Académique Documents
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BY
SECTION ONE
The Eucharist is the most precious gift of Christ as head, to his body the church.
Instituted by Christ himself the Eucharist perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross
through all the ages by the unction of the Holy Spirit until he comes again. It
has, through the ages, been the church’s greatest treasure – the summit to which
all the church’s life is directed and the fount from which all her powers flow.
The people of God are convoked by Christ himself to share in his life. They
partake of the heavenly banquet of the body and blood of Christ and are
transformed into one body in Christ. Thus, through a worthy celebration and active
participation of the people of God , they are instructed by God’s word, share in
the one bread and one cup and thus are “drawn day by day into ever more perfect
union with God and each other, so that finally God may be all in all” . At the
Eucharistic celebration therefore, one family of God is gathered together around
her head, Christ, so that every mountain of difference is pulled down and one
people united in heart and mind is formed. The Eucharist therefore becomes truly a
sacrament of love, a symbol of unity and peace, a bond of love and a pledge of
future glory. This unity is not limited to the church alone; it has a rippling
effect as the Eucharistic community becomes the springboard to true peace and
unity of all peoples of Warri, Delta State.
Christ’s faithful participates in the Eucharistic celebration at least on a
weekly basis. However, their understanding of the Eucharist as the principal
source of insight to the meaning of our Christian faith and the means of renewing
that bond with one another in Christ while at the same time being empowered and
nourished for mission to the world seems to be remote. There seems to be a
disconnection between the avid love and devotion of Catholics in the Warri region
to the Eucharist, and the living out of the practical imports of this celebration.
As in every human community, there are differences in opinion, socio-cultural,
ethnic and political orientations. Sometimes, these could overlap and give rise
to conflict. Conflicts can be amicably resolved given the right disposition.
However, more often than not it is overplayed and exaggerated resulting in
confrontation, violence, war and obvious destruction of lives as in Warri and
other parts of the Niger Delta. The climate of political and ethnic crisis with
their spate of violence itself leaves in their wake acrimony, suspicion,
disharmony, fragile peace and in some cases hatred which is symptomatic of a
conflict situation. Indices of this conflict situation manifest itself today in
the body of Christ in the form of ethnic domination, segregation, alienation,
inter family hatred, enmity, et cetera. These vitiate the sense of unity which the
Eucharistic celebration embodies.
This research work shall focus on the Eucharistic celebration with the view
to promote its understanding as the source of conflict resolution. It shall also
examine the implications of this for the family of God. Once these conflicts are
resolved and peace and reconciliation are engendered in the church, it becomes the
springboard for promoting peace and reconciliation in the entire community in such
away that political and ethnic violence is eliminated or reduced to an
insignificant margin.
SECTION TWO
2.1 Evolution of the Eucharistic Celebration
Through out her bimillennia history, the church has preserved the memory of her
Lord and lived out his command “Do this in memory of me.” Consequently the church
has always preserved the centrality of the Eucharist in her liturgy. The
Eucharistic celebration has gone through a long historical evolution. Christ
instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist within the context of the Jewish ritual
mean of Passover and from here through the faith experience of the church from the
apostolic times till date has developed a definite and relatively fixed structure
of celebrating this “Memorial of the Lord” as we find in the General Instruction
of the Roman Missal. In this section, we attempt a cursory look at the evolution
of the Eucharistic celebration through the ages. We adopt here the historical
categorization of P. Chibuko in his work titled “Eucharistic Liturgy: The Undying
Hope of the Church.”
2.1.1 Era of the Primitive Church
This refers to the apostolic era, the immediate recipient of this great treasure
of the church. This period was one of fluidity as nothing was fixed. The apostles
like their master still worshipped in the synagogue but would gather later in
private homes for the celebration of the Eucharist. (Acts. 2:46). The upper room
is also reported as a place of meeting for the “Breaking of Bread.” This
Eucharistic gathering consists in devotion to the Apostles Teaching (didache) and
fellowship, to the braking of bread and the prayers. This community of believers
was characterized by a koinonia; a communion of believers united in heart and mind
and bonded together by the Eucharistic, Christ himself. As they shared in the one
bread and the one cup, so they shared their property for the good of all. (Acts.
4: 32-37). The Eucharist continued to be the rallying point of unity and filial
love among the early church such that even at the time of heated persecutions,
they didn’t renege but began to fellowship and fulfill the Lord’s mandate of
fractio panis in the Catacombs. These became institutionalized venue for the
Eucharist.
