Cardinal: Eucharist Should Change our Daily Life

"The Eucharist is not only a mystery to be believed and celebrated, but also a mystery to be lived"

QUEBEC CITY (ZENIT) - The Eucharist is a call to love in the concrete situations of daily life, says a Vatican official.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, affirmed this in his homily Saturday at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. The congress ended today.

"The Eucharist is not only a mystery to be believed and celebrated, but also a mystery to be lived," the cardinal said. "At the end of Mass the deacon, or the priest, tells us that we are sent to live the mystery that we have celebrated, meditated and received.

"The holy Eucharist sends us to show love and solidarity to our brothers and sisters who are in need. [...] We are also sent to console those who are in sorrow, to help to liberate those held in slavery, including the victims of sexual, racial or other forms of oppression, to give hope to street children, and to help underdeveloped peoples rise to an acceptable level of human existence."

However, Cardinal Arinze affirmed, love of neighbor does not stop there, but extends to those who suffer spiritual hunger and needs.

"People are hungry for the word of God, for the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ," he affirmed. "Therefore missionary work, catechesis in its many forms and leading people to the Church and to the sacraments are necessary manifestations of love of neighbor."

The Vatican official recalled that the lives of the saints reflect love for the Eucharist made service. Noting that the Quebec congress was celebrating Africa Day, he drew on the example of many African heroes, including Blesseds Cyprian Michael Tansi of Nigeria, Isidore Bakanja of Congo, and David Okelo and Gilde Irwa of Uganda.

"These great followers of Jesus were given life by the Holy Eucharist," Cardinal Arinze said.

"In the strength of the Holy Eucharist, these witnesses to Christ in the midst of the world walked the 40 days and 40 nights of their earthly pilgrimage, right up to their meeting with the Lord in life eternal."