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The Eucharist and Unity
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CHIKWE'S 2006 EASTER
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LENTEN PASTORAL LETTER - REND YOUR HEARTS NOT YOUR GARMENTS
2007
LENTEN PASTORAL LETTER - WEEPING FOR OUR POLITICIANS
2007CHRISTMAS
MESSAGE: HIS LORDSHIP, MOST REV. DR. V.A. CHIKWE, Catholic
Bishop of Ahiara Diocese
[New]
THE
EUCHARIST AND UNITY
Pastoral Letter: 1992
By
Rt. Rev. Dr. V. A. Chikwe
Bishop of Ahiara
INTRODUCTION:
The Church in Nigeria will celebrate the second National
Eucharistic Congress this year in Owerri, the Imo State
Capital in the month of October. The first of such congress
was held in Jos in 1982. This year’s celebration is
an occasion for joy and thanksgiving for the whole of Nigeria,
Christians and non-christians alike.
The Eucharistic congress can be described as the celebration
of our togetherness in God the creator, in Christ the Saviour,
and in the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. We cherish each
other’s differences when we gather together, growing
and living through the Eucharist.
In preparation for this year’s celebration, it is
necessary to remind all Christians the richness of this
gift from God, and our duty to others in the sharing of
the Eucharistic blessing. We are therefore obliged in this
short note, to give a brief outline of the doctrine of the
Eucharist and its effect on us all. We shall also show that
the Eucharist is the source and sign of unity. Unity is
relevant today in the Nigerian context.
Today, there are reasons to doubt our national unity. There
are anxieties experienced by many well-meaning Nigerians
about the future of the country. In fact there are uncertainties
about individual freedom and security. There are fears about
what tomorrow will bring to our Nations’ economic
and political life. It would indeed appear that the matters
of religion are still hidden agenda for those who hold the
office of decisive power in the country. There is not much
religious tolerance which should serve as a cohesive factor
for national unity. There are feelings by majority of Nigerians
that things are getting out of control. Many are loosing
their trust on civil authorities. What remains as the last
hope for the common man is confidence and trust in God who
in all, will never deceive nor be deceived.
The Eucharistic congress therefore remains us of our national
unity, our oneness with God the creator, and with one another,
our spiritual oneness and unity that are filled with hope.
This hope well sustained will assure us of our common goal
toward progress and peace.
There is therefore urgent need for prayers and devotion
to God, and the highest form of worship or devotion go God
is in the celebration of the Eucharist. This can also be
called the sacrament of love, of unity and sharing. It is
the centre of the Christian life. Through the Eucharist,
our nation may learn to be truly one though many in cultures,
they may learn to be their brother’s keepers, to live
together and share justly the abundant national resources
given by God inspite of our weakness.
This Pastoral letter is addressed to all men of good will
and particularly to the Christians of Ahiara Diocese in
preparation for the National Eucharistic congress.
DOCTRINAL
PRINCIPLES:
The Eucharist as a word means thanksgiving. It is often
used interchangeably with such words like Mass, or the Lord’s
Supper. When Christians celebrate the Eucharist they are
commemorating the Lord’s Supper, they are re-representing
the memorial of the Lord’s passion death and resurrection.
In short, the Eucharist is “the action of Christ and
the people of God hierarchically assembled”. (cf.
G.I. Roman Missal no. 1 and 7).
1.2
Biblical Foundations:
The Eucharist originated from the back ground of Jewish
tradition, but was instituted by Christ himself. The scriptural
sources which account for the institution of the Eucharist
are as follows Mk. 14:22-25, Mt. 26: 26-29, Lk. 22:15-20,
1 Cor. 11:24-26. From these sources came forth the Four
– ACTION process of what Christ did at the last Supper.
He took, He blessed, He broke, and He gave to be eaten.
The action process forms the nucleus of the Eucharistic
celebration in the present liturgy.
