Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: The life giving Mystery of Faith in the Eucharist

Sunday, June 2, 2024

The life giving Mystery of Faith in the Eucharist

Today we celebrate the wonderful, awe inspiring and incredible Solemnity of Corpus Christ! This is the feast day where we liturgically celebrate and focus on the mystery of the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In honour of today, I have been reading through the not very well known Encyclical Mysterium Fidei of Pope St Paul VI. He wrote this in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council when people were trying to distort the liturgical reforms of the Council, as an excuse to promote error and heresy regarding the Church’s fundamental belief of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Without getting into discussions on the failure or distortion of the liturgical reforms, and steering clear of the liturgical wars - we can take time to appreciate the beauty of doctrine explained in this Encyclical by Pope Paul VI. He focuses on the following :

The Liturgy is the lived expression of the faith of the Church, handed on by the Apostles who received it directly from Christ, where the Mystery of the Faith is re-presented throughout time
The Sacrifice of the Mass is the offering of the entire People of God in the Church, through the hands of Priests
The Mass as the one Sacrifice of Christ when celebrated and offered continues the salvation of the world, because it is the work of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross applied anew everyday
No matter when or where Priests offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, it is always a public liturgical act of the entire Church and contributes to the redemption and sanctification of all the members of the Church - and the entire world
In the Eucharist, there is a union between Sacrifice and Sacrament that is unique from all other forms of symbolism and sacramentality. The Sacrifice of Christ and the Sacrifice of the Eucharist are inseparable, because they are one and the same mystery
The wonderful mystery of the Presence of Christ is a mystery of love, and also a mystery of faith that continues throughout the history of the Church
The fullest and most real expression of the Presence of Christ as Emmanuel (God with us) is fulfilled and perpetually present in the Church in the Blessed Sacrament - the sacred species consecrated in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist
The Church’s perennial understanding and explanation of this mystery uses the term “transubstantiation” which was defined by the Council of Trent. As the dogmatic and historical expression of the faith of the Church, the term transubstantiation cannot be changed or redefined
The miraculously and mysterious reality of the Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine in the Sacrifice of the Mass, is a unique and wonderful new reality that mysteriously changes thee bread and wine through substantiation into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ who himself instituted the Eucharist as a perpetual memorial of his very self

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.