Newspaper Page Text
May 20, 1982
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The Summons Of The Eucharist
BY DOLORES LECKEY
The Eucharist - the Mass - is central to
the lives of Christians in the Catholic
tradition. We come together, some each day.
And we offer to God the ordinary fare of
our lives, bread and wine, “the work of
human hands.”
In doing so, we remember Jesus’ final
days on earth. On the night before he died,
Jesus invoked a blessing: “This is my body.”
he said as he offered bread to his friends.
Then he shared a cup of wine with them
saying, “This is mv blood.”
Across the centuries and many cultures,
the church preserved and treasured those
words. The church believed from the
beginning that the bread and wine of the
table (and later the altar) really became the
body and blood of Jesus.
In the second century, Justin Martyr said:
“We have been taught that the food, over
which thanks have been given, is the flesh
and blood of that incarnate Jesus.”
Believers, even the most theologically
unlearned or most defiant, know that with
those words the bread and wine are no
longer ordinary. They are the Christ.
Television viewers or readers of Evelyn
Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” will recall
the scene when Julia, no longer a practicing
Catholic, is challenged by her lover, Charles,
to explain the “magic” of the Mass. “You
know it’s all nonsense,” he asserts. Julia’s
whispered response is, “I wish it were.”
Julia cannot shake the mystery of Christ
or Christ’s presence in the sacrament out of
her head or her heart. Perhaps she has
partaken too often of the divine food and,
bit by bit, she has absorbed too much of
Christ into the marrow of her life.
The result: She decides finally that she
must leave Charles and walk, alone, a new
path. (Both Charles and Julia are divorced.)
In Julia’s anguish one hears the echoes of
St. Augustine: “If then you are Christ’s
body and his members, it is your own
mystery which you receive.” Julia can no
more deny the presence of Christ in the
Eucharist than she can deny her own reality.
Julia’s story demonstrates how the
Eucharist reaches beyond our conscious life
into the hidden and unconscious dimensions
of our being. There, in our secret places,
Christ touches us. There our inner vision is
cleansed ever so gradually so that we come
to see with the eyes of God.
We begin to see that the incarnation of
Jesus, the Eucharist and creation are
intertwined. The world, and all that dwells
there, is sacramental - for it speaks to us of
God and communicates God to us. Like the
poet Tennyson, who saw God in every
flower, we know that God’s spirit courses
through the universe, from the fallen leaf
underfoot to the farthest galaxy.
Where does that kind of awareness lead
us? If we are willing, it must lead, I believe,
to a deliberate choice to share actively in
God’s creative and redemptive work in the
here and now. This has to be a conscious
choice, I think, for we live in a world not
generally given to the praise, thanksgiving
and reverence that characterize our
Eucharist - and that could come to
characterize daily life.
On the contrary, we live in a world which
pollutes the air we breathe and the water we
drink; where wealth is concentrated among a
small percentage of people and where
millions go hungry daily; where technology
and scientific achievement are often used to
benefit the few.
Ours is a world of terrorists and
revolution, where nuclear war is not only
thinkable but increasingly probable.
Those who claim to be Christians are
called to lead eucharistic lives, to forge a
counterculture of sorts. 1 think this means,
first, a fearless examination of all the ways
each of us inhibits God’s redemptive and
creative work.
It will mean naming and confessing our
own violence and irresponsibility. It will
mean approaching the sacrament truthfully
and humbly.
Only then can we begin to live in a
eucharistic way - a way that reflects what
the Mass means.
Only then can we begin to offer all that
we are and all that we possess in order to
create, with God, a world marked by
cooperation and unselfishness.
When Jesus broke the bread and blessed
the wine and gave it for all, he summoned us
to a new kind of communion. When we eat
his bread and drink his wine, over and over,
the summons bit by bit becomes clearer.
Eucharistic People:
Forgiveness Dimension
BY FATHER JAMES A. BLACK
(The Lord of the Eucharist heals, loves -
and forgives, as the following story by”
Father James Black recalls.)
The night had been unusually cold qnd
dark. He was glad the sun was up, melting
the chill in the air around him. He felt better
now about what he had done; he knew
everything was going to be all right, that his
life was back on course again.
The night before, everything had been
different. He and his men had been scattered
throughout Jeruslaem. They had not been
scattered by the enemy, but rather by their
own fear. Their leader had been taken.
Rather than fight to protect him and the
cause they all shared, they had run away.
At least he had ventured back. He had
joined a group of bystanders who were
warming themselves by the fire, chasing
away the chill of that cold night. But he had
been recognized and challenged by someone
in the group.
Actually, he gave no thought to
protecting his leader. He denied that he had
been a disciple of the man who was about to
stand trial. Then he denied that he had ever
known him.
Everything had been OK until the guards
brought the leader through the crowd. The
leader had looked at the man, knowing that
he was being betrayed again, and the man
had looked away. He knew what he had
done.
There was something about that look - it
wasn’t the look of betrayal, or revenge or
anger. It was a look of love. The leader’s
eyes had shown no trace of bitterness or
resentment. They had only reflected
continuing love,
What had happened after that was hard to
remember. The man had lost control of
himself. He ran from the crowd to a place of
solitude. He cried out in anguish from the
knowledge of his betrayal. He had been with
the master for so long; they had been
through so much together.
