The Eucharist, a mystery to be lived
#1 - ROL # 1
# 2 - A mystery to be lived
- Mysteries are not problems. Problems can be solved, but mysteries are not so much to be solved as to be entered into.
- A mystery has a depth of meaning which we can never fully exhaust.
- A mystery is certainly not completely unintelligible, otherwise we could say nothing about it.
# 3 - what does it mean to live the mystery of the Eucharist?
Scholastic No. 1 (response)
Scholastic No. 2(response)
Scholalstic No.3 (response)
Br. Al
Fr. Rudsend
# 4 - Sacramentum Caritatis – Part III – Eucharist, a mystery to be lived
#5 - Logike Latreia (Romans 12:1) [ no. 70]
The Lord Jesus effects in us a spiritual transformation in the gift of the Eucharist. "He who eats me will live because of me"(Jn 6:51). We are mysteriously transformed and united to Christ Himself through the Eucharist. It is "the source and summit of the Church's life, since it expresses at once both the origin and the fulfillment of the new and definitive worship of God, the logiké latreía." The sacrifice of Christ is also the sacrifice of the Church, and thus of all the faithful.
#6 Iuxta dominicam viventes – living in accordance with the Lord's Day [71-72]
- Christianity's new worship includes and transfigures every aspect of life. "There is nothing authentically human – our thoughts and affections, our words and deeds – that does not find in the sacrament of the Eucharist the form it needs to be lived to the full."
Christians have attained a new hope and are living in accordance with the Lord's Day (iuxta dominicam viventes). This highlights the connection between the Eucharist and everyday Christian life. Living in accordance with the Lord's Day means recognizing the freedom brought by Christ and making our lives a constant self-offering to God.
#7 - A eucharistic form of Christian life, membership in the Church [76] –
The eucharistic mystery helps us to understand the profound meaning of the communio sanctorum. Communion always and inseparably has both a vertical and a horizontal sense: it is communion with God and communion with our brothers and sisters." If the vertical dimension of this relationship is destroyed, the horizontal is destroyed as well. The destruction of the horizontal dimension leads to destruction of the vertical dimension as well. Eucharistic life is ecclesial and communitarian.
#8 Eucharistic Spirituality and eucharistic culture [77]
- Eucharistic spirituality embraces the whole of life. Secularization has "relegated the Christian faith to the margins of life as if it were irrelevant to everyday affairs." The Eucharist must be translated into spirituality, into a "life lived according to the Spirit".
# 9 The Eucharist and the consecrated life [81] –
The Eucharist provides strength for the following of Christ in being obedient, poor and chaste. The purpose of this life is "the contemplation of things divine and constant union with God in prayer." "
# 10 The Eucharist and moral transformation [82] –
The eucharistic life provides moral energy for sustaining the authentic freedom of the children of God. The moral life "has the value of a 'spiritual worship'", which comes from and is nourished by the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. By sharing in the Eucharist, we partake of Christ's self-giving love and are equipped and committed to live this same charity. "This appeal to the moral value of spiritual worship should not be interpreted in a merely moralistic way. It is before all else the joy-filled discovery of love at work in the hearts of those who accept the Lord's gift, abandon themselves to him and thus find true freedom".
# 11 Eucharistic consistency [83] –
We are called to embody "eucharistic consistency". Worship is never private and without consequences for our relationships with others, as it demands public witness to our faith.
#12 The Eucharist, a mystery to be proclaimed
# 13 The Eucharist and mission [84] The love that we celebrate in the Eucharist demands to be shared with all. "An authentically eucharistic Church is a missionary Church." "We cannot approach the eucharistic table without being drawn into the mission which, beginning in the very heart of God, is meant to reach all people."
#14 The Eucharist and witness [85] - Our first and fundamental mission from the sacred mysteries is that of bearing witness by our lives. Through our actions we must make Christ present to others. We are called to witness even to the offering of one's own life, to the point of martyrdom. "The Christian who offers his life in martyrdom enters into full communion with the Pasch of Jesus Christ and thus becomes Eucharist with him." Even if we are not asked to be martyrs, we should be inwardly prepared for it.