When Christians celebrate the Eucharist, they re-enact the
memorial of the Lord’s Supper based on what Jesus
did himself and not tradition of the Jews. This practice
is the re-representation of Christ Easter mystery, which
in fact binds Christians together in the bond of love. (cf.
CTS. Do. 448).
The church teaches that at this last Supper, on the night
He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharist sacrifice
of his Body and Blood. This He did in order to perpetuate
the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until He
should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved spouse
the church a memorial of his death and resurrection (SC
47).
This is the greatest gift the Catholic Church has received
from Christ. It is properly called the sacrament of unity
of love, or communion of heart and minds. What a wonderful
gift! What a mystery of faith where heaven and earth blend
and share each other, where God and mankind commune! This
is the Divine exchange, the blend of God-man relationship.
The reason for this blend is that God loves us and would
like us to love one another.
The
Four-Action Process and Our Liturgy:
The four-action process of Jesus at the Last Supper is present
today in the eucharistic celebration. “He Took”
is expressed in the whole offertory of the Mass where the
Priest takes the gifts offered by the faithful, and offers
them to God. The element that Christ used, Bread and Wine
is also used for offertory. The element is the body and
blood of Christ which is made present at the altar, (cf.
Jn. 6). The saying of Jesus in this passage should not be
given a mere symbolic interpretation, because He meant that
the bread was his real flesh and the wine his real blood.
“He
Blessed,” is expressed in the Eucharistic prayer beginning
with the practice. The whole prayer shows an act of gratitude
to God for his wonderful works of redemption. In fact the
Eucharist is called ‘a thanksgiving to God’.
He broke is expressed in the communion rite. The breaking
of the bread (Fractio Panis) has been the original name
for the Eucharist. This action of breaking shows that though
we are many we share from the same source of the Body and
Blood of Christ. When we share from one source – Christ,
we show our unity in him, through him, and with him. We
demonstrate our togetherness in Him irrespective of our
individual differences.
“He
gave” is expressed in the whole process of the distribution
of the communion to the faithful. Just as the apostles took
from Christ and ate, the faithful take from the celebrating
Priest the Body and Blood of Christ. Therefore, for Christians,
the Mass, or Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper or Liturgy,
is the action of Christ and the people of God hierarchically
assembled. It is a celebration of the Paschal Mystery, and
re-representation of the salvific even which is at the centre
of the whole Christian life. (c.f. G.I. Roman Missal art.
1).
The Church, has followed faithfully this action process
in formulating her liturgy. The entire eucharistic celebration,
the liturgy of the word, and that of the Eucharist form
a unit. (c.f. G.I. no 8). Thus the Mass gathers together
the people of God, with a priest presiding in the person
of Christ to celebrate the memorial of the Lord’s
last Supper. (G. 1. 7).
The Eucharist is a meal where the sacrifice of the cross
is continually made present in the church when the priest,
representing Christ, carries out what the Lord did and handed
over to his disciples to do in his memory (G. 1. 48).
The
Faith of the Early Church:
The faith of the early Church on the Eucharist was very
strong in such a way as to call the early Christians the
Eucharistic assembly people of God. The Eucharist was at
the centre of the life of the early church. Let us cite
some examples.
St.
Ignatius of Antioch:
St. Ignatius of Antioch writing in the year 110 A. D. said
‘Let no one be deceived: even the heavenly beings
and the angels in their glory and rulers visible and invisible,
even for these there will be judgment, if they do not believe
in the Blood of Christ” (FEF p. 24). In another instance
he wrote, ‘They abstain from the Eucharist and from
prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is
the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered
for our sins and which the Father in His goodness raised
up again … They who deny the gift of God are perishing
in their disputes” (FEF p. 25).
St. Justin the martyr writing about 110 – 165 A.D.
said that the eucharistic bread and wine is real food. This
food however should not be regarded as common bread nor
common drink but since Jesus Christ our Saviour was made
flesh by the word of God and had both flesh, and blood for
our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food
which has been into the Eucharist by the eucharistic prayer
set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and
flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that
incarnated Jesus” (FEF p. 25) St. Justin recalled
the same instruction given to the apostle to follow these
actions of Christ in remembrance of his passion, death and
resurrection (Ibid).
