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  • Essay / Report: The Church lives from the Eucharist

    In a world where conflict, war, violence and division seem omnipresent, one might ask: what can we do? Is that all there is? Is this how the world was supposed to be? Saint John Paul II, in his encyclical Ecclessia de Euchristia (2003), seeks to rekindle the fire of the Eucharist. He shows us that this is the great gift par excellence of Christ to humanity. It is in this gift that we experience the paschal mystery, and it is through the Eucharist that we will have true communion, with Christ and with each other. It also reveals how we can live the Eucharistic life. He gives advice while correcting abuses that have taken place in the Church. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Saint Joan Paul II is very methodical in his approach. He begins by presenting his main arguments. He then gives theological evidence and supports his writings with Church teachings and biblical references. He then gives pastoral advice and corrections if necessary. He ends by recalling his main points and offers them a way of putting this teaching into practice. He employs this method on a broad level throughout the entire encyclical, but he also does it in each section to some extent. Saint John Paul II begins his encyclical, Eclessia de Euchristia, by explaining the Eucharist and its importance to the world. It is the gift par excellence that Christ gave to the Church. He hopes his readers will understand the incredible richness, beauty, and perfect love found in this gift. There is no other comparable gift, for it is the gift of Christ himself and his saving work. There is no greater gift we can ask, and there is no greater gift Christ can give. This gift expresses his incredible love for all humanity, and because the sacrifice transcends all time, all the faithful can continue to participate in it and continue to benefit from its fruits. It is through this gift that the Lord's work of redemption is accomplished. The Eucharist is not only a reminder of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, it is a re-presentation of his unique sacrifice. This means that we are not simply remembering a sacrifice that was made thousands of years ago, and that it is not a new sacrifice of Christ. It is a participation in the one sacrifice. Christ expresses the main meaning of this sacrifice during his institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. He declared that he gave the apostles his body and blood to drink, and he also expressed the sacrificial significance of his body and blood. The body and blood would be shed for the forgiveness of sins, a sacrifice that would be consummated on the cross and continues to be present at every mass. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one sacrifice. It's the same sacrifice yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Eucharist is a sacrifice in the strict sense. Saint John Paul II emphasizes that while it is certainly a gift given for all humanity, it is above all a gift of love and obedience given by Christ to his Father. By giving the sacrifice to the Church, to all humanity, he invites us to participate in this sacrifice and to offer ourselves, the Church, in union with the one sacrifice of Christ to God the Father. As Lumen Gentium stated: “Participating in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the entire Christian life, they offer the divine victim to God and offer themselves with it. » In remembrance of the passion and death of Christ, we must not omit that in theconsecration we also proclaim the resurrection of Christ. “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song” (Angelus November 30, 1986). The resurrection crowns the one sacrifice. By giving ourselves with Christ in his one sacrifice, we die with him and rise with him to new life. This is the meaning of the paschal mystery, the great gift of Christ to humanity. We are invited to live this mystery daily and to develop eucharistic lives. This gift, under the transubstantiated species of bread and wine, is the body and blood of Christ: it is the real presence of Christ. As Saint Paul VI says in his encyclical Mysterium Fidei, it is called real because “it is the presence of Christ in the fullest sense, the God-Man is fully and entirely present”. It is the gift par excellence given to all humanity. Saint John Paul II states that modern theological efforts to understand this mystery are good and laudable, but that any theological explanation of this mystery must contain this objective reality. It is the real presence of Christ that truly nourishes us. He offers us spiritual nourishment and he offers us communion with himself in his body and blood through which he fills us anew with his Spirit. The spirit given to us in baptism and sealed in confirmation grows in us during communion. It's not metaphorical food, it's the only food that can truly satisfy. When we participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ, we allow ourselves to be transformed by him. There is a certain eschatological tension created in the Eucharist because the Eucharist is a “foretaste of the fullness of joy promised by Christ.” It is a foreshadowing of paradise. However, when we nourish ourselves with the Eucharistic sacrifice, we do not need to wait for Heaven. We already have it on earth. This strengthens our communion with the communion of saints, the Church in heaven. With them we participate in the same Eucharistic feast. This link, so to speak, between heaven and earth, should increase our sense of responsibility and urgency to create a paradise on earth today. We must understand our urgent task of working for peace. The Eucharist calls us to go out and shine the light of Christ in the world. We must follow the example that Christ set at the institution of the Eucharist in washing the feet of his disciples and in washing the feet of the poorest among us. This is how we can live the Eucharistic life. The Eucharist is central to the growth of the Church. From the origins of the Church, the Last Supper and the Eucharist have been present. The apostles established a new hierarchy and planted the new Israel in the world. At the Last Supper, the apostles entered into sacramental communion with Christ. Since then, the Church has been built through sacramental communion. Each Eucharistic communion renews the incorporation into Christ that we received at baptism. The Eucharist strengthens us, edifies us and nourishes us. In Eucharistic communion, each of us receives Christ, and He also receives each of us! The aim of the Eucharistic sacrifice is the communion of all men with Christ the Son, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. However, with the receipt of this Great Communion, also comes a Great Commission, we are sent into the world to be its light. This strength to accomplish this mission comes from the Eucharist. Thus, the Eucharist is not only the source and summit of the Church and of Christian life, it is also the source and summit of all evangelization, which should normally be a product of Christian life. This is the source of the strength to carry out evangelism, and this is the goal of this evangelism.It is through the Eucharist that we are unified with each other and with Christ. Every human heart has a great desire for