# 15 The Eucharist, a mystery to be offered to the world
# 16 The Eucharist, bread broken for the life of the world [88] - "The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world" (Jn 6:51). These words reveal the true meaning of God's sacrifice and deep compassion for all people. The Eucharist makes the gift that the crucified Lord made of His life sacramentally present. Every human being is a brother or sister in Christ for whom He gave His life, loving them "to the end" (Jn 13:1). "Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world."
# 17 The social implications of the eucharistic mystery [89] - "This sacramental ‘mysticism' is social in character. Indeed, union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself." "Only this constant impulse towards reconciliation enables us to partake worthily of the Body and Blood of Christ (cf. Mt 5:23-24)." Justice demands sacrifice, and so the Church must make rational arguments to reawaken spiritual energy through which justice will prevail. All faithful should be promoters of justice, peace and the inestimable value of each individual person.
#18 The food of truth and human need [90] - We must be active in preventing certain processes of globalization, which frequently increase the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide. We must care for our poor and displaced brothers and sisters. "The food of truth demands that we denounce inhumane situations in which people starve to death because of injustice and exploitation, and it gives us renewed strength and courage to work tirelessly in the service of the civilization of love."
# 19 The Church's social teaching [91] - The Eucharist inspires us to bring about about the renewal of relationships. "Give us this day our daily bread" obliges us to work to end hunger and malnutrition in the world. Education in the Church's social doctrine is necessary to cause change in the world.
#20 The sanctification of the world and the protection of creation [92] - The Christian people, in giving thanks to God through the Eucharist, aspire to the sanctification of the world. The eucharistic form of life can help foster a real change in the way we approach history and the world. "The liturgy itself teaches , when, during the presentation of the gifts, the priest raises to God a prayer of blessing and petition over the bread and wine, 'fruit of the earth,' 'fruit of the vine' and 'work of human hands.'
#21 Called to be mystics of the Eucharist
To live the mystery of the Eucharist is to be a mystic of the Eucharist.
( The following are the characteristic of mysticism according to John Macquarrie, Two Worlds are Ours: An Introduction to Christian Mysticism)
# 22 Directness and cognition
Mystics have a direct relation to God.
Mystical experience has a cognitive aspect and brings an understanding.
This is the recognition of the sheer limitations of language in speaking of God or in the communication of mystical experience to others. : There can be no end to the exploration of God.
The emphasis is on the closeness, the communion of God and the self.
SPJE: Feb. 26: (1st Mditation)I must go to the Eucharist not through the mysteries and virtues of our Lord, but rather from the Eucharist to His mysteries and virtues.
# 23– The Doctrine of God
Everything that is participates in the reality of God, yet does not add up to God, as it were. God is always prior and graciously lets creation be and graciously draws creation into the telos or finality that he himself is.
SPJe: March 14 (1st meditation) All of creation has been the preparation of God’s love for the benefit of man… I ought at least to love Him during my whole lifetime with all my being and all the power of my works.
#24 - The Joy of the mystic
The authentic Christian mystic does not experience the joys of consummate communion with God in order to live as a spiritual solipsist. Rather, the mystic at least for as long as he lives on earth, has a measure of responsibility for the earth and for other human beings.
Ecstasy is a regular aspect of mystical experience. These are moments of joy and of a sense of union with God or with all reality, though paradoxically there may also be intense pain.
SPJE:
#25 Prayer of the Mystic
Prayer is kind of opening of the self so that the Spirit of God may pray in us and our wills may come attuned to the divine will Etymologically (adoration) suggest praying toward, a kind of reaching out to God which is also a kind of going out of oneself: yet this reaching out is not brought about by simply by our own volition, we are drawn out by the divine Other. This prayer of adoration is the highest reach of prayer when the soul sinks into God and God envelops the soul.
The prayer of the mystic is both passionate and passive. Passionate means that the whole being of the mystic is engaged in something like continuous prayer. Passive means the mystic’s prayer aims not at mastery but at letting himself be mastered, immersed in a power and wisdom transcending one’s own. God’s intimacy to the mystic is not simply the product of prayer but the producer of prayer
No comments:
Post a Comment