Eucharist: Food for Mission

Pope John Paul II's 2004 Message Eucharist and Mission

My dearest Brothers and Sisters! The Church's missionary activity is an urgency also at the beginning of the third millennium, as I have often said. Mission, as I stated in the encyclical Redemptoris Missio, is still only beginning and we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service. The entire eo le of !od at every moment of its ilgrimage through history is called to share the "edeemer's #thirst# $see %n &'()*+. This thirst to save souls has always been strongly e, erienced by the saints( It suffices to thin- for e,am le of St. Th.r/se of 0isieu,, atroness of the missions, and of Bisho Comboni, great a ostle of 1frica whom recently I had the 2oy of raising to the honor of the altars. The social and religious challenges facing humanity in our day call believers to renew their missionary fervor. 3es! It is necessary to relaunch mission #ad gentes# 4to the nations5 with courage, starting with the roclamation of Christ, "edeemer of every human erson. The International 6ucharistic Congress, celebrated at !uadala2ara in Me,ico in 7ctober )889, the missionary month, is an e,traordinary o ortunity to grow in missionary awareness around the Table of the Body and Blood of Christ. !athered around the altar, the Church understands better her origin and her missionary mandate. 1s the theme of :orld Mission Sunday )889 clearly em hasi;es, #6ucharist and Mission# are inse arable. In addition to reflection on the bond that e,ists between the eucharistic mystery and the mystery of the Church, this year there will be an elo<uent reference to the Blessed =irgin Mary, because of the occurrence of the &>8th anniversary of the definition of the ?ogma of the Immaculate Conce tion $&*>9@)889+. 0et us contem late the 6ucharist with the eyes of Mary. Confiding in the intercession of the Blessed =irgin, the Church offers Christ, the Bread of Salvation, to all eo les that they may recogni;e Aim and acce t Aim as the only Savior of man-ind.

Communion with

od

"eturning ideally to the B er "oom, in )88C, recisely on Aoly Thursday, I signed the encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, from which I would li-e to ta-e some assages which will hel us, dearest Brothers and Sisters, to live :orld Mission Sunday with a 6ucharistic s irit. #The 6ucharist builds the Church and the Church ma-es the 6ucharist# $D )E+, I wrote, observing how the mission of the Church is a continuity of the mission of Christ $%n )8()&+, and draws s iritual energy from communion with his Body and Blood. The goal of the 6ucharist is recisely #communion of man-ind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Aoly S irit# $Ecclesia de Eucharistia, ))+. :hen we ta-e art in the 6ucharistic Sacrifice we understand more rofoundly the universality of redem tion and, conse<uently, the urgency of the Church's mission with its rogram which #has its center in Christ himself, who is to be -nown, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity and with him transform history until its fulfillment in the heavenly %erusalem# $DE8+. 1round Christ in the 6ucharist the Church grows as the eo le, tem le and family of !od( one, holy, Catholic and a ostolic. 1t the same time she understands better her character of universal sacrament of salvation and visible reality with a hierarchical structure.

Certainly #no Christian community can be built u unless it has its basis and center in the celebration of the most Aoly 6ucharist# $DCC+. 1t the end of every Mass, when the celebrant ta-es leave of the assembly with the words #Ite, Missa est# 4#!o, the Mass is ended#5, all should feel they are sent as #missionaries of the 6ucharist# to carry to every environment the great gift received. In fact anyone who encounters Christ in the 6ucharist cannot fail to roclaim through his or her life the merciful love of the "edeemer.

