On Holy Thursday night, during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Pope John Paul II signed a new Encyclical Letter: Ecclesia De Eucharistia.

The Pope marks each Holy Thursday with a letter to priests. Now, on his 25th Holy Thursday as Pope, he writes to us all ‘On the Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church.’

The Pope acknowledges the active participation of the laity in the liturgy. But he also mentions some Eucharistic ‘shadows’: some have abandoned Eucharistic adoration; present the Eucharist as merely a community celebration and not a sacrifice; introduce unauthorised liturgical changes.

The Pope’s wish is not to condemn. He wants to encourage fine liturgy and Eucharistic devotion. He believes this will bring people back to Christ and to the Church — something many parishes in our Archdiocese have discovered for themselves.

The Letter begins by explaining how the Eucharist makes sacramentally present the body and blood of Christ, offered to his Father for the world’s redemption. The Eucharist draws all people together around the one sacrifice offered by Jesus for us all.

Chapter 2 teaches us about Holy Communion, through which the Church grows in unity and holiness. Our worship of the Blessed Sacrament is not confined to Holy Mass. The Pope reminds Pastors of their responsibility to encourage Eucharistic adoration, exposition, and prayer.

In Chapter 3 the Pope writes that without the ordained priesthood, there is no truly Eucharistic assembly. Hence Catholics do not receive communion in non-Catholic churches, or substitute inter-denominational services for Holy Mass. Inter-Church services are a step on the way to full Eucharistic communion, not a replacement for it.

The fourth chapter explains the Eucharist ‘cannot be the starting point for communion; it presupposes that communion already exists.’ The Eucharist does not magically bring about communion without a human response first.

This is why, if aware of grave sin, we go to Confession before going to Holy Communion. It is also why Holy Communion is reserved for Catholics: the Eucharist can only create communion between those who already believe what the Church believes about the Eucharist.

Our devotion to the Eucharist is expressed in the decoration of our churches and celebration of our liturgies. Certain artistic and cultural forms give proper honour to Our Lord; others can say more about our abilities to be innovative than Jesus’s unchanging presence.

To ensure Our Lord is properly honoured and people’s minds are raised to him, the Pope reminds us that ‘liturgy is never anyone’s private property, be it the celebrant or the community in which the mysteries are celebrated.’ The Church’s norms for worship are to be followed faithfully.

The final chapter turns to Mary, the ‘Woman of the Eucharist’; the ‘first tabernacle’ who bore the Body of Christ in her womb.

The Pope reflects on his own priesthood and deepening understanding of the Eucharist. He calls us to grow in knowledge and love of this great treasure; to study the Eucharist in the ‘school’ of the saints; to praise the Eucharist with St Thomas Aquinas, the ‘poet of Christ in the Eucharist’, with whom he chooses to end his Letter.

We give sincere thanks that the Holy Father has written to the Universal Church once again. Let us recommit ourselves to ever-greater love for the Eucharist and pledge ourselves to revival of the worship of Our Lord in the Sacrament of the Altar.

+ Denis Hart
Archbishop of Melbourne