Eucharistic devotion outside of Mass is both a preparation and a
continuation of the sacrifice, says the Holy Father
After the recitation of the Angelus in Seville on Saturday, 12 June,
the Holy Father went into the cathedral where he took part in the
Eucharistic adoration. After spending some time in silent prayer and the
reading of the Gospel the Holy Father preached the homily in Spanish…The
following is a translation of the Pope's homily.
Adoremus in aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum!
United with the angels and saints of the heavenly Church, let us
adore the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Prostrate, we
adore this great mystery that contains God's new and definitive covenant
with humankind in Christ.
1. Dear Brother Bishops, Priests and Religious,
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
It gives me great joy to kneel with you before Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament, in an act of humble and fervent adoration, in praise
of the merciful God, in thanksgiving to the giver of all good gifts and
in prayer to the One who "lives forever to make intercession"
for us (cf. Heb 7:25).
We have just heard the words, "remain in me as I remain in
you" (Jn 15:4), in the Gospel reading on the allegory of the
vine and the branches. How well this passage can be understood from the
mystery of the living and life-giving presence of Christ in the
Eucharist!
Christ is the vine, planted in the chosen vineyard, which is the
People of God, the Church. Through the mystery of the Eucharistic bread
the Lord can say to each of us: "Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" (Jn 6:56). His life
flows to us as the life-giving sap of the vine flows to its branches to
make them live and bear fruit. Without true union with Christ—in
whom we believe and who nourishes us—there can be neither supernatural
life in us, nor fruit.
2. The continual adoration of Jesus in the Host was the leitmotiv
of all the work of this International Eucharistic Congress.
Therefore I express my congratulations and thanks to those who, with
great pastoral concern and apostolic commitment, assumed responsibility
for the Congress. In fact, the continual adoration—which took
place in many churches throughout the city, and in some even at night—was
an enriching feature that distinguished this Congress. If only this form
of adoration, which ends tonight in a solemn Eucharistic vigil, would
continue in the future too, so that in all the parishes and Christian
communities the custom of some form of adoration of the Eucharist might
take root.
Here in Seville we must not fail to remember the man who was a priest
of this Archdiocese, the Archpriest of Huelva, later Bishop of Malaga
and subsequently of Palencia: Don Manuel González, the Bishop of the
abandoned tabernacles. He strove to remind everyone of Jesus' presence
in the tabernacle, to which we sometimes respond so poorly. By his word
and example, he never ceased to repeat that in the tabernacle of each
church we possess a shining beacon, through contact with which our lives
may be illuminated and transformed.
3. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, it is important for us to live and
teach others how to live the total mystery of the Eucharist: the
sacrament of Sacrifice, of the Banquet and of the
abiding Presence of Jesus Christ the Saviour. You know well that
the various forms of Eucharistic devotion are both an extension of the
sacrifice and of Communion and a preparation for them. Is it necessary
to stress once again the deep theological and spiritual motivations
which underlie devotion to the Blessed Sacrament outside the celebration
of Mass? It is true that the reservation of the Sacrament was begun in
order to take Communion to the sick and those absent from the
celebration. However, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says,
"to deepen faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
the Church is aware of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord
present under the Eucharistic species" (n. 1379).
4. "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the
age" (Mt 28:20). These are the words of the risen Christ before his
ascension into heaven. Jesus Christ is truly Emmanuel, God-with-us, from
his incarnation to the end of time. And he is so in a specially intense
and close way in the mystery of his abiding presence in the Eucharist.
What strength, what consolation, what staunch hope the contemplation of
the Eucharistic mystery gives rise to! It is God with us who
enables us to share his life and sends us into the world to evangelize
it and make it holy!
Eucharist and evangelization was the theme of the 45th
International Eucharistic Congress in Seville. You have reflected on it
intensely over the past few days and during its long preparation. The
Eucharist really is "the source and culmination of all
evangelization" (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 5) It is
the horizon and the goal of the entire proclamation of Christ's Gospel.
We are constantly journeying towards it through the word of Truth, the
proclamation of the message of salvation. Thus every liturgical
celebration of the Eucharist according to the spirit and the norms of
the Church has great evangelizing force. Indeed, the celebration of the
Eucharist develops an essential and effective teaching of the Christian
mystery: the believing community is summoned and gathered as a family
and the People of God, the Body of Christ; it is doubly nourished at the
table of the Word and of the sacrificial Banquet of the Eucharist; it is
sent as a means of salvation into the world. All this is in praise and
thanksgiving to the Father.
