As bishops from around the nation gathered Nov. 15-18 in Baltimore for the fall general assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, they decided to promulgate a document titled “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church.” After months of conversations, negotiations and debates, the final version was adopted by a vote of 222-8, and by many accounts, was followed by a rousing round of applause.
I assiduously read the 29-page text last week, paying particular attention to the footnotes and choice of modern and historical citations, and was heartened to find a careful, balanced and theologically deft exploration of the Eucharist’s place as the “source and summit of the whole Christian life.” Though it does not break much new ground, there are a number of insightful gems in the document.
The bishops seek a closer collaboration with the laity, who have a role in transforming “social relations in accord with the love of Christ, which is carried out concretely in actions that work for the common good.” In this, they fulfill the Second Vatican Council’s call for “full, conscious and active participation” in the life of the Church. This redounds in particular to those in public life, who “have a special responsibility to form their consciences in accord with the Church’s faith and the moral law, and to serve the human family by upholding human life and dignity.”
To be honest, this most publicized element of the document is a bit of a Rorschach inkblot, as most informed readers could find something they agree with in those words, whether they are seeking to prioritize just immigration reforms, anti-abortion laws, labor rights, condemnations of racism or any other consistently Catholic positions.
The text highlights young patrons who continue to influence and inspire a revival in Eucharistic theology around the world. Blessed Carlos Acutis, a British-Italian youth who could well become the first millennial saint, is cited as centering his brief life around sacramental union with Christ, before dying at age 15. The text also refers to the adolescent Saint José Luis Sánchez del Rio, who was tortured and martyred in 1928 after receiving the Eucharistic viaticum when it was smuggled to him in political prison. When offered a chance to evade execution if he would renounce his faith, he profoundly proclaimed that his commitment to Christ was “not for sale.”
The document rightly reminds its readers that the ability to achieve sanctity or Church unity by sheer force of the human will is utterly Pelagian, and thus heretical. Rather than earning our right to attend the heavenly banquet on our own merits, the celebration of the Eucharist “presupposes” a pre-existing graced communion that is the gift of God. The Blessed Sacrament then “both signifies and effects the communion with Christ that began at Baptism.”
The text claims to be a “starting point,” not to solve every question that may arise about the Eucharistic renewal that the bishops of the United States are seeking to develop and implement. In that way, it’s an opening and invitation, not the final word on these matters. While it is undeniable that many in the American Church were seeking a different or more culturally confrontational approach, the bishops chose not to pursue pastoral strategies that would almost certainly deepen the socio-cultural divides that continue to cleave our nation, and derivatively our Church. I find nothing in the document theologically suspect, but I am well aware that it’s the omissions, not its positive declarations, that continue to dominate the discourse around its dissemination.
Above all, the text takes a posture of radical gratitude, which is of course doubly important this week for Christians – since Eucharist can best be translated into English as “Thanksgiving.” In reference to the fourth Common Preface of the Roman Missal, the bishops assert that “these words speak of the grace of God, the gift freely given, which inspires us to give thanks and worship him, works our transformation into the likeness of Christ, helps us to seek pardon and to receive it when we fall into sin, and impels us to go forth and bear witness to Christ in the world.”
This is as good a definition as any of the role the Eucharist plays as the ground and condition of possibility of authentic missionary discipleship.
Originally from Collingswood, Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.
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