In today’s individualistic world, the Eucharist creates the logic of communion, pope says
On the day in which many countries celebrate the Corpus Domini, Benedict XVI during the Angelus stresses how the Eucharist sows among believers the logic of communion, service, sharing, i.e. the logic of the Gospel. He also mentions the beatification, in Milan, of Fr Clemente Vismara, “PIME’s heroic missionary in Burma.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – “In an increasingly individualistic culture, which is the one in which we are immersed in Western societies, and which tends to spread around the world, the Eucharist constitutes a form of ‘antidote’ that works on the minds and hearts of believers and continuously sows the logic of the communion, service, sharing, i.e. the logic of the Gospel,” said Benedict XVI on the day in which Corpus Christi is celebrated in many countries around the world, the “Feast Day of the Eucharist” whilst in various cities new Blessed are being proclaimed, among them Fr Clemente Vismara, “PIME’s heroic missionary in Burma,” as the pope himself said.
Benedict XVI told the 30,000 people present in Saint Peter’s Square for the Angelus that the Eucharist “constitutes the Church’s most precious treasure”. It is “like the beating heart that gives life to the whole mystical body of the Church, a social organism based on the spiritual but real tie to Christ.”
“Without the Eucharist, the Church simply would not exist. In fact, it is the Eucharist that transforms a human community into a mystery of communion, capable of bringing God to the world and the world to God. The Holy Spirit, which transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, transforms all those who receive it with faith into members of the body of Christ, so that the Church is really a sacrament of unity of men with God and among themselves.”
“The first Christians, in Jerusalem, were a sign of a new style of life, because they lived in brotherhood and shared their goods so that no one would be indigent. Where does all this come from? From the Eucharist, i.e. the Risen Christ, which was indeed present in the midst of his disciples operating with the strength of the Holy Spirit. Even in the following generations, through the centuries, the Church, despite human limits and errors, continued to be a force of communion in the world. Let us think especially about the times of difficulty and trial. What did it mean, for example, in countries under dictatorial rule, to be able to come together for Sunday Mass? As the Abitene Martyrs said, ‘Sine Dominico non possumus’, without the Sunday Eucharist we cannot live. But the void produced by false freedom can be equally dangerous; thus, the communion with the Body of Christ is the medicine of intelligence and will to find the taste for truth and the common good.”
“Let us call on the Virgin Mary,” the pope said, “whom my Predecessor, the Blessed John Paul II, defined as the Eucharistic Woman. At her school, even our life becomes fully ‘Eucharistic’, open to God and to others, capable of transforming evil into good with the strength of love, intent on favouring, unity, communion and brotherhood.”
Benedict XVI told the 30,000 people present in Saint Peter’s Square for the Angelus that the Eucharist “constitutes the Church’s most precious treasure”. It is “like the beating heart that gives life to the whole mystical body of the Church, a social organism based on the spiritual but real tie to Christ.”
“Without the Eucharist, the Church simply would not exist. In fact, it is the Eucharist that transforms a human community into a mystery of communion, capable of bringing God to the world and the world to God. The Holy Spirit, which transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, transforms all those who receive it with faith into members of the body of Christ, so that the Church is really a sacrament of unity of men with God and among themselves.”
“The first Christians, in Jerusalem, were a sign of a new style of life, because they lived in brotherhood and shared their goods so that no one would be indigent. Where does all this come from? From the Eucharist, i.e. the Risen Christ, which was indeed present in the midst of his disciples operating with the strength of the Holy Spirit. Even in the following generations, through the centuries, the Church, despite human limits and errors, continued to be a force of communion in the world. Let us think especially about the times of difficulty and trial. What did it mean, for example, in countries under dictatorial rule, to be able to come together for Sunday Mass? As the Abitene Martyrs said, ‘Sine Dominico non possumus’, without the Sunday Eucharist we cannot live. But the void produced by false freedom can be equally dangerous; thus, the communion with the Body of Christ is the medicine of intelligence and will to find the taste for truth and the common good.”
“Let us call on the Virgin Mary,” the pope said, “whom my Predecessor, the Blessed John Paul II, defined as the Eucharistic Woman. At her school, even our life becomes fully ‘Eucharistic’, open to God and to others, capable of transforming evil into good with the strength of love, intent on favouring, unity, communion and brotherhood.”
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