As I See It

by Fr. Vin

The Eucharistic Feast

Earlier this month Bishop Murphy issued a pastoral letter entitled Do This in Memory of Me.  It contained instructions meant to make clear that “receiving Holy Communion” is never a substitute for praying the Mass with the “full, conscious, and active participation” that the Second Vatican Council called for.  He included several policies for making this clear, none of which affected us since we had been doing those things all along.  But his letter can serve as a reminder to us as well: Praying the entire Mass, not just receiving the sacrament, is what matters.  Through it Christ transforms us, over time, and opens eternal life to us.

As the bishop says:

The Eucharistic Prayer must be understood as being about more than only consecrating the bread and wine.  Rather, that consecration must be seen within the context of the act of remembrance that is the Prayer.  In the Eucharistic Prayer the Church recalls the saving activity of God as the Church acknowledges the wonderful things God has done to redeem and save His people, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We pray it so we can remember God’s saving action in Jesus, and in that prayer of remembrance the saving power of that event is made present.

(…)

The reception of Holy Communion is never just passively “getting” or “receiving” Holy Communion.  Instead, the reception of Holy Communion is the culmination of participating in the celebration (offering of the sacrifice).  There is an inherent interconnection between sacrifice, Real Presence, and Communion.  We should never sever the connection between receiving the Sacrament and celebrating the sacrifice; the two go hand-in-hand.  Receiving the Sacrament is the culmination of participating in the sacrifice.  In this sense, “receiving it” is a reciprocal reality: we receive Christ and in so doing, Christ receives us and presents us to the Father in the Spirit.

There is an inner dynamic of active participation in the Mass from the opening greeting and prayer to the Liturgy of the Word, through the Eucharistic Prayer to the rite of receiving Holy Communion which leads us all from the celebration out into the world to be witnesses of the one who has gifted us with His divine life.  We leave the celebration of Mass to become missionaries to the world, announcing the God News by the way we live and manifest his life in ours.

(…)

The internal participation of offering, expressed and deepened by external participation (vocal responses, singing, postures, etc.), is the heart of what it means to “celebrate the Eucharist.”  Both internal and external participation are necessary, since each one deepens and reinforces the other.

In the popular mind, all too often the purpose of Mass is still seen as an action simply to consecrate hosts; some people think their participation in the Eucharistic Prayer is all about watching the priest and then receiving Holy Communion.  They do not understand the need to offer themselves with Christ to the Father in the Spirit during the Prayer, nor do they understand that their parts in the Prayer (Introductory Dialogue, Sanctus, memorial Acclamation and Great Amen) are the outward signs of their participation in the entire Prayer.

The bishop’s words are worth thinking about: How fully do I take part in the offering of the Mass, from introduction through final blessing?  Am I committed to praying as the Church asks, in the tradition of so many centuries of martyrs and saints?  Until next week, peace.