Understanding Eucharist Step by Step

A YEAR OF GRACE
40th Anniversary of Eucharistic Congress in Bombay
1964-2004
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

2004, the fortieth anniversary of the 38th International Eucharistic Congress has been proclaimed as the Year of the Eucharist and Mary. To enable as many as possible in the Archdiocese to experience this year as a time of grace and renewal, we present a series of short articles on the Eucharist focusing mainly on the attitudes required by the post-Vatican Eucharist if it is to be celebrated in an active, fruitful and intelligent manner. In it interesting to note that the Eucharistic Congress held in Bombay was celebrated even before the completion of all the sessions of the Vatican Council. However, since the document on the Liturgy had already been promulgated, each day of this Congress [Eucharist and the New Man] was set aside for the celebration of one of the seven Sacraments according to the teaching of this document. In that sense, Bombay has been a pioneer in the implementation of Vatican II liturgical requirements.

Yet, the following statement of John Haughey invites us to reflect seriously: “I am convinced that Christianity is an explosion still to go off, a revolutionary idea still to be comprehended, a banquet in time and history that has been barely nibbled at, and a source of social change the dimensions of which are not even being dreamed of… These potentialities remain stuck in the still-to-be status because of the way we go about Eucharist – what we bring to it, what we bring from it. For that reason I think Christianity’s potentiality will move to actuality only if the Eucharist is celebrated in a different way and with a different perspective (emphasis mine) than it ordinarily is today. What we need is not to devise alternative forms of worship, but to … worship according to the alternative we have become in Christ.”

Against this background it would be helpful to see whether in these forty years, we have been able to maintain the spirit of Vatican teaching on the Eucharist and the theme of the Congress in our Archdiocese. How much of the “New Man” is evident in our liturgies? Are there any key attitudes that still need changing or updating to make our Eucharistic celebrations more explosive? We present some of the key paradigm shifts prescribed by Vatican II and invite our readers to see how much they have become part and parcel of our liturgical thinking and living.

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New Vision of God

We begin our reflections from the source of all our life and happiness: God himself. In the pre-Vatican approach to worship and life, God was seen largely as ‘up there’ or ‘out there’, rather distant and uninvolved in our day-to-day affairs. He was taken as the infinitely holy and all-powerful God who abhorred sinfulness. Knowing our tendency to sin, we too generally kept God at a safe distance unless, of course, we found ourselves in absolutely desperate circumstances. Our relationship with God was that of an abject beggar towards his powerful and wealthy benefactor. It consisted chiefly of spiritual endeavours to keep God favourably disposed towards us, and enable us to continue obtaining his favours and blessings. Novenas, pilgrimages, ascetical practices like fasting, prayers recited at special moments of the day, intercession to the saints and Our Lady – all these added to our arsenal, as it were. The latest means, be it a novena or some particular devotion pronounced as being powerful before God, was immediately added to our repertoire of daily or weekly practices.

The God we related to was generally a God of strict justice, though at times we would hesitantly acknowledge that he does love us too, especially when we found ourselves favoured in extraordinary ways. He demands moral uprightness of us, and tolerates no weakness: perfection is the ideal, upheld by the saints whose lives are admirable though not often imitable. God did send his Son Jesus to save us, but that salvation was a ‘costly grace’ understood largely in terms of paying the ‘price’ of sin on behalf of sinful mankind. In other words, forgiveness was available but only at a price, paid by someone to a relentless Judge. The sacramental system entered into our lives from the very beginning, because at birth itself we were tainted with Adam’s ‘original sin’ which if not remitted through baptism would entail our being cast into Limbo. The baptized who ended up in Purgatory because their debts of sin had not been completely wiped out, had to made amends there. They could, of course, be aided by their relatives and well-wishers who offered up prayers and sacrifices on their behalf. Once their debts were paid off, they were released, and they in turn would help the needy on earth. Further sacraments especially Eucharist (Mass, in those days) and Confession helped us make our jagged journey to heaven as best we could. There was “Extreme Unction” to assist those on the brink of death to navigate the treacherous border – if they were privileged to receive it. In general sacraments were ‘remedies’ for sin, almost passively received and not affecting our daily life on earth overmuch.

The Church was taken to be the dispenser of God’s graces and gifts, a vigilant mother who safeguarded the ‘Truth’ which all had to adhere to unquestioningly. The Church and particularly the hierarchy, was the visible representative of God/Jesus here on earth. In general, She too reflected the stern image of an impersonal and strict Judge. Severe aberrations were punished with excommunication, while lesser ones, of course, were to be submitted to ‘the power of the keys’ in Confession. Almost all pastoral work consisted of different ways of keeping the flock out of sin.

All in all, it was a perfectly logical system that was built up over the years, yet poorly matching the inspiring and liberating teaching of Jesus in the Gospels. But most Christians hardly ever read the Bible in that era, and even if they did, they settled for a more or less literal understanding of the text. Hence, very few saw and felt the refreshing difference of Jesus’ teaching. In the inaugural speeches of John the Baptist and Jesus, Luke introduces a telling contrast between the old and new approaches to God. John came thundering against the people exhorting them to ‘produce fruits of repentance’ else they would merit God’s punishment. The Messiah, he told them, had his winnowing fan in his hand and would spare no one; he was going to separate the wheat from the chaff, consigning the latter to the fires of hell. John’s preaching produced instant results, for several groups came to him enquiring what they should do to avert such severe punishment.

Jesus however, began his ministry with the encouraging message that this was the ‘year of the Lord’s favour’, the Jubilee year in which God himself offered the gift of forgiveness of all peoples. All they had to do was to accept this gift through their repentance and live as God’s children. The inveterate sinners who heard him readily flocked round him since in the old system they stood no chance of ever obtaining forgiveness. The only possible way the system provided was through the offering of a sin-offering. But since they were sinners [think of a prostitute using this approach] the money with which they would have purchased the animals for sacrifice was considered as tainted and hence not permitted for a sacrifice. Thus, they had no way out. Imagine their relief when they heard the message of Jesus about God’s unilateral gift of forgiveness. Besides, Jesus welcomed such sinners to his table and dined with them – a sure sign that they were acceptable even to God. For to share a meal is to show solidarity with the host, and they instinctively knew that Jesus was from God, even if they did not see him clearly as the ‘Son of God.’

In asking us to return to the Gospels, this is the loving and forgiving God, our ‘father’ that Vatican II encourages us to encounter. But do we? What is the image of God that we bring with us to the Eucharist?

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Practical Applications

If we were conscious of coming into the presence of the all-loving and forgiving God, wouldn’t there be a sense of joyful gratitude that would pervade our celebrations? We would have nothing to fear as we come into his presence for he awaits us with open arms like the father of the prodigal son. Besides, he it is who calls for the celebration to mark our return to him. His very graciousness touches us deeply and evokes a profound and lasting change from within like that of Zacchaeus. Again, when God has been so generous in offering us the gift of forgiveness, would we too not be ready to forgive others? Could we be like the unforgiving servant of Jesus’ parable?

When we look at our assemblies celebrating Eucharist in our parishes today, we see that our approach is still a fear-ridden one. Our singing in general, befits more a funeral service than a joyful and grateful celebration of God’s mercy and love. Our almost total lack of openness to one another during the celebration again indicates that we are not at home in his presence. And what does our complete lack of spontaneity in prayer or behaviour tell us about our relationship with God? In the entire Eucharist, the Celebrant does not make even a single prayer of his own accord and what he prays often doesn’t vibe with the sentiments of this particular celebrating community.

With these few pointers for a start, is there something we need to do in this year of grace, to make our Eucharist more worthy of the Father Jesus came to reveal to us? Maybe, this question could be taken up in small groups, even in our families gathered round the table. Unless we are all together determined to do something special in this year, it will come and go, passing us by leaving no trace at all. “If only you knew the time of your visitation…”

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2. The Christian Identity
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

In our attempts to see how far Vatican II teaching influences our celebration of the Eucharist, we now turn to our self-image as Christians. Eucharist, as also all things spiritual, has to deal mainly with God and ourselves and so, our understanding of both these needs to be on the same wave-length.

Who is a Christian?

As we look at the persons Jesus called to be his disciples, we notice that he chose very simple ordinary folk. A good example would be Levi who was actually a tax-collector, belonging to a group that was despised and hated by the Jews in general. Peter when called immediately acknowledged himself to be a sinner – yet Jesus persisted in calling him and even changed his name to Peter, giving him a new identity.

Those who leave everything (their old sinful way of life) to follow Christ, join the bridegroom in a fellowship and solidarity of rejoicing. As Christ’s followers, they are on a different plane altogether: no longer outcasts or slaves, they belong to the household as children. They certainly would have periods of ‘fasting’ (suffering, adversity, disappointment and the like) but these are simply stepping stones to glory, the direct consequences of their choice to accept the invitation to be guests at the wedding of the Son. Their fasting is certainly not a plea to obtain God’s forgiveness, made in gloomy and slavish obedience to a law. Even as they fast, they rejoice – ‘pour oil on your head and wash your face,’ because they know they have been forgiven. This is the “Good News” that Jesus has come to announce. The Christian way of life is a way of rejoicing amidst sorrow. Elsewhere, Jesus compares the Christian life to a woman in travail – caught up in pain, yet deeply rejoicing. This joy, Jesus assures us, is profound and permanent; no one will ever take it away from us.

This then is the image (paradigm) of Christian living as Jesus taught it: we are called as sinners, but are forgiven the moment we genuinely acknowledge our sinfulness and accept God’s invitation to share life with him. This acceptance is not possible without repentance – a thorough, radical and personal change of mind and attitude, as also of life-style in keeping with our new dignity as God’s children. Re-instated as sons and daughters, we are ushered into the Kingdom, to celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb. As long as we are one with Christ and do not foolishly choose to go away from the Father’s house again, we belong to the Kingdom because the Father, in his gracious love, has gifted it to us and no one can take it away. Our habitual stance towards life is one of joy.

Even at, and especially at, the Eucharist then, the greatest challenge before us is to keep the contrasting elements in balance: joy, festivity, the thrill of being and belonging to the household of God, with the existential and realistic awareness of our painful limitations and sinfulness. It calls for a real conviction that when we sincerely follow the Lord with our hearts clearly set on the kingdom, all the rest will be granted to us – not just material blessings, but the Kingdom itself and its covenantal relationship with God. In practice, the presence or absence of material blessings makes no difference to the Christian, because unlike the Jews, his closeness to the Father is no longer measured in terms of these visible blessings and gifts. So, we can celebrate even with a tiny piece of bread (only five loaves and two fish were available at the feeding of the five thousand) and a few drops of wine because a deep peace and joy pervade our lives as God’s children and we can live in harmony with the whole of creation. In fact, it is this kind of ambivalence that keeps us reminded that our earthly Eucharist will always be stamped with the Cross, with real want and suffering – and so we cry out even as we celebrate: Marana tha – ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ (1 Cor. 16:22). The fullness of his joy and peace await us at the completion of the Kingdom.

