1 ¿CUÁLES SON ESOS NUEVOS SERVICIOS?

Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis presents the importance of the Eucharist in the life of the Church. 176 _{This document is divided into three}

172 _{Ouellet, I, B, 2. Ouellet says that it is true that we can criticize a number of post-conciliar developments that left} a negative mark on the liturgy, the family, vocations, and consecrated life. However, we must acknowledge that the emergence of the ecclesiology of communion has borne abundant fruit in the areas of episcopal collegiality, synodality, the apostolate of the laity, charismatic and ecclesial movements, ecumenism, and the Church’s dialogue with the modern world.

173 _{Frank C Senn, "The Eucharist and Ecumenical Inter-Communion: Reflections on Ecclesia De Eucharistia," Pro}

Ecclesia 13, no. 3 (Summer 2004): 318.

174 _{The Eucharistic communion presupposes the communion preexists for its perfection. In other words, it demands} the bonds of communion in the sacraments of Baptism and Priesthood. Cf. II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Encyclical

Letter (April 17, 2003). AAS 95 (2003), 433-475, no. 38. See also John Paul II, "Word, Eucharist and Divided

Christians (General Audience, November 15, 2000)." The Pope says that the model for the unity of the Churches is the Holy Trinity, and sharing the Word and Table is a sign and expression of the unity. He also stresses that the Eucharistic communion is the expression of full ecclesial communion. But he doesn’t neglect the possibilities of other types of communion that can lead to full communion. In his encyclical on ecumenism, the Pope says that Christian unity is the duty and responsibility of all who have been baptized. Cf. Ut Unum Sint, Encyclical Letter on

Commitment to Ecumenism (May 25, 1995), no. 6.

175 _{Cf. Senn, 318. Senn argues that the full communion envisioned by the Catholic Church is the communion with} the Bishop of Rome, and so the Catholic documents do not say anything about the Eucharistic communion. 176 _{Benedict XVI, "Sacramentum Caritatis, Apostolic Exhortation."}

parts and this structure clearly shows the ecclesial and prophetic dimensions of the Eucharist: 1) the Eucharist, a mystery to be believed; 2) the Eucharist, a mystery to be celebrated; and 3) the Eucharist, a mystery to be lived. The first part says that the sacrament of Eucharist is the work of God and it can be understood only in faith. The document says, in the ecclesial life, faith and sacraments are complimentary, because “faith is grown in the grace-filled encounter with the Risen Lord which takes place in the sacraments,” and, on the other hand, sacraments are expressions of the faith of the Church, and it is also strengthened through the sacramental rites (SCar 6). Eucharist, which is a free gift of the Trinity (SCar 8), is always at the heart of the ecclesial life (SCar 6), because the Church draws her life from the Eucharist (SCar 14; cf. also

DC 4; LG 11).

The concept, “the Eucharist builds up the Church,” which was seen in the last two documents discussed above, is revisited in this document as well: “[t]he Eucharist is Christ who gives himself to us and continually builds us up as his body” (SCar 14). It says that “the

Eucharist is the causal principle of the Church”:“in the sacrifice of the Cross, Christ gave birth to the Church as his Bride and his body” (SCar 14).177 _{In the interplay of the two realities,} Eucharist builds up the Church, and the Church “makes” the Eucharist, the Pope says, and the primary causality lies in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, because “[t]he Church’s ability to ‘make’ the Eucharist is completely rooted in Christ’s self-gift to her… ‘he first loved us’ (1 Jn 4:19)” (SCar 14). Again, to show the inseparability of Christ (Eucharist) and the Church, the

177 _{See ibid., no. 14. The Pope explains it with the mystagogical catechesis of the fathers of the Church. The Pope} says: “The Fathers of the Church often meditated on the relationship between Eve's coming forth from the side of Adam as he slept (cf. Gen 2:21-23) and the coming forth of the new Eve, the Church, from the open side of Christ sleeping in death: from Christ's pierced side, John recounts, there came forth blood and water (cf. Jn 19:34), the symbol of the sacraments.” The blood that came out of the side of Jesus is a symbol of the sacrament of Eucharist and the water is of Baptism. In the ecclesial life baptism incorporates people into the Church, and the Eucharistic food nourishes the Church, the Body of Christ. Cf. Nichols, The Holy Eucharist: From the New Testament to Pope

Pope says that the early Christians used the same words, Corpus Christi, to designate Christ’s body born of the Virgin Mary, his Eucharistic body, and his ecclesial body (SCar 15). The Eucharist is presented as the root of the Church as a mystery of communion, and the fullness of sacramental initiation. One becomes part of the Church of Christ by participating in the

celebration of the Eucharist at a particular place, and the document says that this Eucharistic perspective promotes ecclesial communion, which is catholic (SCar 15).

The second part of the document deals with the celebration of the Eucharist, which is the greatest worship of the Church, based on the principle of Lex orandi, lex credendi. Benedict XVI says, “[o]ur faith and the Eucharistic liturgy both have their source in the same event: Christ’s gift of himself in the Paschal Mystery” (SCar 34). The Eucharistic celebration is the work of the

Christus Totus (SCar 36). He also says that Christ is the true celebrant of the Eucharist and the

faithful become fully members of his body through their participation.178 _{In the celebration of} this mystery, which “is a sublime expression of God's glory,” the earthly Church has a glimpse of the heavenly Church (SCar 35). Benedict XVI also insists on the active and fruitful

participation of all the faithful who share in the royal priesthood (SCar 38).

The last part of the document says that the mystery of the Eucharist is a challenge to the faithful to live out Christian charity. Benedict XVI says that the mystery we celebrate touches every aspect of our human existence:

The Eucharist, since it embraces the concrete, everyday existence of the believer, makes possible, day by day, the progressive transfiguration of all those called by grace to reflect the image of the Son of God (cf. Rom 8:29ff.).There is nothing authentically human – our thoughts and affections, our words and deeds– that does not find in the sacrament of the Eucharist the form it needs to be lived to the full…. Worship pleasing to God thus becomes a new way of living our whole life, each particular moment of which is lifted up, since it is lived as part of a relationship with Christ and as an offering to God. The glory of God is the living man (1 Cor 10:31). And the life of man is the vision of God (SCar 71).

The Pope uses the phrase of Saint Ignatius, “living in accordance with the Lord's Day” (Iuxta

dominicam viventes),which reminds the Christian to have hope of the eternal life and to engage the world with a prophetic life. As a faith community, for Christians, Sunday is the day to

“rediscover the Eucharistic form which their lives are meant to have” (SCar 72). The Eucharistic celebration that gives us communion with God is an invitation to build our communion with one another, the fellow members of the Body of Christ: “[c]alled to be members of Christ and thus members of one another (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), we are a reality grounded ontologically in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, a reality that demands visible expression in the life of our communities” (SCar 76). The communion also demands our Eucharistic and prophetic involvement in the society:

In the Eucharist Jesus also makes us witnesses of God's compassion towards all our brothers and sisters. The Eucharistic mystery thus gives rise to a service of charity towards neighbour, which "consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, affecting even my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ." (240) In all those I meet, I recognize brothers or sisters for whom the Lord gave his life, loving them "to the end" (Jn 13:1) (SCar 88).