“I would like the young people to gather around the Eucharist as the vital source which nourishes their faith and enthusiasm.”
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter,
Mane nobiscum Domine

With these words, the Holy Father proclaimed this Holy Year of the Eucharist for October 2004 through October 2005. His words are a challenge to all of us who are involved in Catholic youth ministry—to work with him during this special year to bring young people closer to Jesus in the Eucharist, to lead them to a deeper understanding of the Real Presence in their lives, and to guide them to a life of service in fulfillment of the most profound reality and mystery of the Eucharist.

To help us better understand what the Holy Father calls us to, this four-part series will examine theological and pastoral aspects of the Eucharist. A better understanding of the Eucharist will help us as youth ministers to help our teens and pre-teens come to a deeper appreciation of the Eucharist, and to help them experience Jesus more fully when receiving communion at Mass and when spending time with him in the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass.

These brief articles cannot tell the full story of the Eucharist, for the Eucharist itself is a profound mystery which we cannot even begin to comprehend. To paraphrase the ending of the Gospel of John: “If everything about the Eucharist were explained, the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” So be gentle with this author if I do not cover all the aspects of the Eucharist.

It Begins with Faith

In this first article we will look at the special role the Eucharist plays in our life of faith. Future articles will examine how the Eucharist gives us life, how it makes us one, and how Jesus begins to live in us and through us so that he can continue to love and act in a real, tangible way in our world.

“Jesus Christ stands at the center not just of the history of the Church,” John Paul tells us, “but also the history of humanity. In him, all things are drawn together.”1 This is the core of our faith as Catholic Christians. Not only is Christ the center, but he is also the goal toward which all human history and indeed all of creation is moving. The early Church experienced this profound reality by personally witnessing Jesus’ preaching and healing, his suffering and dying on the cross, and his rising from the dead. These early Christians also had the benefit of the fire that the Holy Spirit lit in their hearts at Pentecost. But what about us? How do we experience Jesus as deeply and intimately as his first disciples did? What will bolster our faith and keep it alive? This is where the Eucharist comes in.

At the Last Supper, Jesus gave his followers a special gift—his body and his blood in the form of simple food and drink—a new Covenant, a new Passover Meal. This was a way that all his followers could see him and touch him long after he was gone from their sight. It is something we, as his followers today, still do every time we come together as community to break the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of him. Through the Eucharist, Jesus is present to us in a way as real as he was to the Apostles. This is the mystery of our faith.

Eucharist—The Source and Summit of Faith

In his latest Apostolic Letter, Pope John Paul reminds us that the Second Vatican Council calls the Eucharist the “source and summit of the whole Christian life.”2 The Latin words for source and summit can help us get a better feeling for the import of this image and why the Holy Father insisted on using it.

Eucharist as “Source”

The Latin word used in the original document for “source” is fontem, which can also be translated “fount.”3 The concept is intended to draw upon the image of the source of a spring—a fountain gushing forth fresh, clear, delicious water, bringing us the living water of Christ. Thus, the Eucharist is seen as the fountain from which we draw life and nourishment for our faith.

This image is precisely what our Holy Father wants to convey to young people when he calls them to “gather around the Eucharist” as the “vital source which nourishes their faith.”4 He calls them to the fountain of life—Jesus, from whom springs waters of eternal life: “Come my dear young friends, refresh yourselves, be happy, play in the pure waters of Christ’s joyful fountain. Celebrate! In this way, you will know that He is with you always!”

The Mass is this fountain for us all. In the Mass we are all called, young and old, to celebrate Eucharist—to come to the waters where “the Church constantly draws her life from the redeeming sacrifice” of Christ made “present ever anew.” The Eucharist becomes for us a sign of faith and hope even when “many problems darken the horizon of our time.”5 Making the Mass real for young people in this way is one of our greatest challenges as youth ministers.

