Letter to Priests on the Holy Eucharist
June 3,1997
My brother priest,
We have just celebrated the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This mystery of the Eucharist means so much to our people and to us as priests. The Second Vatican Council tells us that participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is "'the source and summit of the whole Christian life." It tells us, moreover, that the Eucharist contains "the Church's entire spiritual wealth."
After concentrating on the Eucharist itself on the feast of Corpus Christi, we turn our attention to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This feast emphasizes the love of God that explains Christ's gift of the Eucharist and all the mysteries of Christ's life, death and resurrection.
The liturgy makes all of these mysteries present in the Church and enables the people of God to participate in them. At the core of parish life is the invitation for all God's people to have a full, conscious and active participation in the liturgy in accordance with their baptismal dignity and their specific role in the Church.
For more than three years now as Archbishop I have had the opportunity to move around the Archdiocese, visiting a large number of our parishes and other communities. One of my greatest privileges has been to join the people of God in the individual parishes, especially for their Sunday worship. It has been a real joy to see how the Eucharist is understood by so many as "the source and summit" of their Christian lives. The spirit of Vatican II is very much in evidence, reaffirming the importance of a full, conscious and active participation by ail the faithful in the liturgy.
It has been a source of admiration for me to witness the care with which the liturgy is prepared. So many people consider it a privilege to be involved in the planning for Mass. Our priests give leadership and guidance, and constantly teach by word and example the sublime dignity of the liturgy. They bear witness to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that through Baptism all the faithful are called to offer up the Eucharist through the priest and in union with him. For ail of this I am deeply grateful to our priests.
In accordance with Vatican II and its authentic implementation prescribed by the Holy See, there is an excellent practice in our parishes of emphasizing the different roles of participation. In addition to the participation of the people in general—through their spiritual preparation, their interior sentiments of union with God, their sharing in the singing and their communal recitation of prayers, culminating in the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood—there are numerous special ministries, all of which show not only the dignity of all the baptized, but also the fact that the Church is indeed the Body of Christ, with many members who have different gifts and roles of service.
In a special category is the deacon. His participation in the liturgy is a great blessing to the community, rooted as it is in a sacramental ordination. We are greatly blessed in the Archdiocese of St. Louis to have so many permanent deacons who zealously integrate their ministry of charity with their ministry of the Word and the Eucharist. Their sacramental ministry today is a result of the inspiration of the Second Vatican Council and its wise implementation by Pope Paul VI.
So many other important roles of participation in the Eucharist are rightly cultivated in our parishes. The music ministry, with its many participants, is of great importance since it directly assists so many of the faithful to participate ever more completely in the Lord's Sacrifice. How much beautiful music exists in our local Church, beginning in our own Cathedral! The reader or lector has the outstanding privilege and responsibility of proclaiming the Word of God. Mass servers directly assist the celebrant. Ushers, greeters, gift-bearers, banner-bearers and other persons rendering service to the worshipping community all contribute to the Eucharistic celebration while, in virtue of their own Baptism, they personally share in the offering of the Lord's Supper. The very providential ministry of the extraordinary or special minister of the Eucharist supplies a need when the priest, and deacon need assistance in or are not able to perform adequately the function that the Church reserves to them as a part of their ordinary ministry.
One of the great challenges of our priesthood is to do everything possible so that the liturgy will always be properly performed dynamically and prayerfully in full accordance with the Second Vatican Council. This requires the observance of all the norms of the Church.
While these norms are generally well observed, I would ask my brother priests to review the liturgical practices in their parishes and in other communities in which they offer the Eucharist. There are many options permitted in the postconciliar liturgy and these many rightly be taken advantage of in order to have effective liturgies that express the dynamism of the local parish and the full faith and unity of the Church. In this regard I am asking that any innovations introduced into the prescribed texts and ceremonies of our Roman Rite be avoided and, where introduced, be removed. Our acceptance of Vatican II must be complete and include the principle enunciated in the Constitution on the Liturgy: "Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church .... Therefore, absolutely no other person, not even a priest, may add, remove or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority" (no. 22). All of us understand how important it is to keep explaining the teaching of the Second Vatican Council to our people.
In future issues of Clergy Online. I would like to resume the practice that Archbishop May had in the Blue Notes of drawing attention to various liturgical matters. I am convinced that with the continuing collaboration of priests, deacons, religious and laity we can make our liturgies ever more conducive to "the full, conscious and active" participation of all the people. I hope that these observations will be helpful to all.
In conclusion, I would like to recall that Vatican II describes the liturgy as "the worship of the divine majesty" (ibid.. 33). For this reason it is important to do whatever we can to foster an ever greater spirit of reverence during the liturgical action. This is especially true of the way the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is acknowledged and the way the Eucharistic species are handled. I ask your help in constantly encouraging our people to a deeper spirit of reverence for the mystery of the Eucharistic Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we acknowledge with Vatican II contains "the Church's entire spiritual wealth."
I express my special gratitude for all you have done and will continue to do to proclaim the faith of the Church in the Eucharist and to celebrate it in unity and charity.
Fraternally in Christ,
Most Reverend Justin Rigali
Archbishop of St. Louis
©Archdiocese of St. Louis
This item 464 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