If our Christian lives today are characterized by a morose and fatalistic sense of being overwhelmed by sin, by a plethora of novenas and other devotions, all aimed at obtaining forgiveness for which we plead like forlorn outcastes, by our frantic efforts to secure ourselves against “God’s wrath” - could it be that we have not really heard the Good News of Jesus yet, that we do not yet feel secure in the Father’s unconditional love of us? Or should we say that having tasted the old wine, we just refuse to accept the new wine of Jesus and store it in totally new skins?

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Christian Identity versus Jewish Identity

We will appreciate our identity as Christians only when we compare and contrast it with the Jewish identity. We find that both have the same material components, but the treatment or ‘form’ is radically different. We need to see this clearly especially in order to appreciate the difference this makes as regards Christian worship.

Israel was called out of Egypt and given possession of a new land, the Promised Land. This was given purely as a gift: never were they to consider themselves as owners of the land. “I shall be your God and you shall be My people.” The giftedness of the land had to be acknowledged and remembered especially through the annual offering of the first-fruits. Further, this dispossession (not being owners of the land) would be possible only if every generation of Israel remembered its origins, especially the time of their desert wandering when they had absolutely nothing to call their own. In the desert they depended for their sustenance entirely on the manna that God provided each day. So, it is only in reversing the pagan state of affairs in which they (the gentiles) possessed the land as if they were the owners, that Israel could be God’s special people and accept God’s gift of the Promised Land. Israel possessed this land, and thus ‘possessed’ God, but always as if not possessing it. The offering of the first-fruits through which they returned their all to God, or let themselves be possessed by God, as it were, involves the essence of Israel’s very identity as God’s Chosen People.

Now the Christian too follows the same dynamic or pattern. He too was an alien on this earth, exiled from heavenly intimacy with God through sin. But in Christ, God called him into the new and everlasting Covenant and made him citizen and heir of the heavenly kingdom. He too will have to often remember God’s gift of the Kingdom in Christ and return thanks for this gratuitous gift of the Father. That is as far as the similarity goes.

The difference in identity between the Jew and the Christian is seen most clearly in the “object” [the ‘what’] that is given by God. In the case of the Jews, it was the land stamped with the seal of the Law, whereas for the Christian it is Jesus, the Christ, marked by the Father with the seal of the Spirit. Here, what God gratuitously gives is the very Grace [life] of God, or better still, “God revealing God fully as grace, in the gift of Self” made by his own Son Jesus, a gift actualized by the Spirit.

Now, this difference in the two objects is not just one of intensity or degree. It rather indicates something radically different, pertaining to the very root of the offered gift and thus to the very relationship between God and humanity. The key to this difference is not to be sought in the moral order [right or wrong], but in the theological [human or divine]. It concerns not human generosity but God’s own generosity. If the offered gift is none other than the Spirit, [the fulfillment of the promise of the new covenant, the self-gift of God himself to humanity], then through the acceptance of this very gift Christians are in communion with God; to enter into communion of life with God they do not have to fulfill the works of the Law, but simply to welcome in their daily lives the very gift of God, which is the Spirit of the Risen Lord. This Spirit will transform and sanctify their lives; they become a spiritual worship, a spiritual sacrifice, offered in thanksgiving to the glory of God. Thus, to take one simple example: both the Christian and the Jew spend time in prayer; the Jew would do this in order to gain intimacy with God, while for the Christian it is rather an expression of the intimacy he already has with the Father. And the same can be said of every aspect of our lives.

It is worth noting, however, that while this difference is crucial, it is also so close and subtle, that it can easily be missed. It was this that Paul was struggling with in his dealings with the Galatians (Gal. 3:1) and with the leaders in the early Church (Acts 15). As Louis-Marie Chauvet puts it: “The Christian difference is never as clearly perceived as in its nearness to Jewish identity. Then it probably finds its most appropriate qualification: the difference is eschatological.”

Conclusion

Some weighty consequences follow from this understanding of the true Christian identity.

[a] Whereas the Jews sought to separate themselves from the ‘profane’ in their attempts to draw closer to God, the Christian is called to sanctify the profane by bringing the intimacy with God he possesses to all things he deals with. In this he follows the principle of the Incarnation itself – nothing human is alien to or distant from God and hence is not to be shunned as defiling us or rendering us unworthy of God. Redemption envelops the whole of creation.

[b] The primary ‘place’ of Christian worship is the ethics of daily living sanctified by the theological virtues of faith, hope and love. Christians have a new ‘priesthood’ in charge of offering worship as a ‘spiritual worship’ – the entire new People of God belong to this priesthood.

[c] The function of minister is not totally abolished, but this function is of an entirely different order from that of the Jewish priest. Now for the Christian, there is only one mediator, Christ, whose priesthood is permanent and of a superior order. The Christian priest is no more an intermediary, but his role is to make sacramentally present the unique mediation of Christ in whose name he presides.

[d] Christianity does not end up becoming ‘de-sacralized.’ Sacred expressions still have a place, especially in liturgical worship. Faith modifies the sacred but in a significantly different manner. In pagan religions, the manifestation of God was done mainly through the “seeing” mode through contemplating God in the cosmos. In the Jewish religion, the revelation of God was done through history, in a “hearing” mode. For Israel God has no face, and hence no ‘images’ of him could be fashioned. He was discerned through his ‘word’ that had to be obeyed. While Christianity does not neglect or reject these two, it moves further to the “living” mode: people and their ordinary lives now become the ‘place’ where God reveals himself. The most spiritual is given in the most bodily – a point that is brought out by the use of earthy elements like water, bread, wine and so on in the liturgy. As Paul put it: “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:2-3).

How best can be bring out the new identity that Jesus offers us, especially in the Eucharist? The fact that the difference between Jew and Christian is ‘eschatological’ simply means that the Christian ‘already’ enjoys intimacy with God, ‘but not yet’ in the fullest possible measure. While acknowledging that a lot more needs to be done, we should not forget what we already have – and that seems to be our biggest challenge: to live what we are already.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure
to grant you the kingdom” (Lk. 12:32)

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3. GATHERING IN LOVING UNITY
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

It is often said that the Eucharist really begins not with the Entrance hymn, but rather at the moment Christians decide to gather together for the Eucharistic celebration. At best, this is a half-truth, as anyone can see. The Eucharist begins with our decision to gather together if, and only if, we want to celebrate the Eucharist as a community of loving brothers and sisters, united in faith and love. Should a person decide to go to the Eucharist but merely to ‘get peace of mind for myself’, or to obtain some particular individual favour – that is not ‘the Lord’s Supper’ at all, as Paul would say to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 11:17-37). Drawing on his wide experience in matters liturgical, J. Haughey remarks: “What we need is not to devise alternative forms of worship, but to … worship according to the alternative we have become in Christ.” What have we become as a result of the transformation Jesus has worked in and for us? Until we see this clearly, we will not really know how we ought to celebrate the Eucharist in a fitting manner.

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New Creatures in Christ

What we have become by Christ’s infinite love poured on us in Baptism is new creation.’ –When Jesus called Levi the tax-collector, we are told that ‘he rose, left everything and began to follow Jesus.’ The very phrasing here is noteworthy: He rose, at the call of Christ – which indicates that from then on, his life would unfold on a new level altogether. Further, his rising necessarily involved a leaving behind everything because if he still clung to the past, he would never have been able to rise. His new life-style was so startlingly different from his past that his tax-collector friends enquired what had caused such a dramatic change. Rather than explain, Levi invited them to the ‘banquet’ – the Eucharist to ‘come and see.’ Luke goes on to describe the meaning of ‘repentance’ as the challenge to be “new”, putting the new wine of God’s grace-filled life into fresh wineskins. Thus, a Christian is truly a ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:15-19). ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He chose us in Christ, offered us the gift of redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, gathered us together into one, made known to us his plans and the mystery of his will, and more than that, assured us of an inheritance through Christ…’

The newness we are called to involves several things. For a start, it means that we see ourselves in a new way: as truly God’s children, ‘born of God’ and not merely as sinners in exile, ‘mourning and weeping in this valley of tears!’ We don’t deny the fact that we are fragile and fail every so often; yet God loves us in our weakness; we are precious in his sight as we are. Further, it entails experiencing God not just as a Creator or task-master, a faithful Provider or One who maintains order in the universe - but specifically, as a loving Father. We now to relate to him not out of fear but in love. Once we truly taste God’s love we begin to respect ourselves and others too as God’s own children. There is no more striving to perform, or to earn the Father’s love for we are convinced that his love is always ours and will never be taken back. Our sins and failings do not deter us from coming to God with sincere repentance, knowing that we are accepted and loved, no matter what.

Again, being ‘new’ requires that we see ourselves not as individuals, isolated and each fending for himself, but rather as members of one body, people whose destinies and lives are interlocked with one another. Whatever a Christian does impacts on all his fellow-Christians, not just externally, but from deep within. Thus concretely: when one Christian participates in the Eucharist and communes with the Lord in Word and Sacrament, it is not s/he alone who receives the ‘grace’ of this communion. The entire Church benefits from the fresh infusion of God’s life that the Eucharist provides. Similarly, when any Christian sins gravely, the entire Church Body bleeds inexorably to death unless that mortal wound is healed through God’s forgiveness sought and received. Thus, ‘No one goes to heaven alone; neither does one to go hell alone – we always take a host of others along with us!’

So, our Eucharist begins only when we realize more deeply what we are as Church: the gathering of God’s holy people as one Body in which all are united with Christ and equally members of one another. The Church is not just individual Christians more or less bunched together in one place; Church is not like a collection of marbles in a glass jar. These marbles are each a unit, individual, self-contained; they just happen to be in the same jar. Rather, the correct way of understanding ‘Church’ is to consider each individual Christian as being one of the ingredients that goes to make a cake. Each ingredient is different from the other – the butter is not the same as sugar and so on. Yet, if we want to have a cake, then all these ingredients must be thoroughly mixed together and baked. Once the cake is ready, there is no way of distinguishing the sugar from the butter or flour – the entire cake is sugar, the whole of it is flour – the cake is simply ‘one.’ It is thus that as we gather to celebrate Eucharist, we actually experience ourselves as one. Further, this one body of Christians is God’s beloved possession, cherished by him and covenanted in the blood of Christ. Eucharist is the gathering of God’s family in unity and love. They are at home with God and with one another as they celebrate God’s goodness and gracious gifts given freely to them.