St. Augustine in one of his sermons, gave the explanation
of the wonderful divine exchange in the form of bread and
wine. “What you see is the bread and the chalice of
wine but what your faith obliges you to accept is that the
bread is the Body of Christ and the chalice the Blood of
Christ” (FEF v. 3. p. 32). This faith is not a blind
faith. It is faith based on our conviction that our God
is a living and dynamic God. It is faith based on trust
that even within our human limitations, our God is trustworthy
and cannot fail us. It is faith based on confidence, that
though human beings may fail, human inventions may fail,
but our God is infallible. St. Augustine argues that ‘those
elements brethren are called sacraments, because in them
one thing is seen, but another is understood” (FEF
3, p. 32). Our response should be Amen! that is I believe,
I agree Lord! When members of Christ’s Church say
Amen from this context, they are affirming the deepest truth
of their faith.
In general the Eucharist for the early Church has been a
public affair of an assembly of the people of God and not
the private devotion of series of individuals. It was a
sign of the unity of the people of God. It presupposes reconciliation
with God on the one hand, and reconciliation with one another
on the other hand. The Eucharist has a reconciliatory effect
itself and a force that heals the wounds of sins and disorder
between God and people, and people and his fellow members.
The Eucharistic prayer brings out this emphasis on unity.
May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ
be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit” (cf.
Canon 2).
THE
EUCHARIST AND MIDDLE AGES:
In the Middle Ages the great devotion to the Eucharist was
noted by the number of Church’s teachings on the matter.
This was a period of definitions. Many questions arose concerning
the real presence. The same teaching by the Early Church
was handed on but in the language of the time. What Justin
the martyr called the faith in the real presence was put
in another language called Transubstantiation. St. Thomas
was in favour of the language which came to be adopted by
the Council of Trent. This council teachers that ‘By
the Consecration of bread and wine there takes place a change
of the entire substances of bread into the substance of
the Body of Christ our Lord, and of the entire substance
of wine into the substances of His Blood. This change is
by the Holy Catholic Church aptly and sacramentally termed
Transubstantiation. This terminology has been misunderstood
by many people, Christians and non-Christians alike. Christ’s
bodily presence is real though in a mysterious and in a
sacramental manner. This is what Pope Paul VI called Mysterium
Fidei” – The Mystery of Faith. It is from this
we had our catechism definition of the Mass.
In line with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council,
Pope Paul VI explains that in the sacrifice of the Mass,
Christ is made present sacramentally. He illustrates in
deeper manner the Holistic nature and the entirely of the
Eucharist as a unit. Emphasis is laid now on the whole Eucharist
as the action of Christ and the people of God: This emphasis
did not do away with the old teachings of real presence
but to indicate the holistic nature of the sacrament. Christ
is present in his church in move than one way. Christ is
present in his church in more than one way. Christ is present
in his church at prayer: Matt. 18:20. He is the subject,
the object and content of our prayer, when the church prays,
Christ is praying for us as our Priest: The content of our
prayer is Christ himself, and we pray to Christ as our God
and Saviour.
Christ is present in his church when she engages in the
works of mercy and identifies herself with the marginal
section of the people – the poor and needy: Matt.
25:40 Christ is truly present in his word: when the church
proclaims the word of God, Christ is being proclaimed, the
word of God made flesh in the content of the Christ preaching.
The church cannot preach except through the name and authority
of Christ. When the word of God is preached, Christ is truly
present. This is why the Church is called the Assembly of
the people of God. God addresses them through the church
as the one flock with one Shepherd.
Christ is present in his church as she rules and governs
the people of God, not in any type of human government,
but in a sacramental nature. The power of the church is
not an elected, or self-appointed power, it is a vocation.
(Inspite of one’s weakness). The power comes from
Christ who was sent by God, and Christ the Pastor of Pastors
in harmony with the Bishops in accordance with the promise
he made to the apostles, as they exercise that power (St.
Augustine in Ps. 86, 3 PI. 37:1102).
Christ is truly priest in the Eucharist both in the Liturgy
of the word as the Church reads the word, and the Priest
explains them in his Homily. Christ is truly present in
a more sublime way at the liturgy of the Eucharist, when
Christ offers himself as a victim in the same manner that
the first oblation was offered at the last Supper. The significance
of this, is that its content is Christ Himself. That is
why the Eucharist is properly called The action of Christ
with the people of God. Sacramentally assembled, each in
his own capacity participating in the celebration. The presence
here is real not in symbolic categories or spiritual nature,
but substantially present, a real Emmanuel – God is
with us always. This is a wonderful divine gift –
which the Church has inherited and which is the source of
unity for the whole humanity a communion of the invisible
and visible in order to become one: The communion of brothers
and sisters in the world today that can make us Eucharist.
The Didache instructed that as we share in the broken bread
scattered on the mountains and gathered into one, so may
thy church be gathered from the ends of the earth into thy
kingdom.
St. Cyprian was teaching that the Eucharist was the source
of Christian unity – by noting that without the Eucharistic
assembly, the church cannot have its full meaning to the
world. He was therefore saying that without the Eucharistic
assembly, there is no unity and without unity, there is
not a church of Christ.
The Encyclical of Pope Paul VI inspite of the erroneous
doubts of the middle ages and the modern times, on transubstantiation
teaches that our Saviour is not only present according to
his humanity at the right hand of the father, after his
natural mode of existence, but at the same time he is present
in the sacrament of the Eucharist also by that form of existence
which is possible to God, though we can hardly express it
in words. With thought enlightened by faith, we can reach
it and we must believe it with the greatest constancy. The
reaching of the Church on the real presence has been constant
and after the Second Vatican Council, the emphasis shifted
to the whole of Eucharistic celebration or the whole action
of Christ. Devotion to the Eucharist has been encouraged
in all places to promote faith to the real presence. Adoration
and Procession with the Eucharist is being promoted all
over the world especially during Corpus Christi celebrations.
In our context, the carrying of the Eucharist to the villages
has raised the faith and devotion of the people to the Eucharist:
The doctrine of the real presence can also show that God
is always with his people. He is not only present on Sunday,
but all the days (moment) of our life.
ACTION
FAITH AND CHRISTIAN LIVING:
The Eucharistic congress calls on all Christians to live
out our Christian faith. Without living out our Christian
faith authentically, we cannot understand the meaning of
the Eucharist as an action of Christ himself. And what is
faith? It is a whole hearted acceptance of what God has
shown himself in one’s experience of life by the strength
of revelation. It is accepting that which leads to life,
which gives meaning to life. Faith implies conviction; when
one believes that there is God, and he is convinced that
this God is a living and dynamic God, there is nothing that
would prevent him from having communication with this God;
Faith implies dedication and commitment. The man of faith
is dedicated and committed to what he or she believes, and
is ready to make sacrifices: Unless you are ready to sacrifice
something, even your life, to what you believe, you cannot
be called a man of faith. Faith implies trust. When one
trusts in God, he is sure that even if the world is falling
there is someone behind him, who is Almighty and Omnipotent.
Faith is therefore a response to God’s call to all
of us especially in the Eucharist.
TOGETHERNESS
OF BELIEVERS:
The effect of the Eucharist congress is to see the immensity
of God’s creation in the diversity of cultures. Though
we are many, we differ in culture, tongue, and charism.
Yet we are under one roof of God’s protection. The
Eucharist unites believers in such a way that they are bound
in spirit in the bond of love because of the love of God.
To the Christian God is Trinitarian God who teaches believers
to be united as three persons in one God are united. Such
unity does not discriminate even superiority or inferiority,
but claims one’s functions according to one’s
call. The Eucharist should unite families, Parishes, Dioceses,
Provinces and infact the whole nation. A nation is family
that prays together in the Eucharist, grows together and
shares both joys and sorrows together. The Eucharist is
a Sacrament of unity, of sharing and of service to all who
are in need; Those who are separated by one reason or another
should use this opportunity as God’s time of reconciliation
and healing.
LOVE
OF ONE ANOTHER:
The Eucharist is an act of God’s love. God loved the
world so much that he gave his only begotten son as a ransom
for mercy.
Charity, they say begins at home, but it should not stop
there. Families should see the Eucharist as the source of
family convenant with God. The family or the seed of the
church, should constantly assess their togetherness by the
rate they are attached to this sacrament of love:
The Eucharist calls on believers to change their old ways
of life and be clothed in the newness of Christ in the Eucharist.
The more one participates in this celebration, the more
one is taken up by the love of Christ, and the more one
is possessed by God’s friendship. Our diocese and
our nation, need those who are God’s friends. Those
who are ready to make sacrifices for the sake of the next
brother or sister.
The Eucharist obliges us to obey a constituted authority,
since all lawful authority comes from God. We must obey
the ministers of the Eucharist, the civil authorities, and
the law of the land. Christians are obliged to spread the
effect of the Eucharist by inviting their families, friends
and relatives to the celebrations.
One becomes a witness o this wonderful exchange if one encourages
many around him to participate in the Eucharist especially
by encouraging children of age to make their first Holy
Communion, by bringing the lapsed Christian back to the
table of the Lord, or even by sending communion to the sick
or aged if you are a Eucharistic Minister, and if not, to
contact one who is to do so.
In order that the Eucharist becomes a part of us, it is
highly recommended that Christians should attend Sunday
Masses and the Evening Benediction - where it is celebrated.
Visits to the Blessed Sacraments and special devotion to
the Blessed Sacrament are ingredients, which prepare one
spiritually for the Eucharistic liturgy itself.
The other programmes associated with the Eucharist include
the constant reading of the word of God; constant reception
of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to be worthy to participate
in the celebration, constant reception of the Eucharist,
a deep sense of prayer and meditation. The recitation of
the Rosary before or after Mass and not during Mass, serve
as a preparation for the excellent celebration of the Eucharist.
The whole Church is grateful for this divine exchange. Let
us therefore practice this liturgy with care, reverence
and love to benefit what God destined for those who believe
in him – unity, peace and love here and hereafter.
May Mary the Mother of the Church pray for us to realize
these objectives.
THE
PRAXIS OF TOGETHERNESS:
-
Outdo one another in showing honour (Rom. 12:10).
- Live
in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16).
- Welcome
one another (Rom. 15:7).
- Admonish one another (Rom. 15:14).
- Greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16).
- Wait for one another (1 Cor. 11:33).
- Have
the same care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25).
- Be
servants of one another (Gal. 5: 13).
- Bear
one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2).
- Comfort
one another (1 Thess. 5: 11).
- Build
one another up (1 Thess. 5: 11).
- Be
at peace with one another (1 Thess. 5 15).
- Do
good to one another (1 Thess. 5. 15).
- Bear
with one another lovingly (Eph. 4.2).
- Be
kind and compassionate to one another (Eph. 4:32).
- Be
subject to one another (Eph. 5: 21).
- Forgive
one another (Col. 3. 13).
- Confess
your sins to one another (James 5. 16).
-
Pray for one another (James 5: 16).
-
Love one another from the heart (1 Pet. 1, 22).
- Be
hospitable to one another (1 Pet., 4. 9).
- Meet
one another with humility (1 Pet. 5. 5).
- Have
fellowship with one another (1 John 1. 7).
ABBREVIATIONS:
CTS
- Catholic Truth Society Publications Dogma 448
SC
- Sacro Sanctum Concilium Documents of Vatican II on the
Sacred Liturgy.
FEF - Faith of the Early Fathers Vol. 1, 2, 3.
MF
- Mysterium Fidei The Holy Eucharist (Encylical Letter
of Paul VI) 1965.
SD
- The Survival of Dogma by A. Dulles S. J.
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