Make room for the sacrifice of love
Opinion
It can be said of human nature that we tend to hurt the ones we love. Also, it is easy to take for granted the very things we need the most, like air and water.
In the Christian life, the one we are asked to love with our whole heart and mind is God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What our very lives depend on, but that we may take for granted, is the gift of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, in the sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, refers to the Eucharist as ‘the fount and apex of the whole Christian life’, sometimes referred to as the ‘source and summit’. In context, this phrase turns our attention away from the Eucharist as an object and rather entices us towards a relationship with the Triune God through the Eucharist. In speaking about the faithful, Lumen Gentium explains: ‘Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, [the faithful] offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with It’.
In our devotion we might think about receiving the Eucharist at Mass, much as we receive air into our lungs as we breathe. What this quotation makes clear is that participation in the Eucharistic requires us to actively offer the sacrifice and not only the Divine Victim but offer the sacrifice of ourselves.
The Eucharist is a mystery of our faith, complex, awe-inspiring, essential and along with the Holy Trinity often taken for granted. For this reason, the Church never tires of inviting us to encounter these mysteries through study and celebration but also living and sharing them with others.
If you haven’t already heard, the 54th International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) will be taking place in Australia in 2028. A Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of the Catholic faithful to strengthen Catholic identity, belief in the real presence of the Eucharist and living out of that faith to transform the world. These aims are achieved through educational and inspirational presentations about the Eucharist as well as liturgical celebrations of Holy Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Eucharistic processions. Together, these faith-filled days strive to foster devotion to Jesus Christ and more fulsome Eucharistic living.
As of this writing, the exact dates of the congress have not been announced but I can tell you that the congress will be in Sydney in the spring of 2028 and Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XVI is on the schedule. In his homily for Corpus Christi last June, Pope Leo urged us all to make room in our lives to contemplate the Eucharist, which he called ‘the sacrifice of love for the salvation of the world’. 2028 seems a long way off and not all of us will travel to Sydney for the congress, but between now and then, we can begin making that room in our lives. What would it look like for you to make room in your life today to contemplate the Eucharist, the ‘sacrifice of love’?
– Dr Simone Brosig is pastoral leader, Community Life and Worship