Practical implications

We come to Eucharist then, not just to get solutions for ‘my’ personal problems. Rather we present to the Father the hopes and struggles of the whole of humanity. We express our concern for our brothers and sisters suffering hunger in far-away Ethiopia, or paying the price of ruthless and relentless terrorist attacks in war-torn Kashmir. The people disappearing by the dozens in the military regimes of inhuman Latin American dictatorships are part of our own ‘body.’ With this kind of a vision, the entire world shrinks into a ‘global village’ where each one is not just preoccupied with ‘saving his soul’ but is genuinely concerned about the other. Each says and lives the truth: “I am my brother’s keeper” for the love of Christ has gathered us together into one.

While we grieve with the unfortunate all over the world, we also joyfully celebrate with everyone who is blessed. We celebrate the triumph of love over self-centredness when reading the report of the young lad daring to risk his life to save a friend from drowning. We exult when truth triumphs over falsehood especially in our courts of justice; we are thrilled with joy when a hardened social miscreant reforms and spends his life in selfless service of the needy. We breathe a sigh of relief on hearing of medical and other scientific discoveries that will bring health, solace and comfort to millions. The important point behind all these considerations is that we have learnt more and more to think not in terms of ‘I’, but of ‘We.’

That is the kind of transformation that the Eucharist presumes and brings about. We come to the Eucharist not so much to see ordinary bread and wine changed into Christ, but rather that our sinful, self-centred selves get transformed into self-giving, caring, loving, sacrificing persons who are ready even to die for the other. A Christian is “one who lives not for himself but for others.” And he does this not out of a sense of duty, or for some personal profit, but simply because he has himself experienced the tremendous love of Christ, “who loved me and gave himself up for me.”

Against this background, then, we find ourselves becoming more conscious of others at Eucharist! The Entrance hymn which is the first action we do together at Eucharist is meant precisely to draw the entire congregation into one solid, united and loving family. Ideally it should remind us of our Christian identity and right at the start make us want to be united in love and peace. A good example of such a hymn would be: ‘Come in, pilgrim lay your burden down, we’re all brothers as we travel on the way. We share a common gift, our brotherhood in Christ, and we’re going to celebrate today: we will sing and celebrate his love today.’ If we experience the hymn doing this for us, we will notice that our participation in that Eucharist will be on a different level altogether.

We would also find ourselves wanting to pray more for others than for ourselves. We would discover that we can grieve at the sufferings of others more than for our own. Our repentance would lead us to ask pardon for the sins of others as much as we ask pardon for our own sins. We would spontaneously praise and bless God for his goodness to others more than for the blessings we ourselves have received. All this calls for tremendous selflessness – and to many it might even appear as unreal behaviour if not totally idealistic fantasizing. Yet, that is what we have become in Christ Jesus: an altogether new creation that does not allow itself to be shackled by the past, or drowned in its present failings!

Further, we would come to regard ourselves as God’s beloved children. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And this kingdom is ours already now – though it will reach its fullness at the end of time. For too long have we focused negatively on our weaknesses and sins – as if these were a great big barrier between God’s love and ourelves. We share in his joy in having us all back together as one flock under one shepherd, just as the father of the prodigal son rejoiced and called for a party when his wayward son returned home.

Conclusion

Following the new approach of Vatican II, we make our Eucharist begin each time with a conscious decision to gather together as one family in the name of Jesus. We come to Eucharist with a light step, joyful that we are going to be in the company of our brothers and sisters and stand before a Father who waits for and welcomes us lovingly. We greet one another meaningfully and personally even before entering the Church, maybe even exchange a word or two with someone we have never met before. The joyful Entrance hymn would remind us of our privileged status as God’s children gathered together by Christ, our good Shepherd. As the Celebrant greets us, we also greet one another as real brothers and sisters in Christ. We make a concerted effort to focus more on others than on ourselves. We joyfully welcome people into our homes, especially those with whom we have celebrated Eucharist. Within our own homes, we ensure that all receive the same respectful welcome – none are taken for granted, overlooked, or sidelined. When the deep-seated prejudices we have against certain persons or groups surface, we resolutely surrender them to Christ at the Eucharist. We invite him to make us new in these areas too.

Since it is true that the Eucharist begins the moment we seek to gather as a family, this moment cannot be just any moment; it will have to be a moment we prepare for and work towards all through the day and week. Each time we work to build bridges and break down all kinds of social and other barriers, we make ourselves more equipped to really celebrate Eucharist. Conversely, each time we foster divisions, foment misunderstandings, set people up one against another, or consciously cut ourselves off from others, we make our Eucharist that much more of a sham, an outward show only. So, finally, when all is said and done, Eucharist begins when our hearts and lives change and we see ourselves as God’s children, brothers and sisters to one another and express this in our joyful coming together! That ultimately is what provides us with the real reason to rejoice and celebrate!

“Can you make room for me in your lives?” – Jesus

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4. THE PENITENTIAL RITE
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

To most of us it would seem very logical to begin the Eucharist with a sincere avowal of our unworthiness to enter into God’s presence. Deeply conscious of our habitual inclination to sin, and having been made almost self-conscious over the years about our unworthiness to come into God’s holy presence, the petition for pardon comes naturally to our minds. We tend to see it as something like getting tidied up before the party begins. Yet, it might come as a surprise to us to learn that what we today call the ‘penitential rite’ is in the mind of the Church, not so much an acknowledgment of sin and a plea for pardon, as a joyful acclamation of the forgiveness that God has already freely and generously given us in Christ Jesus. The seniors among us would remember the old Greek ‘Kyrie eleison’ that constituted the penitential rite. In the early years of the Church’s life, it was a joyful shout of praise. Later when Latin took over, it gradually lost its pristine joyful character and became more of an abject plea for pardon: Miserere nobis. A careful reading of the alternative ways of conducting the Penitential Rite as given in the Roman Missal used at the Eucharist will immediately convince us of this. One of these reads: ‘Your raise the dead to life in the Spirit, Lord …; You bring pardon and peace to the sinner, Christ … You bring light to those in darkness, Lord … What strikes us immediately is the total lack of the “I” – ‘for the times when I sinned in though, Lord …’ which is the usual way we make those petitions!

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God’s Love/Mercy is Unconditional

The penitential rite in the Eucharist invites us to reflect attentively on the question of God’s mercy – as Jesus revealed it to us. If we compare John the Baptist’s preaching in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, we see that he warned them sternly: ‘Prepare fruits of repentance or else you will not be spared!’ A short time later, when Jesus began his public ministry, he went about proclaiming: ‘this is the Jubilee year’. Now for the Jews this could only mean that what Jesus was really saying is that just as the Israelites were expected in the Jubilee Year to freely and generously forgive their neighbours of all their debts, so in this year of Jesus’ coming, God had freely and graciously forgiven us all our sins. Isn’t that some “Good News” worth rejoicing over? Yet it does seem odd that we rejoice at the thought of our sins and failings - and we are left with a nagging sense of doubt that we cannot really rejoice at being forgiven without first feeling miserable about our sinfulness, isn’t it?

Yet, that is precisely the difference when God forgives – his forgiveness is not like human pardon. We will understand this need to rejoice at the free gift of forgiveness when we recall that the Israelites were familiar with three kinds of debts: the debt of justice incurred when a person entered into a legal contract with another but did not fulfill his part of the contract. Thus, if I were to purchase a book but not pay the full amount to the shopkeeper, then until I clear off the balance, I would be under the debt of justice. The day I go and clear up the debt, it vanishes. It is in my power then, to remove that debt of justice. The next is the debt of gratitude – which occurs when, e.g. someone does me a favour; I automatically am indebted to him and owe him a favour in return, by virtue of gratitude. In this case too, the day I repay him in some way, that debt ceases – and here again, it is in my power to remove the debt of gratitude.

We come now to the third kind: the debt of offence. This occurs when A hurts or offends B. In this case, A may go and profusely apologize to B and humbly acknowledge his fault. Yet, the rupture in the relationship introduced by the fault does not disappear until B offers A the gift of forgiveness and renewed friendship. Notice here that it is in the hands of the offended party to forgive the offender – and until he does that, A remains indebted to B. Thus, forgiveness if always a free gift, graciously and lovingly offered and humbly accepted. If this is so among us humans how much more is not God’s forgiveness a free gift? No matter how much we plead or repent, that does not give us the right to obtain forgiveness. Only God’s free gift could restore us to his friendship and love.

Now when we reflect that God’s goodness and love pursue us even at the very moment of our sinning, would we not rejoice to know that God continually forgives and welcomes us back home, almost as if nothing had come in between us through our sin? “I will cast your sins behind my back,” he assures us. So, particularly at the Eucharist, recalling that especially through the death-resurrection of Christ his Son, God has once-and-for-all forgiven and re-instated us as his genuine children, we have every reason to rejoice!

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Christian Living: A Response of Love

This does not mean that because God is so good, patient and ‘lenient’ we can go on sinning and take advantage of his love. If we behave in this way, it simply means that we have not really understood what God’s love is all about! No one who tastes God’s love deeply can consciously and callously offend him again. Yet, so very often, unconsciously we keep choosing self in preference to God’s will and thus break or weaken our relationship with him. In spite of this, instead of punishing us, he still lovingly beckons us to return to his love. “Come back to Me, with all your heart; don’t let not fear keep us apart! Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life.” He knows that his love is the only ‘remedy’ for our waywardness.

So, not only throughout our lives, but also very especially at the Eucharist, we thank and praise God for his immense forgiving love given so freely and readily each time we fail him. At the penitential rite, therefore, we should not approach God in mournfulness, abject penitence or with a beggarly craving for mercy – which is what we do so often even in the way we pray/sing the ‘Lord, have mercy.’ This grovelling approach is an insult to God’s gracious and forgiving generosity. The meaning of the phrase ‘Lord, have mercy’ is: ‘Lord, you are so merciful, you are so generous with your love. In spite of our sinfulness you welcome us back with tender compassion.’ We need to reflect these sentiments in our stance, our tone of voice and our general bearing during the penitential rite.