How could he have betrayed the one who
loved him? How could he be forgiven?
The day was still early, but it already was
growing warmer. The man reflected on the
events of the previous night, and the anguish
it had caused him. He thought especially
about the look the leader had given him. In
the early morning warmth, the man finally
recognized what it was: He had already been
forgiven.
That was what the look from the master
had meant -- he was already forgiven, if he
only had faith enough to see it. He also
knew that he too would try to forgive others
from that time on.
He wondered what had happened to the
other Eleven. Obviously, they would have
much to do now.
His thoughts were interrupted by the
sound of approaching footsteps. He
recognized his brother, Andrew.
“Peter, did you hear about Judas? We
found him this morning - he’s dead,”
Andrew said. “Apparently he died by his
own hand. We found his body hanging from
a tree.”
Peter turned away, unable to speak. At
least he had returned to see the master face
to face. He had believed in him and in his
message. With Judas it had been different.
Judas had never fully accepted what the
Master had been saying. It must have come
through to him all at once last night who the
Master really was. In despair, Judas had
turned away.
Judas had missed the biggest message of
all.
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IN DETROIT, a blind man, assisted by another member
of the Christian community, approaches the altar to receive
Communion. As the man joins himself with Christ, the
woman, too, by her service fulfills her commitment to the
Eucharist. Both their lives thus become linked with Jesus.
(NC Photo by Dwight Cendrowski)
Discovering Fuller Dimensions
BY KATHARINE BIRD
People in love naturally tend to express
their feeling for each other, repeating
expressions of endearment frequently. Few
would expect a single “I love you” to
suffice.
There is something about the language of
love which cries out for a response, notes
Nicholas Lash, a theologian at Cambridge
University in England. To assure another of
continuing love, Lash adds, it is necessary
“to renew the declaration, to reinforce and
repeat it.”
In some mysterious way, such statements
build love up.
KNOW
YOUR
FAITH
(All Articles on This Page
Copyrighted 1982 By N.C. News Service)
v
Lash uses that analogy of a couple’s love
to spark his discussion of the Eucharist in
the lives of Christians. He writes in a book
titled, “His Presence in the World.”
He points out that the earliest Christians
were sure they were in the presence of the
Spirit of the risen Christ. Today, too, when
Christians gather for the Eucharist, the
theologian writes, the same risen Christ is
present, shaping the people into his
community.
Coming to the Eucharist, says Lash, is the
way Christians respond again and again in
love and trust to Christ. In the Eucharist,
Christians renew and refresh their
relationship with Christ.
Father Robert Griffin, University of
Notre Dame chaplain, tries to give people a
sense that the liturgy presents a God who
loves them without qualification and is
waiting to help them deal with their
shortcomings.
The Holy Cross priest, who has celebrated
countless children’s liturgies over the years,
is apt to tell children: “Someday you will
remember what I am saying.” For he feels
strongly that Christianity is best understood
by adults.
In fact, he is convinced that people reach
an important conversion point after “they
have some personal experience with failure,”
usually after they reach adulthood. He cites
descriptions by British writer Graham Green
and the Russian, Fedor Dostoevski, of
people who had to get “to the edge of
damnation to be saved.”
For most people, it is only after they
become adults and have seen the results of
“lots of unhappy choices” that the need for
grace is really appreciated. At such times,
the role of the Eucharist can become more
apparent - easier to understand, Father
Griffin suggested.
The Eucharist is also an opportunity for
Christians to learn how to live as a
community of people who love one another.
The Eucharist acts as a catalyst. Often too,
when the Eucharist is celebrated, the needs
within a given community come to light.
Sometimes, for example, Christians are
reminded of the wealth of interests and the
wide range of needs within a Christian
community by hearing the concerns
expressed during the prayers of petition at
Mass. The actions of others in the eucharistic
community also call us to attention -
attention to the community as it really is.
An observant college student may draw
the community’s attention to the needs of
the poor in developing countries. Through
her studies, the student may be especially
aware of the wide gap between the rich and
poor in some areas of the world.
A high school student in a large
metropolitan area may be the friend of
people from several ethnic groups. Through
his behavior, he may stimulate others to zero
in on racial injustice.
A busy professional donates time willingly
on a regular basis to work at a St. Vincent de
Paul store for the poor. His behavior may
lead other Christians to similar action.
A member of the congregation makes it
her business to bring a handicapped person
to Mass each Sunday. She also helps the
person approach the altar to receive
Communion. By her service, this Christian
lives her commitment to Christianity.
At the Eucharist, then, the lives of those
who serve and those who have special needs
are linked by Christ.
And often we are stimulated by the
special gifts and concerns of others to look
more carefully at our own gifts and the ways
to use them.
LUCY THELUSNORD is
comforted by Narada Estrada, a
neighborhood resident, following a
school bus accident in Miami where
six students received minor injuries.
The eucharistic experience doesn’t
end with a wafer at Mass on a Sunday
morning. A commitment to the
Eucharist ultimately leads one to
share in God’s creative and redemptive
work. We are called to lead eucharistic
lives. (NC Photo from UP1)
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