Eucharistic Culture and Eucharistic Life
The Christocentric shift in the emphasis of the papacy of Benedict XVI has promoted an atmosphere of a Christocentric culture. If the pope promotes a Christocentric church, mission, pastoral activity, and ecclesial reforms then the community has to be Eucharist-centered. In his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation entitled “Sacramentum Caritatis” no. 77 speaks of one of the important visions of Benedict XVI. A Christocentric church has the mission of shaping a Eucharistic culture. Let us follow his thoughts.
1. Eucharistic culture implies an understanding between Eucharist and our daily life. It is understood that the Eucharist is not just merely a rite or a duty to be performed and accomplished. It is a vocation and a lifestyle. A Christian lifestyle which has something to do with our daily undertaking. Benedict XVI said: “Significantly, the Synod Fathers stated that “the Christian faithful need a fuller understanding of the relationship between the Eucharist and their daily lives. Eucharistic spirituality is not just participation in Mass and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. It embraces the whole of life” (SC 77). The idea of a Eucharistic culture flows from the efficacious grace of the Eucharist on each other’s life. The Eucharist has to influence culture, develop, and perfect culture. The Pope said: “The Church, his Bride, is called to celebrate the eucharistic banquet daily in his memory. She thus makes the redeeming sacrifice of her Bridegroom a part of human history and makes it sacramentally present in every culture” (SC 12). Benedict XVI secures the relevance of the Eucharist as a spiritual reality that is supposed to matter the daily undertaking of every Christian.
2. Eucharistic culture can subdue secularization. In the mind of Pope Benedict XVI, the Eucharist is effective and powerful in every age. It is the sacrament that nullifies the evils of the society. It sanctifies the Church that lives in the midst of the influences of the world. The Pope reminded us: “in every age of the Church’s history the eucharistic celebration, as the source and summit of her life and mission, shines forth in the liturgical rite in all its richness and variety.” (SC 3) People today live as if “God does not exist.” It is descriptive of a new dark age of human existence where man thinks that God has nothing to do with human affairs. One of the traces of secularization is individualism. It is a form of independence not only from each other horizontally but independence from God vertically. It is framework of mind that promotes the energies of the individual to shape his own destiny and goals in the world. The Church promotes the Eucharistic culture that would lead all people towards cohesive and common goal. We cannot live in isolation but in a collective life. “Secularization, with its inherent emphasis on individualism, has its most negative effects on individuals who are isolated and lack a sense of belonging. Christianity, from its very beginning, has meant fellowship, a network of relationships constantly strengthened by hearing God’s word and sharing in the Eucharist, and enlivened by the Holy Spirit” (SC 76).
3. Eucharistic culture leads one towards Spirituality- Every Christian spirituality if it is discerned and good will grow in the Holy Spirit. A Eucharistic culture is a Christocentric culture because it is centered on a person and not to a thought. Benedict XVI said: “Today there is a need to rediscover that Jesus Christ is not just a private conviction or an abstract idea, but a real person, whose becoming part of human history is capable of renewing the life of every man and woman” (SC 77).
4. Eucharistic culture centers on the true Christian worship- There are tangible signs of a Christ-centered culture according to Pope Benedict XVI. First, there is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. A Eucharistic culture does not fail to develop a “Eucharistic Spirituality.” It is a spirituality that lives in the Holy Spirit. It is a culture that searches and longs for the Holy Eucharist for its nourishment. The Pope said: “They should cultivate a desire that the Eucharist have an ever deeper effect on their daily lives, making them convincing witnesses in the workplace and in society at large” (SC 79). Second, there is a renewal of thinking and living. He said: “It is significant that Saint Paul, in the passage of the Letter to the Romans where he invites his hearers to offer the new spiritual worship, also speaks of the need for a change in their way of living and thinking: “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect’ (12:2). Third, there should be a new understanding of one’s life. There should be a difference in the life that is lived before Christ entered their life and after Christ has anointed them. “An integral part of the eucharistic form of the Christian life is a new way of thinking, “so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14).”