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Christians: Reconciled and Reconciling

God’s love is transformative and forgiveness is not just a cancelling of an objective debt – ‘out there’, as it were. It is something living and involves a complete renewal of the person forgiven, particularly of the relationship between God and us. And so, the test of our having genuinely received his forgiving love is that we can also reach out to others with an equally generous forgiveness when they offend us. That is why when teaching us to pray, Jesus included as one of the key phrases the petition: ‘Forgive us our debts as we also forgive all those indebted to us.’ Further, the parable of the ‘Unforgiving Servant’ reminds us that God’s gracious forgiveness cannot be only accepted and hoarded for oneself: it has to be passed on. In fact, the way Luke presents the Lord’s Prayer emphasizes that it is precisely in the very act of forgiving others that we ourselves are forgiven. St. Matthew has us pray: ‘forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors!’ Our prior forgiveness of others is the basis of our petition for our own petition for forgiveness from the Father. Luke introduces a much closer and tighter link between God’s act of forgiveness and our own extending that same forgiveness to our offenders. In practice, this means that if we harden our hearts in unforgiveness to others, our hearts and whole being for that matter remain stony even when God’s forgiveness knocks at our doors.

Hence during the penitential rite, we not only focus on God’s gracious gift to us of a new beginning, but also look more outwards to see whether we have really forgiven all those who have hurt us. We recall the words of Jesus: “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that you brother has something against you …” (Mt. 5:23). We also note what Matthew adds at the end of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘For, if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses’ (Mt. 6:14-15).

Again, we recall the parable Jesus told Simon the Pharisee about the creditor and the two debtors, one owing five hundred denarii while the other owed only fifty. Once both have been forgiven, they are on an equal footing as forgiven sinners and hence can and should relate among themselves as brothers and sisters, children of the same merciful Father. To be forgiven by God means that the debt of both has now come down to zero – and on this level both are on the same level or footing before the Father. Pleading for mercy for ourselves will do us no good unless with childlike confidence and love we generously and consciously reach out to other in forgiveness.

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Positive Attitude Towards our Failings

Somehow over the past few centuries, Christians have become almost obsessed with the idea of their sinfulness. Ralph Keifer puts it this way: [The period before the Reformation] “was a world gone mad in its preoccupation with human sinfulness, with its pervasive guilt internalized into a nagging insecurity about the afterlife, heightened to a fever pitch by all the other anxieties of the age.” Or again, “Vatican II names the church as an institution, as being sinful as well as holy. [This official statement, however, remains] to be integrated within our understanding of what we are doing in Church. We are not a pack of individual sinners come to share in the perfect and timeless rites of the one, true Church. Rather, we come together as a sinful yet graced people to share in actions that are limited and flawed as we are limited and flawed, yet graced as we are graced.”

Richard Rohr in Hope Against Darkness, has his own way of expressing the same truth: “Western civilization has failed to learn how to carry the dark side. We did not evangelize through our living icon, Jesus. Instead, we brought a system involving winners and losers, which is not Jesus. Now because we did not teach our people how to carry the paschal mystery, it is coming back to haunt us. Catholics have no ability to carry the dark side of the Church either, nor the dark side of the papacy, nor the dark side of the clergy. It is always all good or all bad, never ‘both crucified and resurrected at the same time,’ as Jesus is…”

When we focus on God’s liberal and gracious forgiveness, given even before we sin, we do not mean to condone wrongdoing nor approve of licentious living. That kind of an attitude, where it is present, stems from the fact that we do not really look steadily at God and his marvelous qualities, but rather at ourselves only. Jesus came to reveal to us the almost unbelievable love of the Father. So, rather than focus on our proneness to fail, we need to be positive and emphasize more our gifted capacity to respond in love. It is true that quite often we do not exercize this capacity, but the fact remains that God has endowed us with this power – and sometimes we do find ourselves loving as God loves us.

Our paradigms control our behaviour and so if we see ourselves as being already raised to the level where we can respond lovingly, our actions will conform to our thinking, thus proclaiming the very same message. This would further make us less critical of others, less inclined to grumble when things go wrong, when people let us down or disappoint us, and correspondingly more appreciative of all the good around us.

Conclusion

At our next Eucharist we would do well to consciously pause and ask ourselves: When was the last time that I consciously and gratefully accepted God’s gracious gift of forgiveness of my sins? Is there anyone in my life whom I need to forgive now even as I praise God for his gift of forgiveness to me? Am I in the habit of keeping score of the wrongs others have done me? Do I realize that if I still feel hurt at what others do/don’t do to me, is it not because I am not yet fully secure in the Father’s love of me? Since the Father holds me tenderly in his arms, no one can really hurt or harm me. “For those who love God, everything works for their good … who will separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:30-39). Again, ‘freely have you received, so give freely’ (Mt. 10:8).

It is worth recalling also that the celebration at the Eucharist is something that the Father initiates to mark our home-coming. “Come, let us celebrate for this son of mine was dead and has come back to life, was lost and is now found!” Can we deliberately be ‘wet blankets’ at God’s own celebration by our mournfulness as we celebrate Eucharist? In view of all this, what changes in our attitudes do we need to introduce in this section as we celebrate Eucharist? What difference would this realization that we are ‘forgiven or graced sinners’ make in the way we live our Christian lives the rest of the day?

There is greater joy in heaven when one sinner repents...

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5. The Word: Nourishing Bread
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

When we enter into the Introductory Rite in the right spirit, we find ourselves in the mood or atmosphere most conducive to engage fruitfully in the first of the two sections of the Eucharist: The Word of God. The Entrance Rite forcefully reminds us that Christ, the Risen Lord, is the centre of our celebration. In the Liturgy of the Word, it is this same Risen Lord who speaks to us, interpreting the Scriptures as he did for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. We need to realize from the start that Vatican II emphasized the greatimportance of the Word in the Eucharist. Prior to the Vatican Council, the assembly was almost totally deprived of the Word. The Scriptures were recited softly and never proclaimed to the people; when read aloud it was done in Latin which no one understood anyway. Besides, very few selected texts were used in the Liturgy. Even the preaching done at Eucharist or outside of it, generally took just a snippet of a Scripture text and built up a moralistic exhortation around it, directed more towards encouraging right behaviour than towards fostering communion and intimacy with the Lord.

The revised Liturgy on the other hand, provides that a larger portion of the Scriptures be proclaimed at the Eucharist over a two/three year cycle; also that the Word be proclaimed to the assembly in their own tongue, with the proclaimer facing the assembly. Besides, very many among the lay faithful have access today not only to the Word in Scripture, but also to its deeper meaning in the form of commentaries, Liturgy Notes and the like. And yet, the question still remains: ‘Are we really nourished spiritually by the Word in the Eucharist? How eagerly, attentively and personally do our people receive the Word at the Eucharist? How far is the Word truly ‘a lamp for our steps and a light for our path?’ And since Christ is as truly present in the proclaimed Word as in the Sacrament, we could further ask: ‘If we do not commune with Christ in the Word, what guarantee is there that we really commune with the same Christ in the Sacrament?’

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The Word – A Communication and Communion

We first consider the role of the spoken word in our dealings with one another as human beings. The words a person speaks to another are not just sound-waves – they carry a meaning and more than that, they contain a symbolic efficacy. When heard properly, they produce a transformation of subjects. Our speech effects a ‘work’ that is produced in the listeners which encourages them to rise to a higher way of being. If it is true that a young child from six months of age gradually succeeds in recognizing itself in the mirror reflecting its own image, it is because someone has first called it by its name. The thousands of gestures and words of love of which it has been the object from birth enable it to accept not just the sound of its name as referring to itself as an object, but also its own full status as a subject that is lovable and loved. In the mirrored reflection it sees and senses that ‘This is the I, the self that is loved and appreciated by those around me.’

The true self having come to birth in these spoken words is then empowered to speak to others in a loving manner in the measure in which it has been loved into being. Thus, the word nourishes and fosters life in both the speaker and the listener. Whoever in not loved, or even just feels unloved, is unable to love in return. No one can live as a subject without words of love and thankfulness. Without sufficient nourishment from this ‘bread’ of life-giving words, human beings can only shrivel up and die. At times, it is enough to say a few words to someone for that person to feel alive again. Recognizing this truth, we continue to speak enthusiastically to a loved one who is in a deep coma – with amazing effects very often. Some words save; some words can even kill. It is language that makes the universe into a world, or a house into a home! Conversation or heartfelt dialogue is what makes the difference between the anonymous ingestion of calories in a crowded restaurant and enjoying wholesome nourishment during a dinner fellowship round the family table.

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Communication is Effective Connection

Quite often we speak to one another not merely to convey information, but simply to connect with others. When for example, on entering the office a person says to a colleague, “It’s a beautiful morning,” s/he is not merely conveying information which s/he did not or could not get by him/herself. The colleague, if attentive at the deepest human level, understands that beneath the words used, what the speaker really wanted to convey is something like: ‘I feel good and reassured to see that you are here!’ His/her answer: ‘Yeah, it feels great to be alive this morning!’ emphasizes more the connecting factor than the informational content. And this retort puts both the speaker and audience on a friendly footing making both feel close to each other for the rest of the day. If s/he does not catch this ‘inner’ meaning and says instead: ‘Bah, I think it’s a lousy day!’ or something like ‘Yeah, I can see that,’ then the bond between us is ruptured, because his/her reply focuses only on the ‘scientific truth’ of the statement. We immediately sense how this ‘informational’ response shuts a person out of the other’s life quite effectively. Some might even “feel” that negative statement as a sharp ‘slap in the face.’

When God’s word is proclaimed in the Eucharist then, we should focus not so much on the ‘scientific truth’, nor even on the surface ‘meaning’ of the words. We need to search for the symbolic meaning or power the statement has whereby it connects us with God. Fundamentally, the symbolic meaning of God’s word is always: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have called you… and you are mine… you are precious in my eyes.” Each particular ‘story’ or event narrated in the Bible gives us further nuances and insights into this fundamental message of God’s unbelievable love for each of us. It is only when we are able to catch this symbolic meaning that the Word in the liturgy will become nourishing and life-giving for us who hear it. Often we ‘know’ we have caught the symbolic and life-giving meaning because of the ‘a-ha’ experience we undergo on hearing the Word. It opens up our hearts, our faces light up and a surge of energy courses through our entire being: God somehow becomes a living person, someone very close to us!