2.4 Conflict, Love and the Eucharist and the Call to Peaceful Co-existence
Love remains the foundation and norm of the Christian life. It is the motif for
the divine kenosis (self emptying) of Jesus through his passion, death and
resurrection. Thus, the divine kenosis is definitively expressed in the paschal
mystery which the Eucharist celebrates. Given the fact therefore that conflict is
inevitable, how then can family of God live in peace and harmony?
Conflict is not necessarily the opposite of love as is often believed. We are
intentional beings, goal-driven and acting from our perspective and conviction.
God’s love is our model as Christians and this love is all inclusive. It
challenges us to love others sacrificially just as Christ loves us and shed his
blood on the cross for us. This implies respect for their rights to their own
goals and unique perspectives. In other words, loving others involves according
them the right to differ from us. Jesus himself commands “Love your enemies and do
good to those who persecute you” (Lk. 6:35). The decisive imperative of this is
underscored by the fact that he exemplified it by his paschal mystery. Even in the
midst of his anguish he exclaimed with passionate love “Father forgive them for
they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34) Thus, our love leads to
forgiveness and reconciliation which we experience in the Eucharistic celebration.
This attitude helps us as a Eucharistic people to see the positive dimension of
conflict. Through those who hold contrary positions and views we realize our own
blind spots, limitations, biases and areas of needed growth as D. Lewis affirms.
This is because their position and resistance becomes a springboard not unto
violence and attack of personality but unto insight into our own identity. It
therefore accords us an opportunity to think through our convictions which stand
contrary to theirs and seek dialogical means to resolve them. Hence, conflict if
well articulated, rightly perceived and approached in the spirit of love
exemplified in the Eucharistic celebration, can be seen as a gift of God (unity in
diversity) Thus to love others would mean to share our hopes and intentions with
them and see that theirs are upheld and respected. One cannot lay claim to loving
when one fails to do this.
SECTION THREE
The institution of the Eucharist which we find in synoptic gospels is set within
the framework of a Jewish ritual and memorial meal. Though situated within the
context of the New Testament Last Supper, we find its foreshadowing in the Old
Testament and in the New Testament. In ancient Israel, meal sharing was a powerful
expression of friendliness, fellowship, peace, communion of life, covenantal
agreement, and an acknowledgement of human dependence. Hence, E. Lussier opines
“All meals, both secular and sacred, express a fundamental reality of human
existence, our solidarity in life, with our fellow man in profane meals, and with
God in sacred meals. In both there is recognition of the reality of life as a
common possession, and the meal celebrates this life in joy and thanksgiving.
Meals celebrate the sharing of human life as a gift from God, and in this they
anticipate the perfect sharing which Christ exemplified when he instituted the
Eucharist at the last supper”
Of all the ritual meals of the Jewish tradition, Passover was the most celebrated
because it marked the constitution of Israel as a people saved from slavery in
Egypt by outstretched arm of God. It was a memorial to be celebrated as commanded
by the Lord (Ex. 12: 2-14, 42-49; 13:9-10) in honour and remembrance of their
liberation from Egypt. In uncompromising terms God says “this day shall be a day
of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord;
throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance”
(Ex.12:14). The anamnetical aspect of this festival is brought here. In
remembering they recalled the saving acts of God in the past in such a manner that
that saving act is expected in the here and now. This idea of the Passover was to
find its fulfillment in the liberative act of Christ on Calvary. Another essential
element of the Passover is its sacrificial content. The Passover is also a
sacrifice on account of the lamb without blemish which was to be slain and eaten
together (Ex. 12: 2-5). This sacrifice was not a private affair, it was a family
and community festival (Ex.12: 3-4) underscoring the unity, harmony, togetherness,
brotherhood, and the sense of being one people of God. None was alienated or
estranged, differences were underplayed and oneness was esteemed and promoted.
Also, the offering of bread and wine was not alien to the Jews. They offered
bread and wine in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of
gratitude to their creator. (CCC 1334) In addition the priest Melchizedek in
Gen. 14:18, a priest and king whose genealogy is unknown, offered a sacrifice of
bread and wine in thanksgiving to God for the victory of Abraham. This figure is
often referred to as a prototype of the priesthood of Christ which is not time
bound and his offering is seen as a prefiguration of the Eucharist instituted by
Christ. Jean Danielou supports this when he observes “the bread and wine offered
by Melchisedech were considered from very ancient date to be a figure of the
Eucharist” He also identifies the Manna episode in the desert and the meal of the
covenant as prefiguring the Eucharist.
