Dear Brothers and Sisters!
"This evening I would like to meditate with you on two
interconnected aspects of the Eucharistic Mystery: the worship of the Eucharist
and its sacredness. It is important to take it up again to preserve it from
incomplete visions of the Mystery itself, such as those which were proposed in
the recent past.
["A unilateral interpretation of Vatican Council II has penalized this dimension, restricting the Eucharist in practice to the celebratory moment:" Simply put, we have lost the dimension of adoration of the Person of Christ as present in the Eucharist. No open churches, No benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, no 40 Hours, etc.]
1) "First of all, a reflection on the value of Eucharistic worship,
in particular adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It is the experience
that we will also live after the Mass, before the procession, during its
development and at its end. A unilateral interpretation of Vatican Council II
has penalized this dimension, restricting the Eucharist in practice to the
celebratory moment. In fact, it was very important to recognize the centrality
of the celebration, in which the Lord convokes his people, gathers them around
the twofold table of the Word and the Bread of life, nourishes them and unites
them to Himself in the offering of the Sacrifice. This assessment of the
liturgical assembly, in which the Lord works and realizes his mystery of
communion, remains of course valid, but it must be placed in the right balance.
In fact – as often happens – the stressing of one aspect ends up by sacrificing
another. In this case, the accentuation placed on the celebration of the
Eucharist has been to the detriment of adoration, as act of faith and prayer
addressed to the Lord Jesus, really present in the Sacrament of the altar [my emphasis]. This
imbalance has also had repercussions on the spiritual life of the faithful. In
fact, concentrating the whole relationship with the Eucharistic Jesus only at
the moment of Holy Mass risks removing his presence from the rest of time and
the existential space [my emphasis]. And thus, perceived less is the sense of the constant
presence of Jesus in our midst and with us, a concrete, close presence among
our homes, as “beating Heart” of the city, of the country, of the territory
with its various expressions and activities. The Sacrament of the Charity of
Christ must permeate the whole of daily life.
"In reality, it is a mistake to oppose celebration and adoration,
as if they were in competition with one another. It is precisely the contrary:
the worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament is as the spiritual “environment” in
which the community can celebrate the Eucharist well and in truth. Only if it
is preceded, accompanied and followed by this interior attitude of faith and
adoration, can the liturgical action express its full meaning and value. The
encounter with Jesus in the Holy Mass is truly and fully acted when the community
is able to recognize that, in the Sacrament, He dwells in his house, waits for
us, invites us to his table, then, after the assembly is dismissed, stays with
us, with his discreet and silent presence, and accompanies us with his
intercession, continuing to gather our spiritual sacrifices and offering them
to the Father.
In this connection, I am pleased to stress the experience we
will also live together this evening. At the moment of adoration, we are all on
the same plane, kneeling before the Sacrament of Love. The common and
ministerial priesthoods are united in Eucharistic worship. It is a very
beautiful and significant experience, which we have experienced several times
in Saint Peter’s Basilica, and also in the unforgettable vigils with young people
– I recall, for example, those of Cologne, London, Zagreb, Madrid. It is
evident to all that these moments of Eucharistic vigil prepare the celebration
of the Holy Mass, prepare hearts for the encounter, so that it is more
fruitful. To be all together in prolonged silence before the Lord present in
his Sacrament, is one of the most genuine experiences of our being Church,
which is accompanied in a complementary way with the celebration of the
Eucharist, listening to the Word of God, singing, approaching together the
table of the Bread of life. Communion and contemplation cannot be separated,
they go together. To really communicate with another person I must know him, I
must be able to be in silence close to him, to hear him and to look at him with
love. True love and true friendship always live of the reciprocity of looks, of
intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration, so that the
encounter is lived profoundly, in a personal not a superficial way. And,
unfortunately, if this dimension is lacking, even sacramental communion itself
can become, on our part, a superficial gesture. Instead, in true communion,
prepared by the colloquy of prayer and of life, we can say to the Lord words of
confidence as those that resounded a short while ago in the Responsorial Psalm:
“O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. / Thou
hast loosed my bonds./ I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving /and
call on the name of the Lord” (Psalm 115:16-17).
[The center of worship is the Person of Christ Who makes the gift of Himself to the Father for us. In the Old Testament, the priesthood of Aaron offered "things" ("the blood of goats and calves" Heb. 9, 12) to God. "But as it is, once for all at the end of the ages, he has appeared for the destruction of sin by the sacrifice of himself" Heb. 9, 26).
2) "Now I would like to pass briefly to the second aspect: the
sacredness of the Eucharist. Also here we heard in the recent past of a certain
misunderstanding of the authentic message of Sacred Scripture. The Christian
novelty in regard to worship was influenced by a certain secularist mentality
of the 60s and 70s of the past century. It is true, and it remains always
valid, that the center of worship is now no longer in the rites and ancient
sacrifices, but in Christ himself, in his person, in his life, in his paschal
mystery. And yet, from this fundamental novelty it must not be concluded that
the sacred no longer exists, but that it has found its fulfillment in Jesus
Christ, incarnate divine Love. The Letter to the Hebrews, which we heard this
evening in the Second Reading, speaks to us precisely of the novelty of the
priesthood of Christ [my emphasis], “high priest of the good things that have come” (Hebrews
9:11), but it does not say that the priesthood is finished. Christ “is the
mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 9:15), established in his blood, which
purifies our “conscience from dead works” (Hebrews 9:14). He did not abolish
the sacred, but brought it to fulfillment, inaugurating a new worship, which
is, yes, fully spiritual but which however, so long as we are journeying in
time, makes use again of signs and rites, of which there will be no need only
at the end, in the heavenly Jerusalem, where there will no longer be a temple
(cf. Revelation 21:22). Thanks to Christ, the sacred is more true, more intense
and, as happens with the Commandments, also more exacting! Ritual observance is
not enough, but what is required is the purification of the heart and the
involvement of life.
I am also pleased to stress that the sacred has an educational
function, and its disappearance inevitably impoverishes the culture, in
particular, the formation of the new generations. If, for example, in the name
of a secularized faith, no longer in need of sacred signs, this citizens'
processions of the Corpus Domini were abolished, the spiritual
profile of Rome would be “leveled,” and our personal and community conscience
would be weakened. Or let us think of a mother or a father that, in the name of
a de-sacralized faith, deprived their children of all religious rituals: in
reality they would end up by leaving a free field to so many surrogates present
in the consumer society, to other rites and other signs, which could more
easily become idols. God, our Father, has not acted thus with humanity: he has
sent his Son into the world not to abolish, but to give fulfillment also to the
sacred. At the height of this mission, in the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the
Sacrament of his Body and his Blood, the Memorial of his Paschal Sacrifice. By
so doing, he put himself in the place of the ancient sacrifices, but he did so
within a rite, which he commanded the Apostles to perpetuate, as the supreme
sign of the true sacred, which is Himself. With this faith, dear brothers and
sisters, we celebrate today and every day the Eucharistic Mystery and we adore
it as the center of our life and heart of the world. Amen.
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