POPE REPLACES 'LETTER TO PRIESTS' WITH ENCYCLICAL ON EUCHARIST
ROME: 16th April -- Pope John Paul II has, this year, offered the Universal Church his long-awaited encyclical on the Eucharist. For one group in the Church, the presbyterate, it replaces the annual Letter to Priests, always a Eucharistic reflection intended to help priests to focus the celebration of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday in terms of their priestly ministry.
The new encyclical, which will be available for distribution in time for the Holy Thursday celebration ('austraLasia' has a copy - if you wish to have an emailed version, please indicate) is called Ecclesia de Eucharistia. As its name suggests, it considers the Eucharist in its relationship to the Church. The Pope expresses his 'amazement and gratitude' at the mystery which is celebrated firstly during the 'Triduum' and then down through the ages. He wishes to rekindle this amazement in the Church by deepening the 'programme' he set out at the beginning of the Millennium - the contemplation of Christ, recognizable especially in the Eucharist.
In a particular way, the Pope wishes to 'banish the dark clouds of unacceptable doctrine and practice' which have obscured the Eucharist at times. But this is not just an 'in-house' document. Early on, in the first chapter in fact, the Pope underlines the role of the Eucharist in spurring 'us on our journey through history.....daily commitment to the work before us'. A 'new heaven' yes, but also a 'new earth' with the consequent 'sense of responsibility for the world today'.
Ecclesia in Eucharistia reinforces belief and practice in worship of the Eucharist ouside of Mass...but strictly in connection with the eucharistic sacrifice. The 'visit' is still very much in!
The Pope shares the pain of those communities deprived of the Eucharist through lack of a priest, and commends the efforts of those Religious and lay people who lead their brothers and sisters in prayer, exercising 'the common priesthood of the faithful based on the grace of Baptism'. But these are temporary solutions.
On the ticklish matter of intercommunion, the Pope reiterates the well-established teaching of the Church, but he does offer a particular slant to it all - there can be no 'legitimate concelebration in the absence of full communion' but 'the same is not true with respect to the administration of the Eucharist under special circumstances to individual persons'. The intention is to meet a grave spiritual need, not to bring about intercommunion. None of this is new teaching.
Priests are asked to be faithful to liturgical norms for the celebration of Eucharist, in the interests not just of their community but of the universal Church. "Liturgy is never anyubody's private property', he reminds them. He has asked the Roman Curia to prepare a more detailed document on the matter of liturgical norms.
The encyclical concludes with an emotional and also by now hallmark appeal to the connection between Mary and the subject in hand - reread the Magnificat in a Eucharistic key, he urges. He then outlines his own faith in the Holy Eucharist: Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine and concludes with the remainder of the 'poet of Christ', Thomas Aquinas' words on the Eucharist.