Training Needed

How then do we learn to hear God’s word in such a way that we connect with him in the depths of our being? It seems to me that the first condition for such listening is ‘stillness of mind and heart.’ We recall the psalm that reminds us: “Be still and know that I am God!” As in the case of Elijah on Mt. Horeb, God speaks to us most effectively not in the whirlwind, fire or earthquake, but in the still gentle whisper of the breeze. As we come to Eucharist, we need to create this atmosphere of silence and stillness around us. Another important requirement is that we focus not so much on ourselves, but on the Lord! These elements do not necessarily clash with the suggestions given previously that we meet God in our neighbours as we greet them lovingly at the very start of the Eucharist. For the Eucharist is a complex reality and entails maintaining the difficult combination of and balance between exteriority and interiority – and that is why perhaps we find it so difficult to profit from our celebrations.

Secondly, we need to remind ourselves that the Word that is proclaimed is meant primarily to reveal God’s qualities to us – and not so much to get us fixated on our own sinfulness. “No one has ever seen God,” says St. John. And also “no one knows the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him.” Another way of saying the same thing is that the Word is nothing more than a ‘finger’ pointing to God. What is important here is not so much that we focus on the text or the story which is the finger, but that we look at God to whom it points. We need to realize that at the Liturgy, we are not supposed to hang onto the text, (become slaves of the text) but to hang the text onto our lives (make it expressive of our life-experiences), and our lives onto the text (shape our lives according to what we celebrate). Hence, we need to become very conscious of the attitudes we bring to the celebration of the Eucharist – especially our openness and readiness to change.

A mere ‘passive’ listening to the Scriptures will never produce any connectedness. We have to listen eagerly to get beyond the text and glimpse the ‘hidden’ or surprising elements of God’s qualities. This is the point made in the parable of the sower. The seed is the Word of God; yet, that seed needs a fruitful soil if it is to be productive. Varying kinds of soil produce varying results – even though the seed is the same! But notice that the sower does not cease sowing when he sees that his efforts have not been very productive. Rather than give up on us, God continues to sow the seed of his word in our lives until one day it does produce – maybe thirty, maybe sixty or even a hundred fold.

The further catch involved here is to always remember that ‘God’s ways are not our ways.’ And so, rather than reduce God’s qualities to the level of our own human and limited experience, we need to rise to his level of the impossible and unbelievable. Thus, when we say that we have experienced God’s forgiveness we do not refer to the same kind of experience we have when a human being forgives us. The process may be similar, but there is a world of a difference between the two experiences. And perceiving this difference requires conscious effort on our part. And when we do perceive it we want to shout our God’s praises and also approximate God’s ways as much as we possibly can.

Next, having ‘tasted’ the unbelievable goodness of the Lord, our immediate reaction generally is to figure out what ‘we need to do’ by way of response. This approach short-circuits the power of the Word. “Agere sequitur esse’ goes the old Latin adage and it means that behaviour follows our thought-patterns. Hence, it is important to let these insights we have gained by listening to the Word sink into our deeper consciousness and from within change our very way of thinking about God. Like Mary, we would do well to ‘ponder these things’ in our hearts. The Responsorial Psalm and particularly the antiphon generally give us the essential insight of the first reading, inviting us to reflect while the Alleluia verse captures the gist of the Gospel text. Once we allow our thought-patterns to change from within, our external behaviour will also change almost imperceptibly but quite definitely.

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The Word - A Proclamation

It has been said that in the Bible God does not speak to you and me directly as individuals (the reader of the stories today). Rather, we are like eavesdroppers listening in on the conversation Jesus holds with Peter, John or the characters depicted in the story. Yet, we notice a very strange thing: what Jesus says to the Gospel characters of his time, is exactly what he would say to you and me today in our circumstances. Jesus is valid for all times, and so what he said and did twenty centuries ago, happens today in our lives too. In other words, we need to read the Gospel as telling us not so much about what Jesus did in the past, but as recounting what Jesus does for us today! This ‘contemporary’ reading of the Bible is very important if we are to truly encounter Christ in the Word. Otherwise, we would be reading the Bible purely as a book of history which tells us only of the past. The Risen Lord is ever-present to every situation in our lives. It is important to meet him personally, in the here-and-now, as we listen to the Word – so that it can nourish us as our lives unfold. Incidentally, this is the meaning of the technical word: proclamation. It makes his-(s)tory into my-ste(o)ry!

Finally as we seek to respond, perhaps the more effective question to keep before us is: “What would be the most loving response to this revelation? How best can I show my love for God in return for all that he does for me/us?” It is helpful to remind ourselves here that God’s preferred answer from us is that we show our love for him by loving our fellow-humans. At the banquet, the sinner woman showed her great love and gratitude to God for forgiveness received by ministering to Jesus as a person. So we too should listen in order to understand how we can be ever more loving, gracious, forgiving, thoughtful and enterprising towards our needy neighbour. Only then would the bread of the Word be truly nourishing.

One of the surest signs that we are alive is that we are active on all levels: intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially and so on. Death renders us totally inactive. In the spiritual life too, the parallel holds good. If the Word of God is truly nourishing and life-sustaining for us, we will notice a new kind of activity within us. The deeper awareness of God’s love and acceptance endures even at the conscious level throughout the day and that gives us new ‘strength’ to respond more lovingly in the daily challenges we face. In other words, the Word we listen to attentively and lovingly during the Eucharist must continue to be active and alive throughout the day. But, this does not happen automatically: it calls for intelligent and concerted effort on our part. For one thing, we would need to recall the life-giving message we received at the Eucharist several times during the day. One way to do this effectively is to frame that insight in a phrase or a line from a popular hymn (e.g. ‘My God loves me, his love will never end’) and hum that tune right through the day.

Underneath all these suggestions is the assumption that we have really made God the centre of our lives. “Seek first the kingdom of God and all the rest will be given to you.” When this truth is the foundation of our lives, then truly would God’s Word be life-giving and inspiring for us: a lamp for our steps, a light for our path, the nourishment that sustains us throughout our journey through life!

Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life!

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6. Our Response : Deepened Faith
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

Most people imagine that the Responsorial Psalm which follows the first reading is our ‘response’ to God’s Word in the Eucharist. Yet, a careful scrutiny of the psalm texts will reveal that it is only a meditation on the key truth revealed in the reading. In expanding on this truth, the psalm allows us time to assimilate it and let it produce its own special effects in our lives. The real response to the Word comes after the entire Eucharistic proclamation which really ends with the homily.

Real Response: Faith

We have noted in the previous article that by means of the proclaimed Word, God reveals his inner nature which is totally unknowable. “As far as the east is from the west, so different are my thoughts from your thoughts,” God reminds us through Isaiah. And so frequently we feel that God’s Word seems to be ‘too good to be true’, it seems almost unbelievable. Thus, the first response God asks of us is that we accept his Word, not as we would accept any human word which we can test and prove, but as God’s Word spoken out of love and which is unfailingly true! Faith is what enables us to accept God’s Word as true, simply because He utters it. We may not understand it fully, nor be able to verify it, yet since it is God who speaks it, we accept it as true.

The implications of this four our daily Christian living are tremendous, for the test of our believing God’s Word is that we are ready to act on it, to make it the springboard of effective changes in our life-style. How do we react when God says to us: “I will never forget you… Even if a mother forgets the child of her womb, yet I will never forget you. I have carved your name on the palm of my hands?” Or again, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to grant you the kingdom.” “I no longer call you servants, but I call you friends…” “Beloved, we are God’s children now…” We could go on heaping text after text that speaks in the same strain. Besides, there are other passages that contain the same message but in indirect or allegorical ways. The challenge before us is to accept all this as true – particularly that God is madly in love with us, sinners as we are!

Most people find it difficult to believe these statements because of the deep consciousness they have of their own sinfulness. They instinctively feel that sinfulness cannot go hand in hand with God’s love and friendship. They believe that they would somehow have to be cleansed first and prove their worthiness, only then would God be able to love them. They fail to see that whatever there is of worth within human beings comes ultimately from God himself and is his sheer gift. So, God loves in us what he himself has gifted to us, even if we have disfigured it quite a bit. Besides, God sees more what we can and ought to be, not exactly what we are or have made ourselves. He constantly beckons us to become more and more clearly what he wishes us to be – radiant images of his own infinite love.

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Hardness of Heart

This inability to accept God’s word for what it says is characteristic not just of people of our age. Right from the First Alliance between God and mankind, people found it difficult to take God’s word seriously. The classic example we have is that of Saul chosen to be the first king of Israel. When Samuel broke the good news of God’s choice to him as the first candidate, all he could say is: “I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?” He never really accepted God’s choice of him as king; he could not put his full trust in Him, especially as he set out on his military expeditions. This landed him into endless problems, till finally God rejected him (or rather, accepted Saul’s own rejection of himself) and chose another person, ‘according to his own heart.’ And David, the second choice was characterized by the fact that he always ‘consulted Yahweh’ and did what was pleasing in his sight. David too was ‘the least’ in his family so much so that his father Jesse even forgot about him when lining up all his sons before Samuel. We do not mean to suggest that David did not have his failings, especially in his relationships with women. Yet, as far as being an instrument in God’s hands for the benefit of his people, he was second to none in Israel.

Coming to the Second Alliance, we see that several among the Jews similarly hardened their hearts and just would not believe the message of Jesus. This concerned mainly Jesus’ forgiveness of sinners, his eating and drinking with them at table – in short his compassion for those who were like sheep without a shepherd. In other words, the Jews and particularly the Scribes and Pharisees, just could not accept that God would associate so closely with sinners. The Apostles too were ‘hard of heart’ or obtuse when they could not catch the meaning of the feeding of the five thousand – that Jesus was truly the Son of God and shared his concern for his people as they wandered through the desert. The outstanding example of extreme hardness of heart of course, is Judas who, in spite of being warned so often, still persisted in betraying the Son of God – and that too with a kiss, the supreme gesture of friendship and love.

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Our Response?

At the Eucharist, after hearing the proclamation of God’s word, the ideal response we could make is a real deepening of our faith. We have two outstanding examples of faith from which we can learn: “Even though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vine; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stall, yet I will rejoice in the Lord… (Hab. 3:17-19). And Paul writing to Timothy says: “…and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him (2 Tim. 1:12). There will be several occasions in which we will be tempted to distrust God, but our deepened faith should help us to hold on, no matter what the appearances. We should not be like Peter who set out confidently to walk on the waters, but seeing the waves took fright and began to sink.

