21.

Eucharist
Introduction:

God desires to share Trinitarian love outside Gods self( ad Extra).

so God loved us into existence. Hi plan was to share his love and life with humans and
creation.

The climax of it reaches in the Christ event. It is this event ( gods love- on the
Cross self giving) which is celebrated in and through the Eucharist.

Therefore we call Eucharist as the mystery of faith or mystery of Trinitarian love. Hence
we can say in the Eucharist trinitan God shares his love and life.

What is Eucharist?

It is the ritual celebration of last supper.

The last supper has a connection to the Calvary. So Eucharist connectin to calvary goes
through last supper.

What is the significance of the last supper?

It is symbolic. Jesus gives himself symbolically to his disciples in the form of bread and
wine.

It is a self gift of God. Since Jesus is God its Gods self gift given by God in the form of
bread and wine and Calvary actualizes what symbolically tool place in the last supper.

In other words the last supper is the hermeneutical key for Calvary; that is an
interpretation of Calvary. Therefore last supper and Calvary are connected.

Today in the Eucharist we receive the same self gift of God. This self gift is once and for
all.

But there is a chronological gap(when) and a geographical gap(where)between Jerusalem

to India. So how do we receive the self gift of God?

We receive it by making present the same self gift of God through bread and wine. The same
Jesus is offering himself to us in the Eucharist. Just as Jesus offered himself to the disciples in
the bread and wine, he offers himself to us in the form of bread and wine.

It becomes

contemporary event for us.

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Therefore the life of Jesus becomes the animating principle in our life.

In this sense Transubstantiation (our life is transformed) must be understood.

That is we receive Jesus life in E and as a result our life is transformed.

Our life becomes E. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me ( Gal 2,20)

1. Among the 7 sacraments E has a central place.

The other sacraments are bound up with the E and are oriented towards it. for in the
blessed E is contained the whole spiritual good of the church, namely Christ himself , our
pasch( PO 5)

In communion with other sacraments the most holy E is symbol of a sacred thing and a
visible form of invisible grace

But E also has this unique mark of distinction that, whereas the other sacraments have
the power of sanctifying only when someone makes use of them.

In the E the author of sanctity himself is present before the sacrament is used( Trent ND
1516)

E is the source and summit of Christian life and mission( Lg 11)

Source of Christian Life:

a. Source means origin. E is the origin of Christian life.
b. Meaning of the Christian life is that we have life of Jesus in us.
c. We receive this life of J through the self gift of Jesus in the E.
d. So E is the origin of Christian life.
Source of mission:

The self gift of God that we receive is the E is for all

Jesus mission is to share the love and life with all.

We receive that mission of J in the E.

It is our mission now to continue the same in our lives.

Summit of Christian Life.

Summit means fulfillment or culmination

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In E we become united with the self gift of J Xt, the definitive expression of Trinitarian
love.

It is actively and definitively taking place in the E.

So E is the fulfillment of Christian life. It reaches its fulfillment in the E.

Summit of Christian Mission:

Fulfillment takes place in our mission. Every human person participates in this mission.

2. Instituted by Jesus Christ ( Mt 26/ 26 -29; Mk 14, 22-25; Lk 22/15 -20; 1 Cor 11/ 23 26)

The term E is derived from the Gk word Eucharistia which means Thanksgiving.
Jesus gave thanks at the last supper.

The synoptic present this as s passion festive farewell meal.

The origin and meaning of the E is derived from the institution texts in NT, namely.Mt
26, 26 -29 ; Mk 14, 22 -25; Lk 22, 15 -20, 1 Cor 11, 23 -26

These texts may not primarily be the historical reports on the institution of the E but are
certainly liturgical formulas used by the early Christian communities.

Mt and Mk are liturgical texts

Lk is as testamentary text.

Mt 26, 26 -29 ; Mk 14, 22 -25

In Markan tradition ( Mt and Mk) the last supper narration is in the form of a - cultic
covenant || to the Sinai covenant Ex 24, 5-8, I which blood is given a heightened
importance.

