Year of the Eucharist

In an article published in the Commonweal, a young Catholic journalist, after expressing her concerns and difficulties in the practice of the Catholic faith, said in the conclusion that the Catholic Church is very dear to her and she would not leave the Church because it is in the Church that she has the Eucharistic presence of the Lord. For her, the most important aspect of her faith is her attachment to the Lord present in the Eucharist. In “ The New Faithful” a recent book dealing with the changing religious attitudes of the young college graduates of the U.S., Colleen Carroll states that the young Catholics are drawn to the Church across the country by rosary recitations and adoration of the Eucharist. According to the Vatican Council document, Lumen Gentium, the Eucharistic sacrifice is the source and summit of Christian life. Hence, it is very appropriate that the Holy Father has proclaimed the present year starting from Oct.2004 to Oct.2005 as the Year of the Eucharist.

In the recent Apostolic Letter issued at the time of the proclamation of the year of the Eucharist called “ Mane Nobiscum Domine(Stay with us, Lord)”, the Holy Father calls the Eucharist a mystery of the light. Jesus is the Light of the World and in the Eucharist, He remains the same light illuminating the minds and hearts of his faithful just as He enlightened the disciples on the way to Emmaus to understand the meaning of the Scriptures. According to the Holy Father, “the Eucharist is light above all because at every mass the liturgy of the Word of God precedes the liturgy of the Eucharist in the unity of the two “tables”, the table of the Word and the table of the Bread.” The liturgy of the word thus enlightens our minds and hearts to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The Holy Father in the same letter points out that the Eucharist is a meal as well as a sacrifice. The Eucharist was born in the Passover meal but then it “presents anew the sacrifice offered once for all in Golgotha.” Hence every mass is a memorial of His Passion but it is not the suffering Christ that is present but the Risen Christ. The Holy Father also reminds us of our faith in the mystery of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. At a time of lot of looseness in the use of words, we have to remind ourselves again and again that the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not figurative or metaphorical but real. Again in the words of the Holy Father, “the presence is real …because Christ becomes substantially present, whole and entire, in the reality of his body and blood.”

We know how important it is for us to celebrate this year of the Eucharist and how necessary it is for us to educate our young in their understanding of the meaning of the Eucharist. Participation in the Eucharistic celebration gives us the opportunity to be united with Christ in a very unique way and helps us to overcome the burdens of life by aligning them with the bread and wine, the unique gifts of nature, to be transformed into the Spirit of His own life. Jesus then will always remain with us, inspiring and strengthening us, by radiating the powerful beams of His Light on our earthly paths.

Our diocese plans to celebrate this year as the Year of the Eucharist and every parish in our diocese has set apart a day for Eucharistic Adoration. All through the year there will be special Eucharistic celebrations spread over the different parts of our diocese. We will have a diocesan conclusion of this celebration at the Diocesan convention to be held in July in Dallas.

As Syro-Malabar Catholics we have a special attachment to the Eucharist since, as a community, we are some of the great privileged people in the Catholic world to be gifted with an ancient Rite whose Eucharistic celebration started at a very early age of the Christian era. The long prayers we use at the mass known as Gehanta are the closest prayers to the prayers used by Jesus at the Last Supper. According to Lous Bouyer, a very renowned theologian of the Eucharist, the Eucharistic prayer of the Syro-Malabar Rite is “the most ancient Christian Eucharistic composition to which we can have access today.”

Our Rite thus holds aloft a great Eucharistic prayer of the Church and that itself is one of the most important reasons for us to keep alive our Rite in this new country of ours. The existence of an ancient Rite adds to the beauty and magnificence of the several other ancient Catholic Rites existing in this country.

The celebration of the Year of the Eucharist, hence, is an occasion for us to deepen our love of the Eucharist as well as our attachment to our Rite.

Thank you again for your support for the Syro-Maabar News as well as for our Bishop and the Diocese.