On Sundays, we express this deepened faith of ours as we recite the Creed and then pray the ‘Prayer of the Faith-full’. Unfortunately, for most Christians, the Creed is simply a formula that they rush through without attending to any of its words. Ideally, this profession of faith should be linked with the message of the readings. And again, the prayer ‘intentions’ we recite must arise out of the Scripture texts proclaimed. It is suggested that the ‘intention’ begin with a quotation from one of the readings. To make this clear, we take the Gospel of the 5th Sunday in Lent – the Woman taken in Adultery. One of the petitions could be framed as follows: “‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Father, we pray that all who celebrate Eucharist today be very sensitive to the evil of idle gossip, especially against those who work to spread your kingdom: we pray to the Lord.” If different members of the assembly could make these petitions spontaneously, that would be wonderful. If not, the Parish Liturgy Team could formulate these, keeping in mind the needs of the Parishioners.

While this is our response in words, there is yet another kind of response we need to make – in action. Having seen how faithful and unbelievably loving God is, the liturgy of the Eucharist invites us to entrust our lives totally into his hands so that we commit ourselves to glorify God’s name and make his kingdom come among us. We do this as we bring our gifts to the altar. We are all aware that the bread and wine symbolize our very selves offered and surrendered to the Lord that he may work through us. However, one wonders how many really and consciously put themselves into the gifts as these are being presented to the Celebrant. We all know that if five hosts are brought to the altar, the Lord can transform only those five, even though another hundred are present on the Credence table at the side. In other words, it is only those aspects of our lives that we actually bring to the altar and surrender to the Lord that he will be able to transform. It is not enough to merely wish to be changed into Christ: we need to consciously and decisively bring the ‘unredeemed’ aspects of our lives to the transforming power of the Eucharist.

But, how would we know which are the unredeemed parts or areas of our lives? One simple way to get in touch with our inner selves is to listen to our ‘self-talk’ or the tape-recorder within us which constantly reels out message after message as we experience one thing after another. By keeping in touch with these messages we get a fairly good idea of what are our deeper motivations, aspirations, feelings and desires. Often these, more than what appears on the surface, present a more accurate and true picture of who we really are. Attending to these messages, then, will help us pick out the areas in our lives that still need the healing touch of Christ. It stands to reason that it will not suffice to bring these areas to Christ only once in a way. Repeated and consistent healing will be needed especially for the more serious and deep-rooted problems we have.

All that we have said above goes to show that we have a lot of personal work to do at the Presentation of gifts. That is the reason why it is recommended that we do not sing a hymn during this time, except to accompany the gifts to the altar. The rest of the time should be spent in silent reflection, which can continue well into the Eucharistic Prayer too, if needed. The way we handle this little pivotal section of the Eucharist will determine to a large extent its practical efficacy in our lives. The Eucharist does have the power to transform individual lives and even Society – provided we give it a fair chance. After all, do not the bread and wine stand for “what earth has given and human hands have made” – everything that concerns our life here on earth?

You get out of the Eucharist only as much as you put into it!

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7. The Liturgy of the Bread
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

Recalling that ‘memorial’ means to ‘make present again’ the very actions of Jesus at the Last Supper, we now go on to see how we actually do this at our Eucharist. We begin by taking up the first of Jesus’ four actions: He took the bread!

Initially, at this point in the Eucharist, i.e. after the Prayers of the Faithful, in order to ‘take the bread’ as Jesus did, a collection was taken up to help the poor and needy in the community. The faithful brought all kinds of material gifts, usually things that represented their very lives. Among these gifts would be also the bread and wine needed for the Eucharist. We recall that at that time, each family ‘specialized’ in one particular trade – and so they brought to the Eucharist “the work of human hands”, the fruits of their daily labour, and generously shared these with the needy. At the end of the Eucharist the deacons/deaconesses who were set apart precisely for this work, would distribute all the gifts collected to the needy in the community.

As time went on the lay faithful gradually became estranged from the celebration, partly because of Latin, and also because they were not all that spiritually enlightened. Again, the number of Christians had increased considerably with the result that it became difficult to know who were the needy ones or how to reach out to them effectively. Thus, over the years, this practice of taking up gifts gradually died off – but the general idea of making a contribution still remained. Now the person/family that ‘offered’ the Eucharist would ‘pay’ for the requirements of bread, wine, candles and other things needed for the Eucharist. This contribution was initially meant to cover the distribution to the poor also – but eventually it was limited only to supplying the needs of the clergy. Soon, at least in the minds of the people, this began to be seen as a “price-tag” attached to each Eucharist. Haven’t we all come across people, even in our own day and age, who ask: ‘Father, how much does the Mass cost?’

Back to the Sources

Vatican II re-introduced the practice of the Preparation (Presentation) of the Gifts. However, the idea of a compulsory donation is far from the mind of the Council. What is expected is that each person who wishes to make an offering reflects how much s/he has experienced God’s love during the week. And the reasoning underlying all this is: ‘If God has blessed me so lavishly, I would like to share at least a part of that blessing with my needy brothers and sisters. God will not refuse to bless me in the future as well, and so I don’t have to greedily store everything for myself against the future. As he has provided for me through others, so through me he continues to provide for others.’

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Gifts Symbolize and Embody Ourselves

Everyone understands that what is put into the collection box is simply a token or symbolic gift given in gratitude for what the Lord has done for us. It is further as a symbol of ourselves that we bring the bread and wine to the altar, signifying that we are now ready to surrender ourselves totally into God’s hands and obey his will. For, as pointed out in the Liturgy of the Word God asks us: “Have you seen how much I love you? Now therefore, if you will obey My commandments, you shall be my very own (covenanted) people, My precious possession.”

So, the presentation of gifts is meant to be our answer to that question – ‘will you obey?’ If we really give ourselves lovingly, wholly and unconditionally in obedience, then evidently we will give more generously – not necessarily in terms of amount, but in ‘quality.’ We recall the story of the Widow’s Mite here – while she had only two little coins, she put into the treasury ‘all that she had to live on.’ The key point then is the ‘quality’ rather than the quantity of the gifts that are presented.

Besides, this gift expresses the genuine self-giving of the Christian. And so, if it is tainted with any selfish considerations like, ‘I want everyone to know me as one who gives more than others,’ or again, ‘I give this much to God so that he may give me more in return,’ then the entire beauty of the gift is lost. Jesus warned us: ‘Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does.’ The giving is in relationship to God (for the benefit of the community, undoubtedly) and not with reference to the praise or acclaim of the community.

Preferably in Silence

Since the gift given at this time is very personal, it is recommended that the entire period be spent in silence. A hymn is generally sung only to accompany the procession with the gifts and should stop once the gifts reach the altar. In silence, the community is invited to reflect on the ‘quality’ of the gift each makes, the depth of gratitude s/he experiences. Further, since the bread and wine represent the actual lives of the community members, we need to recall the truth that Jesus can transform only what the community places on the altar. If 5 hosts are brought to the altar, Jesus can transform (consecrate/sanctify) only 5. In other words, only what we consciously bring to the altar is accessible to transformation. And the same holds for ourselves too: if I consciously bring only 5% of my life and present it to the Father, then he will be able to transform and sanctify only that 5% of my life. So, each person needs to reflect on how much of his life he consciously surrenders or opens up to the Lord for transformation. It is worth remembering that we will receive only as much as we give – because that is the amount of ‘room’ we have made for God in our lives.

Lastly, it is understood that the giving at the Eucharist will overflow into a similar generous self-giving throughout the day. Thus, the faithful continue the ‘taking of the bread’ in their daily lives. It is worth recalling also that there is no ‘offering’ at this point and so any explicit reference to offering (as in some of the hymns sung at this time) should either be avoided or explained - as a ‘preparing to offer’. The gifts we bring will be ‘offered’ after they have been transformed and in-spirited during the Eucharist Prayer. At the time of the gifts, their value is minimal; they become precious and worthy of offering only after being transformed into Jesus. Note how often the words ‘offer’, ‘offering’ come in the prayers that the celebrant prays soon after the Institution Narrative.

The action of ‘taking the bread’ ends with the Prayer over the gifts. The preparation is largely functional and preparatory in character and hence should not be highlighted. Elaborate processions with a series of gifts, long-drawn singing and so on would certainly be out of place. Nevertheless, the actual ‘presentation’ of the gifts into the hands of the Celebrant should never be omitted. In other words, the gifts should not be placed on the altar from the start of the Eucharist.

GOD LOVES THE CHEERFUL GIVER!

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8. Eucharistic Prayer: A Blessing Prayer
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

Having reviewed the first action of Jesus, we now take up the second action: “he said the blessing.” This phrase refers to the special kind of prayer among the Jews called Berakah. Accustomed as they were to regular and frequent sacrifices, they found themselves at a total loss when they were taken into the Babylonian captivity. In that foreign land, they were without Temple, Prophet, Priest, Sacrifice or any other means of getting into contact with Yahweh (Dan.3:37-40). They overcame this serious deprivation by resorting to prayers of praise to Yahweh recalling his past deeds and his present goodness to them in spite of their failings. These ‘berakoth’ were later termed, ‘the sacrifice of praise’ since they enabled the people to get in touch with God effectively. Every devout Jew was expected make at least a hundred berakoth each day.

Special Format

As they got more adept in praying the Berakah, it took on a definite shape comprising of four steps. [1] Invitation – Come praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord …Bless the
Lord, O my soul; let all that is within me bless his holy name.
[2] Reasons – O give thanks to the Lord for he is good…
[3] The praise itself : You caused the grass to grow for the cattle …
[4] Concluding burst of praise : Blessed be God, forever.

It is helpful to note that praise indicates a more selfless extolling of God’s good qualities as such; it is different from thanksgiving for favours received out of his goodness. In this latter instance, we are the beneficiaries of God’s favours and so we thank him, whereas we praise God even when we personally have not benefited from his goodness; we look more directly at God’s marvelous qualities as they are in themselves.

Jesus himself prayed the berakah several times, e.g. at the grave of Lazarus [Jn. 11:41-42], when the disciples returned after their trial mission [Lk.10:21-22] and so on. However, expert that he was, he did not tie himself down to the pattern mentioned above yet kept the basic elements of the prayer.

In the Eucharist, the berakah pattern is seen in the Eucharistic Prayer that begins with the dialogue of the Preface – a call to praise. In the unfolding of the Preface generally, we have the various reasons listed, and this is followed by the praise itself in the Eucharistic Prayer. A careful reading of the Preface and Eucharistic Prayer would reveal a wealth of reasons very briefly mentioned. To get the maximum benefit of this prayer one would need to elaborate on each of these points and perhaps even personalize them. By far, the greatest reason we have for praising God is recalled in the Institution Narrative, viz. that Christ freely chose to die out of love for us. A burst of praise follows in the Memorial Acclamation. After recalling further aspects of Christ’s self-gift, especially his resurrection, ascension and sending of the Spirit, we move into the “tefillah” or intercessions. These express our firm belief that God will continue to bless us as he has in the past. The final burst of praise is seen in the Doxology especially when it is sung together with the Great Amen.

