Fr. Joseph Đinh Đức Huỳnh, SSS.
I. Introduction
Cosmic Dimension of the Eucharist is a particular aspect of the real (but sacramental) presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist as this is related to the whole of creation; hence, it is a theological response to cosmic crisis[1] (as the signes of the times in the world today).
II. Reflecting/Explaining This Cosmic Dimension
This cosmic dimension - although a new, emerging theology of the post-Vatican II theology - is founded firmly on biblical and patristic sources, and seen through different but complementing theological perspectives.
1. Trinitarian Perspective
Creation has the imprint of its Creator as Paul attests in Rm 1:20 - “Since the creation of the world, invisible realities, God’s eternal power and divinity, have become visible, recognized through the things he has made.” If the Christian God is triune one, then the Trinity has left its imprint in creation.[2] If the essence of the Triune God is basically Love, then He has left an imprint of His Love in all that he has created.
God’s presence is also manifested in the Eucharist as the ultimate gift and means offered to the whole of creation to lead it on its journey to its ultimate fulfillment in Christ (see Eph 1: 10). How is this so in the Eucharist?
From a trinitarian perspective, it is manifested in a threefold action of the Triune God, namely: “an action of the Father,[3] “an action of Christ,” and “an action of the Holy Spirit.”[4]
a. Eucharist as Sacrament, Sign of God’s Action Sanctifying World in Christ through Holy Spirit
In the context of the Eucharistic presence, the Eucharist is a sacrament. As a sacrament, “it is a sign of God’s action in creation,” as Quinn asserts.[5] Moreover, it is a sign of “God’s action sanctifying the world [i.e., the whole creation]” in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, as affirmed in the Church’s document, Eucharisticum Mysterium (EM):
The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination of both God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.[6]
But, an important question here is that how the Eucharist, as a sign of God’s action in creation, can sanctify creation. The answer is found in a theological reflection of Photina Rech, when she affirms that it is from the Eucharistic sacrifice and from the presence of Jesus in the mysteries of the Church that the whole creation is sanctified:
It is only through humanity that the transforming power of the Eucharist seizes the universe. In and with these symbols of bread and wine, which have been chosen for the liturgy, the whole world is seized, enjoined, enlisted to serve the building up of the body of Christ, the Church. From the Church the blessing of the mystery is transferred to the whole of creation. From Christ’s sacrifice on Golgotha, and henceforth from his presence in the mysteries of the Church, emanates the sanctification of the whole creation. As often as the bread is broken, thereby binding the community gathered at the table into one body, the sanctification of the world, of humanity, of the cosmos evolves ever more assuredly toward its ultimate goal: “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6: 51).[7]
b. Eucharist, Ultimate Gift Originating from the Triune Love of God given to all Creation
This assertion is affirmed in the gospel of John and in the Letter of Paul. Indeed, first of all, the Eucharist is the Father’s gift: “Yes, God loved the world so much that He gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16; emphasis mine), and that: “It is my Father who gives you the Bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32-33; emphasis mine). The Eucharist is also the gift of the Son; it is affirmed when Jesus reveals that He himself is “the living bread which has come down from heaven,” and that: “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51; emphasis mine). The Eucharist is also the gift of the Spirit: “The love of God has been poured out into our heart by the Holy Spirit which has been given us” (Rom 5:5). Here is how Stoeckl insightfully explains this point:
It is through the Spirit of love that the Father gives us his only Son and gives himself in the Son. Christ offers himself in sacrifice “through the eternal Spirit” (Heb 9:14), which means that the Holy Spirit acted in a special way in this absolute self-giving of the Son. And it is also the Spirit, who is at the root of God’s continual and inexhaustible gift of himself in the Eucharist.[8]
Thus, the Eucharist is revealed as ultimate Gift of love originating from the Three Divine Persons offering this same Love to the world/creation for the life of the world/creation.
The theology of the Eucharist has centered around the personal reality of Christ but it must be remembered that the distinction of persons in the Trinity does not mean that the persons of the Trinity are separable from one another. Quite to the contrary, the persons of the Trinity are inseparable from one another. The man who sees Christ thus sees the Father, and the man who receives Christ receives the Father – and the Spirit... The gift of Christ is a gift from the Father and it is the gift of the Holy Spirit given in and through Christ.[9]
c. Eucharist, Thanksgiving of Jesus Christ at the last Supper to the Father in the Holy Spirit for God’s Gift of Creation.