Join me in asking Jesus Christ the Lord, who died for our sins and
rose for our salvation, that as a result of this Eucharistic Congress
the whole Church may be strengthened for the new evangelization which
the whole world needs: new, also because of its explicit and deep
reference to the Eucharist as the centre and source of Christian life,
as the seed and requisite of fellowship, justice, and service to all
humanity, starting with those who are most needy in body and in spirit.
Evangelization through the Eucharist, in the Eucharist and
from the Eucharist: these are three inseparable aspects of how
the Church lives the mystery of Christ and fulfils her mission of
communicating it to all people.
5. May God cause many vocations, of apostles, of missionaries, to
spring from intimacy with Christ in the Eucharist, in order to bring
this Gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth. While the
celebrations of the fifth centenary of the evangelization of America are
still fresh in our minds, I urge Spanish priests and religious—according
to the needs and circumstances of the present time—to be ready, as in
other eras, to offer their fraternal service to their sister Churches in
Latin America in the urgent commitment of evangelization, along the
lines of the spirit and the reflections of the Fourth General Assembly
of the Latin American Bishops, held last October in Santo Domingo. Today
the whole Church is demanding a new missionary outreach, a vibrant spirit
of evangelization "new in its zeal, in its methods and in its
expressions".
6. "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true
worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth" (Jn 4:
23), Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar. Adoration
of the Eucharist "is the contemplation and recognition of the true
Presence of Christ under the sacred species outside the celebration of
the Mass.... It is a true encounter of dialogue, ... through which we
become open to the experience of God.... It is also a gesture of
solidarity with the needs and the needy of the whole world" (Basic
Document of the Congress, n. 25). And through its own spiritual dynamic,
this Eucharistic adoration should lead to the service of love and
justice for and with our brothers and sisters.
Before the real, mysterious presence of Christ in the Eucharist—a
"veiled" presence, for he is invisible except to the eyes of
faith—we understand with new light the words of the Apostle John, who
knew so much about the love of Christ: "Whoever does not love a
brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1
Jn 4:20). This is why it was hoped that this Congress would have a clear
impact of evangelization and witness on all the contexts of life and
society. I have the firm hope that the desire to evangelize will awaken
in Christians a sincere consistency between faith and life and lead to a
greater commitment to justice and charity, to the promotion of more
equitable relations between individuals and peoples. Especially for the
Church in Spain, this Congress should give renewed strength to
Christian life on the basis of a fresh education in the faith. How
important it is in today's social environment that is gradually being
secularized, to promote the renewal of the Sunday celebration of the
Eucharist and respect for the Lord's Day! The commemoration of the
Lord's resurrection and the celebration of the Eucharist must fill our
Sundays with religious content that is truly humanizing. The Sunday rest
from work, attention to the family, the cultivation of spiritual values
and sharing in the life of the Christian community will contribute to
making a better world, one richer in moral values, with greater
solidarity and less consumerism.
7. May the Lord, the Light of the nations—who during these days is
generously sowing the seeds of Truth in so many hearts—multiply the
fruits of this Congress with his divine fertility. And one of these,
perhaps the most important, will be the resurgence of vocations. Let us
ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to gather in his harvest
(cf. Mt 9: 38): there is a great dearth of vocations to the
priesthood and to the religious life. And each of us, by word
and the example of generous self-giving, should become an "apostle
of apostles", a promoter of vocations. From the Eucharist, Christ
today is calling many young people insistently: "Come with me, I
will make you fishers of men" (Mt 4:19). May you priests and
religious be joyful and convincing heralds of this call from the Lord.
May the Virgin Mary, who in Seville and in this cathedral is honoured
by the name of Nuestra Señora de los Reyes, impel us and
guide us to the encounter with her Son in the Eucharistic mystery. May
she, who was the true Ark of the New Covenant, the living Tabernacle of
God made man, teach us to act with pure intention, humility and fervent
devotion to Jesus Christ her Son, present in the tabernacle. May she,
the "Star of Evangelization", support us in our pilgrimage of
faith to bring the light of Christ to all people, to all the nations.
Amen.
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