! constant practice
To live the 6ucharist it is necessary, as well, to s end much time in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament, something which I myself e, erience every day drawing from it strength, consolation and assistance. The 6ucharist, the Second =atican Council affirms, #is the source and summit of all Christian life# $Lumen Gentium, &&+, #the source and summit of all evangeli;ation# $Presbyterorum Ordinis, >+. The bread and wine, fruit of human hands, transformed through the ower of the Aoly S irit into the Body and Blood of Christ, become a ledge of the #new heaven and new earth# $"ev )&(&+, announced by the Church in her daily mission. In Christ, whom we adore resent in the mystery of the 6ucharist, the Father uttered his final word with regard to humanity and human history. Aow could the Church fulfill her vocation without cultivating a constant relationshi with the 6ucharist, without nourishing herself with this food, which sanctifies, without founding her missionary activity on this indis ensable su ortG To evangeli;e the world there is need of a ostles who are #e, erts# in the celebration, adoration and contem lation of the 6ucharist. In the 6ucharist we relive the mystery of the "edem tion culminating in the 0ord's sacrifice, as it is said in the words of consecration( #my body which will be given for you...my blood which will be oured out for you# $0- ))(&'@)8+. Christ died for allH and for all is the gift of salvation which the 6ucharist renders sacramentally resent in the course of history( #?o this in memory of me# $0- ))(&'+. This mandate is entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Aoly 7rders. To this ban<uet and sacrifice all men and women are invited so they may share in the very life of Christ( #Ae who eats my flesh and drin-s my blood lives in me and I live in him. 1s I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me# $%n E(>E@>I+. Jourished by Aim, believers come to understand that the missionary tas- means being #acce table as an offering, made holy by the Aoly S irit# $"om &>(&E+, in order to be more and more #one, in heart and mind# $1cts 9(C)+ and to be witnesses of his love to the ends of the earth. %ourneying through the centuries, reliving every day the sacrifice of the altar, the Church, the Keo le of !od, awaits Christ's coming in glory. This is roclaimed after the consecration by the 6ucharistic assembly gathered around the altar. Time after time with renewed faith the Church re eats her desire for the final encounter with the 7ne who comes to bring his lan of universal salvation to com letion. The Aoly S irit, with invisible but owerful wor-ing, guides the Christian eo le on this daily s iritual itinerary on which they inevitably encounter difficulties and e, erience the mystery of the Cross. The 6ucharist is the comfort and the ledge of final trium h for those who fight evil and sinH it is the #bread of life# which sustains those who, in turn, become #bread bro-en# for others, aying at times even with martyrdom their fidelity to the gos el.

Mar"# ta$ernacle of hope

In )889 we celebrate the &>8th anniversary of the roclamation of the ?ogma of the Immaculate Conce tion. Mary was #redeemed in an es ecially sublime manner by reason of the merits of her Son# $Lumen Gentium, >C+. I add in the encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia: #!a;ing u on Mary,

we come to -now that transforming ower resent in the 6ucharist. In her we see the world renewed in love# $DE)+. Mary, the first #tabernacle# in history, #shows us and offers us Christ, the :ay, the Truth and the 0ife $%n &9(E+. If #the Church and the 6ucharist are inse arably united, the same ought to be said of Mary and the 6ucharist# $Ecclesia de Eucharistia, D>I+. I ho e that the ha y coinciding of the International 6ucharistic Congress with the &>8th anniversary of the definition of the Immaculate Conce tion of Mary may offer the faithful, arishes and missionary institutes an o ortunity to strengthen their missionary ;eal so that in every community there may always be #a genuine hunger for the 6ucharist.# This is also a good o ortunity to mention the contribution offered to the Church's a ostolic activity by the worthy Kontifical Mission Societies. They are very dear to my heart and I than- them, on behalf of all, for the valid service rendered to new evangeli;ation and the mission ad gentes. I as- you to su ort them s iritually and materially so that also through their contribution, the roclamation of the gos el may reach all the eo les of the earth. Delivered by Pope John Paul II in 2004 for World Mission Sunday, celebrated each year in ctober!

% &acred 'an(uet
% &acred 'an(uet# In which Christ is recei)ed# *he memor" of his Passion is renewed# *he mind is filled with grace# !nd a pledge of future glor" is gi)en to us+ !men+
From the "oman Breviary, attributed to St. Thomas 1<uinas