EUCHARIST AS LITURGY

Points from “JESUS OF NAZARETH” by Benedict XVI.

1.     Liturgy of the Mass: pp 141 -143

2.     New cosmic: p 223

3.     New act of worship: pp 129 – 130

4.     Eucharist: pp 139 – 142

5.     Cross and Resurrection intrinsic to the Eucharist: p 142

6.     Institution of Eucharist: pp 115 – 125

Institution: 115 – 125 Institution narrative lies at the heart of the Last Supper tradition. Oldest tradition is Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians (1, 15), handing on the tradition he received concerning the Lord. The Lord’s own words are normative for worship. The text is true and authentic and accurate. It reveals the theological implication of the events of that night and highlights what is radically new in Jesus’ action. Be it noted that Jesus was a friendly rabbi and not a political revolutionary. No teacher or politician or revolutionary had ever said: “Take, eat and drink, this is my body and blood, given and poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

We cannot dismantle the texts according to our own preconceived ideas, but to let our own ideas by purified and deepened by his word. God is so good that whenever the answer is “no”, he opens a new path of love.

 

Viewed through the lens of the Last Supper and the Resurrection, we could describe the Cross as the most radical expression of God’s unconditional love, as he offers himself despite all rejection on the part of man, taking men’s “no” upon himself and drawing it into his “yes” (2 Cor 1, 19). Jesus’ message was shaped by the Cross. Consider the Sermon on the Mount: he speaks of persecution; he is rejected at Nazareth at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel at the very moment he announces the year of grace. This sets the scene of Jesus’ entire ministry. Yet there is no contradiction between Jesus’ proclamation of joy and his acceptance of death.

The idea of the institution of the Eucharist was entirely Jesus’. Only from Jesus did the Church community learn to break bread. “This is my body” (Mk & Mt). “This is my body which is for you” (Lk).  Jesus took the bread, said the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving (Eucharist), then he broke it and distributed the bread.

No one ever eats without thanking God for his gifts. The thanksgiving leads to blessing and to transformation. From earliest days the Church has understood the words of consecration as part of her praying in and with Jesus. Through praise and thanksgiving God’s earthly gift is given to us anew in the form of Jesus’ body and blood, as God’s gift of himself in his Son’s self-emptying love. Thus we can understand how the name “Eucharist” came to be applied to the whole new act of worship given to us by Jesus. Jesus “broke the bread”: function of the head of the family, who in some sense represents God the Father who gives us everything we need for life. It is also a gesture of hospitality. The act of distributing creates community. Outsiders are welcomed into the table fellowship. They become companions  - “com-panere”.

This human gesture acquires an entirely new depth in Jesus’ Last Supper through his gift of himself under the form of bread.

The “breaking of bread” designates the Eucharist. In this sacrament we enjoy the hospitality of God, who gives himself to us in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. Breaking bread and distributing it is attending lovingly to those in need. This is an intrinsic dimension of the Eucharist. Hence, “caritas”, care for the other, is an additional sector of Christianity alongside worship; rather, care for the others is rooted in worship and forms part of it.

“This is my body which is given for you.” Jesus is referring to his whole self - flesh and blood - person. Jesus is telling us: “this is I myself, the Messiah.” “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn 10, 18). His life will be taken on the Cross, but here he is already laying it down. He transforms his violent death into a free act of self-giving for others and to others. And he also says, “I have power to lay my life down, and I have power to take it up again.” He gives his life, knowing that in so doing he is taking it up again. The act of giving his life includes the Resurrection. Therefore, by way of anticipation, he can already distribute himself, because he is already offering his life – himself – and in the process receiving it again. So it is that he can already institute the sacrament in which he becomes the grain of wheat that dies, the sacrament in which he distributes himself to men through the ages in the real multiplication of loaves.

 

 

New covenant in the Blood. The blood of animals could not atone for sins nor bring God and man together. It could only be a sign of hope. The Blood of Jesus is the total gift of himself. In his blood he suffers to the end all human sinfulness and repairs every breach of fidelity by his unconditional fidelity. This is the new worship, which he established at the Last Supper, drawing mankind into his vicarious obedience. By vicarious I mean that he is standing in for us. However, we don’t leave him isolated, but stand together with him.

