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| August 2004 |
New Vatican instruction on Holy
Eucharist holds much for the faithful |
Gene Young
Managing Editor |
One year after Pope John Paul II’s
encyclical on the Eucharist (Ecclesia De Eucharistia) and almost
four months after the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine
Worship issued a follow-up new instruction on the Eucharist,
many people across the diocese are not sure what it means for
them and their faith.
The Holy See issued the instruction (Redemptionis Sacramentum)
to explain the deeper level of liturgical norms in the light
of some abuses of liturgical law.
Msgr. Charles Mangan, a priest of the diocese serving in Rome
with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life, said, in his travels abroad and
in the diocese, the encyclical and the instruction have been
received well. “It’s been a helpful continuation
of the discussion which the Holy Father had in his encyclical,”
he said.
Msgr. Mangan feels the people of the diocese need to at least
have a general understanding of the Instruction to glean the
value from it in their faith practices. “Although most
instructions, we could say, are probably addressed to bishops
and priests, this instruction really emphasizes that the sacred
quality and the ordering of the liturgy is to be fostered, maintained
and preserved,” he said. “As a result, all Catholics
should be interested in something like this even though they
may not have read the actual instruction.
Msgr. Mangan pointed out how important it is for pastors and
associates to help their congregations understand the instruction
and help them in implementing it in their respective parishes.
Msgr. Mangan acknowledged that some Catholics may not like the
Instruction simply because it gives specific direction to the
faithful. “It goes into more than the theory and theology
and says ‘you should do this, you should do that’
and there are some who have trouble with that,” he said.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, wrote in the introduction
to the instruction, “All along the centuries the Church
has surrounded the celebration of this mystery of faith with
reverence, care, devotion and love. This is the reason for liturgical
norms concerning the celebration, reception and adoration of
the Holy Eucharist. This mystery ‘is too great for anyone
to feel free to treat it lightly and with disregard for its
sacredness and its universality’ (Ecclesia De Eucharistia,
52).”
At the time of the instructions’ release, the president
of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop
Wilton D. Gregory, said: “In response to our Holy Father’s
mandate that bishops do all in their power to foster an appreciation
of the inestimable treasure which is the Eucharistic mystery,
the Congregation has provided us with a carefully developed
tool to foster the authentic celebration of the Mass.”
For the people of the diocese, incorporating the instruction
into their parish should be a joint effort with the pastor and
the congregation. “Every disciple of Christ, no matter
if priest, lay person, married, single and religious is to adore
the Lord in the Eucharist, to reverence the Lord, to worship
him, to realize that the exact same Jesus on our altar is the
same Jesus of Bethlehem, of Cana, of Calvary,” he said.
“So the first thing we need to do is to approach the Eucharist
with this great reverence.”
Secondly, he added, the instruction re-interates what the Second
Vatican Council said in 1963. “Namely, we are to approach
the Eucharist and have a kind of participation in the Eucharist
which can be described as full, conscience and active...so we
are participants an not just spectators.”
Msgr. Mangan said that while sin keeps us from the Eucharist,
we each can again enjoy the blessing of the Eucharist by first
seeking the sacrament of Penance. “Once we have that clean
conscience again, then the Eucharist means more to us, it builds
us up,” he said. “Its role in our lives is greater
when we have been cleansed first.”
You can read more about the instruction on the Eucharist and
Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Ecclesia De Eucharistia
at the Vatican website, www.vatican.va or at the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops website, www.usccb.org |
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