The Eucharist is “Thanksgiving.”[10] It has biblical bases in the Old Testament on the Covenant and in the Exodus on the Passover meals, and Patristic basis in the words of St. Justin.[11] With these as bases, it is understood as thanksgiving of Jesus Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit for God’s mighty act and all the blessings which He gives to men, not only his blessing/gift in the Paschal Mystery, but also his blessing/gift of creation.[12]
“Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God” (Jn 13:3). This awareness of Jesus is the essential reason in his thanksgiving. Moreover, as the Son, who has a relationship of equality with the Father: He is the only one capable of an act of perfect thanksgiving to God the Father. His thanksgiving to the Father was expressed in the form of a total offering, i.e., in his gift of himself, the gift of his own flesh and blood, which expressed his love without limit, a love that reaches its extreme development in sacrifice. [13]
The Holy Spirit also has an important role in Jesus’ thanksgiving. In fact, in his thanksgiving, “not only the power of the divine person of the Son of God who was ascending to the Father, but the presence of the Holy Spirit, as well.”[14] The Holy Spirit, having an important role throughout Jesus’ earthly life, is “the divine person who unites the Son to the Father,” and “animates the filial thrust with which the incarnate Son pays the Father the homage of the Son’s person.”[15]
In other words, in Jesus’ thanksgiving at the Last Supper to the Father for His gift of creation, “the route that goes from the Son to the Father passes by the way of the Holy Spirit;”[16] and “this thanksgiving implies offering and is expressed in the offering of the redemptive sacrifice, by way of an integral return to the Father.”[17] This is a trinitarian perspective which marks out a character of the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist.
As a summary, from the Trinitarian perspective,[18] the Eucharist is understood as a sign of God’s action sanctifying the world/creation in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is also the ultimate gift of love which originated from the Triune God offering to all creation, and the thanksgiving of Jesus Christ at the last Supper to the Father in the Holy Spirit for God’s gift of creation. Let us further explain this dimension by appropriating it to the respective roles of the Three Persons in the Blessed Trinity in this fashion.
Every Eucharistic celebration begins with the invocation of powerful name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and ends with the same – where we all come from there hopefully we should end. If ever Christ frees and unites us, He frees us, first of all, from all that oppresses us, from the past mistakes, and unites us towards the road leading to where we come from and ought to return – at the bosom of the eternal Triune God.[19]
In addition, since the cosmos is created by the Father, redeemed by the Son and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, the whole of creation in a most analogical sense is a reflection of the Trinitarian Presence. For this reason, the earthliness (materiality) of the cosmos ought to be acknowledged for without it the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist loses its own efficacy.
1) Paternal perspective
From a paternal perspective, the Eucharist, as explained earlier, is the ultimate gift of love of the Father for creation.[20] Jesus himself asserts it in the Bread of Life discourse: “It is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32-33). The role of the Father in the Eucharist, therefore, has been underlined. He himself takes the initiative. He feeds his children and all creation by giving them his Son, the true Bread from heaven, and in his Son He gives himself to all creation, as Pope John Paul II explained in his homily.[21]
In the Eucharist, the Father gives himself in the Son to all creation. This action of the Father is manifested in the Eucharist in different forms which mark out the various characteristics of the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist:
i) The Eucharist reveals the action of God the Creator who created all things out of nothing through Christ.
It is rooted in the gospel of John: “Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him” (Jn 1:3); and in the Letter of Paul: “For through him God created all things in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual power, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). The Eucharist really reveals the action of God the Creator who created all things out of nothing through Christ, and therefore reminds us to thank God our Father for his gift of creation that he has given us in his Son Jesus Christ.
ii) The Eucharist also reveals the action of God the Father who shares his beauty to all creation (through Christ)
The book of Wisdom states: “Since through the grandeur and beauty of the creatures we may, by analogy, contemplate their Author” (Wis. 13:5). The Letter of Paul also affirms this: “Ever since God created the world, his everlasting power and deity – however visible – have been there for the mind to see the things he has made.” (Rom 1:20). In fact, the God we worship is “beauty.”[22] It is to love that he shares his beauty to all creation. It is the beauty of God first expressed in creation, i.e., “in the beauty and harmony of the cosmos,” and then manifested fully “in God’s revelation in Jesus Christ” “in the Paschal mystery,” as affirmation of Pope Benedict XVI in his apostolic exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis.[23] It is through “the beauty and harmony of the cosmos,”[24] especially through “the Paschal Mystery” (the Eucharist), that we can recognize the action of the Father expressed in sharing his beauty to all creation. Thus creation really has imprint of God’s beauty, manifested in the Eucharist.
Briefly, from a paternal perspective, the Eucharist is understood as God’s revelation on the action of the Father in creation: creating all things from nothing through Christ, and sharing his beauty to all creation.
2) Christological perspective
The Eucharist, as explained above, is also the Son’s gift of love for creation. In his discourse on the Eucharist, after pointing out that the Father would give the true bread from heaven to humanity, Jesus himself also said: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven… and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). It is to love humanity and the world to the end that at the Last Supper he instituted the Eucharist, and gave the total gift of himself in the Eucharist to all creation.[25]
This action of Jesus is manifested in the Eucharist in different forms which delineate the various characteristics of the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist:
i) The Eucharist has an earthly origin chosen by Jesus Christ and therefore signifies the goodness of creation.
The Eucharist has its origin not only from heaven, but also from earth. It has an earthly origin: bread and wine, which “are the symbols of the whole creation,”[26] created by God. Jesus himself at the Last Super “took some bread…and took a cup” (Mt. 26:26-27), and instituted the Eucharist. Bread and wine had been chosen by Jesus to become his Body and Blood by transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Chosen by Christ to become his Body and Blood, the signs of bread and wine also signify the goodness of creation. In fact, it is affirmed in CCC in this fashion:
At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood. Faithful to the Lord’s command the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his passion: ‘He took bread…’ ‘He took cup filled with wine…’ The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation…[27]
ii) The Eucharist reveals Jesus’ attitude: seeing the world and all creatures as God’s creation, and appreciating the value of all creation.