3.1.2 New Testament
The term Eucharist does not appear in the New Testament (hereafter NT). It is the
Greek verb “to give thanks” (eucharistein) which gave rise to its usage. This
usage has been part of the Eucharistic tradition over the years. In the NT there
is a gradual unfolding of understanding of the Eucharist which reached its
climatic point at the institution narrative in the gospels and as relayed by Paul.
(Lk. 22:19-20; Mk .14:22-24; Mt. 26: 26-28; I Cor. 11:23-25) Jesus first taught
before he instituted. The miracles of multiplication (Matt. 14:19, 15:36; Mark
6:41, 8:6; Luke 9:16) are all understood within the context of anticipating the
Eucharist. The gospel of John chapter six however, gives a classical theological
key to understanding the Eucharist before its eventual institution. In John
6:35,41,48,51, Jesus says four times "I AM the bread from heaven" and makes a
parallel between this new bread and the Manna with which Israel was fed in the
desert. The one who eats this bread will not die but live forever. (Jn. 6:27, 31,
49). Going further, he identifies this bread as his flesh which is life-giving
(Jn. 6:51-52) and the Jews parted ways with him because they took him literally.
Jesus does not correct their literal interpretation. Instead, Jesus eliminates any
metaphorical interpretations by swearing an oath and being even more literal about
eating His flesh. In fact, Jesus says four times we must eat His flesh and drink
His blood (John 6:53 - 58).
It is within this context that we understand the words of Jesus at the Last Supper
“This is my body” and “This is my blood”. Here we are dealing not simply with a
historical reportage but a liturgical recital of early commemoration of the origin
of the Eucharist. Scholars approach the words of the institution from a prophetic
symbolic gesture point of view in which an event is enacted before its eventual
occurrence. Hence “The action of the prophet was understood, not simply to mime
the event, but to bring it about. In this way our Lord’s giving of himself through
the ritual of bread and cup at the Last Supper could be seen as a prophecy of his
self-giving in his sacrifice” This is clear when St. Paul reiterates the teaching
on the Eucharist as truly a sharing in the body and blood of Christ.(1 Cor.
10:16). Paul also emphasized the implications of this sacrificial sharing against
the backdrop of the disunity, disagreement, divisions discovered among the
Eucharistic community at Corinth (I Cor. 11:17-18). Paul denounced this phenomenon
which is inimical to the Koinonia that the Eucharist engenders. Hence he posits in
clear terms “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all
partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10: 17).
From the foregoing, it is clear that the Eucharist was central in the life of the
early church and they understood it as the sacrifice of the body and blood of
Christ and partaking of it eliminates any form of division. It rather promotes
oneness and unity. Hence the Eucharist can be seen as the source of conflict
resolution.
SECTION FOUR
4.1 Cultural Value of Okugbe and Conflict Resolution
Among the Urhobos okugbe is an esteemed and praise worthy value that is enshrined
in the culture. Okugbe literally means togetherness. This is expressed in worship,
in family and social circles. It operates within the African communalistic
philosophy where the “I” subsists in the “We” and the strength and vitality of
life is felt not in isolation but in relationship and shared living. It is
expressed in concern for the other, giving a helping hand to the needy, sharing
the joys and sorrows of one another in the community such that when a child is
born the entire community rejoices and when a person dies everyone mourns and gets
involved in the burial rites. This communal involvement establishes a bond of
love, a unity, a fellowship and This sense of community is expressed in the Urhobo
saying agbe rhia onye avwo fe’gbo (it is by living together that we develop our
community). Hence when a family celebrates other families joins in the celebration
taking up one responsibility or the other to bring about the total success of the
ceremony. Everyone is happy and life cannot be more beautiful. Today however, with
the infiltration of western values, this community spirit seems to be waning very
fast.
SECTION FIVE
5.2 Conclusion
We are living in an era of tension and violence and the need for instruments of
peace is ever on the increase. Hence we must turn to Christ the prince of peace
who is truly present and gives himself to us in the Eucharist as the model as well
as the source of true peace and reconciliation. In a pastoral statement issued by
the American National Conference of Bishops, they exhort “In the Eucharist, which
is Jesus really present , God satisfies our deepest hungers. The sacrifice of the
Mass is Christ’s supreme act of reconciliation” When we thus participate in this
banquet of life, we are united to God and with one another. Every fruitful
participation brings to the reality of being instruments of peace and conflict
resolution haven been in the first instance experienced the same in the
Eucharistic celebration.
NOTES