138: The Eucharist is also a visible process of gathering. In each locality, as well as beyond all localities, it involves entering into communion with the living God, who inwardly draws people together. The Church comes into being from the Eucharist. She receives her unity and her mission from the Eucharist. She is derived from his action during the Last Supper, that is to say, from Christ’ death and Resurrection, which he anticipated in the gift of his Body and Blood.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” What happened here for the first time was to be continued in the community. Something new and original, not the Passover or the Last Supper. Something new: the breaking of bread, the sharing, the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving, accompanied by the words of consecration. Our “now” is taken up into the hour of Jesus.

The definitive liturgical form would evolve in the life of the Church.

 

 

 

142: What the Church celebrates in the Mass is not the Last Supper; no, it is what the Lord instituted in the course of the Last Supper. (Remember that after supper Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, then only instituted the Eucharist).

144: Both Cross and Resurrection are intrinsic to the Eucharist. Without them there would be no Eucharist. From the Acts of the Apostles (20,7) we learn that the “breaking of the bread” (Eucharist) was already fixed for the morning of the day of Resurrection. So the Eucharist was already celebrated as an encounter with the Risen Lord. The day of Resurrection is the exterior and interior locus of Christian worship. Jesus’ thanksgiving prayer is the creative anticipation of the Resurrection. It is the Lord’s way of uniting us with his thanksgiving, blessing in the gift and drawing us into the process of transformation that starts with the gifts, and moves on to include us and the whole world “until he comes” (1 Cor 11, 26).

269: Emmaus: Jesus sitting down to table with the disciples, taking the bread, giving thanks and praise, breaking the bread, and giving it to the two of them. At this moment their eyes are opened, “and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight” (Lk 24, 31). The Lord sits at table with his disciples as before, with thanks and praise and breaking of bread. Then he vanishes from the outward view, and through this vanishing their inner vision is opened up: they recognise him. It is real table fellowship, and yet it is new. In the breaking of the bread he manifests himself; yet only in vanishing does he become truly recognisable.

 

238: the full scope of the Eucharistic worship must always be kept in mind. It is always a matter of drawing every individual person, indeed, the whole world into the loving Christ in such a way that everyone together with him becomes an offering that is, “acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15, 16).

239: Worship and sacrifice are connected, even unto martyrdom. “Even if I have to be poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (Phil 2, 17). Paul views his expected martyrdom as liturgy and as sacrificial event. In martyrdom he is drawn fully into the obedience of Christ, into the liturgy of the Cross, and hence into true worship. On the basis of this understanding, the early Church was able to grasp the true depth and nobility of martyrdom.

240: Our suffering: Martyrdom is the perfect union with the mystery of Christ. Jesus in his martyrdom became bread for us. This is an image of Christian life in general: in the trials of life we are slowly burned clean; we can, as it were, become bread. The mystery of Christ is communicated through our life and our suffering. The love of Jesus makes us an offering to God and to our fellowmen. Living out the Gospel and suffering for the Gospel, we Christians have learned to understand the mystery of the Cross more and more. We shall never fully understand suffering fully in this life. The darkness of sin and the holiness of God came together in the Cross. The mystery has become radiant light.

 

PRAYER (from World Council of Churches):

Everything is ready, Jesus Christ.

We sit around your table in hope,

and wait for the moment

of eating and drinking with you.

Lord, have mercy.

Your hands break the bread;

and hold it out for us to eat,

even those of us  who betray you.

Lord, have mercy.

You take the cup and give thanks,

the cup of our salvation,

the cup of the costly shedding of your blood.

Christ, have mercy.

but we wait for the meal at different tables,

we each claim you as our host, but not together.

We are not willing to share the one loaf,

We are not willing to drink from a common cup.

Christ, have mercy.

What will we do as we grieve?

What will we do as we await the day

of gathering as one around your table?

What will we do as we prepare for your meal?

Lord, have mercy.

We will share the loaf and the cup with those who have none.

We will gather together from the North, the South, the East and the West,

poor and rich together in community,

each one taking care of the other,

giving and receiving as a sign of your grace.

Be present as we eat together,

Jesus Christ. Amen.