 Greek word “Eucharistia” means thanksgiving

 The holy Eucharist is a mystery. But one aspect of the sacramental dispensation of
salvation, it is a mystery which is placed by God into the visible continuity of human
history. And as genuinely historical reality, its exterior shape has shared in the variations
which are essential part of the historical. From the origins of the Church until our time,
the forms in which the Eucharist has been celebrated in a variety of forms in the variety
of traditions which continue to live in the Church.
 Eucharist as the “mysterium tremendum”, a worship which is not be seen, but one which
is heard with deep reverence.
 Pope Paul VI has called for in his encyclical on the teaching and worship of the
Eucharist: that in the midst of variations in practice “we might rejoice in the faith of the
church which has always been one and the same. (and our intention is to trace briefly the
origin of the attitudes which confront one another at this time)
 Problems of this period in the history of the Church:
 Is a type of fundamentalist interpretation of the teaching of the church which
would project contemporary attitudes on past ages and attempt to root present
attitudes and problems in times when neither these attitudes nor these problems
existed.
 E. Schillebeeckx’s words “Our faith is a faith in historicity”
o The Eucharist in the Theology of the fathers
 1st or early 2nd centuries- it was not the function of the priest to preside at the celebration
of the Eucharist. The place of the priest was in the priest’s choir, the “prebyterium”, not
on the altar, unless he was delegated to celebrate by the bishop.
 3rd to 4th centuries- the meaning of the Eucharist is presented as extending beyond the
individual Christian communities and encompassing the image of the entire church. (time
to time and place to place). The bishop was to be seated with the bishop of the place
visited, was ask to deliver the sermon to the faithful and to pray the canon, he was to
speak the consecration over the chalice.
 4th century- the celebration of the Eucharist took on more “official” character. The
celebration took place in the basilica, the official gathering place for Christians as it was
the Roman political body. The bishop was seated on a throne like the Roman Magisterate.
 5th century- the emphasis on the unity of the community celebrating the Eucharist. In this
time, it became acceptable to celebrate another mass for those who could not be present
at the Eucharist of the Bishop, indeed even to celebrate at the bishop’s altar.
 6th to 7th centuries- a greater assimilation of the liturgical forms to the practices of the
Roman imperial court, the use of the ceremonial handkerchief (the maniple). The
adoption of the chasuble, the ritual procession of entrance, the rank of sub-deacon, and
the origins of a fixed style of prayer and chant.
 7th to 8th centuries- the principal objection of the Docetists to the eucahrist was not any
problem with the real presence itself, but the more basic problem of the humanity of
Jesus.
 9th century- brief description of the evolution of the shape of the Eucharist into its
medieval form and of the evolution of the theology of the Eucharist which accompanied
this liturgical development.
 10th to 11th centuries- a period whose tremendous intellectual, political and liturgical
activity as generally ignored in theological studies, is variously describe as “the dark
ages”, “the age of iron”.
 12th century- the word “transubstantiation” came into vogue. By 1150 the term was
common in the works of the masters of theology of the University of Paris,Roland
Bandinelli (between 1140 to 1142, Albigensians in 1215.
 13th century- the culmination and synthesis of a long and somewhat chaotic development
of the Eucharist.