Eucharist as “Summit”

The Latin word used for “summit” is culmen, which can also be translated “apex.”6 This concept draws upon the image of the mountaintop. Mountaintops throughout the Bible are the locations where human beings encounter the divine presence of God. Moses first encounters God in the burning bush on Mount Horeb. From there later receives the Commandments from God. Elijah, too, hears God speak in the silence on Mount Horeb. The Gospels regularly speak of Jesus going up the mountain to pray alone. And it is on a high mountain where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to witness his transfiguration and to hear the voice of God say, “This is my beloved Son”—and who just happens to appear there with Jesus?—Moses and Elijah!

This image, too, is carefully chosen by Pope John Paul to convey to young people the importance of drawing close to Jesus in the Eucharist by going to a quiet place, a “summit” where one can encounter the living God and hear God’s voice in the silence. The Eucharist, reserved as the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle, is that mountaintop, that special place to which we can retreat and be in God’s presence to pray.

The Holy Father uses almost mystical words in last year’s Encyclical on the Eucharist to describe meeting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass:

It is pleasant to spend time with him, to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in his heart. If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the “art of prayer,” how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? How often, dear brothers and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation and support!7

John Paul II is saying to the young people: “Come my dear young friends, ascend the mountain to be with the Lord Jesus, to worship Him, to adore Him, to bow down before the awesome Son of God, through whom all the planets and stars and galaxies were created – and yet at the same time climb as a little child onto his lap and be hugged by the big brother who loves you more than life itself and who will never abandon you.”

Getting Closer to Jesus in the Eucharist

Thus, in this image of Eucharist as source and summit, we see two important aspects of Eucharist—Eucharist is meant to be celebrated and to be worshipped. We fully draw our faith from the Eucharist both at Mass and in the reserved Blessed Sacrament.

“The Eucharist is a priceless treasure,” John Paul says, “by not only celebrating it [during Mass] but also by praying before it outside of Mass, we are enabled to make contact with the very wellspring of grace. A Christian Community desirous of contemplating the face of Christ . . . cannot fail also to develop this aspect of eucharistic worship, which prolongs and increases the fruits of our communion in the body and blood of the Lord.”8

So, what does all this mean for us as faith-filled Catholics?

The lineamenta prepared for the bishops who gathered for the Synod that officially began this Year of the Eucharist perhaps says it best:

Faith finds its strength and dynamism in the Sacrament of the Real Presence . . . The Eucharist, then, has a personal dynamism: it is the gift to celebrate, bringing a deeper knowledge of the mystery of salvation, accomplishing communion, leading to adoration, and finally affecting the Church’s life through mission and pastoral ministry, all the while fostering charity inside and outside the Church.9

Recommended Reading

• The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist – Basic Questions and Answers, USCCB Publishing. Publication No. 5-434.

The following are available from www.vatican.va:

• Mane Nobiscum Domine - Apostolic Letter, John Paul II
• Ecclesia de Eucharistia - Encyclical, John Paul II
• Homily of His Holiness John Paul II on the occasion of the opening of the Year of the Eucharist
• Year of the Eucharist: suggestions and proposals - Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
• 48th INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS FROM 10 TO 17 OCTOBER 2004 – “The Eucharist, Light and Life of the New Millennium”

 

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Notes

1. Mane nobiscum Domine (MND), Apostolic Letter of John Paul II, October 7, 2004, Section 6.

2. Lumen Gentium (LG), 11.

3. The Latin text normally translated as “source” is translated as “fount” on the Vatican website archives’ publication of LG.

4. MND, 4

5. Ecclesia de Eucharistia (EdE), 12, 20 – John Paul II, Encyclical on the Eucharistic Church. Refer also to Dr. Gordon E. Truitt, “Three Challenges We Face as a Eucharistic Church,” Pastoral Music, January 2005, p. 25.

6. The Latin text normally translated as “summit” is translated as “apex” on the Vatican website archives’ publication of LG.

7. EdE, 25. Refer also to Rev. Dr. Tom Elich, “Setting a Direction,” in Pastoral Music, January 2005, p. 15.

8. Ibid.

9. The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church, 2005 Synod on the Eucharist. Refer also to Rev. Kevin W. Irvin, S.T.D., “Eucharist and the Eccleiology of Communion,” in Pastoral Music, January 2005, p. 18.