Solemnity
While today’s Solemnity was not celebrated in the Church until the 13th Century, the reason for the celebration dates back to the very beginnings of our faith, Holy Thursday. On that occasion, the emphasis was on the institution, the gift of the Eucharist to us as one of Jesus’ last acts before his suffering and death. Sometimes the sorrow of that time may overshadow the beautiful gift that was given. It is to be an enduring memorial of that great liberating act by which God’s love would forever be kept before our minds.
One reason the Church celebrates this Solemnity now is that it takes place during the more joyful period after the Easter season when we can celebrate it with greater freedom from the constraints of Lent and Holy Week. In many parts of the world, there will be a solemn and joyful procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the parish grounds or even through the public streets. These processions help us to understand that our celebration of the Eucharist is also a community celebration.
We tend to see “going to Mass” very much in individual terms. If “I” fail to “go to Mass” through “my own fault”, “I” have committed a mortal sin. We also tend to talk about “hearing” Mass or being “at Mass”. We ask each other questions like: “Who said the Mass?” The priest himself may even be heard to announce: “I am saying this Mass for the repose of the soul of…” or even “I am saying this Mass for all of you here”.
On reflection, these expressions of self-participation, while true, miss an important point. They tend to present the Eucharist as something that the priest alone does on behalf of other people. People may even feel themselves present at a performance in which they are only expected to observe. This is sometimes further accentuated by a choir or a singer doing all the singing, without congregational participation. Quite a number of people come in late and many leave before the Mass is ended. These things are all so common that we hardly notice them. But they tell us a lot about what it means to the people to be present (or not present) at the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is essentially, and of its very nature, a community action in which every person present is expected to be an active participant. We are here, on the one hand, recalling what makes us Christians in the first place – our identification with the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And that identification with Jesus is expressed not through a one-to-one relationship with him but in a community relationship with him present in all those who call themselves Christian. We relate to him through his Risen Body, which is the whole community bearing his name. While there is a place in Christianity for individualism, it also is a horizontal faith: we go to God with and through those around us.
Every Lord’s Day (and many of us on weekdays), we come together as that Body, as a community, to say thanks to him and hence the name “Eucharist” which means “thanks”. It is regrettable, then, if we are only in church to “keep the Third Commandment” on a purely private, individual, devotional basis. With that mentality, it will not be surprising if we think it does not matter if we are late or leave early. Because, with that mentality, “going to Mass” is a private affair for me and all the others who “happen” to be there, too.
Some even resent that there is too much going on. They wonder why they cannot be “left in peace” to say their prayers. It is true some Mass celebrations can be overactive or over-intrusive but, on the other hand, it is not a time for contemplative prayer (well maybe some contemplative prayer after the homily and after receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion). But contemplative prayer can be done anywhere at any time. The whole point of being at Mass is to celebrate together with one’s fellow-Christians as a community of the disciples of Jesus.
As well as remembering and giving thanks as a community, as the Body of Christ, the Eucharist is also a time when we express unity through the eating and drinking together of that Body. Jesus said that the two ways by which it would be known publicly that we live in him would be by our love for each other and the unity which follows from that. “By this will all know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another” (John 13:35) and “May they all be one… may they be so completely one that the world will realize that it was you [the Father] who sent me” (John 17:21,23). This love and unity we are to manifest first and foremost by the way we live our daily lives.
One of the reasons that we may find it difficult to express ourselves as community during Mass is because we do not have that deep-down sense of togetherness as Christians in general. Mass is not the time to manufacture community; rather, it is the time to celebrate it. Unfortunately, past emphasis on individual morality as the key to “saving my soul” still runs deep a half-century after the Second Vatican Council. As a result, we come into the church on Sunday largely as strangers to each other. Not surprisingly, the “sign of peace” is, in many cases, hardly a warm-hearted act of reconciliation and friendship but a stiff and formal bowing in which some people decline to take part.
Communion can be seen primarily as “receiving Jesus in my heart”. I close my eyes lest I might be “distracted” by the people around me. The choir sings on my behalf while I make “my thanksgiving”. Certainly, reverence and prayer have their place at Communion time, as throughout the Eucharist. But we need to remember, too, that we are taking part in the joyful celebration of a community of brothers and sisters. This communion calls for sharing and communication and even a certain level of spontaneity and naturalness.
“Going to communion” is not a private “receiving” but a sharing, an eating together of the one Bread and the shared drinking of the one Cup. This one Bread and one Cup is Jesus in his Risen Body; We recognize in the sharing not just the individual Jesus coming to me, but Jesus in his Body coming to his entire Church, of which we are all part. Jesus is truly in the host, but he is also in the hand that gives the host and in the hand of the one who receives.
Some parishes have a Rite of Induction of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on this Solemnity. These lay ministers assist in distributing Holy Communion at the Mass, they may also be bringing the Eucharist to the sick and the homebound. This homebound ministry is an extension of the community celebration of the Eucharist. Our sick brothers and sisters, who cannot come personally to the community celebration, are reminded of their membership when they share the same Body of Christ, which binds all together. In communion, not just Jesus but the whole parish comes to them.
Today’s Solemnity allows us to embrace this gift of the body and blood of Christ. It is a time for us to give great thought not only to the blessings that we have received, but also to the expectations of being given eternal life. How do we live this gift? How do we fully embrace it in all its meanings?
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!