The Sacrament of Salvation

In this session:  Eucharist – ‘the source and summit of the entire Christian life’ SC n11  Eucharist as constituting Church  Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults

Different names  Mass – from the dismissal – ite missa est  Holy Communion – sharing together in a common act  The Liturgy – Orthodox description  Early Church – the offering or sacrifice  Eucharist – ‘thanksgiving’ in Greek (efaristo)

Jewish roots  Passover meal – Seder  Special in all ways  Special food  Special drink  Special graces and psalms  The story requested by the youngest participant  The community context

Seder  The anamnesis - bringing the past into the present  Exodus - the story  Re-presentation of the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery

Synagogue worship  Sequence of:  Scripture readings  Sermon  Prayer  The chair of Moses for the Rabbi  Possibly the basis of the early Eucharist? Initially the first people of the Way attended Synagogue on Saturday and celebrated Eucharist on Sunday

New Testament  ‘the Lord’s supper’ oldest term in 1 Cor 11:20  4 variant versions:  1 Cor 11:23-25  Mark 14:  Matthew 26:  Luke 22:  Paul’s written round but beginning of mission was around 49. Received from the Lord but never repudiated by other apostles

Jesus the Jew and his meals  Daily meals with his followers: implying peace, trust and community  Meals shared with outcasts as a sign of the Reign of God  Last Supper (Passover or farewell?)  Celebrated as an introduction to the Kingdom  Clear Jewish structure  But here Jesus identifies himself with the bread and the wine

Last Supper  It is Jesus’ body which is broken and His blood which is poured out  In atonement for sin  And to establish a new covenant  All four texts clear about this  Jewish belief saw the death of an innocent one as having the character of atonement and Jesus may have seen his death in this way  Also eating and drinking were seen as communicating divine gifts – those who received could share in the power of his death

OT resonances  The sacrifice of the old covenant Ex 24:8,11  The new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34  Atoning sufferings of the Servant in Isaiah Is 53:12 So the NT authors interpret Jesus’ death as an atoning death Establishing a new covenant Bringing redemption to all Recipients share in the sacrifice and the power of His atoning death

John  No description of the meal  A farewell super  The washing of feet and the injunction - ‘you must wash each others’ feet’  The Supper Discourse

Post Resurrection  The growing communities gathered early on Sunday morning (before work) to celebrate the Eucharist  In the complete conviction that Jesus was thereby in their midst  There was joy in the new fellowship around the presence of Christ (Mt 18:20)  And also in the reality of the coming of the Kingdom of God (Acts 2:46)  They were following what Jesus told them to do  Reference to the Last Supper – (1 Cor 11:24-25)

But...  To be effective the Eucharist must engender a sense of community  If there is no fellowship, if there is division, to real community then the Supper of the Lord  brings judgement, not grace (1 Cor 11: 17-34)

Early Church  Didache -9.1,2,3,4, We give you thanks our Father for the holy vine of your servant David which you revealed to us through your servant Jesus. To you is the glory forever.

Didache As this broken bread was scattered over the mountains and when brought together became one, so let your Church be brought together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom; for yours are the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for evermore.

Justin Martyr first apology 67  And on the day called Sun-day an assembly is held in one place of all who live in town or country, and the records of all the apostles or writings of the prophets are read for as long as time allows.  (mid second century)

Justin cont Then when the reading has finished the president in a discourse admonishes and exhorts us to imitate these good things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers.

Justin Martyr First Apology 65-  When we have ended the prayers, we greet one another with a kiss. Then bread and a cup of water and of mixed wine are brought to him who presides over the brethren, and he takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of all in the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and gives thanks at some length that we have been deemed worthy of these things from him.

cont  When he has finished the prayers and the thanksgiving, all the people present give their assent by saying ‘Amen’.  And when the president has given thanks and all the people have assented, those whom we call deacons give to each one present a portion of the bread and wine over which thanks have been given, and take them to those who are not present.

Origen ( ) Egypt  You who are wont to take part in the divine mysteries know how carefully and reverently you guard the body of the Lord when you receive it, lest the least crumb of it should fall to the ground, lest anything should be lost of the hallowed gift  Homily on Exodus 13.3

St Augustine of Hippo "The Eucharist is our daily bread and our power for good which is shown forth therein; [it] is unity, that is to say that we are made into his own body and having been made into his body we ourselves become what we receive" sermon on the Lord's supper to the competentes

Augustine cont  when Augustine gives catechesis on Eucharist to the newly baptized  He does NOT speak of real presence nor participation in the crucified, resurrected and glorified Christ.  He only speaks of one thing : BECOMING ONE with one another and with Christ, thus becoming one body and blood

Augustine  “we ourselves become what we receive”

