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The Eucharist: The Source of Peace
by Derek W.J. Tremblay, o.ss.t.
Canada
Introduction
It is my intention, in this paper, to make a theological and pastoral analysis of
I. Personal Experience, Topic and Interest
During my first missionary experience in
Liberation theology flourished in the Roman Catholic context in
II. Theological History of the Topic
A. Biblical References
In the New Testament, the Passover Meal expressed God’s gifts of freedom for
Paul wanted the Corinthians to remember that the Lord’s Supper was not an ordinary meal
(1 Cor. 11,17-22). Rather, there was a social and ethical component to their communion with
the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread. Paul taught the Corinthians that, by their
baptism, they had to celebrate the Last Supper as a set of relationships with Christ and each
other. Those who did not recall this while participating in their Eucharist sinned against
Christ and the community. This sin was a failure to recognize Christ among the community’s
members and society itself. It was a failure to recognize the significance of the Eucharist
over their common food. Thus, to celebrate the Eucharist is to accept and live according to
the concept of being the Body of Christ with and authentic set of relationships between
everyone. The Corinthians were therefore called to conversion, to allow them to worthily eat
and drink in the memory of Christ.
B. Documents of the Second
Christians are called to put aside their personal ego. They need to be sincere in their service of human dignity and life. Christians have the capacity to use their resources so that humanity can be an offering acceptable to God. As we know, Jesus offered hope and strength in the celebration of the Eucharist. This sacrament, understood as a meal, expresses the solidarity among the assembly (cf., GS #38). Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist sacrifice of his body and blood. The Eucharist is a memorial offering of his death and resurrection. We celebrate and maintain this memorial on our history until he comes again. It is a sacrament of love, on unity and a bond of charity (cf., SC #47). Through Christ, Christians are invited, during the liturgy of the Word and of the Eucharist, to embody their union with God and each other. The effects of such relationship exemplify that God is truly all in all. (cf., SC #48).
Missionaries are invited to help the Christian communities to become signs of God’s presence in the world. This implies that, through the sacrifice of the Eucharist, Christians are constantly on the path with Christ toward the Father (cf., AG #15). The Council brought the “agape” and the Last Supper. This link is the charity among those who were gathered which showed the Christians’ unity, their charity on the one Body of Christ. (cf., AA #8).
To sum up the documents of Vatican II, Christians around the world must understand that
the Eucharist is a source of communal (social) peace that leads us to love and to serve each
other in the person of Jesus Christ, accordingly to God’s will, by the power of the Spirit.
Secondly, the self-offering of Christ is the point of contact with our human condition and
our society. Thirdly, the Eucharist expresses, among the community, peace and love that become
a real alternative to the injustices and captivities of the world. Finally, the Eucharist
frees us from our false self, as far as it is a constant challenge to our self-centeredness,
our self-absorption, and our personal sense of power and control.
C. Liberation Theology’s Doctrine
The liberation theology movement is itself a reflection on the even broader post-conciliar
renewal of the Catholic Church. Liberation theology taught strongly that the Church should
recommitment her resources to assist society and poor members of the Church in particular,
in their struggle, against war and poverty by means of social justice. This particular theology
rejects the traditional distinction between religion and politics. It analyzes history as does
the philosophy of Karl Marx, as a crisis of class struggles leading to classless society.
Liberation theology is this an attempt to combine Christian faith to the Scriptures with a
commitment to social change for the better. The central goal of this theology had been to make
religion and the churches into active agents, in one way or another, of change in Latin and
III. Three Different Authors and their Understanding of Operative Theologies
Philip J. Rosato[1]
acknowledges that since Vatican II, the entire Church is like a pilgrim that goes God’s Kingdom.
At the same time, the Church celebrates the Eucharist as an anticipation of the Messianic banquet.
In both contexts, the Eucharist and the
In the message of God’s Kingdom, Jesus broke the bread and he passed the cup to others,
among them, sinners. Thus, he broke the boundaries of communal and personal sin. He also
renewed the relationship of those whose lives had been broken by religious prejudice and
social injustices. Rosato explains that Jesus’ prophetical act at his Last Supper was meant
to carry salvation to all people. The Last Supper was the unending meal of God’s Kingdom, which
brings humanity to a communal existence under a moral unity. The Second Vatican Council
referred to this idea as a mutual way of life and ethical harmony for Christians
(GS #38, #62; SC #46; LG #28;
Kevin Seasoltz[2] points out that in John’s Last Supper gospel, there is a link between the Eucharist and social justice. Still, some liturgists are tempted to move away from the realities of the physical world. They focus more on how to please God during the rituals. Thus, the sins of the world can continue to grow. In this way, many Christians forget who they are, what their social responsibilities are to their Savior, Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, the Eucharist can remind Christians about God’s redemption, which is a celebration of Jesus’ life. His entire life demonstrates to us today how to behave according to God’s will and to act with justice and mercy to all. The Eucharist is then a celebration of Jesus death. He died obediently because he was true to himself and to the Father. The Eucharist is finally a celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The risen Christ is the faith experience of what is means to be free from the captivities of sin.
