Eucharist Makes the Church (Part 2 of 2)
FREE Catholic Classes
Father Paul McPartlan on Sharing in Christ's Life
LONDON, FEB. 27, 2005 (Zenit) - The Eucharist contains riches to feed and forgive us, to strengthen and unite us, and to guide and protect us on our pilgrim way.
So says Father Paul McPartlan, professor of dogmatic theology at the University of London, and a member of the Vatican's International Theological Commission and author of "Sacrament of Salvation: An Introduction to Eucharistic Ecclesiology" (T&T Clark/Continuum).
He shared with us how the Church is supremely privileged to know Christ and to share his life, the life of true communion.
Part 1 of this interview appeared Friday.
Q: What is the significance of the Holy Father choosing this year as the Year of the Eucharist?
Father McPartlan: Pope John Paul wants to launch the Church strongly into the new millennium. To have a year concentrating on the mystery of the Eucharist is a vital part of this project, because the Eucharist contains riches to feed and forgive us, to strengthen and unite us, and to guide and protect us on our pilgrim way. Jesus himself is with us and we recognize him in the breaking of bread, as the disciples did at Emmaus.
In his profoundly inspiring apostolic letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte," the Holy Father particularly identified the "great challenge" that faces us at the start of the new millennium, namely, that of making the Church "the home and the school of communion" if we truly wish "to be faithful to God's plan and respond to the world's deepest yearnings."
The world is longing for peace and true community in families, in neighborhoods, in nations and in the family of nations. People seek life-enhancing relations in all these contexts and a unity that enables a fulfilling diversity. This is the mystery of communion, ultimately patterned on the Trinity.
Only Christ, who comes bearing the secret of God's life, can solve the riddle and show the way to true communion. The Church is supremely privileged to know Christ and already to share his life, the life of communion. We receive Communion regularly from its true source, the very gift that the world is most seeking.
Our parishes, dioceses and all our Church structures really ought to model good, life-enhancing relations, in the strength of the Eucharist. This is a great calling, in the light of which we should regularly examine how we are doing.
Moreover, we receive the gift of Communion in order to minister it to a waiting and needy world. It isn't given just for us to keep it to ourselves. How vital it is, therefore, to concentrate on this gift, really to try and grow in the living of it and to develop our sense of mission in the strength of it. It has been entrusted to us and a responsibility has been laid upon us.
The Year of the Eucharist is a providential time for renewed rejoicing in this gift and renewed commitment to our mission in the world.
Q: Some say that a decline in respect for the body of Christ parallels a decline in respect for human life. How do you think we should view ourselves and others in the light of the Eucharist?
Father McPartlan: In 1 Corinthians 11:29, St. Paul himself told the Church in Corinth to discern the body of Christ with respect when they received the Eucharist, and it seems that he had a double meaning in mind: They must receive worthily the body and blood of Christ, but they must also treat worthily the members of the body and not humiliate the poor.
Respect for Christ in the Eucharist must be accompanied by respect for Christ in one another and, of course, in ourselves. A profound passage from Vatican II's pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world, "Gaudium et Spes," No. 22, teaches that, by his incarnation, the Son of God has united himself with every single human being.
The face of Christ is reflected and refracted in countless forms across humanity, and respect for him necessarily involves respect for all human life.
We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
We celebrate Christmas, when the Son of God truly took flesh and became vulnerable as one of us. In the Eucharist, he becomes present in the humble staples of human life, bread and wine. In the world around us he is present, particularly as he himself said in Matthew 25:31-46 in those who suffer -- of whom there have dramatically been so many in the tsunami disaster.
We need to hold all these presences together, so as to have an integrated respect for him and for all those whom he loves.
Moreover, the fact that Jesus so readily gives himself to us in the Eucharist is a constant reminder to us to give ourselves to others, particularly those in need, because to give is to be Christ-like and godly.
Quoting a lovely passage from St. Leo, which could equally have come from St. Augustine, Vatican II taught in "Lumen Gentium," No. 26, that our "sharing in the body and blood of Christ has no other effect than to accomplish our transformation into that which we receive."
Contact
Catholic Online
https://www.catholic.org
CA, US
Catholic Online - Publisher, 661 869-1000
info@yourcatholicvoice.org
Keywords
Eucharist, Church, McPartlan, Christ, Body, ecumenical
We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
More Catholic PRWire
Showing 1 - 50 of 4,716
A Recession Antidote
Randy Hain
Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.
The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
Jerom Paul
A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
Dna. Maria St.Catherine De Grace Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.
Embrace every moment as sacred time
Mary Regina Morrell
My Dad
JoMarie Grinkiewicz
Letting go is simple wisdom with divine potential
Mary Regina Morrell
Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
Catholic Online
Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
Catholic Online
Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Catholic Online
State Aid for Catholic Schools: Help or Hindrance?
Catholic Online
Scorsese Planning Movie on Japanese Martyrs
Catholic Online
2 Nuns Kidnapped in Kenya Set Free
Catholic Online
Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward
Catholic Online
Franchising to Evangelize
Catholic Online
Catholics Decry Anti-Christianity in Israel
Catholic Online
Pope and Gordon Brown Meet About Development Aid
Catholic Online
Pontiff Backs Latin America's Continental Mission
Catholic Online
Cardinal Warns Against Anti-Catholic Education
Catholic Online
Full Circle
Robert Gieb
Three words to a deeper faith
Paul Sposite
Relections for Lent 2009
chris anthony
Wisdom lies beyond the surface of life
Mary Regina Morrell
World Food Program Director on Lent
Catholic Online
Moral Clarity
DAN SHEA
Pope's Lenten Message for 2009
Catholic Online
A Prayer for Monaco: Remembering the Faith Legacy of Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace and Contemplating the Moral Challenges of Prince Albert II
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe
Keeping a Lid on Permissiveness
Sally Connolly
Glimpse of Me
Sarah Reinhard
The 3 stages of life
Michele Szekely
Sex and the Married Woman
Cheryl Dickow
A Catholic Woman Returns to the Church
Cheryl Dickow
Modernity & Morality
Dan Shea
Just a Minute
Sarah Reinhard
Catholic identity ... triumphant reemergence!
Hugh McNichol
Edging God Out
Paul Sposite
Burying a St. Joseph Statue
Cheryl Dickow
George Bush Speaks on Papal Visit
Catholic Online
Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe
Mary Regina Morrell
Action Changes Things: Teaching our Kids about Community Service
Lisa Hendey
Easter... A Way of Life
Paul Spoisite
Papal initiative...peace and harmony!
Hugh McNichol
Proclaim the mysteries of the Resurrection!
Hugh McNichol
Jerusalem Patriarch's Easter Message
Catholic Online
Good Friday Sermon of Father Cantalamessa
Catholic Online
Papal Address at the End of the Way of the Cross
Catholic Online
Cardinal Zen's Meditations for Via Crucis
Catholic Online
Interview With Vatican Aide on Jewish-Catholic Relations
Catholic Online
Pope Benedict XVI On the Easter Triduum
Catholic Online
Holy Saturday...anticipation!
Hugh McNichol