The supper of the Lord
Sociological studies highlight it with compelling statistics: Christians in our Western churches are abandoning Sunday Mass. This celebration, as it has remained configured over the centuries, is no longer capable of nourishing their faith or of binding them to Jesus’ community.
What is surprising is that we are letting the Mass “be lost,” without this fact eliciting the least bit any reaction on our part. Is not the Eucharist the center of the Christian life? How can we stay passive, unable to take any initiative? Why does the hierarchy remain so quiet and motionless? Why do we believers not show our concern more forcefully and more regretfully?
The disaffection with the Mass is growing even among those who participate in it responsibly and unconditionally. It is the exemplary faithfulness of these minorities that is sustaining our communities, but can the Mass stay alive only on the basis of protective measures that guarantee the observance of the present rite?
Questions are inevitable: Does not the Church need at its very core a more vital and incarnated experience of the Lord’s Supper other than what the current liturgy offers? Are we sure we are doing well what Jesus wanted us to do in his memory?
Is the liturgy that we keep repeating since centuries ago the best way to help believers today to live what Jesus lived at that memorable meal? This memorial meal brings together, sums up and reveals how and why Jesus lived and died. Is it what is attracting us the most to live as his disciples at the service of the project of the kingdom of God?
Everything today seems to oppose the reform of the Mass. But it is ever more necessary if the Church wants to draw its life from vital contact with Jesus Christ. The journey will be long. The transformation will be possible when the Church feels more forcefully the need to remember Jesus and to live his Spirit. That is why today also the most responsible thing to do is not to stay away from Mass, but to contribute to conversion to Jesus Christ.
June 7, 2015
Body and Blood of Christ (B)
Mark 14, 12-16. 22-26