Urging for a Catechesis to recuperate the value of the Eucharist

Rome, Oct. 04, 2005 (CNA) - Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo, consecrated lay and founder of the Sodalite Family, who is participating as an auditor to the Synod on the Eucharist at the Vatican, noted that a catechesis that helps Christians to recuperate the sense of the Eucharist and of the Sunday as “Dies Domini” was urgent.

This the interview that Figari held with CNA:

What kind of reflections would a founder from Latin America bring to this Synod?

The great gift of the Eucharist is a treasure for the Church and the world. When we reflect upon this gift of God, a great number of thoughts arise and a permanent wonder. The believer is conscious that the sacrifice at Golgotha and the Holy Sacrament that we celebrate at Mass are the one and same. How not to fall into an experience of wonder, gratefulness and worship? In the Mass, the sacrifice of the Cross lives on sacramentally. The immense love of God for humankind is manifested through it. In making himself present and real, Our Lord Jesus Christ shows the reconciling love and shows before us how in Him human existence acquires its full sense. The human mystery becomes clear in the magnitude of the Eucharist, which is like the continuation and extension of the Incarnation.

Seeing with the eyes of faith, the real presence of Jesus is to live once again the experience of the disciples of Emmaus, is to recognize the Savior and to perceive that the Heart burns for joy in His presence.

The fundamental questions of the human being acquire an unimaginable answer. In a Latin America crucified by secularism, injustice, the abuse against human rights, consumerism, violence, the Eucharist is an experience of the love of God, who does not abandon His creature and opens the horizon of love, liberation and full reconciliation.

In the Eucharist God comes to the encounter of the human being, and what happened in history two thousands years ago is protracted to our days. He is the Emmanuel! Therefore Saint John Chrysostom, commenting on that name says: “you will see God among men.” This is how men and women in Latin America see Him. With the eyes of faith, the people marked by the constituent evangelization believe firmly that the Eternal Word, incarnated in the Immaculate Virgin, who died on the Cross and rose victorious of death, makes himself really present in the Altar for our good, and remains in the Tabernacle shedding light and warmth to the human existence.

The Eucharist is central for the Church, but often it is understood as a Sacrament that refers almost exclusively to priests. What importance does the Eucharist have for lay people, especially in their role in the renewal of the Church?

The Eucharist is at the center of Christian life. The title of this Synod is precisely “The Eucharist, source and summit of the life and mission of the Church.” It is a gift from the very Heart of the Reconciler for the whole Church. The ordained priest acts in person of Christ the Head. His participation is fundamental for the celebration of the Eucharist, but in no sense it pertains exclusively to the priests.

The Eucharist is fundamental for the Church that pilgrims in this world. It is a mystery of faith around which the Church is built up, and from which her faithful are nurtured. In the Church, the Eucharist is celebrated and adored. The Eucharist makes the Church grow. The lay are part of the Church and take part to its mission. Their responsibility before the new evangelization is nurtured from the Eucharist. It is a gift for all the sons and daughters of the Church, and most of them are lay. Therefore, the Eucharist is central for all the members of the People of God.

The “Lineamenta” of the Synod mention worrying numbers on priestly vocations and their global recess. What is the cause of this phenomenon? Why aren’t there vocations?

Indeed, there is a sensible decrease in the answer to the call of priestly vocation, as well as of consecrated life. It is a complex phenomenon. God calls. Vocation is properly a call from God. And God continues to call. The problem is not in the love of God, who is faithful and perseverant. It is on our side, human beings who reveal ourselves as ignorant and therefore reluctant to the call of God. There is no crisis of vocations. Should we speak of a crisis, it should clearly be called crisis of answer to vocation. The possible reasons of this lack of answer are numerous and complex, and differ in diverse countries. To mention a few causes, there is secularism, materialism, existential superficiality, selfishness, a social pressure that goes against people who discover they have a vocation and wish to answer the call. There are indeed many possible reasons.

Which are the most urgent themes, from the perspective of a consecrated lay founder, around the renewal of the Eucharist piety: the participation to Mass, the Eucharist adoration, the liturgical renewal?

It is difficult to answer in an interview with the length that would be necessary. The accomplishment of the Dominical precept, of the encounter with the Lord in the community that celebrates the “Dies Domini”, has decreased for similar causes to those previously mentioned, as a ferment for the lack of answer to the vocational call. We have to point out that it varies in different countries and continents. Nevertheless, I would like to underline how ignorance turns out to be a key element. There is a lack of catechesis, of education in faith. It becomes necessary to reflect deeply on what the Holy Mass is, and on the liturgical and devotional life in general. And this fact has a series of consequences, such as the passivism, in many places, of those who do attend Mass. Sometimes, it is seen as a mere obligation, and not as the oxygen that encourages and gives life. Evidently, there are other reasons. The renewal of a fervent Eucharistic devotion has a lot to do with the practice of faith. The incoherence between faith and life is a terrible problem that has to be resolved. This breach that is nourished by various causes, is a key element of the decrease of eucharistic devotion. Superficiality, crisis of identity, existential vacuums which people try unsuccesfully to fill with substitutes: all of that has to do with the problem. For that reason, Pope John Paul II insisted very much on the urgent need of a new evangelization. That means to proclaim our faith in all moments and circumstances. The missionary perspective of the life of every believer has to be stressed. Faith has to become christian life. If we pay attention to what Pope Benedict is doing and preaching, we will notice that he is putting new evangelization in practice. We all need to follow this path. There will be no renewal if the missionary conscience of the sons and daughters of the Church is not revived. The new evangelization seems to be a logical step in which one has to commit himself fully. And the Eucharistic celebration, communion and adoration is the source and summit of it.

This interview was originally published in Spanish at ACI Digital website, and translated to English at Catholic News Agency website.

Notice: This English translation has been revised by CLM members according to the Spanish original.