Such liberation requires a conversion of the whole person and the whole community.
Conversion implies an improvement in one’s relationship with God that effects one’s
relationships with others in the
William T. Cavanaugh[3]
accepts the fact that the Church celebrates the Eucharist. The Eucharist forms the Church.
This implies that the community of the faithful celebrates the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. The sacrament of the Eucharist acts upon the baptized in a disciplinary way.
Such was the case when Paul addressed the issue of discipline among the Christians at
Christ’s sacramental body and blood assembled Christians into one body. This particular unity corresponds to their sincere relationship with Christ to the Father by the Spirit and to their honest relationship with the members of the Church. For those who eat and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, they make on their own damnation. This damnation comes through a lack of true commitment and genuine communion with God and each other. To be saved, it is required to be disciplined just as Jesus was until his death. This discipline is not only considered to be needed for personal guidance, but rather the whole Church needs it, the whole world needs it. Cavanaugh’s ecclesiology concern is that Christians are the visible form of what it means to celebrate the Eucharist. In this way, the Eucharist is the personal and communal character of salvation, which makes if a sacrament, an offering acceptable to God.
IV. Final Reflections
A. Conclusions from the Study
The communion of the Eucharist and among Christians presupposes the abolition of all injustices and hypocrisy in and beyond the community of faith. The celebration of thanksgiving, in its essence, is communitarian and oriented towards the constitutions of a genuine fellowship through our baptism. This same celebration attempts to abolish sin in the community’s setting and to build a more human and Christian dignity in the person. All Christian have the right and obligation to be reminded that God’s Kingdom calls for a response of human effort and praxis. In this sense, the Eucharistic celebration, in light of liberation theology towards peace, can restructure our spiritual and human relationships with God and the community.
In my own understanding of liberation theology, I believe that the oppressed must
live in true liberty and dignity as sons and daughters of God. In other words, this
praxis implies what
B. Theological Insights
i. Ecclesiology
The Church is a human society gathered by faith to celebrate the Eucharist. The
Eucharist, as a thanksgiving meal, is the founding moment of the Church as the Body
of Christ. The Church and the Eucharist must be seen together as a central point of
fait, hope and charity toward local, national and international peace. The three
virtues are not to be animated only inside the walls of the Church, but also outside.
It is liberation theology’s belief that the Church’s base communities are the only
form of social action available to the poor. Jesus preached a Kingdom that looked to
a global transformation of the spiritual and social structures, not just the religious
or political structures, of his time. Jesus preached conversion of heart, so all may
pray God with their hearts, not only with their head. Jesus spoke of moral behaviour as
being to love, care and help other, not killing each other. Thus, the baptized people
are Church, when they have a common faith in the Risen Lord, which carries with it social
justice implication.
ii. Christian Anthropology
Christian anthropology had the responsibility to stress the personnel nature of
both sin and salvation. The
iii. Christology
For the theologians of liberation, Christology from below is an appropriate language as it gives a greater attention to the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is the one who defended the outcasts of society and religion. This view tends to see Jesus’ consciousness of his ministry and of his own person as developing gradually, as he becomes more human in relationship to his obedience toward the Father. Jesus’ Passover Meal was an offering of his whole self to God. It was much more than a simple act of worship. Rather, it was an act of accepting to live under the sigh of the cross, in the hope of the resurrection. Jesus accepted the meaning of a life that was given over humiliation, persecution, rejection, injustice and death, for the love of humanity. Without a real commitment against personal and social sin, the Eucharist celebration is an empty liturgical memorial, lacking any genuine support by those who participate in it.
C. Questions
How is it possible to realize this project of a faithful liberation theology for the common good, of the people in power don’t want to know anything about it? Would the answer be by praying, thinking, writing, dialoguing or by using pure violence over violence?
Christianity is its truest when it has its seat in the heart of people who, by
virtue of their freely chosen commitment, help to change the world around for the
better. In history, the darkest moments for Christianity have been when the Church has
attempted to rule from the parliaments of the politicians rather than in the hearts of
the faithful. When are we going to learn to put aside our ego of power as to love one
another just as the Creator loves us? Perhaps never… Perhaps tomorrow… Perhaps starting
today!
[1]
Cf., Philip J. Rosato, “The Eucharist and the
[2] Kevin Seasoltz, “Justice and the Eucharist” Worship 58 (November 1984) 507-525.
[3] William T. Cavanaugh, “Making the Body Visible” Torture and Eucharist: Challenges in Contemporary Theology, (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1998), pp.234-252.
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