Healing in the Eucharistic Assembly

Jesus Christ, who died, who was raised from the dead, who is seated at the right hand of God, and who intercedes for us, is present in many ways in his Church. Indeed, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1372) summarizes the ways in which Jesus is present in his Church.

Jesus is present in his Word; it is he himself who speaks to us whenever we read the sacred Scriptures or hear them proclaimed. In Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus tells us he is also present in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned whom he has entrusted to our care. Jesus gave us the seven sacraments, in each of which he is present in a special way conferring his grace upon us. Jesus also told us he is present whenever we gather with others to praise and worship him: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20. NAB).

Of those occasions when we gather with others to praise and worship God, the sacrifice of the Mass surpasses them all. When Christians come together to celebrate the Mass, Christ himself is at its head, presiding over every celebration, with the bishop or priest representing him. And as we have already seen, Christ is present to each and every one of us individually in receiving the eucharistic species. But he is also present in the prayerful assembled community. The earthly liturgy we celebrate at Mass is but a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy that awaits us.

For this reason, it is important to examine the Mass more closely. Since our eucharistic encounter with Christ generally occurs within the context of the liturgical celebration with other believers, the Eucharist is not only a one-to-one encounter but a societal encounter, where God’s transforming power is available to us both individually and corporately.

The Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery (3a), which was a fruit of the Second Vatican Council, reminds us that the Mass, even in its communitarian aspect, has four dimensions:

The Mass is a sacrifice. It is the sacrifice of Calvary reenacted, but not repeated, because Hebrews 9:27 tells us Christ died once and he can die no more. It is a symbolic reenactment of the death of Christ, but not a real death. There is a real Person present after the consecration, but not a real death. It is a sacrifice because of the words of consecration that Jesus used: “This is my body, which will be given for you…; this is my blood which will be shed for you.” It is a sacrifice because Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NAB), “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (emphasis added). This is why we refer to the Mass as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Many people do not like to refer to the Mass in this way because they would prefer to downplay the sacrificial element. But Scripture tells us otherwise in at least three places, and it is reaffirmed by Vatican II (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 47).

It is interesting to note that the word “host,” which is often used to refer to the Blessed Sacrament, comes from our belief that the Mass is a true and unbloody renewal of Calvary on our altars. It is derived from the Latin word hostia, meaning victim. The victim, of course, is Jesus Christ. He was offered on the altar of the cross for our salvation; today the consecrated bread is changed into Christ’s real presence, the sacramental presence of the Victim slain for our sins. It was during the Middle Ages that the word “host” was used to refer to the consecrated altar breads used in Communion and exposed for the adoration of the faithful.

The Mass is a meal. Every time we go to Mass, we are attending a communal meal, and we often refer to this meal as the Lord’s Supper. The first Mass was also a meal, the Passover meal; we commonly refer to it as the Last Supper. The words that were spoken then and now are “Take and eat…; take and drink….”  This leaves no doubt that the Mass is a meal in which we consume food and beverage and derive sustenance from them. However, this is a meal like no other meal, because it is a foretaste of the eternal banquet that heaven offers.

The Mass is a memorial. Jesus instructed us, “do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19). We no longer celebrate this meal as the Passover meal in memory of Moses, the great rescuer of the Israelites. At the Last Supper Passover meal, Jesus proclaimed that henceforth it was to be celebrated in memory of himself, the new Rescuer, the new Redeemer, who was to perform the redeeming act a few hours later on Good Friday. A short prayer that immediately follows the consecration, called the Anamnesis (“Remembrance”) Prayer, refers to this memorial dimension.

The Mass is an act of thanksgiving. In early Greek, the word eucharistia, from which we get the word Eucharist, means good gift. In later Greek it meant, by connotation, thanksgiving for a good gift. Jesus took the bread, broke it, and gave thanks (Lk 22:19). That is, he said grace. In the Mass, we give thanks to God for his many favors in the prophetic spirit of the psalmist; “I will lift up the cup of salvation…I will sacrifice a thank offering in the presence of all his people” (see Ps 116:13-18).

Thus we have the four elements that characterize the Mass: a sacrifice, a meal, a memorial, and a thanksgiving. Using these four elements, we can construct a definition: “The Mass is a sacrificial, memorial meal of thanksgiving.” If we omit any one of these four elements, a dimension of eucharistic spirituality is missing. Such an omission would also violate the theology of the Eucharist as described by the Council of Trent and the Second Vatican Council. By recognizing all four elements and capitalizing upon them in our own spiritual life, we are maximizing the effects of the Eucharist, both in terms of personal sanctification and in terms of physical and emotional healing. With this very minimal amount of catechetical knowledge, and with enough good will to bring about devotion or fervor (which is responding to grace), we have all we need to enhance our physical, emotional, and spiritual lives in the fullest way possible. For this reason, the eucharist is the most effective means of healing known to mankind.

This excerpt is from the book The Healing Power of the Eucharist, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Books, an imprint of St. Anthony Messenger Press. This and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.