AUDIENCE: THE EUCHARIST, BANQUET OF COMMUNION WITH GOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II spoke to 45,000 faithful on the theme: "The Eucharist: banquet of communion with God."

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Pope recalled that the Eucharist is "at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the Cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood."

In the Eucharistic celebration, he said, we are invited "to celebrate the gift of the One who is offering and offered: participating in the holy mysteries, (we) become 'kinsmen' of Christ, anticipating the experience of divinization in the now inseparable bond linking divinity and humanity in Christ."

The Holy Father affirmed that "the Greek word for communion, 'koinonia,' appears in the reflections of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. ... This communion with Christ brings about an intimate transformation of the believer."

"By sharing in the sacrifice of the Cross, the Christian partakes of Christ's self-giving love and is equipped and committed to live this same charity in all his thoughts and deeds." The Pope concluded by indicating that "the path of sanctity, of love, of truth is, then, the revelation to the world of our divine intimacy, which is realized in the banquet of the Eucharist."

In his greetings to Italian-speaking pilgrims, the Pope made mention of the people of northern Italy, recently struck by flooding: "I am particularly thinking of the Val d'Aosta, so dear to me, and of the vast areas of Piedmont that have suffered such damage." He gave assurance that he would pray "at the altar of the Lord, especially for victims and their families, for those who have lost their houses and for all those who are suffering because of this natural disaster."

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