The Eucharist: sacrifice and feast

In the temple in Jerusalem, the ancient Hebrews offered many different types of sacrifice, which were burnt on an altar. Some of these involved burning an entire animal, but one – the “peace sacrifice” – was a different type of affair. Its purpose was to create peace (shalom) and fellowship with God and with family and neighbours.

This was how it was done. An animal (a lamb, a goat or an ox) was killed by the priest and some of its blood sprinkled on the altar. Certain parts of the sacrifice were burnt whole on the altar, but the main part of it was cooked and served up as a meal to be eaten in the temple courts. Friends and neighbours were invited to celebrate peace and fellowship with God in his presence.

Often in the Church today there are debates about the Eucharist – whether it is to be regarded as a community meal or a holy sacrifice. The debate is misguided because neither of these aspects of the Eucharist can be side-lined. In an ancient song, the Church sings:

“How holy this feast in which Christ is our food: his passion is recalled, grace fills our hearts, and we receive a pledge of the glory to come.”

Here the Eucharist is clearly des-cribed as a banquet. Christ chose two simple, uncomplicated foodstuffs: the bread of everyday sustenance, and the wine of celebration. As food, the sacrament has both the character of a nourishing meal and a joyous feast.

Of course, viewed in human terms, this seems ridiculous. How can a wafer of bread and a bit of wine be nourishing? What sort of feast is it when all you get is a nibble and a sip? But the song does not sing of bread and wine as our food. Rather it points to the unseen reality of the Eucharist: Christ is our food.

What we eat and drink in Holy Communion is none other than Christ himself. What appears to be everyday food is in fact his true body and blood. This body, this blood, both nourishes us and fills us with joy. Because it is Christ’s body and blood we “recall his passion”. The Christ we receive in the Eucharist is the sacrificed Christ. Like the ancient Hebrews, the sacrifice has become our food.

Christ’s sacrifice is “grace-filled” food. It is food for pilgrims, sustaining us on our journey through this life. Pope John Paul II, in Ecclesia de Eucharistia, has called the Eucharist “Christ’s saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food.”

Nor is this holy feast for the soul alone. It also nourishes our bodies. Ordinary food and drink will nourish our bodies (and our souls!) for this life only. But one of the earliest Christian writers, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, called the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality, the antidote which prevents us from dying, that we should live forever in Jesus Christ.”

The Eucharist is a medicine for healing the wounds of sin that affect our bodily life in this world and in the world to come. The Hebrew word for peace “Shalom” also meant well-being and wholeness. This healing dimension of the Eucharist is why Holy Communion is brought to the sick who cannot get to Mass, and given to those who are dying to prepare them for the final journey.

Feast and sacrifice. Food and medicine. Nourishment and healing. The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is all these things at the one time. So, priests have a great responsibility to see that this food is served correctly, and that this medicine is administered properly. The recent directive from the Holy See, Re-demptionis Sacramentum, reminds us of this:

“Christ’s faithful have the right that ecclesiastical authority should fully and efficaciously regulate the Sacred Liturgy lest it should ever seem to be anyone’s private property, whether of the celebrant or of the community in which the mysteries are celebrated.”

Just as children have a right to food, and the sick have a right to medicine, so the Christian faithful have a right to the nourishment and healing that is given in the Eucharist.

If the Eucharist were “just” a community meal, then it would “just” belong to the community. But as we now see, the Eucharist is more than this. It is a sacrificial meal in which the sacrificed Christ brings the grace of nourish-ment and healing to us. And so the Eucharist always remains the gift of Christ, offered by his priests, in order to embrace the whole Christian community in the fellowship and peace of God’s presence.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.