The covenant is sealed in the blood. Mk 14, 24; Mt 26, 28

Mk 14, 24 - the blood is poured out as an expiation for many.

Mt 26, 28 - the blood is poured out as an expiation for the forgiveness of sins.

Lk 22, 15 -20, 1 Cor 11, 23 -26

Lk and Paul have the same tradition (Antiochean )

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Antiochean tradition the last supper narrative takes the nuance of a covenant of
testimony.

Here blood is given only a secondary importance. The primary stress is on the covenant
the new covenant ( parallel to the covenant spoken by Jer 31, 31-34) ref Lk 22, 20
New covenant is in my blood( 1 Cor 11, 25)

Lk and Paul cultic service

John Farewell meal with a command to love as he had loved no mention of a meal or
memorial command.
Words over the bread :

Mt 26, 26 29 : Take eat this is my body.

Mk 14, 22 -25 : Take this is my body.

Antiochean tradition:

Lk 22, 14 -20 : This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

1 Cor 11, 23 -26: This is my body that is for you, do this in remembrance of me.

Words Over the Cup

Markan Tradition:

Mt 26, 26 29: this is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins.

Mk 14, 22 -25: this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Antiochean tradition:

Lk 22, 14 -20: this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

1 Cor 11, 23 -26: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of
me.

The reason for the changes is due to the liturgical context.

The NT authors are writing to different communities. Mt and Mk never felt the need for
adding eh word remembrance - as it was already practiced in the communities.

The E is a Ritual Meal

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For humans food is not only to satisfy hunger.

Food humanizes, creates relationships, and becomes a symbol that transcends the merely
sensible.

Meals have religious significance are normally structures as rituals.

a. Agrarian Feast( Feast of Unleavened Bread) :It acknowledged the providence of God
giving them food to sustain the people year after year.
b. Liberation from Egypt: Signaled the emergence of the political reality called Israel and
both feasts were seen as religious.
Gods action on behalf of people.
(The early Christians shared the remembrances about Jesus whom they knew like it was done
at Jewish Passover meal - how YHWH liberated them from Egypt Parellal to the the last
supper of Jesus.

Slowly they put together an order in their celebration and used their past experience of
religion that of Israel in shaping liturgy.

The notion of sacrifice, covenant, expiation and eschatology were interpreted in the light
of life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The disciple and the early church came to interpret the last supper as establishing a new
covenant in the blood of Christ for the redemption of all and so they continued the
practice of shared meals after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Eucharist as ritual meal

The account of the meal that Jesus celebrated is written by persons who have experienced
the risen Lord.

The Easter experience (Faith) enabled them to see the meaningfulness of the events at the
last supper.

Early Christians celebrated the Eucharist as a ritual meal when they gathered together to
give thanks to God (Father) for what god had accomplished in Jesus Christ.

They shared their remembrances of Jesus Christ and slowly they put an order into their
celebration based on their past experience of religion of Israel (Passover meal) and thus
gave shape to their liturgy.

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The notion of sacrifice, covenant, expiation and eschatology were interpreted in the light
of life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

3. E as a memorial( SC 47) of the sacrifice( ND 1555) that J offered once and for all (
Heb 9, 12; 25 -26)
Memorial: It is not mere memory but representing something. The self gift of J is made a
contemporary event and not a past event in the E (anamnesis it is to make the self gift of J
present)
Challenge: To make Jesus life present in our life all the time.
E as memorial:

E is a string remembrance (Anamnesis/memorial)of what Jesus did and integrating it into

our lives.

That is remembering the past historical event and making it as present one.

(Anamnesis/ memorial) takes place at 3 levels.

a. It recalls the past event (Passover Meal) having special significance with the life of J and
in the life of the church as well( Past Christ Event)
That is recall and relive it.
b. Celebration the present: Continuation of Gods action taking place today salvation in
the present.
c. Pre figuring of the future: ( fortaste) : What happens in the present has a reality in the
future( Esschatological Hope)

Eucharist as Sacrifice:

Eucharist as sacrifice - : is an expression of human persons self surrender to God who

accepts it.

