|
Eucharist Makes Mission Possible
On Thursday, 29 April, the Message of the Holy
Father for the 78th World Mission Sunday was released by the Vatican. The
Day will be celebrated on Sunday, 17 October 2004,* and the theme of the
Message this year is "Eucharist and Mission”. In his Message the Pope
stresses the need to "re-launch the mission 'ad gentes' with
courage, starting with the proclamation of Christ, Redeemer of every human
person", and to draw the strength of resolve in this task from the Most
Holy Eucharist. The following is a translation of the Holy Father's
Message, written in Italian.
My dearest Brothers and Sisters!
1. The Church's missionary activity is an urgency also
at the beginning of the third millennium, as I have often said. Mission,
as I stated in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, is still only
beginning and we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service (cf.
n. 1). The entire People of God at every moment of its pilgrimage through
history is called to share the Redeemer's "thirst" (cf. Jn 19:28). This
thirst to save souls has always been strongly experienced by the saints:
it suffices to think, for example, of Saint Therese of Lisieux, patroness
of the missions, and of Bishop Comboni, great apostle of Africa whom
recently [16 May 2004] I had the joy of raising to the honour of the
altars.
The social and religious challenges facing humanity in
our day call believers to renew their missionary fervour. Yes! It is
necessary to relaunch the mission "ad gentes" with courage,
starting with the proclamation of Christ, Redeemer of every human person.
The International Eucharistic Congress which will be celebrated at
Guadalajara in Mexico in the coming month of October, the missionary
month, will be an extraordinary opportunity to grow in choral missionary
awareness around the Table of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Gathered around the altar, the Church understands
better her origin and her missionary mandate. As the theme of World
Mission Sunday this year clearly emphasises, "Eucharist and Mission"
are inseparable. In addition to reflection on the bond that exists between
the Eucharistic mystery and the mystery of the Church, this year there
will be an eloquent reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, because of the
occurrence of the 150th anniversary of the definition of the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception (1854-2004). Let us contemplate the Eucharist with
the eyes of Mary. Confiding in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the
Church offers Christ, the Bread of Salvation, to all peoples so that they
may recognize him and accept him as the only Saviour of mankind.
The Christian community grows only in the Eucharist
2. Returning ideally to the Upper Room, last year,
precisely on Holy Thursday, I signed the Encyclical Ecclesia de
Eucharistia, from which I would like to take some passages which will
help us, dearest Brothers and Sisters, to live World Mission Sunday this
year with a Eucharistic spirit. "The Eucharist builds the Church and the
Church makes the Eucharist" (n. 26), I wrote, observing how the mission of
the Church is a continuity of the mission of Christ (cf. Jn 20:21) and
draws spiritual energy from communion with his Body and Blood. The goal of
the Eucharist is precisely "communion of mankind with Christ and in him
with the Father and the Holy Spirit" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n.
22). When we take part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice we understand more
profoundly the universality of redemption and, consequently, the urgency
of the Church's mission with its programme which "has its centre in Christ
himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may
live the life of the Trinity and with him transform history until its
fulfilment in the heavenly Jerusalem" (ibid., n. 60).
Around Christ in the Eucharist the Church grows as the
people, temple and family of God: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. At
the same time she understands better her character of universal sacrament
of salvation and visible reality with a hierarchical structure. Certainly
"no Christian community can be built up unless it has its basis and centre
in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist" (ibid., n. 33; cf.
Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 6). At the end of every Mass, when the
celebrant takes leave of the assembly with the words "Ite, Missa est",
all should feel they are sent as "missionaries of the Eucharist" to carry
to every environment the great gift received. In fact, anyone who
encounters Christ in the Eucharist cannot fail to proclaim through his or
her life the merciful love of the Redeemer.
