The Eucharist at the Centre

by Editor · April 30, 2003

Pope John Paul’s 14th encyclical, Eccelesia de Eucharastia, can be described as the almost 83-year-old pontiff’s love letter to the Eucharist, one that reflects, in a most accessible approach, his own spirituality and experiences.

In the anthology of this pope’s encyclicals, Ecclesia de Eucharistia could serve as a companion piece to 1987’s Redemptoris Mater, on the Mother of God.

Mary features prominently in the new encyclical Pope John Paul devotes an entire chapter to the Blessed Virgin, and places her within the first generation of recipients of the sacrament.

The pope’s exquisite analogy of the Mother of God as the first tabernacle involves Mary intimately in the mystery of the Eucharist, a suitable testament by the pope who has offered his pontificate to our Lady.

The most Marian of popes is arguably also the most ecumenical. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, however, will not open new doors in ecumenical relations (arguably not its function in first place).

The pope rules out regular inter-denominational sharing of the Eucharist, writing that the sacrament cannot be a vehicle in accomplishing communion. The sharing of the Eucharist, he writes, presumes that such communion already exists.

Pope John Paul also instructs the faithful to “refrain from receiving the communion distributed” in the liturgical celebrations of “our separated brethren” who lack holy orders (virtually all Protestant churches), so as to “not to condone an ambiguity about the nature of the Eucharist and, consequently, to fail in their duty to bear clear witness to the truth.”

While this does nothing more than to restate standing doctrine, we may anticipate that this unequivocal reiteration will cause misgivings in some Protestant communities.

The pope, however, does sanction the administration of the Eucharist to non-Catholics under special circumstances, when non-Catholics may receive Communion provided they freely request it and sincerely believe in the Real Presence.

Pope John Paul demonstrated his firm belief in this principle when in February he reportedly administered Communion to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an Anglican who frequently attends Mass with his Catholic wife and children, and who is believed to contemplating converting to Catholicism.

Doubtlessly, the reaffirmation of the “special circumstances” principle, backed by a papal practice, will inspire many priests towards a sensible and charitable application.

Pope John Paul also seems to address the schismatic ultra-traditional communities.

“The ecclesial communion of the eucharistic assembly is a communion with its own bishop and with the Roman pontiff,” the pope writes.

“The bishop, in effect, is the visible principle and the foundation of unity within his particular church. It would therefore be a great contradiction if the sacrament par excellence of the Church’s unity were celebrated without true communion with the bishop.”

The pope stops short of declaring the sacrament invalid when celebrated in these schismatic Catholic churches, but clearly regards it as undesirable.

While Pope John Paul makes reference to liturgical abuses, he does not provide specific examples. The tone of the encyclical suggests however that the Vatican congregations preparing a document for release later this year will place strict disciplinary limits on liturgical innovations.

This document will be of interest particularly in regions such as Southern Africa, which is still grappling with issues of inculturation. Pope John Paul writes that he has witnessed “how beautifully local language, customs and culture can be incorporated into the Mass”.

His concern, therefore, seems to be not with inculturation or certain liturgical innovations per se, but with creative modifications to the central characteristics of the Mass.

Perhaps the encyclical’s most startling intervention comes in the section dealing with the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation.

While the pope restates the basic teaching that communicants should not be in mortal sin when receiving the Eucharist, he also applies an unexpected stricture: that those who are indifferent to the poor are “not worthy” of receiving the sacrament.

In treating a theme that arouses such strong emotions as the Eucharist and its celebration in so personal a way, Ecclesia de Eucharistia will surely be subject to much debate.

Nevertheless, the encyclical accomplishes its primary aim: to arouse a reinvigorated sense of amazement at a sacrament which many Catholics may at times take for granted.