Pontiff: Love of neighbor flows from closeness to Eucharist

June 17, 2010

Addressing the Roman diocesan congress, which began June 15 in the Lateran Basilica, Pope Benedict reflected on the congress’s theme: the Sunday Eucharist and the witness of charity.

Catholic teaching on the Holy Eucharist “is insufficiently understood in its profound significance and in the relevance it has for believers' lives,” he said. Calling for a rediscovery of Eucharistic adoration and fidelity to liturgical norms, which “favors and promotes the growth of Eucharistic faith,” the Pope noted that “when we receive Christ, the love of God expands inside us, radically modifying our hearts and making us capable of gestures which, by the contagious power of goodness, can transform the lives of people around us.”

The Blessed Sacrament, he added, “requires us to become, and at the same time makes us capable of becoming, the bread broken for our brothers and sisters, meeting their needs and giving of ourselves. For this reason, a Eucharistic Celebration that does not lead us towards men and women where they live, work and suffer, to bring them the love of God, fails to express the truth it contains.”

 

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Further information:

• Sunday Eucharist And The Witness Of Charity (VIS)
• Pope Benedict XVI Addresses Participants of Rome's Diocesan Convention (Vatican Radio)