 Irenaeus- took up the same argument in his attack on the Gnostics.
 Carthage Cyperian- enraged because those who had abandoned the unity of the
Church or had been baptized into heretical sects had been admitted to the
Eucharist.
-emphasis is not on the fact of the real presence itself, but on the meaning
of the real presence of Christ: the nourishment of the church and the Christian in
time of persecution.
 Cyril- explains the meaning of communion to the neophytes. From the moment
that Christ says, “This is my body” and “This is my blood”
 Ambrose- emphasizes the reality of the presence of Christ in the context of his
description of the splendor of the ceremonies of Baptism and the reception of the
Eucharist by the newly baptized. He stresses that this is truly the flesh and blood
of Christ, present here by the power of Christ’s word and thus the nourishment of
the church and the Christian.
 Augustine’s theology of the Eucharist- is far more comprehensive than the
statement of the fact of the real presence. In other words, the body and blood of
the Lord are only present in their strictest sacramental sense when we receive the
consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist.
-Eucharistic as “realism”, stressing the reality of the change in the bread and
wine, as “spiritualism”, stressing the sacramental character of the Eucharist in the
Augustinian sense.
 Van der Meer- not as a permanently reserve Host, but He is adored in the reverent
handling and reception of the “sacrament of His body and blood, the Eucharistic
Species.
  Van der Lof- indicates the Eastern Sermon to the newly baptized, he states: you
should know what you have receive, what you will receive, what you should
receive daily.(see 1 Cor. 10, 17). Indicates a Pentecost Sermon to the newly
baptized: How is the bread His body? And the chalice His blood? (see 1 Cor. 12,
27)(Serm. 272)
o The Eucharist in the Medieval Theology
 Middle ages- usually brings to mind the vision of the splendor of Gothic cathedrals, the
flowering of great universities such as Oxford and Paris, the brilliance of the great
medieval doctors such as Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Scotus, Albert the Great.
 Amalarius- the disciple of Alcuin proposed three different meanings for expression “body
of Christ” and took the position that the body of Christ is present in the Eucharist is not
the same as the heavenly body of Christ.
 Berengar- states that “faith of the Church”
 Alger of Lige and Guitmund of Aversa- insisted that the Eucharist was incorruptible,
being the body of Christ.
 Peter Lombard- “Deus novit” (God knows)
 Aristotle- “scholastic” theology
o The Eucharistic Reformation
 The opposition of the Reformation to the Eucharist took a two-fold form: the argument
over the real presence and the rejection of the sacrificial character of the Mass.
Accordingly, the Council of Trent was called on to propose the faith of the Church in two
sessions which adopted two decrees, one on the Eucharist (Session XIII, October, 1551)
and another on the Sacrifice of the Mass (Session XXII, September, 1562). A third
session treated of communion under both species (Session XXI, July, 1562)
 Luther’s vituperations against the mass might well shock the pious Catholic, but when
one reads the list of abuses drawn up by the preparatory commission of the Council of
Trent.
 Luther insisted that trust in God was the unique principle of man’s justification, adding
his “alone” to Paul’s citation of Habakkuk, “the righteousness man shall live by his
faith”. (Rom. 1, 17;Hab. 2, 4)-this does not mean that Luther rejected the whole
sacramental order.
 For Luther, Christ is present only at the moment of the consecration, when the Passion is
preached and commemorated, and at the moment of communion, when the death of the
Lord is proclaimed and commemorated.
 Luther also rejected the teaching that the Mass is a sacrifice, beginning with attacks on
the, “fat bellies” who earned their living saying Mass in the chantries, but the theological
basis for his rejection of the sacrificial character of the Mass is rather in the fact that this
would place a human meditation between God and the sinner, an an intolerable idea for
Luther.
 THE DECREE ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
 The real presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
 Dogmatic points
 “simply and openly” professing that our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and
true man, is contained under the apearances of sensible realities after the
consecration.
Three adverbs used to qualify this presence: truly, really and
substantially
 The fact that the presence of Christ is a sacramental presence, and in no
way contradicts the fact that Christ can and does exist in “His natural
manner of existence.”
 The statement that the basis of this belief is in the “proper and most
obvious meaning” of the accounts of institution in the synoptic gospels
and St. Paul.
 The reason for the institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist. After stressing the reality
of the presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist, the council places this real
presence once again in the context of the sacramental order. It is by the reception of this
sacrament that Christ has commanded us to venerate His memory and to “announce His
death until He comes”. (Cor. 11:26)
 The superiority of the Eucharist in the sacramental order. Granting that the Eucharist, like
the other sacrament, is a sign , the council states the superiority of the Eucharist in the
fact that this sacramental sign contains the Author of Holiness not only in the actual use
of the sacrament, but also the sacrament is received.
 The council takes up Luther’s contention that the expression “transubstantiation” is an
invention of Aquinas.- the transubstantiation as its own way of expressing the substantial
change which takes place at the words of consecration in the Eucharist.
 THE DECREE ON THE MOST HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
 Well-balanced statement on the connection of the real presence, communion and the
sacrifice.
 The description of the Last Supper places the sacrificial character of the Eucharist in the
fact that Jesus gave His body and blood to His disciples to eat and drink under the
appearances of bread and wine.
 The celebration of the old Passover which is the commemoration of man’s redemption in
Jesus returns to the Father.
 RENEWAL IN EUCHARISTIC THEOLOGY
 The beginnings of renewal in Eucharistic theology cannot be limited to anyone
phenomenon in the life of the church. Many influences conspired to bring about the
present effort at renewal.
 At the same time, the foundations of the revival of the purer forms of liturgical worship
among the Benedictines began with the work of Dom Prosper Gueranger.
 Pope Pius X added added great impetus to the movement by his decrees on participation
in the Eucharist and on the desirability of frequent, even daily, communion.
 Ecumenical studies have tended to abandon the polemical concentration of the theology
of the Eucharist on the questions on the real presence and the sacrifice of the mass and
introduced a new unity into the theology of the Eucharist. With the ecumenical
concentration on what is common to all Christian belief, there has been a renewed
interest in the Eucharist as a sacrament which, while it does not depend for its reality on
human faith on human faith, demands nonetheless the faith and devotion of the believer
for its full effectiveness.