Intercessions

It is not uncommon for the berakah to be followed by Intercessions [Tefillah]. The reason is that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Since he has been so good to us in the past, there is every reason to believe that he will bless us in the future as well. In the Eucharistic Prayer too we find a number of petitions – for the Holy Father, Bishops and clergy, for the Church and those in need, the living and the dead. The key point, of course, is to make these petitions with a lively faith that the Lord will not deny us anything we need and ask for in faith. Also, we must remember that here our petitions take on a very special power in that they are presented to the Father in and through Christ – we could say that they go up to the Father precisely as the prayer of Christ himself.

Final Burst : Amen

The Doxology ends with the response ‘Amen’ from the people. This expression signifies not only assent: Yes, I agree with what has been said. It also expresses commitment to fulfill what has been said. So, to the Celebrant’s prayer: ‘… may all honour and glory be yours heavenly Father forever and ever,’ the community’s response ‘Amen’, means: ‘We will ensure that this becomes a reality, that all honour and glory is actually given to the Trinity for ever and ever.’ During the rest of the day, therefore, our commitment is to continue to praise God through the berakah. For the Christian no number is actually stipulated for he is expected to praise God always and everywhere! Thus our entire day becomes a continuous hymn of praise to the Trinity.

The Rationale for Berrakah

The practice of praising God in all circumstances is based on a particular ‘philosophy of life’ which includes the following:

The Exodus Experience: From their experience in Egypt, the Israelites realized one very important truth, viz. that when God chooses to bless someone, no one can ever stop him … Pharaoh might postpone or delay the departure of the Hebrews by placing various obstacles in their path, but he would never be able to prevent God from carrying out his designs. In the end God always wins. So, when any adversity comes their way, the Jews interpret it as being only a temporary set-back. They remember that in the end God will win in their case too, and so rather than wait till they actually see God’s powerful victory, they anticipate it in a burst of praise. This is what explains their capacity to praise God even in adverse circumstances.

The Covenant Experience: From among all the peoples dwelling on the face of the earth, God chose to make covenant only with Israel: “I shall be your God and you shall be my people!” During their desert journey, they slowly but surely discovered the absolute fidelity of God to his promises … and also that God does not take pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather desires that he live and have life to the full. God does not create something in order to destroy it! His designs are always positive, life-giving and life-oriented. So, even if something ‘bad’ happens, they see it against the background of the Covenant: if God had freely blessed them with his very special friendship, no negative experience, not even their sins, could make him revoke his choice; they were convinced that in the end God would bring some good out of it in keeping with his Covenant promise. And so, without having to wait to ‘see’ that good, they praised God immediately.

Besides these two, the Christian has also a third experience: The Christ Experience: “God so loved the world”… Jn. 3:16; “If God is for us, who can be against us” … Rom. 8:28-39; “God did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all …” “He loved me and gave himself up for me” Gal. 2:20. Nothing can ever come between God’s love and us.

If we have really understood the gift of sonship given us by the Father (“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to grant you the kingdom – Lk. 12:32), then joy would truly characterize our lives. God’s last word to us is not condemnation, suffering or death, but the joy of the resurrection and eternal life. Our Eucharist would be truly a joyful celebration with the focus not on sin, but on praise and thanks for God’s gifts. J. J. von Allmen says: “Christian worship is normally celebrated in a banqueting hall rather than in a laundry.” Having celebrated Eucharist and joyfully praised God during the celebration, we continue throughout the day with the same attitude of praise.

“Blessed be God, forever!”

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9. Eucharist: A Celebration
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

When Eucharist is truly celebrated as berakah, it cannot but be a ‘joyful celebration.’ Today we no more speak of ‘saying Mass’, or of ‘offering Mass’, but rather of ‘celebrating Eucharist.’ What is the difference? Is it only a matter of words? What is it that makes the Eucharist a true celebration?

What is a Celebration?

A celebration is a festive manifestation of gratitude and joy over blessings received! It is generally always done in community and never alone! Most celebrations include some eating and drinking and other manifestations of joy like singing and dancing. The key to a good celebration though is the Reason for the celebration, which is generally shared by all the participants. The reason for any celebration is always something good that has happened to me/us, a blessing we have received, a danger averted, a success achieved. The more personal and unusual the blessing, the more the joy in celebrating; also, the more we have struggled or waited to obtain this blessing, the deeper the sense of joy that prevails. Think, e.g. of the celebration held all over the country when India secured Independence as a nation. This blessing came after several years of intense struggle and hence the joy was correspondingly deep and lasting.

In 2 Cor. 5:14-15 Paul writes: “For the love of Christ controls us because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sakes died and was raised.” Jesus literally died ‘in place of’ me, a sinner, because he identified himself with sinners and from within our sinful situation he accepted death to give me/us the chance to live in place of him. Like St. Maximillian Kolbe, he took my place and died so that now I am alive living in place of Christ. The love (see Rom. 5:5-8) that moved God to send his son Jesus to die ‘in place of’ me then is unimaginable. When I am ‘convinced’ of (or deeply and personally realize) this, that is when this love of Christ will drive/urge me on to live not for myself but for him. Paul realized all this and hence he could say: ‘The life I now live in this body, I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).

The more we reflect on God’s goodness to us seen at every step of our lives, the easier it is for us to come to Eucharist to celebrate. “An unreflected life is not worth living.” When the ‘reason’ is conscious and personal, the celebration attains a high pitch of joyful celebration. When it is shared so as to become common to all who participate, there is another important consequence, namely that the celebrating group is welded into a true ‘community.’

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Our reasons for Eucharist

What do we celebrate in the Eucharist? We list here only the common reasons we have; the personal ones would need to be thought out individually:
* God’s gratuitous, unsolicited gift of his love – in human form: Jesus. New Covenant
* Forgiveness – freely and repeatedly … no trace or remembrance of past offences
* The dying-rising of Jesus and his total unqualified victory
* The gift of the Church … guidance; community support and encouragement…
* See Eucharistic Prayer – Preface and the Prayer itself.
* Other blessings daily received, all summed up in Eph. 1:3-10; 1 Jn. 3:1-3; Rom. 8:31 - What can separate us from the love of Christ…?

We will have many more reasons for celebrating when we learn how to pick out God’s love for us from Sacred Scripture, as we have outlined earlier. The key seems to be to have this question at the back of our mind before beginning the reading. ‘Which qualities of God are revealed to me in this passage?’ When we focus on God’s qualities first, and only later on what the passage asks us to ‘do’ we find that the message of Sacred Scriptures is very inspiring and ‘nourishing.’ We also begin to notice how the Scriptural stories are really the story of our own lives: not so much his-tory, but the my-stery of God’s love for us here and now.

We further notice that such an approach to celebrating Eucharist enables us to have a very positive self-image. Even while we are deeply conscious of our own failings, yet we realize that God loves us just as much as before. It is this love and acceptance from God that enables us to view ourselves differently. A very healthy offshoot of this is that we also begin to view others much more positively, even while being aware of their shortcomings.

It would be good, therefore, to develop the habit of recalling our personal reasons for celebrating before beginning each Eucharist. The clearer and more conscious this awareness is, the more intense will be our rejoicing. Further, we need to train ourselves to also genuinely rejoice over the good fortune of others. Thus, at every turn throughout the day, we would encounter reasons to rejoice as we experience God’s presence and power all around us.

How do we celebrate? The key attitudes we bring to the celebration are:
* Joy: We have a song in our hearts … Jesus has risen and is with us.
* Wholehearted response – external and internal; we mean what we say/do/sing.
* Unqualified acceptance of the others celebrating with us … we enter into and share their reasons too… we offer real forgiveness to all.
* Openness to share our blessings with others and to receive from them too.
* To recall the celebration often during the day we frame our key experience of the Eucharist into a ‘mantra’ or ejaculatory prayer and repeat/sing it often during the day.

Who celebrates?

When we reflect on stories like Luke’s ch. 15: ‘Lost coin, lost sheep and lost son’, we realize that it is the Father who celebrates and invites us to join in the celebration. So, in a sense, we have no right to come to the Eucharist with a gloomy attitude. If we are not ready to celebrate, then we should be gracious enough not to come at all – because all that goes on at the Eucharist is a celebration and our presence there should not be like a ‘wet blanket’ on others and on the proceedings. Rather our presence should be an encouragement for others to join in the celebration as well. The Kingdom is often described in the Gospels as a Wedding banquet – a festive celebration of our union with God in covenant.

But then, what about our recurring sins and failings? As long as we genuinely and humbly acknowledge them and surrender them into God’s hands, they are no hindrance to our rejoicing. In fact, a good part of our rejoicing is over the fact that our sins do not in any way come between God’s love and us. His love for us does not diminish because we have failed him. Rather, he loves us all the more in our weakness and invites us to come to the one source of healing: his unconditional love. All this will sound like so much theory until we personally experience unqualified acceptance from some other person – someone, may be, in our family, from among our friends and acquaintances. Only then will we have a deep conviction that our innate weakness doesn’t make any difference at all to God’s generous love for us. Against this background, we reflect how tremendously important it is that we ourselves offer such unconditional love to others – having tasted God’s love in and through us, they in turn will then be able to pass it on to others.

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Joy of the Kingdom

Joy is characteristic of Jesus, our Saviour and of the messianic age he inaugurates. At the Annunciation Mary is invited to rejoice. After his birth angels announced tidings of great joy to all people of goodwill. The Shepherds and Magi too rejoiced on seeing the Christ-child. Jesus often spoke of joy, as when he said that Abraham rejoiced at the thought of the eschatological era. A woman goes through great suffering at child-birth, but rejoices nonetheless at the birth of a new human being. All the parables about the kingdom emphasize the fact of joy that people experience when they discover the kingdom in their midst (pearl, treasure in the field, the lost coin, sheep, son and so on). Notice how often joy is mentioned in the Last Supper discourse (Jn. 15:11; 16:22; 17:13; 1 Jn. 1:4; 2 Jn. 12). The early Christians “partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people” (Acts 2:46). Every meal was a joyous celebration for them – in fact, being alive itself was a reason for rejoicing. Paul writes to the Philippians: “I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord. I repeat, what I want is your happiness (4:4-5). Ps. 33 in a modern translation begins with: ‘God is here, let us celebrate.’ This is the ‘good news’ that we Christians have to offer the world, a joy for which the world is waiting with eager longing.

