The The ChallengesChallenges

of the of the EucharistEucharist

We Filipinos are spiritual

We easily believe in God.

Belief in “Gaba” is very prevalent in most

We believe in spiritual beings that are not seen – mga hindi tulad natin.

But…….• We tend to separate our spiritual life

from our day-to-day life.• Our life of worship is not very much

connected with our daily struggles.• We tend to keep God in his place

while we here below live by our own rules.

We can view the Eucharist in four aspects:

• As presence • As memorial • As meal • As sacrifice

Eucharist as Presence

1. We are comfortable with the Sacred Host.

2. We take comfort in the presence of the Sacred Host but we are disturbed by people.

3. We are indifferent to the continuous presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and more so to the presence of Jesus in the poor and suffering.

Eucharist as Presence

St. Alphonsus: “Of all the

devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.”

Eucharist as Presence4. Challenge for us priests:

John Paul II: “The celebrant must let the

mystery being celebrated shine out in such a way that the community can perceive that he is neither an actor in the stage nor an official doing a function but a believer in God with the ineffable presence of the one who cannot be seen with the eyes of the flesh but is more than real than all that belongs to the world of the senses.” ***We be present to our people.

Eucharist as Meal

1. We are comfortable with the idea of food and drink.

2. We are indifferent to being in the state of grace.

Eucharist as Meal

3. We do not easily accept sharing and communion.

4. Challenge for us priests: Do we feed the people with spiritual food also work to feed them material food?

Eucharist as

sacrificE

1. We are comfortable with the ritual of the mass, the unbloody sacrifice.

2.People now are indifferent to the concept of sacrifice and victimhood. So the idea of self-oblation is now foreign to many.

Eucharist as Sacrifice3. We are disturbed by people who live and die with conviction – we call them bigots or fundamentalists with a scorn.4. For us priests who offer this sacrifice of worship, do we allow ourselves to be broken, to be shed?

One contribution in the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist in

October 2005

“I urge you, then brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God, that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people.” (Rom 12,1.) This Pauline version of the new worship - as a total offering of one’s person - has definitely overcome any separation between the sacred and the profane horizon.

One contribution in the synod of Bishops on the Eucharist in

October 2005 Neither is it purely a sacrificial and reparatory act for offenses or distancing from the eyes of God. New Christian worship becomes the expression of renewed existence: ‘Whatever you eat or drink, and whatever else you do, you do it all for the glory of God.’ (1 Cor 10,31) Every act of freedom by the Christian is thus a call to be an act of worship.”

The Eucharis t as Memorial

1. It is comfortable to think of memorial as historical recovery, as thinking back on the past, a simple recall of what happened then.

2. Many today are indifferent about the past.

The Eucharist as

Memorial3. What is disturbing is the re-membering, becoming a member again.

4. The challenge for us priests who celebrate the memorial of Christ: Do we strive to insert ourselves all the more into the mystery of Christ?

The Eucharist as MemorialIn the biblical concept of

memorial , we enter another dimension of t ime that is not subject to our measurement, in which the future, i l lumined by the past, is offered to us as the unchanging present. In this way the mystery of Christ , Alpha and Omega, become contemporaneous to each person in every age and t ime.

The Eucharist as an open challenge to our contemporary

culture.1. In our present time when there is an atmosphere of

individual and social selfishness, the Eucharist reaffirms total self giving.

2. Where there is hatred and terrorism, the Eucharist emphasizes love.

3. Ours is a time of scientific positivism. The Eucharist offers mystery.

4. There is an air of hopelessness in many. The Eucharist offers the pledge of glory.

The Eucharist as an open challenge to our contemporary

culture.

5. In a time that stresses efficiency and puts a price on everything – even persons are tagged with a price – the Eucharist is thanksgiving: seeing the giftedness of grace and of everything.

6. Our mode of communication connects us with each other in real time. But the person we are in touch with is not present – an absent presence. The Eucharist offers us Real Presence.

7. The world of WTO, of Free Trade is the world of competition and selfishness. The Eucharist is an offer of selfless love that others may live.

The Eucharist as an open challenge to contemporary culture.

8. The world is ruled by those in power. The Eucharist is lowly service – “wash each other’s feet”

9. In the world of greater sophistication and complexity – there is greater sophistication in our relationships – in masteral and doctoral studies any small thing is blown up to great proportions to be worthy of study! The Eucharist offers us great simplicity – mere bread and wine.

Quote from Rev. Barry Fischer during the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist of October 2005:

“The communion achieved in the reconciling blood of Christ empowers us to be bridge-

builders, truth-tellers and healers of wounds. Our “Amen” when receiving communion affirms

not only the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; it invites us to be bread broken and blood poured out, life given, for the life of the world. We become, as it were, ‘living chalices’ carrying the Precious Blood of Christ, that

sacred balm,..

Quote from Rev. Barry Fischer during the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist of October

2005:

Participation in the Eucharist strengthens and emboldens us to dream a different history, to build a new world , a world that conforms to God’s plan for humanity, as revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 12, 1

I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

Romans 12,2

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformeD by the renewal of your minD, that you may Discern what is the will of goD, what is gooD anD pleasing anD perfect.

Maraming Salamat

Po!