'The Eucharist': strength, consolation and assistance
3. To live the Eucharist it is necessary, as well, to
spend much time in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament, something
which I myself experience every day, drawing from it strength, consolation
and assistance (cf, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 25). The Eucharist,
the Second Vatican Council affirms, "is the source and summit of all
Christian life" (Lumen Gentium, n. 11), "the source and summit of
all evangelization" (Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 5).
The bread and wine, fruit of human hands, transformed
through the power of the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Christ,
become a pledge of the "new heavens and a new earth" (Rv 21:1), announced
by the Church in her daily mission. In Christ, whom we adore present in
the mystery of the Eucharist, the Father uttered his final word with
regard to humanity and human history.
How could the Church fulfil her vocation without
cultivating a constant relationship with the Eucharist, without nourishing
herself with this food which sanctifies, without founding her missionary
activity on this indispensable support? To evangelize the world there is
need of apostles who are "experts" in the celebration, adoration and
contemplation of the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the 'Bread of Life'
4. In the Eucharist we relive the mystery of the
Redemption culminating in the Lord's sacrifice, as it is said in the words
of consecration: "my body which will be given for you...; ...my
blood which will be poured out for you" (Lk 22:19-20). Christ died for
all; and for all is the gift of salvation which the Eucharist renders
sacramentally present in the course of history: "Do this in memory of
me" (Lk 22:19). This mandate is entrusted to ordained ministers
through the sacrament of Holy Orders. To this banquet and sacrifice all
men and women are invited so they may share in the very life of Christ: "He
who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in
him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the
Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me" (Jn 6:56-57).
Nourished by him, believers come to understand that the missionary task
means being "acceptable as an offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit"
(Rom 15:16), in order to be more and more "one in heart and mind"
(Acts 4:32) and to be witnesses of his love to the ends of the earth.
Journeying through the centuries, reliving every day
the Sacrifice of the altar, the Church, the People of God, awaits Christ's
coming in glory. This is proclaimed after the consecration by the
Eucharistic assembly gathered around the altar. Time after time with
renewed faith the Church repeats her desire for the final encounter with
the One who comes to bring his plan of universal salvation to completion.
The Holy Spirit, with invisible but powerful working,
guides the Christian people on this daily spiritual itinerary on which
they inevitably encounter difficulties and experience the mystery of the
Cross. The Eucharist is the comfort and the pledge of final triumph for
those who fight evil and sin; it is the "bread of life" which sustains
those who, in turn, become "bread broken" for others, paying at times even
with martyrdom their fidelity to the Gospel.
150th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception
5. This year, as I already mentioned, will be the 150th
anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Mary was "redeemed in an especially sublime manner by reason of the merits
of her Son" (Lumen Gentium, n. 53). I said in the encyclical Letter
Ecclesia de Eucharistia: "Gazing upon Mary, we come to know that
transforming power present in the Eucharist. In her we see the world
renewed in love" (n. 62).
Mary, "the first tabernacle in history" (ibid.,
n. 55), shows us and offers us Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life
(cf. Jn 14:6). If "the Church and the Eucharist are inseparably united,
the same ought to be said of Mary and the Eucharist" (Ecclesia de
Eucharistia, n. 57).
I hope that the happy coinciding of the International
Eucharistic Congress with the 150th anniversary of the definition of the
Immaculate Conception of Mary, may offer the faithful, parishes and
missionary institutes an opportunity to strengthen their missionary zeal
so that in every community there may always be "a genuine hunger for the
Eucharist" (ibid., n. 33).
This is also a good opportunity to mention the
contribution offered to the Church's apostolic activity by the worthy
Pontifical Mission Societies. They are very dear to my heart and I thank
them, on behalf of all, for the valid service rendered to the new
evangelization and the mission ad gentes. I ask you to support them
spiritually and materially so that also through their contribution, the
proclamation of the Gospel may reach all the peoples of the earth.
With these sentiments, invoking the maternal
intercession of Mary, "woman of the Eucharist", I gladly impart to you my
Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, 19 April 2004
*The date of the 78th
World Mission Sunday was subsequently changed to 24 October 2004.
|