The Joy of the Lord is my strength

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10. A New Approach to the Preface
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

As we enter into our reflection on the second action of Jesus, ‘he said the blessing’ we take up the Preface, the introductory dialogue and praise that constitutes the first part of the Eucharistic Prayer. “Well begun is half done” and so special attention needs to be given to the way we handle the Preface if we wish to pray the entire Eucharistic Prayer fruitfully. First of all, we remember that it begins with a dialogue between the Celebrant and the assembly. This requires that the Celebrant make a concerted effort to articulate loudly and distinctly, and maintain eye contact with the people while dialoging with them. Unfortunately, it often happens that the Celebrant is busy turning the pages of the Missal searching for the right place while he utters the words of the dialogue, thus getting off to a bad start and losing the attention of the people.

Of all the parts of the old Roman Eucharistic Prayer, the Preface is the one section that has most fully retained the character of the early Eucharist. In it the model given by Hyppolitus is kept alive, and so is the berakah of the apostolic community and the form of prayer that Jesus himself used so often. The dialogue introduction is followed by praise of God for his saving deeds past and present, and is summed up in the concluding angelic acclamation of the thrice-holy God. The Preface thus has three parts: dialogue, praise and Sanctus.

The Introductory Dialogue

In its structure rather than in its present wording, the dialogue is derived from Jewish models; the point of this ‘conversation’ is to gain the attention of the participants and invite them to pray. Such formulae were especially desirable when the time came for the blessing after meals; they served as a suitable transition from the action of eating to that of praying.

It would greatly help if the assembly understood the meaning of their responses used in the dialogue. E.g. the Preface begins with the greeting: ‘The Lord be with you.’ This opening wish for God’s blessing together with its response, is modeled on Jewish good wishes of peace. It is also a prayer-greeting that we come across throughout the pages of Sacred Scripture. It is offered when an important task or mission is being entrusted to a person. Thus, Saul commissions young David to engage in battle with the mighty Goliath, saying: “Go, and the Lord be with you!” In other words, the work that David is about to do, viz. his encounter with Goliath, is being undertaken not just in a private capacity, but rather as an ambassador of God and in the name of the entire nation. This, first of all, gives David the backing he so badly needed at this juncture, reminding him that the Lord would not let him down since he goes on this mission in the Lord’s name. But it also makes young David realize his tremendous responsibility to the Lord and to the people. If he failed or chickened out, God’s name would be dishonoured and the entire nation of Israel would suffer the consequences. No wonder then that David says to Goliath: “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down” (1 Sam. 18:37-47).

Applying this to the phrase in the Preface, the implication then is that if the community sets out to praise and thank God, it is a commission entrusted to them by the Lord himself and that they do this in the name of the whole human race. If priest and people could be a little more aware of this, there is no doubt that they would pray the prayer a lot more respectfully. It is the Spirit himself who makes the praise to well up from our hearts in a genuine acknowledgement of God’s goodness and love.

The ‘lift up your hearts’ is an Old Testament injunction (Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven – Lam. 3:41) or a reflection of Paul’s admonition: ‘Seek the things that are above … Set your minds on things that are above’ (Col. 3:1-2). St. Cyprian comments on the ‘Lift up your hearts’: “For this reason, when the time comes for the preface before the (Eucharistic) prayer, the priest prepares the minds of the brethren by saying ‘Lift up your hearts,’ and the people reply ‘We have lifted them up to the Lord.’ They are thus admonished that their thoughts should be only of the Lord.” (PL 4:557).

Through this expression ‘Lift up your hearts’ the community is invited to have their ‘reasons’ for praising God ready. God blesses us in so many different ways – in fact, every moment of our existence is a blessing from him. What is important is that we recognize his blessings and so we need to pick out the important ones for which we wish to praise him in this particular Eucharist. Evidently there will not be time enough to pick out all of God’s blessings at this particular juncture and hence the people should be encouraged to prepare these reasons beforehand, even as they come to Church for the Eucharist. Again, after the homily in which the loving action of God on our behalf has been highlighted, the silence that follows could be utilized to single out God’s blessings for which we want to thank him on this particular occasion. The key idea however, is clear: the more distinctly we are aware of God’s blessings the more heartfelt and meaningful our praise and thanks, not only during the Eucharist, but also all through the day.

Since the assembly professes that they are ready with all their reasons lined up, the Celebrant continues: ‘Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.’ And having obtained their consent, not just giving him permission as it were, but primarily assuring him that they will join in, the Celebrant begins the actual praise and thanks of God. We can never afford to forget that while all our blessings come ‘through Jesus Christ, our Lord’, our praise also goes up to the Father through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is not only our spokesperson, but also our greatest reason for thanking God; if it were not for him and his steadfast obedience, we would not be gathered together to praise God.

The response ‘It is right and fitting’ is of Hellenistic origin. In the civic assemblies of the Greek polis or cities, axios (right, worthy) was the acclamation of agreement. Thus, this expression and the Amen at the end of the prayer are closely linked, since both manifest the fraternal communion and ecclesial unity of all who are praying together. God is the only One whose actions are flawless and so it is right and fitting for us his creatures to praise his greatness. Besides, when we articulate this praise, we are invited to reflect more deeply on the marvelous quality of God’s works. We also learn from him how to give of our best and our all in everything we do.
The Praise Itself

The second part, the praise of God, flows out of the dialogue. In fact, the Celebrant picks up the phrase from the response of the people ‘It is right…’ and launches into the actual praise. God is worthy of praise always and everywhere since he is the Lord and everything that he does is ‘good’. To his people he is a ‘holy Father’ and by his very being he is the ‘almighty everlasting God.’ This opening address is found in almost every Preface and is followed by a statement of the special reasons for praise at this particular moment taken often from the mystery being celebrated or from God’s saving acts in general.

The naming of God’s redemptive actions is followed in the third part of the Preface by the conclusion: the Sanctus. This hymn-like part of the Preface is very old, but perhaps not very original. It resembles the Gloria in that it begins with praise of God that is taken from the Bible (Isa. 6:3); then it takes up various liturgical acclamations and combines them into a hymn. Hosanna is the Greek form of the Hebrew hosian-na and originally meant ‘rescue us, help us.’ (Ps. 118:25) In the synagogal liturgy, however, the petition had already been turned into praise of God, the Helper. We see a reflection of this in the shouts of the people acclaiming Jesus at the triumphant entry into Jerusalem: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ (Mt. 21:9). In the context of the Eucharistic Prayer, the ‘coming’ referred to in the next Scripture quotation looks ahead to the awaited sacramental presence of the Lord in the Eucharistic gifts and also to his final coming in glory.

The second part of the Sanctus which begins with the ‘Blessed is he …’ is acclamatory in nature. The very word ‘blessed’ (Hebrew baruch) echoes the Jewish prayer in which the praise offered by the President was always followed by this kind of agreement on the part of the people. We recall here the response: ‘Blessed be God, for ever’ that is found in the Presentation of Gifts. Similarly, in the Letter to the Romans, the mention of God’s name impels Paul, who never totally abandoned the positive elements of his Jewish upbringing, to follow the synagogal custom and immediately add: ‘(May he) be blessed for ever, Amen’ (9:5).

Conclusion

Awareness of the meaning and structure of the Preface would certainly enable both president and assembly to pray it more meaningfully and help to achieve its goal – that of a united prayer made by the entire assembly of priest and people. That all of us need to give a lot more attention to this part of the Eucharist is beyond a doubt. The proper performance of this section would ensure that the whole Eucharistic Prayer, which is the very heart of the Eucharist, would be prayed in a meaningful and fruitful manner. When Eucharist is celebrated in small groups the Celebrant could invite the assembly to pray and expand each of these elements in a more informal manner, keeping always the basic structure of this section: dialogue – praise – acclamation. When this is done, it would be delightful to see how the assembly enters into this prayer intelligently and fruitfully, making their entire day and life itself a continuous hymn of praise of God.

It is right to praise you always and everywhere.

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11. THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Fr. Erasto Fernandez, sss

Having reviewed the Preface, it would be most appropriate now to take a closer look at the entire Eucharistic Prayer, seeing what we can learn from it. For most people, this prayer is the one that is least understood, and possibly the one that is most badly prayed. Sometimes, we could even ask whether we really pray it or merely recite it, and that too at break-neck speed! Would we be wrong in suggesting that this happens simply because we fail to understand its richness and purpose within the entire structure of the Eucharist. Thereare several ways in which we can recapture something of the richness of the Eucharistic Prayer. We suggest one by way of a starter.

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Word Flows into Prayer and Action

As we scrutinize the present Eucharistic Prayers (as many as we have), one common shortcoming seems to be that there is hardly any connection whatsoever between the liturgy of the Word and that of the Bread. In the section on the Word, we encounter God presented to us in a very pointed and personal way. We expatiate on this in the homily and ensure that it is reflected in the faith that we profess (Creed) and the prayers that we make (of the faithful). But from that point onwards, there is no reference to these deep and important insights for the rest of the Eucharist: they are set aside and almost forgotten while we recall other unconnected insights into God’s love and care. When dealing with God, of course, this doesn’t really matter. But if it is desired that the insights gained in the liturgy of the Word somehow influence our lives, then it is important that these be brought into the liturgy of the Bread, and particularly into the central prayer of thanksgiving: the Eucharistic Prayer.

This can be done in several ways. For a start, we suggest one very simple way that we could use till we get accustomed to this approach. Let us suppose that in the Gospel we proclaimed the passage of the feeding of the five thousand (Mk. 6:30-44) and emphasized in the homily Christ’s compassion that led him to feed the harassed people first with the word and then with the bread. This could be brought into the Eucharistic Prayer later in several ways and at several spots. Presuming we take EP II, then at the Preface itself when we pray: “He is the Word through whom you made the universe, and who in the desert reached out to the hungering multitudes that sought him out. He taught them about your kingdom and later led them to experience your powerful and loving providence by offering them enough bread to eat and be filled. The left-overs proclaim that your love never runs out but that even today we can experience its healing power, if we come to you through Jesus for he is the saviour you sent to redeem us…”

We could also recall the insights of the Word section when we invoke the Holy Spirit. The text reads: “Lord, you are holy indeed, the fountain of all life and holiness. Having created us you wish that no person goes hungry or remains in want but you provide plentifully both of your life-giving word and also of nourishing bread. We bless you for the numerous people who share their bread and their lives with us, bringing us your love and concern. It is through the generosity of our brothers and sisters that we have this bread which we bring today to your altar. Let your Spirit come upon these gifts …”

Or again as we pray the Memorial Prayer after the Institution narrative: