Wednesday October 23rd: Each day your last!
October 23, 2024
Listen to Bartimaeus
October 23, 2024
By Msgr Michael de Verteuil
Chair, Liturgical Commission
How do we judge whether a Mass has been good or authentic or not? Whether we come out happy, peaceful, energised? Hopefully we do, but that is not the measure of its authenticity.
Listen to St Paul who tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 that what makes the celebration of the Eucharist authentic is the unity among us, that we have celebrated as one body, there are no factions in the assembly, we have respect for one another and compassion for the poor. Listen well.
Or listen to St John Paul II: “By our mutual love and, in particular, by our concern for those in need …This will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged” (Stay With Us, Lord, #28).
In the same letter (#25) we read, “For the Eucharist is a mode of being, which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout society and culture.”
St John Paul II also writes in Day of The Lord #45, “For the faithful who have understood the meaning of what they have done, the Eucharistic celebration does not end at the church door. Christians who gather each Sunday to experience and proclaim the presence of the Risen Lord are called to evangelise and bear witness in their daily lives.”
Pope Benedict XVI, in The Sacrament of Charity, says, “The first and fundamental mission we receive from the sacred mysteries we celebrate is that of bearing witness by our lives.”
Pope Francis said in a message to the Organising Committee for the National Eucharistic Congress (USA), “You go to the celebration of Mass, receive communion, adore the Lord and then what do you do after? You go out and evangelise. Jesus asks this of us. The Eucharist, then, impels us to a strong and committed love of neighbour. For we cannot truly understand or live the meaning of the Eucharist if our hearts are closed to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are poor, suffering, weary or who may have gone astray in life.”
In other words, unless our celebrations are those of a community recognising and respecting one another as brothers and sisters, and unless our celebrations lead to an awareness and care for those in need, then they are not what they should be.
God has a plan, a plan for the transformation of the world and it involves us, Christ’s body. We join this body through the waters of Baptism, confirmed with the Oil of Chrism, sent out to bring the loving presence of Christ wherever we go. We are to make the world better as we touch government policies, education, neighbourhoods, NGOs, our families, all in need.
To strengthen us for the task and to conform us to Christ, we are given the gift of the Eucharist. This gift is not given to us for ourselves alone, so that we may feel good and advance on what we may think is the solitary path of holiness.
God has a far bigger plan.
The Eucharist is given to us that the world may be transformed, that the work of the Kingdom may continue. In that sense, we are given the Eucharist for the sake of others.
As Godfrey Diekmann stated: “What difference does it make if the bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ and we don’t?”
So how do we judge the authenticity of a Eucharistic celebration? Listen to the voices above—love the Lord, love one another, love those in need. If we are not growing in this then something is missing from our Masses, no matter how perfect the altar servers or wonderful the choir and homily.
May we never hear the voice of St Paul writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor 11:22) about their celebrations: “What am I to say? Congratulate you? I cannot congratulate you on this.”
