I had traveled to a far-off parish for this lecture because I love the Eucharist. I love participating in the Mass, receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, and adoring Him in the Blessed Sacrament. And I’ve seen the abundant graces of this special Eucharistic year. So I was hoping to hear a talk which would expand my understanding of this sacramental mystery and deepen my love for Christ.
I didn’t get what I came for. But I did leave with a piece of scrap paper which I filled with a slew of quotes that I couldn’t believe I was hearing.
For example: “When we’re baptized we’re all in persona Christi.”
That doesn’t even resemble the Catechism’s teaching: “The priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis (#1548).” If Holy Orders isn’t required to stand in the person of Christ, then “priesthood” and “laity” seem like insignificant distinctions. Buying into this error can lead to reverse discrimination in favor of lay people.
For example: “I think if you had fifty priests in the sacristy, it’s still the people who should distribute Communion.”
Wow. Sorry Fathers. Could you guys just hang out back there for awhile and twiddle your thumbs? You’re really useless here at Mass. We’re the ones doing this after all.
Contrast this image with the General Instruction of the Roman Missal which states: “The priest may be assisted in the distribution of Communion by other priests who happen to be present. If such priests are not present and there is a very large number of communicants, the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him (#162).”
I also scribbled several quotes about the communal participation at Mass which allegedly makes “Eucharist” happen.
“Eucharist,” he said, “is always something you do. It’s not a thing. It’s not something you look at.”
Really? Then what was John Paul II talking about when he encouraged us, in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, to pray before the Eucharist outside of Mass (#25)?
“It’s quite proper to say you ‘do’ Eucharist,” he continued. So why, one might ask, hasn’t any authoritative voice in the Church used this proper terminology?
Because we don’t do Eucharist.
In 1985, then-Cardinal Ratzinger addressed this problem: “What is distinctive to the liturgy…does not come from what we do but from the fact that something is taking place here that all of us together cannot ‘make.’”
Pope Benedict has been fighting bad theology for decades. He realizes that it’s not just an intellectual problem. It’s a spiritual problem. Bad theology robs innocent Catholics of the fullness of the faith.
My heart went out to the folks at this lecture. Their priest, dressed in a blue polo shirt, was the man proclaiming these errors.
Afterwards, I went into the church to visit Jesus in the Eucharist. I prayed for that priest, and those like him who ideologically laicize themselves. And I asked God to have mercy on us all for our lack of gratitude for the priesthood. As He told St. Catherine of Siena in her Dialogue, because of the blood Christ shed to establish the priesthood, “The reverence belongs not to the ministers, but to Me…and just as the reverence is done to Me, so also is the irreverence.”
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange
Gina Giambrone is a freelance writer and speaker based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She holds an MA in Theology and Christian Ministry from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and is currently awaiting the publication of her first book.
