Thomas J. McGovern - The Most Holy Eucharist

Fr. Thomas J. McGovern

The Most Holy Eucharist

Our Passover and Our Living Bread

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS

Manchester, New Hampshire

Copyright 2013 Thomas J. McGovern

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved

Cover design by Carolyn McKinney

On the cover: Last Supper of Christ (3518135),
Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McGovern, Thomas J.

The Most Holy Eucharist : our passover and
our living bread / Thomas J. McGovern.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages ).

ISBN 978-1-933184-90-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ePub ISBN 978-1-622821-61-7
1. Lords Supper Catholic Church. I. Title.

BX2215.3.M34 2013

234'.163 dc23

2013003182

In grateful memory of those generations
of Irish men and women who,
despite a bitter persecution over a period of 250 years,
fought valiantly and successfully to maintain their devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Blessed Eucharist,
in which endeavor many generously gave their lives,
laypeople as well as priests.

Contents

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Introduction

The Eucharist is one of the great mysteries of our Catholic Faith. Down through the centuries it has been a constant source of spiritual nourishment for generations of Catholics and has filled their hearts with the joy of knowing that, in their Communions, they have received the very Body and Blood of Christ.

In his first encyclical, Redemptor hominis , Bl. John Paul II reflected on the unfathomable dimensions of this great truth:

The Church lives by the Eucharist, by the fullness of this Sacrament, the stupendous content and meaning of which have often been expressed in the Churchs Magisterium from the most distant times down to our own days. However, we can say with certainty that, although this teaching is sustained by the acuteness of theologians, by men of deep faith and prayer, and by ascetics and mystics, in complete fidelity to the Eucharistic mystery, it still reaches no more than the threshold, since it is incapable of grasping and translating into words what the Eucharist is in all its fullness, what is expressed by it and what is actuated by it. Indeed the Eucharist is the ineffable Sacrament!

John Paul II is telling us that there is still much to learn about the Eucharist, that our knowledge still reaches no more than the threshold; yet we can say that the Church, in her living tradition, treasures a great deal of eucharistic wisdom and has a well-developed eucharistic liturgy.

As John Paul II prepared for the Jubilee Year, he wrote in the Bull of Indiction convoking this event for the year 2000:

For two thousand years, the Eucharist has been the cradle in which Mary has placed Jesus, entrusting him to the adoration and contemplation of all peoples, that, through the humility of the Spouse of Christ, the glory and the power of the Eucharist may gleam all the more that Eucharist that the Church celebrates and preserves at its heart. Under the sign of the consecrated bread and wine, Christ Jesus, risen and glorified, the light of nations (Lk 2:32), reveals the continuation of his Incarnation. He is still risen and alive in our midst, to nourish believers with his Body and Blood.

Love reaches its ideal in the eucharistic sacrament. It is a unity that assimilates us more and more to Christ, and through total identification with the suffering Christ, it leads to real holiness. As well as identifying us with Christ, Holy Communion is food and does for the spiritual life all that material food and drink do for the bodily life, namely to sustain, increase, restore, and delight.

I have not tried in these pages to write a textbook on the Eucharist or to cover every aspect of it. My primary objective is to provide a book that will help people grow in love for the Mass and for the Blessed Sacrament. To deepen Eucharistic devotion, however, requires a solid theological basis. Hence the first five chapters cover the basic doctrinal aspects of this mystery. The next two chapters focus on devotion to the Blessed Eucharist, during Mass and outside of it.

Blessed John Paul II made an outstanding contribution to eucharistic theology during his long pontificate. In chapter 8, I have summarized the main points of this contribution, basing my study mainly on John Paul IIs principal documents on the Eucharist. In chapter 9, I have reviewed the Eucharist in the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI, who made a significant contribution to the Churchs teaching on the Eucharist.

Chapter 10 is a study of the main liturgical elements involved in the celebration of the Mass. Finally, chapter 11 is an examination of the commitment to the Mass in Ireland during times of severe religious persecution. It has much to say about the nature of this sacrifice and about Christian loyalty to it.

I would like to thank Fr. Charly Connolly and Fr. Tom OToole, who read through previous versions of this text and offered many helpful suggestions and ideas.

Fr. Thomas J. McGovern

Bl. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor hominis (March 25, 1979), no. 20. Bl. John Paul II, Bull of Indiction of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 (November 29, 1998), no. 11. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , III, Q. 79, art. 1; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), nos. 13911401.

Chapter 1

The Scriptural Foundations of the Eucharist

The Eucharist Rooted in the Old Testament

We begin our study of the Eucharist by examining the different texts in Sacred Scripture about this great sacrament, because Scripture is the primary source of the Churchs teaching about the Eucharist as sacrament and sacrifice. We will consider the scriptural sources in some detail because in them we listen to the words of Christ himself.

The meaning of the Eucharist is rooted in the faith of the people of the Old Testament, especially in the doctrine of the covenant. The covenant was a treaty to describe the relationship God established with the Chosen People. Gods new relationship with the Israelites was sealed with the pouring of blood (sacrifice) and the eating together of some of the sacrificial food (communion) (cf. Exod. 24:111). The blood was sprinkled on both the altar (symbolizing God) and the people: I will be their God and they shall be my people (Jer. 31:33).

Our Faith tells us that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (cf. Heb. 12:24). At the Last Supper he echoed the words of Moses: This is my blood of the covenant (Matt. 26:28), or This is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you (Luke 22:20). By sharing the cup of the New Covenant we enter into this new relationship established by Christ, who poured out his Blood on the Cross. Jesus death is that of the Passover Lamb, the suffering servant of God, led like a lamb to the slaughter (cf. Isa. 53:7).

The paschal lamb of the Jewish feast was a promise and a figure of the true Lamb, Jesus Christ, immolated in the sacrifice of Calvary on behalf of the whole human race. He is the true Lamb who took away the sin of the world. By dying he destroyed our death; by rising he restored our life.

He is the Lamb of God, the one whose life, given for us and poured out for us, brings healing and peace. By our communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, we are drawn deeper into the community of the New Covenant. By partaking of the Eucharist we are united with the living Christ in his work of reconciliation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:1820). This Old Testament reference is summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as follows:

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