Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This evening I would like to meditate with you on two
interconnected aspects of the Eucharistic Mystery: worship of the Eucharist and
its sacred nature. It is important to reflect on them once again to preserve
them from incomplete visions of the Mystery itself, such as those encountered
in the recent past.
First of all, a reflection on the importance of Eucharistic
worship and, in particular, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We shall
experience it this evening, after Mass, before the procession, during it and at
its conclusion. A unilateral interpretation of the
Second
Vatican Council penalized this dimension, in practice
restricting the
Eucharist to the moment of its celebration. Indeed it was very important to
recognize the centrality of the celebration in which the Lord summons his
people, gathers it round the dual table of the Word and of the Bread of life,
nourishes and unites it with himself in the offering of the Sacrifice.
Of course, this evaluation of the liturgical assembly in
which the Lord works his mystery of communion and brings it about still
applies; but it must be put back into the proper balance. In fact — as often
happens — in order to emphasize one aspect one ends by sacrificing another. In
this case the correct accentuation of the celebration of the Eucharist has been
to the detriment of adoration as an act of faith and prayer addressed to the
Lord Jesus, really present in the Sacrament of the Altar.
This imbalance has also had repercussions on the spiritual
life of the faithful. In fact, by concentrating the entire relationship with
the Eucharistic Jesus in the sole moment of Holy Mass one risks emptying the
rest of existential time and space of his presence. This makes ever less
perceptible the meaning of Jesus’ constant presence in our midst and with us, a
presence that is tangible, close, in our homes, as the “beating Heart” of the
city, of the country, and of the area, with its various expressions and activities.
The sacrament of Christ’s Charity must permeate the whole of daily life.
Actually it is wrong to set celebration and adoration
against each other, as if they were competing. Exactly the opposite is true:
worship of the Blessed Sacrament is, as it were, the spiritual “context” in
which the community can celebrate the Eucharist well and in truth. Only if it
is preceded, accompanied and followed by this inner attitude of faith and
adoration can the liturgical action express its full meaning and value. The
encounter with Jesus in Holy Mass is truly and fully brought about when the
community can recognize that in the Sacrament he dwells in his house, waits for
us, invites us to his table, then, after the assembly is dismissed, stays with
us, with his discreet and silent presence, and accompanies us with his
intercession, continuing to gather our spiritual sacrifices and offer them to
the Father.
In this regard I am pleased to highlight the experience we
shall be having together this evening too. At the moment of Adoration, we are
all equal, kneeling before the Sacrament of Love. The common priesthood and the
ministerial priesthood are brought together in Eucharistic worship. It is a
very beautiful and significant experience which we have had several times in St
Peter’s Basilica, and also in the unforgettable Vigils with young people — I
recall, for example, those in Cologne, London, Zagreb and Madrid. It is clear
to all that these moments of Eucharistic Vigil prepare for the celebration of
the Holy Mass, they prepare hearts for the encounter so that it will be more
fruitful.
To be all together in prolonged silence before the Lord
present in his Sacrament is one of the most genuine experiences of our being
Church, which is accompanied complementarily by the celebration of the
Eucharist, by listening to the word of God, by singing and by approaching the
table of the Bread of Life together. Communion and contemplation cannot be
separated, they go hand in hand. If I am truly to communicate with another
person I must know him, I must be able to be in silence close to him, to listen
to him and look at him lovingly. True love and true friendship are always
nourished by the reciprocity of looks, of intense, eloquent silences full of
respect and veneration, so that the encounter may be lived profoundly and
personally rather than superficially. And, unfortunately, if this dimension is
lacking, sacramental communion itself may become a superficial gesture on our
part.
Instead, in true communion, prepared for by the conversation
of prayer and of life, we can address words of confidence to the Lord, such as
those which rang out just now in the Responsorial Psalm: “O Lord, I am your
servant; I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. / You have loosed my
bonds./ I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving /and call on the name
of the Lord” (Ps 116[115]:16-17).
I would now like to move on briefly to the second aspect:
the sacred nature of the Eucharist. Here too so we have heard in the recent
past of a certain misunderstanding of the authentic message of Sacred
Scripture. The Christian newness with regard to worship has been influenced by
a certain secularist mentality of the 1960s and 70s. It is true, and this is
still the case, that the centre of worship is now no longer in the ancient
rites and sacrifices, but in Christ himself, in his person, in his life, in his
Paschal Mystery. However it must not be concluded from this fundamental
innovation that the sacred no longer exists, but rather that it has found
fulfilment in Jesus Christ, divine Love incarnate.
The Letter to the Hebrews, which we heard this evening in
the Second Reading, speaks to us precisely of the newness of the priesthood of
Christ, “high priest of the good things that have come” (Heb 9:11), but does
not say that the priesthood is finished. Christ “is the mediator of a new
covenant” (Heb 9:15), established in his blood which purifies our “conscience
from dead works” (Heb 9:14). He did not abolish the sacred but brought it to
fulfillment, inaugurating a new form of worship, which is indeed fully
spiritual but which, however, as long as we are journeying in time, still makes
use of signs and rites, which will exist no longer only at the end, in the
heavenly Jerusalem, where there will no longer be any temple (cf. Rev 21:22).
Thanks to Christ, the sacred is truer, more intense and, as happens with the
Commandments, also more demanding! Ritual observance does not suffice but
purification of the heart and the involvement of life is required.
I would also like to stress that the sacred has an
educational function and its disappearance inevitably impoverishes culture and
especially the formation of the new generations. If, for example, in the name
of a faith that is secularized and no longer in need of sacred signs, these Corpus
Christiprocessions through the city were to be abolished, the spiritual profile
of Rome would be “flattened out”, and our personal and community awareness
would be weakened.
Or let us think of a mother or father who in the name of a
desacralized faith, deprived their children of all religious rituals: in
reality they would end by giving a free hand to the many substitutes that exist
in the consumer society, to other rites and other signs that could more easily
become idols.
God, our Father, did not do this with humanity: he sent his
Son into the world not to abolish, but to give fulfilment also to the sacred.
At the height of this mission, at the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the
Sacrament of his Body and his Blood, the Memorial of his Paschal Sacrifice. By
so doing he replaced the ancient sacrifices with himself, but he did so in a
rite which he commanded the Apostles to perpetuate, as a supreme sign of the
true Sacred One who is he himself. With this faith, dear brothers and sisters,
let us celebrate the Eucharistic Mystery today and every day and adore it as
the centre of our life and the heart of the world. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters,