Question?
Eucharist is still a mystery, the mystery of faith (theologia perennis)
 Theologically, the reality of what take place in the celebration of the Eucharist is
intimately bound to the events of the “Last Supper”, in which the Church has always seen
the “institution of the Eucharist”.
o Links about Celebrating the Eucharist or the Mass
 Romans 6:4-11
 Acts 2:38
 John 20:22-23
 Jas 5:14-15;2:1
 Ephesians 5:31-32
 PASSOVER
 1 Corinthians 11:24
 UNLEAVENED BREAD
 Luke 22:19
 John 6:51
 Matthew 26:27-28
 Mark 14:42

 THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST

 Is indeed the “real” presence of Christ, is a scriptural datum of the scriptural accounts of
the institutions of the Eucharist.
 The presence of Christ, the real presence, the true presence of Christ is absolutely central
to biblical faith in the meaning and power of the Eucharist.
 THE ONE GIFT
 The personal presence of Christ, with all the salvific meaning and power which this
implies, is the key to understanding of both unity and diversity of gifts in the Eucharist.
For the personal reality of Christ is a unity in diversity. This is clear in the teaching of the
council of Chalcedon which insists on the fact that the human and divine are to be seen in
Christ “unconfused…undivided and inseparable…preserving the particularity of each
nature concurring in the one person and subsistence.”
 The gift of communion in Christ in the gift which is one in His personal reality, but
multivalent in the reality of distinction in Christ of the divine and the human.
Communion in Christ means that the Eucharist is the gift of communion in the very life
of Christ, for the man who receives Christ abides in Him and He in Christ.
 The Eucharist is one gift . it is God’s gift of worship given to man in Christ Jesus, the one
mediator between God and man in whom every gift of grace is contained o man’s behalf.
The Eucharist is not a gift of death. It is a gift of life, the unfailing life of the Risen
Christ. It is that life which is the gift of worship, of sacrifice.
 THE SACRAMENT IS A SIGN-ACT
 The council of Trent resumed centuries of theology in its statement on the sacramental
character of the Eucharist: “It is common to the Eucharist and to the rest of the
sacraments to be the symbol of the sacred thing and the visible form of invisible grace”.