Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Eucharist is the source and summit of the whole Christian life (cf. LG, 11). This truth has been presented with renewed vigor in the Magisterium of many recent Pontiffs, as an invitation to the Church to fix Her gaze on Christ’s Paschal Mystery, renewed in the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is a continual outpouring of Trinitarian life in the world. In God’s loving plan to save mankind, He willed to give us His Son, so that we might have life and have it to the full (cf. Jn 10:10). Through Christ’s Paschal Mystery, God’s love for mankind has been revealed. Jesus, the One sent by the Father, sent His Apostles to make known to the world what they had seen and heard.
The daily celebration of the Eucharist makes present Christ’s death and resurrection, making all the saving power of the Son, who has died and risen, present in our time. Thus, the Eucharist is the heart of the Church. The Church draws life from the Eucharist; in the Eucharist it finds its dynamism and above all, the communion of life with the Triune God. From the Eucharist flows the divine life that nourishes all the members of the Mystical Body. The Eucharist is what makes our personal encounter with Christ possible, allowing us to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood in order to have life within us.
In Benedict XVI’s first homily as Pontiff, he said, “There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.” When an authentic personal encounter with Christ takes place, one cannot retain the enthusiasm of this moment for himself. We can just think of the disciples on the road to Emmaus who, recognizing the Lord in the breaking of the bread, realized that their hearts burned inside them and returned with haste to Jerusalem, to share their joy of having been with the Lord with their brethren.
In the Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis, referring to the Eucharist and the mission, the Pope says: “The love that we celebrate in the sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be shared with all. What the world needs is God's love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him. The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of the Church's life, but also of her mission: "an authentically eucharistic Church is a missionary Church"” (SC, 84).
The Eucharist leads us on the mission and, at the same time, the mission should find its source in the Eucharist. Offering the divine life to mankind and testifying to the love of God for each person is the center of the mission. Making known the love of Christ and their new status as children of God through Baptism, is an indispensable demand.
In Christ in the Eucharist, God has wished to draw near to us. He has made Himself the companion on our path. Every missionary should learn, in the silent school of Eucharistic Adoration, to give their life as Jesus did for those whom He has entrusted to them.
In the Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis, in the paragraph cited above, Benedict XVI continues, saying: “At the Last Supper, Jesus entrusts to his disciples the sacrament which makes present his self-sacrifice for the salvation of us all, in obedience to the Father's will. 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. Missionary outreach is thus an essential part of the eucharistic form of the Christian life” (SC, 84).
There can be no mission without the Eucharist and there cannot exist missionaries without a Eucharistic life. Only in the contemplation and intense living out of the Eucharistic Mystery can we become a living presence of Christ among our brothers. (Agenzia Fides 28/5/2008 righe 50, parole 670)
