Nov 14 Thu
What is the connection between the Eucharist and the Faith?
The individual expression of personal faith cannot be separated from the faith of the community celebrating the sacrament. There is unity and continuity between what is celebrated (lex orandi), what is believed (lex credendi), and what is lived (lex vivendi); in other words, my Christian life, personal prayer, and sacramental celebration.
Since the truth that we Christians profess is a Person, Jesus Christ, the apostles, and their successors must also present it as a Person.
The Eucharistic communion with Christ of each individual passes through the communion of faith with the Pope and the local bishop, mentioned by name in each Eucharistic celebration. He who receives Holy Communion does not confess Christ alone but also shares the confession of faith of the community in which he participates in the Eucharist.
Thus, one must profess a clear and conscious adherence to the faith of the Church, which explicitly includes the following: - Faith in the Blessed Trinity expressed in the Creed;
- Faith in Christ, faith in the redemptive meaning of the death of Christ, the Son of God, the Lord, “for many” and “for me,” and of resurrection;
- Faith in the Holy Spirit, particularly active and present in the Mass; and
- Faith in what the Eucharist signifies as the sacrament of the body of Christ and of the ecclesial body.
We conceive our Christian life as a journey, in which, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we try to conform our daily life to that of Christ, with joy and amid the ups and downs of life.
On this journey, Christians go to the Eucharistic food, to receive the gift of communion with Christ, and continue to grow in faith, hope, and love until eternal life.
Full participation in the Eucharist implies communion with the body of Christ and the Church. It does not seem possible to approach it with consistency if:
- One does not recognize the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist;
- One rejects the faith of the Church in the Blessed Trinity, invoked at various times during the celebration, sealed with the recitation of the Creed;
- One’s Christian charity is deficient in one’s personal life; that is, one is aware of having committed a conscious and deliberate act that seriously compromises faith and ecclesial morals (mortal sin).
In this journey with Christ, one goes to the Sunday Eucharist not because it is an obligation established by the Church, but from the desire to be strengthened by the loving mercy of the Lord. This desire includes readiness for necessary sacramental reconciliation with Christ and the Church when needed.
He is also aware that his sacramental participation and, concretely, the Eucharist is part of the public witness to which he has freely committed himself. By participating in the Mass, he testifies to the sacramental reality of faith.
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