The Shape of the Catholic Eucharist (1 of 5)

In its splendid simplicity, the form of the Catholic Eucharist has four movements: the Word, the Meal, the Sacrifice, and the Abiding Presence. These four flow out of the Jewish institutions of the Synagogue, the Passover meal, and the temple as sacrifice and abiding presence. 

The announcement and reception of the Word of God is the initial movement. This must be readings from Scripture, with emphasis on the Gospels and before that the Old Testament and the epistles. Here we have the conviction that God is actually speaking to us, right here, right now, through these readings. An appropriate homily by the priest accompanies the reception of the Word.

The mass is a repetition of the Last Supper which was a Passover meal or similar celebration of Jesus with his apostles. It is a meal of friendship. But not an ordinary meal; it is a sacred meal. In Jewish worship, temple sacrifice usually entailed a meal shared by the priests. And the Passover was connected to temple worship as the lamb was sacrificed in the temple. So we have here a sacred meal, closely connected to the temple of worship.

Jesus sacrifice on Calvary is recapitulated in the mass. As he shared the bread and wine he said, "Do this in memory of me...this is my body to be given up for you...this is my blood to be shed for you..."  In contrast to the reformers, the Church has always insisted that the mass is a bloodless sacrifice. Jewish temple sacrifice was a prefiguring of that of Jesus on the cross. So there is an essential "temple" dimension inherent to the Catholic mass. This contrasts with Protestant iconoclasm and disparagement of the temple-like edifice surrounding the Catholic eucharist

By the doctrine of transubstantiation, Catholic accept the abiding presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Host. This is a privileged, exceptional presence. God's presence is everywhere, but differs significantly. Anything that exists is in communion with God. But he becomes more intimately and powerfully present in the community of worship: wherever two or more are gathered, in proclamation of the Word, in the sacraments, in care of the poor and acts of charity, in the priesthood, in confession and contrition. Even among these, the Eucharistic presence is exceptional and, yes, superior. Here is the actual body and blood of Jesus himself, humanity and divinity. Just as present as he was bodily to his family for thirty years and his disciples for three years. 

The reformers largely disparaged the enduring Eucharistic presence in favor of the more generic presence of Christ in the proclamation of the Word, the worshipping assembly, and the spirit of praise and charity. The Catholic gestalt is different: the Eucharist presence is extraordinary, and it enhances and focuses all the other movements of the Holy Spirit.

All the great Catholic saints of recent centuries attest to this. For example, Elizabeth Ann Seton, when she was converting into the Catholic Church, found herself sitting in an Anglican Church but praying to Christ physically present in the Tabernacle across the street in the Catholic Church.  Charles de Focauld, largely alone in the Sahara desert, centered his life on worship of Christ present in his chapel. Through the centuries, anchorites have buried themselves in small cells, attached to Eucharistic chapels, largely separated from the world, but happy to worship their savior present in the Tabernacle.

The Eucharist, emblematic of the entire economy of salvation, is a Mystery of fluidity/movement and stability/substance. It is the encounter with Christ...in Word, in festal feast, in the action of sacrificial surrender. But within this movement/fluidity is an abiding Presence. If the blood flows from the side of Christ and is consumed in the liturgy, the body is consumes but yet remains, stable, steady, structured, enduring. In the simple, white, round, serene, stable Host, Christ abides with us...permanently, efficaciously, faithfully, eternally. In the Eucharist we are drawn into the movement of Christ, in the Spirit, to the Father, by way of our mission in the world. Even as we abide in Him, who abides in the Father. We at once move and are moved, even as we remain. 

It is this double Mystery of movement and abiding that inflow and unite the four dynamics: reception of the Word, festal feast of friends, sacrifice and abiding presence.