The Eucharist as a Memorial by Pope John Paul II |
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Books by the John Paul II,
Crossing the
Threshold of Hope, ($12.00) or about him--His Holiness:
John Paul II, & the Hidden History...
(by Carl Bernstein &
Marco Politi--$19.25). |
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Prominent
among the many aspects of the Eucharist is that of
"memorial", which is related to a biblical theme of primary
importance. We read, for example, in the Book of Exodus: "God
remembered his covenant with Abraham and Jacob" (Ex 2: 24). In
Deuteronomy, however, it says: "You shall remember what the
Lord your God did ..." (7: 18). In the Bible, the remembrance of
God and the remembrance of man are interwoven and form a fundamental
element in the life of God's People.
However, this is not the mere commemoration of a past that is no more, but a zikkarôn, that is, a "memorial". It is not merely the recollection of past events, but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. The memorial recalls the bond of an unfailing covenant: "The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us" (Ps 115: 12). In the Old Testament, the "memorial" par excellence of God's works in history was the Passover liturgy of the Exodus: every time the people of Israel celebrated the Passover, God effectively offered them the gifts of freedom and salvation. In the Passover rite, therefore, the two remembrances converge: the divine and the human, that is, saving grace and grateful faith. "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord.... It shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt" (Ex 12: 14; 13: 9). By virtue of this event, as a Jewish philosopher M. Buber said, that Israel will always be "a community based on remembrance."The interweaving of God's remembrance with that of man is also at the center of the Eucharist, which is the "memorial" par excellence of the Christian Passover. For "anamnesis", i.e., the act of remembrance, is the heart of the celebration: Christ's sacrifice, a unique event done once for all, extends its saving presence in the time and space of human history. This is expressed in the last command, which Luke and Paul record in the account of the Last Supper: "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” The Eucharist is thus the memorial of Christ's death, but it is also the presence of his sacrifice and the anticipation of his glorious coming. It is the sacrament of the risen Lord's continual saving closeness in history The Evangelist John explains to us the deep meaning of the "memorial" of Christ's words and events. When Jesus cleanses the temple of the merchants and announces that it will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days, John remarks: "When he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken." This memorial, which produces and nourishes faith, is the work of the Holy Spirit, "whom the Father will send in the name" of Christ: "He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (Jn 14: 26). Thus there is an effective remembrance: one that is interior and leads to an understanding of the Word of God, and a sacramental one, which takes place in the Eucharist. These are the two realities of salvation which Luke combined in his splendid account of the disciples of Emmaus, structured around the explanation of the Scriptures and the "breaking of the bread.”Without the Eucharist the Church could fall into forgetfulness. Only the Eucharist, the true memorial of Christ's paschal mystery, is capable of keeping alive in us the memory of his love. It is, therefore, the secret of the vigilance of the Church: it would be too easy for her, otherwise, without the divine efficacy of this continual and very sweet incentive, without the penetrating power of this look of her Bridegroom fixed on her, to fall into forgetfulness, insensitivity and unfaithfulness. In the Eucharist Christians nurture the hope of the definitive encounter with their Lord. Condensed from www.vatican.va and © L'Osservatore Romano - 11 October 2000 |
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Read
other articles in the October 2000 edition of The San Francisco