There has been a
debate in the Catholic Church for some time between those who feel that the
Eucharist should be considered a meal for all, since Jesus often dined with
sinners and partook of the” meal of fellowship”, and those who believe the
Eucharist is reserved for those who have atoned for their sins and come to the
banquet as chosen people, like the apostles chosen to partake in the Last
Supper. Let us see what Pope Benedict XVI tells us about this issue in his
book, “God Is Near Us, The Eucharist, The Heart of Life” by Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger, Ignatius Press, 2001.
Nowadays New Testament scholars essentially give one of
two answers. Some of them say that the Eucharist of the early Church built upon
meals that Jesus shared with his disciples day after day. Others say that the
Eucharist is the continuation of the
meals with sinners that Jesus had held.
This second idea
has become for many people a fascinating notion with far-reaching consequences.
For it would mean that the Eucharist is the sinners’ banquet, where Jesus sits
at the table; the Eucharist is the public gesture by which he invites everyone
without exception. The logic of this is expressed in a far-reaching criticism
of the Church’s Eucharist, since it implies that the Eucharist cannot be
conditional on anything, not dependent on denomination or even on baptism. It
is necessarily an open table to which all may come to encounter the universal
God, without any limit or denominational pre-conditions.
But then, again – however tempting the idea may be – it contradicts
what we find in the Bible. Jesus’ Last Supper was not one of those meals he
held with “publicans and sinners”. He made it subject to the basic form of the Passover,
which implies that this meal was held in a family setting.
This he kept it with his new family, with the Twelve;
with those whose feet he washed, whom he had prepared, by his Word and by this
cleansing of absolution (Jn 13:10), to receive a blood relationship with him,
to become one body with him. The Eucharist is not itself the sacrament of
reconciliation, but in fact it presupposes that sacrament. It is the sacrament of the reconciled, to which
the Lord invites all those who have become one with him; who certainly still
remain weak sinners, but yet have given their hand to him and have become part
of his family.
That is why, from
the beginning, the Eucharist has been preceded by a discernment. We … heard
this, in very dramatic form from Paul: Whoever eats unworthily eats and drinks
judgment on himself, because he does not distinguish the Body of the Lord (1
Cor 11:27). The Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles, one of the oldest writings outside the New Testament, from the
beginning of the second century, takes up this apostolic tradition and has the
priest, just before distributing the Sacrament, saying: “Whoever is holy, let
him approach – whoever is not, let him do penance!”
The Eucharist is –
let us repeat it – the sacrament of those who have let themselves be reconciled
by God, who have thus become members of his family and put themselves into his
hands. That is why there are conditions for participating in it; it presupposes
that we have voluntarily entered into the mystery of Jesus Christ.
Now is a good time
to review our attitude toward sin and its relationship to the gift given to us
at the Last Supper, the Eucharist. In receiving Christ in the form of the host,
do we believe that we should be in the state of grace, that our souls should be
clean of mortal sin and that we should have said we are sorry for the venial
sins we commit every single day? Do we believe we should present our best
selves to Christ? Today is a good time to ask Jesus to place His hand in ours,
and lead us to a reconciled life with Him.
O Lord, I Am Not
Worthy
That Thou should'st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be.
2. Oh, come, all you who labor
In sorrow and in pain,
Come, eat This Bread from heaven;
Thy peace and strength regain.
3. O Jesus, we adore Thee,
Our Victim and our Priest,
Whose precious Blood and Body
Become our sacred Feast.
4. O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine!
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be ev'ry moment Thine.
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