Vatican City, 12 February 2014 (VIS) –
The Eucharist and its relation to our life, as Church and as
Christians, was the theme of Pope Francis' catechesis during this
Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's Square.
“How do we live the Eucharist …
when we go to Mass on a Sunday? What is it for us? Is it just an
opportunity to celebrate, a consolidated tradition, a way of getting
one's bearings and feeling better, or is it something more?” asked
the Holy Father, who then went on to indicate three signs for
understanding how we experience this relation.
The first is our way of living with
others. “In the Eucharist Christ renews the gift of Himself that He
made on the Cross”, he explained. “His entire life is an act of
the fullest sharing of Himself for love. This is why He loved to stay
with the disciples and with those He met. For Him, this meant sharing
their yearnings, their problems, that which stirred their soul and
their life. Now, when we participate in the Holy Mass, we find
ourselves with many people … but the Eucharist that I celebrate,
does it lead me to consider them as brothers and sisters? Does it
inspire me to go towards the poor, the sick, the marginalised? Does
it help me to recognise Christ's face in them?”
The grace of being forgiven and willing
to forgive is a second sign. “In reality, those who celebrate the
Eucharist do not do so because they believe themselves to be better,
or wish to appear better than others, but because they are aware that
they are always in need of being accepted and regenerated in God's
mercy, made flesh in Jesus Christ. If anyone among us does not feel
in need of God's mercy, if he does not consider himself to be a
sinner, it is better that he not go to Mass! We go to Mass because we
are sinners and because we wish to receive God's forgiveness, to
participate in Christ's redemption, his forgiveness. That 'I confess'
that we say at the beginning is not merely a 'pro forma', it is a
true act of penance! … In that bread and that wine we offer and
around which we gather, the gift of the body and blood of Christ for
the forgiveness of our sins is renewed every time. This best
summarises the deepest sense of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and
in turn it opens our hearts to the forgiveness of our brothers and to
reconciliation”.
The relationship between the
Eucharistic celebration and the life of our Christian communities is
the third sign. “It must always be clear that the Eucharist is not
something that we do; it is not our commemoration of what Jesus said
and did. No. It is an act of Christ! It is a gift from Christ, Who is
made present and gathers us around Him, to nourish us with His Word
and His life. This means that the mission and the very identity of
the Church spring from this, from the Eucharist, and there they
assume their form. … a celebration may prove to be impeccable,
beautiful, from an external point of view, but if it does not lead to
an encounter with Jesus, the risk is that it does not lead to the
nourishment of our hearts and lives. Through the Eucharist, instead,
Christ wishes to enter into our existence and the permeate it with
his grace, so that in every Christian community there is coherence
between liturgy and life”.
The Pope concluded by encouraging us to
“live the Eucharist with a spirit of faith and prayer, of
forgiveness, of care for the needs of many of our brothers and
sisters, in the certainty that the Lord will grant that which he has
promised – eternal life”.
Following the catechesis the Pontiff
greeted, among others, a delegation from the Czech Republic, which
included a group of prelates from the Czech Bishops' Conference on
their “ad limina” visit. Pope Francis asked all those present to
pray for him and blessed the Czech Church and population, along with
the crowns for the Palladium of the Bohemian Lands, an ancient icon
of the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus which is venerated in Stara
Boleslav, a few kilometres from Prague, to which the people have
always appealed in times of war or danger for the country and the
Czech population.