hope.
The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic
sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”.1
“For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual
wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own
flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life
to men”.2
Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her
Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the
full manifestation of his boundless love.
2. During the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 I had an opportunity to
celebrate the Eucharist in the Cenacle of Jerusalem where, according to
tradition, it was first celebrated by Jesus himself. The Upper Room was
where this most holy Sacrament was instituted. It is there that Christ
took bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take this, all
of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you” (cf.
Mk 26:26; Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24). Then he took the
cup of wine and said to them: “Take this, all of you and drink from it:
this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting
covenant. It will be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be
forgiven” (cf. Mt 14:24; Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25). I am
grateful to the Lord Jesus for allowing me to repeat in that same place,
in obedience to his command: “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19),
the words which he spoke two thousand years ago.
Did the Apostles who took part in the Last Supper understand the
meaning of the words spoken by Christ? Perhaps not. Those words would only
be fully clear at the end of the Triduum sacrum, the time from
Thursday evening to Sunday morning. Those days embrace the myste- rium
paschale; they also embrace the mysterium eucharisticum.
3. The Church was born of the paschal mystery. For this very reason the
Eucharist, which is in an outstanding way the sacrament of the paschal
mystery, stands at the centre of the Church's life. This is already
clear from the earliest images of the Church found in the Acts of the
Apostles: “They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (2:42). The
“breaking of the bread” refers to the Eucharist. Two thousand years later,
we continue to relive that primordial image of the Church. 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. Once again we see Jesus as he
leaves the Upper Room, descends with his disciples to the Kidron valley
and goes to the Garden of Olives. Even today that Garden shelters some
very ancient olive trees. Perhaps they witnessed what happened beneath
their shade that evening, when Christ in prayer was filled with anguish
“and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground”
(cf. Lk 22:44). The blood which shortly before he had given to the
Church as the drink of salvation in the sacrament of the Eucharist,
began to be shed; its outpouring would then be completed on Golgotha
to become the means of our redemption: “Christ... as high priest of the
good things to come..., entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking
not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an
eternal redemption” (Heb 9:11- 12).
4. The hour of our redemption. Although deeply troubled, Jesus
does not flee before his “hour”. “And what shall I say? 'Father, save me
from this hour?' No, for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn
12:27). He wanted his disciples to keep him company, yet he had to
experience loneliness and abandonment: “So, could you not watch with me
one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Mt
26:40- 41). Only John would remain at the foot of the Cross, at the side
of Mary and the faithful women. The agony in Gethsemane was the
introduction to the agony of the Cross on Good Friday. The holy hour,
the hour of the redemption of the world. Whenever the Eucharist is
celebrated at the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem, there is an almost tangible
return to his “hour”, the hour of his Cross and glorification. Every
priest who celebrates Holy Mass, together with the Christian community
which takes part in it, is led back in spirit to that place and that hour.
“He was crucified, he suffered death and was buried; he descended to
the dead; on the third day he rose again”. The words of the profession
of faith are echoed by the words of contemplation and proclamation: “This
is the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Saviour of the world. Come,
let us worship”. This is the invitation which the Church extends to
all in the afternoon hours of Good Friday. She then takes up her song
during the Easter season in order to proclaim: “The Lord is risen from
the tomb; for our sake he hung on the Cross, Alleluia”.
5. “Mysterium fidei! - The Mystery of Faith!”. When the priest
recites or chants these words, all present acclaim: “We announce your
death, O Lord, and we proclaim your resurrection, until you come in
glory”.
In these or similar words the Church, while pointing to Christ in the
mystery of his passion, also reveals her own mystery: Ecclesia
de Eucharistia. By the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the Church
was born and set out upon the pathways of the world, yet a decisive moment
in her taking shape was certainly the institution of the Eucharist in the
Upper Room. Her foundation and wellspring is the whole Triduum paschale,
but this is as it were gathered up, foreshadowed and “concentrated' for
ever in the gift of the Eucharist. In this gift Jesus Christ entrusted to
his Church the perennial making present of the paschal mystery. With it he
brought about a mysterious “oneness in time” between that Triduum
and the passage of the centuries.
The thought of this leads us to profound amazement and gratitude. In
the paschal event and the Eucharist which makes it present throughout the
centuries, there is a truly enormous “capacity” which embraces all of
history as the recipient of the grace of the redemption. This amazement
should always fill the Church assembled for the celebration of the
Eucharist. But in a special way it should fill the minister of the
Eucharist. For it is he who, by the authority given him in the sacrament
of priestly ordination, effects the consecration. It is he who says with
the power coming to him from Christ in the Upper Room: “This is my body
which will be given up for you This is the cup of my blood, poured out for
you...”. The priest says these words, or rather he puts his voice at
the disposal of the One who spoke these words in the Upper Room and
who desires that they should be repeated in every generation by all those
who in the Church ministerially share in his priesthood.