Hence J sacrifice, once and for all- Heb 9, 12, 25 -26, was accepted by eh Father ( proof
resurrection).

Total life of J was a sacrifice to the father The death of J on the cross.)

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ND 1555: If anyone says that in the mass a true and a proper sacrifice not offered or the offering
consists merely in the fact that Christ is given to us to eat Anathema Sit
Heb 9/ 12 : he entered once and for all to the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Heb 9, 25 26 :

Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the High Priest enters year after year with
the blood that is not his own, for then he would have to suffer again and again, since the
foundation of the world.

But as it is he has appeared once and for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the
sacrifice of himself.

ND 1555: E as a sacrifice:
-- (CCC 1365 1368): the E is a sacrifice. The sacrificial character is manifested in the very
words of institution This is my body which is given for you and This cup which is poured
out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

In the E Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very
blood which he poured for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The E is a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross.

The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the E are one single sacrifice. The victim is
the one and the same.

The same now offers through the mystery of priests, who then offered himself on the
cross, only the manner of offering is different.

(Amos Prophet Sophorific Worship')

Memorial (SC 47) :

The E is a memorial of Christs Passover, the making present and the sacramental
offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the church which is his body.

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In the E prayers we find after the words of consecration, a prayer called the anamnesis
or memorial.

At the last supper J tells his disciples to celebrate the E in memory of him. Each time the
church celebrate the E , its remembering the past historical event that has been completed
in the life , death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and is making it present through an
action ( Liturgy) in present.

It is also an act eschatological anticipation.

Anamnesis has this sense; it I not only remembering something of the past, but representing
the past before God so that it becomes present.
Thus Anamnesis serves to bring out the basic aspect of liturgy.
Through the E , the worshipping community both recalls Christs death and resurrection and
makes Christs sacrifice offered once and for all on the cross sacrament ally present on earth.

4. The Church also recognize the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist ( ND 1526 -1527)

The general council of Trent ( 1551) says in 1526 - In the holy E the body and blood
together with the soul and divinity of J Christ is

- truly really and substantially

contained.

ND 1527: In the E there is a change of the whole substance of the bread into his body and
the whole substance of wine into his blood, while only the species remain change which
the catholic church calls - transubstantiation.

Change of whole substance of bread to Body

Change of whole substance of wine to Blood ---Transubstation.

Real Presence
a. Consubstantion
b. Anailation theory distruction
c. Transignification:
5. The E makes us conscious of our social responsibility to the entire world( ND 1580)
Nd 1580 a ( Mysterium Fedei)

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E worship forcefully moves the soul to cultivate Social love which places the common
good before the private good.

Let us make our own the cause of the community, of the parish of the universal church.

Let us extend clarity tot eh entire world so that people everywhere will know that we are
the living members of Christ.

Incarnation: is God sharing himself with us. E contains the aspectof sharing.

E compels us to share ourselves with others

To reach out to the whole world with love, care and wisdom.

commits us to the poor

To recognize Christ in the poorest.

We have a responsibility to build up his body on earth.

Go in peace is a command for mission.

Proclaiming the message of the KOG :

-Table fellowship

Conversion

Relationship with outcastes, sinners

Affirm equality and human dignity.

Doing good to those who are in need and not being restricted by the laws of the Sabbath.

Serve the less privileged.

Break down barriers that separate humans.

Destroy the walls that keep us apart.

In the context of India Multi religious we cant say that I take care only of Christians( This
attitude will be very unchristian)

In this way sharing our whole life with other Christian as well as other people.

Samuel Rayan speaks of whole earth is breathing mean there should be equal
distribution of the natural resources among the people.

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Teilhard de chardin speaks of the whole earth as an altar so ecology is very significant
- Bread and wine is the fruit of the earth.

Lot of ecological problems If no earth no Eucharist.

We are called to become co creators in Gods creation ( Gen 2,15 = till and keep)

If there is real sharing, all these problems will subside.

Eucharist is a sign of - unity forgiveness reconciliation growth Eschatological fulfillment.

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