AMERICA/MEXICO - International Eucharistic Congress: How Faith in the Eucharist in celebrated in the contexts of Europe and America

Tuesday, 12 October 2004

Guadalajara (Fides Service) - Addressing the Eucharistic Congress on Monday 11 October, Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo, Archbishop of Seville (Spain) and Delegate Europe, for said that perhaps Europe today is more a continent of questions and unease than of hope: “Deep crisis of values silent denial of God, widespread rejection of the transcendent suffocated by a culture of consumerism, easy prey to old and new idolatries and at the same time thirsting for something which goes beyond the immediate. This makes it difficult to live faith in the Eucharist, in a multicultural context which scorns and mocks Christianity, it is easier to be an agnostic than a Christian. The Church in Europe has the demanding and fascinating task of helping the continent to: rediscover a sense of mystery and its authentic Christian vocation; make liturgical Celebrations more eloquent signs of the presence of Christ; create new spaces for silence, prayer and contemplation; return to the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance as a source of freedom and new hope”. Cardinal Bernard Law, emeritus Archbishop of Boston (United States) said there is deep devotion to the Eucharist in North America and Canada, frequent reception of Communion and also participation in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But less sense of Sunday as the Lord’s Day leads to a drop in Sunday Mass attendance. The idea that if you are present at Mass and you wish to receive Communion, you have the right to even when you are not in a state of grace, that is in mortal sin. Cardinal Law said Catholics are not sufficiently informed about the Mystery and sacredness of the Eucharist.
Archbishop Emilio Carlos Berlie, Archbishop of Yucatan (Mexico), Delegate for Latin America said that there is a lively sense of Sunday as the Lord’s Day in Latin American countries. Moreover, in recent decades love for the Eucharist has increased as we see from the millions of children, adolescents and young adults who receive communion; there is more active participation in the Celebration of the Eucharist and special Eucharistic Ministers who carry the comfort of the Eucharist to the sick are more numerous; there is more impulse stemming from the Eucharist to build a more just world; Eucharistic adoration is a source of holiness among the peoples of Latin America, etc. Nevertheless there are also threatening clouds: loss of the sacrificial aspect of the Mass, seen as a banquet of thanksgiving, social feast for interpersonal relations; arbitrary improvisations which reduce the Eucharistic anaphora to the personalistic inspiration of the celebrant; poor attendance of Sunday Mass especially among young people in rural areas - for a long time neglected from pastoral point of view - and in urban social strata which have joined the economic, social and cultural movement of a secularised and hedonistic world. Serious and ongoing liturgical formation is lacking; people are still no aware of the priesthood of the laity as active participation, although distinct from the priesthood of the ordained minister. The bond between the Eucharist and Charity is not always explicitly present in the life of communities. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 12/10/2004; Righe 38; Parole 531)


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