6. 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. To contemplate
the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the “programme”
which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium,
summoning her to put out into the deep on the sea of history with the
enthusiasm of the new evangelization. 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.
The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by him she
is fed and by him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of
faith and a “mystery of light”.3
Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in
some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus:
“their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Lk 24:31).
7. From the time I began my ministry as the Successor of Peter, I have
always marked Holy Thursday, the day of the Eucharist and of the
priesthood, by sending a letter to all the priests of the world. This
year, the twenty-fifth of my Pontificate, I wish to involve the whole
Church more fully in this Eucharistic reflection, also as a way of
thanking the Lord for the gift of the Eucharist and the priesthood: “Gift
and Mystery”.4
By proclaiming the Year of the Rosary, I wish to put this, my
twenty-fifth anniversary, under the aegis of the contemplation of
Christ at the school of Mary. Consequently, I cannot let this Holy
Thursday 2003 pass without halting before the “Eucharistic face” of Christ
and pointing out with new force to the Church the centrality of the
Eucharist.
From it the Church draws her life. From this “living bread” she draws
her nourishment. How could I not feel the need to urge everyone to
experience it ever anew?
8. 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. I remember the parish
church of Niegowić, where I had my first pastoral assignment, the
collegiate church of Saint Florian in Krakow, Wawel Cathedral, Saint
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 lakeshores 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. The
Son of God became man in order to restore all creation, in one supreme act
of praise, to the One who made it from nothing. He, the Eternal High
Priest who by the blood of his Cross entered the eternal sanctuary, thus
gives back to the Creator and Father all creation redeemed. He does so
through the priestly ministry of the Church, to the glory of the Most Holy
Trinity. Truly this is the mysterium fidei which is accomplished in
the Eucharist: the world which came forth from the hands of God the
Creator now returns to him redeemed by Christ.
9. The Eucharist, as Christ's saving presence in the community of the
faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the
Church can have in her journey through history. This explains the
lively concern which she has always shown for the Eucharistic mystery,
a concern which finds authoritative expression in the work of the Councils
and the Popes. How can we not admire the doctrinal expositions of the
Decrees on the Most Holy Eucharist and on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
promulgated by the Council of Trent? For centuries those Decrees guided
theology and catechesis, and they are still a dogmatic reference-point for
the continual renewal and growth of God's People in faith and in love for
the Eucharist. In times closer to our own, three Encyclical Letters should
be mentioned: the Encyclical Mirae Caritatis of Leo XIII (28
May 1902),5
the Encyclical Mediator Dei of Pius XII (20 November
1947)6
and the Encyclical Mysterium Fidei of Paul VI (3
September 1965).7
The Second Vatican Council, while not issuing a specific document on
the Eucharistic mystery, considered its various aspects throughout its
documents, especially the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen
Gentium and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
Sacrosanctum Concilium.
I myself, in the first years of my apostolic ministry in the Chair of
Peter, wrote the Apostolic Letter Dominicae Cenae (24
February 1980),8
in which I discussed some aspects of the Eucharistic mystery and its
importance for the life of those who are its ministers. Today I take up
anew the thread of that argument, with even greater emotion and gratitude
in my heart, echoing as it were the word of the Psalmist: “What shall I
render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of
salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116:12-13).
10. The Magisterium's commitment to proclaiming the Eucharistic mystery
has been matched by interior growth within the Christian community.
Certainly the liturgical reform inaugurated by the Council has
greatly contributed to a more conscious, active and fruitful participation
in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar on the part of the faithful. In many
places, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is also an important
daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness. The devout
participation of the faithful in the Eucharistic procession on the
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a grace from the Lord which
yearly brings joy to those who take part in it.
Other positive signs of Eucharistic faith and love might also be
mentioned.
Unfortunately, alongside these lights, there are also shadows.
In some places the practice of Eucharistic adoration has been almost
completely abandoned. In various parts of the Church abuses have occurred,
leading to confusion with regard to sound faith and Catholic doctrine
concerning this wonderful sacrament. At times one encounters an extremely
reductive understanding of the Eucharistic mystery. 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. This has led here and there to ecumenical initiatives which,
albeit well-intentioned, indulge in Eucharistic practices contrary to the
discipline by which the Church expresses her faith. How can we not express
profound grief at all this? The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate
ambiguity and depreciation.
It is my hope that the present Encyclical Letter 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.
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