Eucharist, A "Lens" Through Which to Monitor the Church

Vatican Information Service

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Following the Mass for the opening of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study in order to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square below.

"The Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist," he said, "authoritatively defined by the Council of Trent, must be absorbed, experienced and transmitted by the ecclesial community in ways that are ever new and adapted to the times. The Eucharist may also be seen as a 'lens' through which the countenance and the progress of the Church may be continuously monitored."

Going on to note how the closure of the Synod on October 23 coincides with World Mission Day, the Pope emphasized how this coincidence "helps us to contemplate the Eucharistic mystery from a missionary standpoint. In fact, the Eucharist is the driving force at the core of Church's evangelizing activity, rather like the heart is in the human body. Without the celebration of the Eucharist, Christian communities ... would lose their true character. Only in as much as they are 'Eucharistic' can they transmit to mankind the figure of Christ, and not simply ideas and values, noble and important though they may be."

The Pope concluded by recalling how the Eucharist "has formed eminent missionary apostles," both religious and lay people, active and contemplative. He specifically mentioned St. Francis Xavier "whom the love of Christ drove to the Far East to announce the Gospel," and St. Therese of Lisieux, who "lived her ardent apostolic spirit in the cloister, meriting her proclamation, along with St. Francis Xavier, as patron of the missionary activity of the Church."