fellowship. The Eucharist continues to fill us with the Holy Spirit that we received in baptism and draws us into intimate unity with Christ. We are united to Him through the Eucharist, and it is also through the Eucharist that we are united to one another. The fallen world experiences disunity daily because of sin. The body of Christ opposes this in its unifying power. It is “a sign and an instrument of intimate unity with God and of the unity of all humankind”. (Lumen Gentium)The cult of the real presence in the Blessed Sacrament is oriented towards communion, both sacramental and spiritual. Worship is linked to the Eucharistic sacrifice and is of incredible importance and value to the Church. Eucharistic adoration prolongs and increases the fruits of our Eucharistic communion. Saint John Paul II affirms that any community that desires to contemplate the face of Christ must develop this form of worship. He goes so far as to tell pastors that it is their responsibility to promote Eucharistic adoration, through their personal testimony and by encouraging the faithful. . He notes that the exhibition of the Blessed Sacrament is particularly important. By spending time with Him in a Eucharistic way, we can listen to Him and allow ourselves to be renewed by His infinite love. Saint John Paul II gives his personal recommendation for the practice of Eucharistic adoration and notes that it is continually recommended by the magisterium and by the saints. He quotes Saint Alphonsus Ligouori who says: “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the most dear to God and the most useful for us. The importance and value of this great gift should not be underestimated. » The Eucharist edifies the Church. The Church is holy, catholic and apostolic, just like the Eucharist. The Church and the Eucharist were built on the foundation of the apostles. The Eucharist was given to the apostles, during the initiation of the sacramental priesthood at the Last Supper. It was passed on to us. The Church is apostolic in the sense that it continues to be guided by the apostles of Christ and their successors. The Eucharist is therefore also apostolic. It is the great gift par excellence, transmitted by the apostles for generations. The faithful join in the offering of the Eucharist through their royal priesthood, but there must be an ordained priest who, acting in persona Christi, offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is he who offers the Sacrifice to God in the name of God. of all the faithful. No one can truly offer the Eucharistic sacrifice except the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ. It is with this understanding that the priest, acting in persona Christi, can offer the Eucharistic sacrifice. It is only through the sacrament of Holy Orders, which a man receives through valid episcopal ordination, that a priest can act in persona Christi and celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice. The priest acting in persona Christi is a sacramental identification with Christ himself. For priests, if the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, it is surely the source and summit of priestly ministry. In fact, that's why a priest exists. It is extremely important to celebrate the Eucharist daily, even in the absence of believers, because it is an act of Christ and the Church. In the Eucharistic sacrifice, priests will find the strength they need to carry out all their daily activities and they will succeed in leading a Eucharistic life. As the Eucharist is at the heart of every Christian life, so is a validly ordained priest at the heart of every Christian community. It's truethat there is a great need for holy priestly vocations in the Church. There are many communities that are without priests or do not receive the sacraments regularly. It is sad to see that the communities do not have a priest, because without a priest to celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice, they are incomplete. One may be tempted to substitute the Eucharistic sacrifice for other devotional activities, or to lower the standards of priestly formation. This incompleteness should encourage the faithful to pray. This should prompt the faithful to ask God to send workers into the harvest. This should also encourage dioceses and communities to use all necessary resources to promote priestly vocations. The faithful have the responsibility to hunger for the Eucharist and to maintain this hunger, because it is only through the Eucharist that a true community can be built. Saint John Paul II notes that although great progress has been made in the area of ​​ecumenism, the Catholic faithful must be aware that nothing can replace the source and summit of Christian life. Although we desire to be united with our fellow Christians, we must always bear witness to the truth. The faithful should never substitute Sunday Mass for ecumenical services, nor should they take communion in other churches. The true communion to which we are all called can only be found in the Holy Eucharist. Saint John Paul II addresses issues surrounding communion. Specifically, he notes that the Eucharist is the culmination of all the sacraments. It perfects our communion with God the Father. The sacrament of communion prefects all good things in us and is the goal of all human desire. This is why it is so important to continue to cultivate the desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. However, the Eucharist is not and cannot be the starting point of a union with God. It is the culmination and perfection of the goods in us and of our communion with God. However, the sacrament presupposes that there already exists communion between a person and God. Our sacramental union with God begins with baptism, we are sealed in confirmation. If we break this bond through mortal sin, then this union is repaired through the sacrament of reconciliation. These sacraments, as well as the vocational sacraments of holy order and marriage, are perfected in the Eucharist. It is for this reason that it is important for each of us to examine our conscience before receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is also for this reason that the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist are closely linked. Likewise, it is not possible to give communion to a person who is not baptized or who rejects the truth of the Eucharistic mystery. It is also not possible to concelebrate with other Christian denominations. However, our desire for unity with our Christian brothers leads us to look toward the sacrament of unity. There is a relationship between the Eucharist and ecumenical activity. It is the Church's fidelity to the Eucharist which must attract others to it. It is possible, in special circumstances, to administer the Eucharistic sacrament, reconciliation and anointing of the sick to persons belonging to churches which are not in full communion with the Catholic Church. This can only be done to meet the grave spiritual need of a believer, who ardently desires to receive the sacrament, and professes and manifests faith in the truth of the sacraments. The Eucharist cannot be given to bring about intercommunion. The Eucharistic banquet has led different Christian churches around the world to beautify the Eucharistic feast through: art, music, buildings and other things. In short, the Church has no.