33 How is the Eucharist a form of worship?
Worship is creation's reply to God's creative word. In the beginning, God's creation reflected his word perfectly. But original sin destroyed the harmony between God's word and God's creation. The Old Testament records many attempts to find an adequate reply to God's creative word. But creature sacrifices for sin were totally inadequate worship.
Through Baptism and Confirmation, the faithful are authorized to share in Christ's worship of his Father. This worship is celebrated in the Eucharist, where Jesus Christ in his supreme act of worship is substantially made present. The two essential elements in Christ's worship are sacrifice and communion.
In his sacrifice on Calvary Christ offered himself to the Father. We share in Christ's offering of himself by assisting the priest in the offering of the divine Victim, to which we join the offering of our own lives.
The Father signified his acceptance of Jesus' offering by raising him from the dead through the power of the Spirit, so that Father, Son, Holy Spirit live in perfect communion. By our Communion at Mass God's acceptance of our offering is signified and we enjoys a share in the life of God.
Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the true worshiper of the Father. His life fulfilled all that was aimed at in Old Testament worship. As the representative of all people, his prayer is the perfect reply to the Father. And in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we join ourselves to Jesus who continually gives thanks and praise to the Father.
Anyone who reads the Scriptures regularly soon becomes familiar with the vivid word-pictures employed to describe God's action in our world.
Striving to describe the unfathomable mystery of God in mere human words, the sacred authors turn to the Father's creation. They speak of God as the water which gives life and the light that shines for all people. He is the food that nourishes us, and under the shade of his hand we are kept safe.
Sometimes they speak of God as the Word. Perhaps that strikes us as being a little unusual, and in a way it is. But here in this image of God as someone who frequently engages in long conversations with his creatures we find the key to the meaning and mystery of worship.
Has it ever struck you that human words can and do transform us? A word of praise, for example, can turn even the most nervous of us into a confident, outgoing person. The critical remark, on the other hand, can worm its way into us and utterly destroy our equilibrium.
Our words are so often misleading and destructive. But God's word is never deceptive. It always performs his will infallibly. And his will is simply that we should be filled with his love so we should become like Jesus Christ, God-made-man.
Almost every page of the Bible is a record of God's "speakings" to his people. And when God speaks, things start to happen! At his word the whole creation springs into being. Victories and defeats, plagues and famines are seen by the sacred writers as "God's word to men." In fact, as the drama unfolds we notice that God's words come to be regarded in a very personal way (see Isaiah 55:10). God' sword is looked upon as a personal messenger of God himself.
All this, of course, was a preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. "In these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son" (Hebrews 1:1). This is our Catholic belief. The Father is constantly speaking to us, through his Son, in the Church, the sacraments, and the liturgy. The question is: How can we reply?
The Christian response to this question is through Christ our Lord. Just as the Father speaks to us through his Son in the liturgy, we dare to speak back to the Father through that same Son.
This is what worship is all about: being so closely united to Jesus in every area of our lives that we are able "through him, with him, in him" to speak to the Father. And because Jesus, God-made-man, is head of the human race it is now possible for us to give adequate thanks and praise to the Father, especially in the Eucharist.
(Now do the self-correcting Quiz 33.
34 Is the Eucharist the perfect worship of the Father?
In the Eucharist Jesus Christ is truly present "whole and entire, God and man, substantially and permanently." And in the Eucharist we are united with Christ through the power of the Spirit and so united with the risen Christ's worship of his Father.
The Eucharist gives perfect honor and glory to the Father, for it is the presence of Christ in his act of offering himself to his Father. That is, it makes present in a sacramental way Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.
All, ministers and faithful, who are anointed by the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation and who take part in the Eucharistic sacrifice offer the divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with it.
At the Last Supper with his closest disciples, Jesus took bread and wine saying, "This is my body . . . this is my blood poured out for you."
To the ancient world the Eucharist seemed "intolerable language" (John 6:60). It appears no more reasonable to the modern world. Jesus' claim seems to defy reason: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John 6:52)
Here we must be clear about two things. First, in the Eucharist we are going beyond appearances. In the Eucharist Christ is as truly present as he was in Palestine nearly two thousand years ago. Second, Christ's presence among us was not, in itself, sufficient to save those who met him. To be saved, they had to approach him in faith. We have to communicate with him. He is present as our food, the eating of which gives us a share in his saving sacrifice and Resurrection.
How does the Church describe the vital change which takes place in the bread and wine at the words of consecration at Mass? Since the 12th century the Church has used the word transubstantiation to describe this change. The substance of the bread changes; but the accidents do not.
Accidents are those qualities which are perceived by the senses: Taste, touch, sight, etc. The substance is what is grasped by the mind. Only an intelligent person can say "what" a thing is.
Usually, when the senses perceive the qualities of whiteness, softness, etc. the mind, left to itself, says, "that is bread." But Jesus Christ has not left the mind to itself. He tells us that by the power of his word the bread and wine are changed into his body and blood.
The Mass perpetuates Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, it is the same sacrifice as that of Calvary. How do we explain this statement?
On the Cross Jesus chose to offer himself to the Father, in the supreme sacrifice of the giving of his blood. But then, into Jesus' lifeless body the Father poured his life giving Spirit. The Son now sits at the right hand of his Father, raised up as Lord.
On the night before he died Jesus had instituted the Eucharist to be a sign of his true and continuing presence. To understand the full significance of his presence, then, we look at the full meaning of the sign. We see the sign of Christ's body and blood on our altar offered to the Father by the priest. In the name of Christ he consecrates the bread and wine, changing them into Christ's body and blood.
On our altar at Mass, then, Christ is present in the moment of offering himself to his Father. Jesus Christ is given for us. What happened in a bloody manner on Calvary takes place in a sign, but just as truly, at Mass.
What is the difference between the two offerings? On Calvary Jesus was offering directly in his own Person. But at Mass Jesus offers through the person of his priest and also in union with his followers, his Church. On Calvary, Jesus was alone, isolated from the people who had rejected him. But, at Mass, we are united with Christ's offering. We are part of his Body, the Church.
At Mass, in other words, Christ's offering becomes our offering. We are not spectators at the sacrifice of Mass. As members of Christ's Body, we offer the sacrifice through him, with him, and in him.
(Now do the self-correcting quiz 34.)
CRACKERBARREL
For Small Group Discussion
A Protestant woman says: "My Catholic friends puzzle me. They say that the Mass is truly the same as the Last Supper, truly the same as the sacrifice of the Cross. Why if I believed that Christ was there on the altar, I would not miss being there a single day."
What response would you make to the woman.
11/23/04