Snapd
ragon
THE P RTAL
June 2015
Page 5
The Real Presence of
Christ in the Eucharist
Snapdragon turns his attention to the Eucharist
“Iwould like
to ask forgiveness in my own name and in the name of all of you,
venerable and dear brothers in the episcopate, for everything which, for whatever
reason, through whatever human weakness, impatience or negligence, and also through
the at times partial, one-sided and erroneous applications of the directives of the Second
Vatican Council, may have caused scandal and disturbance concerning the interpretation of
the doctrine and the veneration due to this great Sacrament”.
Pope John Paul II offered those
famous words of apology to the Church in his Apostolic
Letter Dominicae Cenae in 1980.
In that Letter he laments the fact that:
“Cases of a deplorable lack of respect towards
the Eucharistic species have been reported, cases
which are imputable not only to the individuals
guilty of such behaviour, but also to the pastors
of the Church who have not been vigilant enough
regarding the attitude of the faithful towards the
Eucharist.”
The Holy Father ended his apology:
“I pray the Lord Jesus that in the future we may
avoid in our manner of dealing with this sacred
mystery anything which could weaken or disorient
in any way the sense of reverence and love that
exists in our faithful people.”
and champions lace and Latin. I favour an “eastwardfacing” (ad orientem) celebration of the Mass, but I
wouldn’t go to the stake over it. What I long to see is
the Eucharistic liturgy, in whichever form, celebrated
with the dignity that befits the sacred mysteries.
For me one of the high points of the Mass is the
Sanctus because it lifts our eyes and hearts heavenward,
that is God-ward. “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts,
heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the
highest.”
The angelic cry lifts us out of any communitycentredness we may have fallen into and focuses our
worship completely on God.
The Eucharist is in part a sacrament of communion
between the members of the Body of Christ, expressed
liturgically in the offering of the peace and the
sharing of the Body and Blood of Christ, but we
Sadly, thirty five years later, and in spite of his have become way too horizontal in our worship. Our
subsequent encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, it could disproportionate community-centredness threatens
hardly be said that the Holy Father’s counsel has been sound Eucharistic practice, but it threatens sound
heeded and that matters have improved.
Eucharistic doctrine too.
I have non-Catholic friends with a highly symbolic
Many celebrations treat the Eucharist simply as a
view of the Eucharist who receive Communion with fellowship meal in which Jesus is received, and ignore
greater reverence than many Catholics who profess the vertical dimension of the offering of the sacrifice
belief in the real thing.
of Christ. Often the Real Presence of Christ in the
Eucharist is undermined by an emphasis on Christ’s
There is a widespread lack of reverence among presence in the gathered community of the faithful
Catholics still for the most beautiful and precious thing and, as a consequence, there is an emphasis on the
we possess. Sloppy, careless celebrations of the Mass Mass as an action of the gathered community at the
are so routine now that they are hardly noteworthy expense of devotion of the Eucharist outside of the
anymore.
Mass.
I’m not old enough to have known the days when the
Solemn Mass, bells and smells, adoration? “Oh, we
“Extraordinary Form” was the only form of the Mass, don’t do that anymore.” Too vertical. How on earth, I
so I am not hankering after it now – this isn’t one of wonder, can one express too much honour, worship,
those articles that demonises the “Ordinary Form” and love for Jesus in the Eucharist?
contents page