IV
THE EUCHARIST, PRINCIPLE AND PLAN OF “MISSION”
“They set out immediately” (cf. Lk 24:33)
24. The
two disciples of Emmaus, upon recognizing the Lord, “set out immediately” (cf. Lk
24:33), in order to report what they had seen and heard. Once we have truly met
the Risen One by partaking of his body and blood, we cannot keep to ourselves
the joy we have experienced. The encounter with Christ, constantly intensified
and deepened in the Eucharist, issues in the Church and in every Christian an
urgent summons to testimony and evangelization. I wished to emphasize this
in my homily announcing the Year of the Eucharist, based on the words of
Saint Paul: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). The Apostle closely relates
meal and proclamation: entering into communion with Christ in the memorial of
his Pasch also means sensing the duty to be a missionary of the event made
present in that rite.22 The dismissal at the end of each Mass is a
charge given to Christians, inviting them to work for the spread of the
Gospel and the imbuing of society with Christian values.
25. The
Eucharist not only provides the interior strength needed for this mission, but
is also —in some sense—its plan. 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. For this to happen, each member
of the faithful must assimilate, through personal and communal meditation, the
values which the Eucharist expresses, the attitudes it inspires, the
resolutions to which it gives rise. Can we not see here a special charge
which could emerge from this Year of the Eucharist?
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