Scholastism  Berengar of Tours ( ) asserted that Christ was present mystically not truly.  There was a massive reaction to this stressing the reality – ‘the real body’ - ‘the real presence ‘  Focus of study became how Christ was present in the Eucharist  The Eucharist had been ‘a mystery to understand ‘ and now became ‘the miracle to believe’ (de Lubac, 1988)

Transubstantiation  Substance of bread and wine transformed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ  First talked about by Pope Innocent 111 in 1202 then taken up by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 which said:  The body and blood of Christ are ‘truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine’  Normative Catholic teaching

Eucharist: one of seven  The Council of Lyon (1274) listed the Eucharist simply as one of the seven sacraments of the Church.  So the emphasis had shifted from –  ‘the Eucharist makes the Church ‘  to  ‘the Church makes the Eucharist’

Reformation  Christ not really present  Consubstantiation –  the substance of bread and wine remains together with the Body and Blood of Christ  A memorial only of Christ’s sacrifice – rejecting the (false) idea that the sacrifice of Christ was repeated at the Eucharist

Trent - transubstantiation  Emphasises  ‘that marvellous and unique change of the whole substance of the bread into the body and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, while only the appearance of the bread and wine remains, a change which the Church most aptly calls transubstantiation: let him be anathema

Transubstantiation cont  McPartlan – what we say about the Eucharist is strongly linked to what we believe about the Church  The bread and wine are transformed  As we ourselves hope to be transformed  And ‘truly share the divine nature’ (2 Pet 1:4 and CCC 1000 quoting St Irenaeus)

Trent (1545 – 1563)  Continued a scholastic way of thinking about the Eucharist where sacrament and sacrifice were treated separately.  Trent produced the Decree on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist in 1551 and the  Decree on the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in 1562 – totally separatly.  Trent did not fit these essential, unified elements together (McPartlan 2004; 1995)

Vatican 11:  [In the Body of Christ] ‘the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe and who,through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his passion and glorification’  Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with him and with one another’ (LG 7)  Eucharist makes us Church

Actions of Christ through the Church  The Church is “The Sacrament of Universal Salvation” (LG 48)  the fundamental sacrament of God's promise and deliverance of the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ.  The sacraments are acts of God  acts of Christ  Immediately acts of the Church

Sacraments – the life of the Church  Sacraments are directly ecclesiological in character.  Christ is mediated through the Church.  The Church is the sign and instrument of God’s Reign  Christian moral life is Christian existence, i.e., our way of being Church.  As Church the life of Christ is mediated to us  As Church we mediate the life of Christ to others

Sacraments – where the Church happens Sacraments are expressions of the nature and mission of the Church.  The sacraments are not simply actions which the Church performs, or means by which the Church makes grace available. They are moments when the Church becomes Church, manifesting itself as Church to itself and to others. Sacraments do not only relate participants to God they also relate them immediately to the Church.  The lasting effect of the sacrament is one of relationship to the Church.

Christ is indeed present and active in every sacramental celebration. Yet it is the Church which makes that celebration available and which mediates the presence and action of Christ.

Initiation  The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults  Ad Gentes - Vatican 11 - Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity  Takes the Catholic Church back to early Christian practice

Decree on Missionary Activity...  Christian initiation through the Catechumenate should be taken care of not only by catechists or priests, but by the entire community of the faithful, especially by the sponsors. Thus, right from the outset, the catechumens will feel that they belong to the People of God.....For since they are joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ’.

Didache training  See flow chart Aaron Milavec (2003)

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults [R.C.I.A.]  Rite to prepare adults for baptism  Becomes normative - other forms of baptism are adaptations  C.I.C.C.A. Christian Initiation for Children of a Catechetical Age.  Post 7 till about 16 or maybe older.  Adapts process for children.

RCIA characteristics  Is rooted in the life of the community  Is a process not a program  Periods  Steps

Periods or steps in RCIA  Period or Evangelization and Precatechumenate  Step One: Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens  Period of the Catechumenate  Step Two: Election or Enrolment of Names  Period of Purification and Enlightenment  Step Three: Celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation  Period of Postbaptismal Catechesis or Mystagogy.

Optional Rites  Exorcism and Renunciation of False Worship  Giving of a New Name  Presentation of a Cross

Rites Belonging to the Period of the Catechumenate  Celebrations of the Word of God  Minor Exorcisms  Blessing of the Catechumens  Anointing of the Catechumens

Rites Belonging to the Period of Purification /Enlightenment  First Scrutiny  Presentation of the Creed  Second Scrutiny  Third Scrutiny  Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer  Preparation Rites on Holy Saturday  Recitation of the Creed  Ephphetha Rite  [Choosing a Baptismal Name]  Concluding Rites