Dear Friends,
Last Sunday, Tom Buddington helped us to reflect on the letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith on the important theme of LIFE. “SAMARITANUS BONUS” reaffirms for us the fact that every life is unique and unrepeatable and not ours to take away. It focuses on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life and vehemently opposes state legalization of any form of assisted suicide or euthanasia as intrinsically evil. Rather, it calls us to give witness to the sick person and therein become a “healing community.” This letter is a must read for those dealing with the pain and suffering of family members, care for the elderly and the sick, and also for physicians, nurses and healthcare workers whose primary responsibility is care for life. The letter invites us to embrace, safeguard, and promote human life until natural death. Reflecting on the beautiful images of the Good Samaritan and Mary and John at the foot of the cross, the letter beckons us to treat the terminally ill with an attitude of “cure if possible, always care.”
The letter also invites us to recognize that illness and the sufferings associated with it are inevitable, and that the infirm are never to be viewed as a burden to society. Christ experienced what it means to feel alone, neglected, and tormented by physical pain, and He understands the utter helplessness of watching a loved one suffer. When we accompany another through suffering, we share in the intimacy of God made man by living through hours that seem meaningless.
During this time of Covid-19, some of us have experienced the unspeakable pain of not being allowed to visit our elderly or terminally ill family and friends receiving palliative care. “While essential and invaluable, palliative care in itself is not enough unless there is someone who “remains” at the bedside of the sick to bear witness to their unique and unrepeatable value.” The Christian response to the mystery of death and suffering is to provide not simply an explanation but a Presence.
Cultures that value its people on the basis of their efficiency and utility, to the point of considering them ‘disposable or unworthy lives,’ is a clear degradation of moral value. Faced with this same moral decline in our own culture, we are charged with the mission to develop an antidote to this moral calamity. The role of the family is central to the care of the terminally ill patient. It is essential that the sick under care do not feel themselves to be a burden but, rather, are able to sense the intimacy and support of their loved ones. Our families should become places where the ‘therapy of dignity’ is practiced with commitment, nurturing love and respect for life as an essential therapeutic factor in the care of the sick. Pope Francis has said that “The family has always been the ‘closest hospital,’ and still, today, in many parts of the world, the hospital is a privilege enjoyed by few.” By caring for the sick and the suffering you become a “servant of consolation” in the face of any human situation of desolation or discomfort. As followers of Christ, each of us is called to personally bear witness to love in suffering. Let us not forget to pray for those who care for others. By so doing, you become the face of the Good Samaritan who heals the wounds of the traveler beaten, robbed, and left for dead, the faces of John and Mary who remained at the foot of the Cross bringing comfort to Christ.
On the 28th Sunday A, the Gospel of Matthew presents us with the Parable of the Wedding Feast. God is hosting this banquet every time we participate in the Eucharist. Will you make excuses to decline His offer to dine with Him at the banquet, or will you do anything to join at the table of the Eucharist? Will you be able to say like Paul in his letter to the Philippians: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (4: 13).
Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John
Ecclesia De Eucharistia
For this week, we shall reflect on paragraphs 29-30 of the encyclical, “Ecclesia De Eucharistia” (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist) by St. John Paul II on the vital role the Eucharist plays in the life of the Church. We are now in the 3rd chapter which focuses on the theme: “THE APOSTOLICITY OF THE EUCHARIST AND OF THE CHURCH.” In these paragraphs you will read the essential relationship that exits between the ordained ministers and the Eucharist. Here also you will find explained how our separated brethren differ from us when it comes to the truth of the nature of the Eucharist.
- The expression repeatedly employed by the Second Vatican Council, according to which “the ministerial priest, acting in the person of Christ, brings about the Eucharistic Sacrifice” (Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 10 and 28; Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 2.), was already firmly rooted in papal teaching ( “The minister of the altar acts in the person of Christ inasmuch as he is head, making an offering in the name of all the members”: Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Mediator Dei (20 November 1947): AAS 39 (1947), 556; cf. Pius X, Apostolic Exhortation Haerent Animo (4 August 1908): Acta Pii X, IV, 16; Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Ad Catholici Sacerdotii (20 December 1935): AAS 28 (1936), 20). As I have pointed out on other occasions, the phrase in persona Christi “means more than offering 'in the name of' or 'in the place of' Christ. In persona means in specific sacramental identification with the eternal High Priest who is the author and principal subject of this sacrifice of his, a sacrifice in which, in truth, nobody can take his place” (Apostolic Letter Dominicae Cenae (24 February 1980), 8: AAS 72 (1980), 12129). The ministry of priests who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders, in the economy of salvation chosen by Christ, makes clear that the Eucharist which they celebrate is a gift which radically transcends the power of the assembly and is in any event essential for validly linking the Eucharistic consecration to the sacrifice of the Cross and to the Last Supper. The assembly gathered together for the celebration of the Eucharist, if it is to be a truly Eucharistic assembly, absolutely requires the presence of an ordained priest as its president. On the other hand, the community is by itself incapable of providing an ordained minister. This minister is a gift which the assembly receives through episcopal succession going back to the Apostles. It is the Bishop who, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, makes a new presbyter by conferring upon him the power to consecrate the Eucharist. Consequently, “the Eucharistic mystery cannot be celebrated in any community except by an ordained priest, as the Fourth Lateran Council expressly taught” ( Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Sacerdotium Ministeriale (6 August 1983), III.4: AAS 75 (1983), 1006; cf. Fourth Lateran Ecumenical Council, Chapter 1, Constitution on the Catholic Faith Firmiter Credimus: DS 802).
- The Catholic Church's teaching on the relationship between priestly ministry and the Eucharist and her teaching on the Eucharistic Sacrifice have both been the subject in recent decades of a fruitful dialogue in the area of ecumenism. We must give thanks to the Blessed Trinity for the significant progress and convergence achieved in this regard, which lead us to hope one day for a full sharing of faith. Nonetheless, the observations of the Council concerning the Ecclesial Communities which arose in the West from the sixteenth century onwards and are separated from the Catholic Church remain fully pertinent: “The Ecclesial Communities separated from us lack that fullness of unity with us which should flow from Baptism, and we believe that especially because of the lack of the sacrament of Orders they have not preserved the genuine and total reality of the Eucharistic mystery. Nevertheless, when they commemorate the Lord's death and resurrection in the Holy Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and they await his coming in glory” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 22).
The Catholic faithful, therefore, while respecting the religious convictions of these separated brethren, must refrain from receiving the communion distributed in their celebrations, so as not to condone an ambiguity about the nature of the Eucharist and, consequently, to fail in their duty to bear clear witness to the truth. This would result in slowing the progress being made towards full visible unity. Similarly, it is unthinkable to substitute for Sunday Mass ecumenical celebrations of the word or services of common prayer with Christians from the aforementioned Ecclesial Communities, or even participation in their own liturgical services. Such celebrations and services, however praiseworthy in certain situations, prepare for the goal of full communion, including Eucharistic communion, but they cannot replace it.
The fact that the power of consecrating the Eucharist has been entrusted only to Bishops and priests does not represent any kind of belittlement of the rest of the People of God, for in the communion of the one body of Christ which is the Church this gift redounds to the benefit of all.