It has biblical basis in the Old Testament on the covenant and in the Exodus on the Passover meal.[28] In terms of the structural element of the Mass, it is also expressed in “the presentation of the gifts.”[29] According to Pope Benedict XVI, the presentation of the gift “is actually very significant: in the bread and wine that we bring to the altar, all creation is taken up by Christ the Redeemer to be transformed and presented to the Father. In this way we also bring to alter all the pains and suffering of the world, in the certainty that everything has value in God’s eyes.”[30]
Perceiving the world and all created nature as God’s creation which has precious value in God’s eyes is not “a matter of opinion” – an intellectual tenet – as said Jurgen Moltmann; it “implies a particular attitude towards the world and a way of dealing with it which touches the existence of the perceiving person and draws him into a wider fellowship.”[31]
iii) The Eucharist is thanksgiving of Jesus at the Last Supper to the Father for his gift of creation.[32]
In the Eucharist, Jesus Christ thanks God the Father for many reasons. One of the reasons is that “the Eucharist is the gift of the Father who, out of generosity, gives himself in Christ for humanity” and all creation;[33] and then, in response to the Father’s gift, the Eucharist is also “the gift of the Son who, out of gratitude,”[34] “offers himself in sacrifice as thanksgiving to the Father for humanity and for all creation.”[35] The Eucharist is the only and most adequate means which can express this gratitude; and only Jesus the Son of God could give back to the Father all things, especially the gift of himself offered to humanity and to all creation.[36]
To recapitulate, from christological perspective, the meaning of the earthly origin of the Eucharist – bread and wine chosen by Jesus Christ to become his Body and Blood – has been revealed, and the goodness of creation, therefore, has been signified most favorably through the signs of bread and wine. Jesus’ attitude to his Father and to all creation have been also revealed in the Eucharist: seeing the world and all creatures as God’s creation, appreciating the value of creation, and giving thanks to the Father for his gift of creation, especially offering himself as sacrifice for the salvation of all creation.[37]
3) Pneumatological perspective
The Eucharist has a link with the Holy Spirit. This link appears clearly in the Bread of Life discourse in John’s Gospel when Jesus proclaimed the necessity of being nourished by his Body and Blood (see Jn 6:53).[38]
As presented above, the Eucharist is also the gift of the Holy Spirit. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to the world (see Jn 3:16). But “it is through the Spirit of love that the Father gives us his only Son and gives himself in the Son.”[39] Therefore, it is in the Holy Spirit that we receive God’s gift of himself manifested in the Eucharist.[40] The role of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist, therefore, has been underscored.
According to Quinn, “the opus operatum of the Eucharist – i.e., a work of adoration and praise, a work of redemption, a work of sanctification” – is also “an action of the Holy Spirit.”[41] In the Letter of Paul, the action of the Holy Spirit in Eucharistic celebration is also affirmed: it is in the Spirit that we can celebrate to give praise and thanks to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This action of the Holy Spirit is manifested in the Eucharist in different forms which mark various characters of the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist:
i) For the sake of creation, the Church, a remembering and Eucharistic community which celebrates the Eucharist to thank God for his gift of creation, is created and recreated by the Holy Spirit.
Communion is the gift of the Spirit in the Church. In fact, “the Holy Spirit’s proper and specific action within the Trinity is communion.”[42] The Holy Spirit, however, “is also the love that unites man with God. The mystery of this communion, [therefore], shines forth in the Church, the mystical Body of Christ.”[43] Pope John Paul II, in Christifideles laici, also states that it is the Holy Spirit “who from eternity unites the one and undivided Trinity,…who ‘ in the fullness of time’ (Gal 4:4) forever unites human nature to the Son of God,… who in the course of Christian generations is the constant and never-ending source of communion in the Church.”[44] Communion is, indeed, the gift of the Spirit in the Church.
Communion, the gift of the Spirit, “is bestowed on the Church above all in the Eucharist, the sacrament of communion.”[45] The Eucharist itself, the sacrament of communion, as an affirmation of Pope John Paul II, “builds ever anew”[46] the Church on the basis of the Eucharistic sacrifice which is itself “the sacrifice of Christ” on the Cross.[47] In other words, it is the Holy Spirit who creates the Church in the sacrament of communion.
It is also the Holy Spirit, as principle of love and communion, who re-creates the Church on the foundation of love and communion: He himself brings about a unity between the body and its head, and re-creates the Church a Eucharistic community.[48] This is really the community entrusted by Christ to celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of Him to give thanks to God for his gifts, including his gift of creation.
In brief, in order that the Eucharist is celebrated by a remembering and Eucharistic community to thank God for his gift of creation, the Holy Spirit has created and recreated the Church in the sacrament of communion on the basis of the Eucharistic sacrifice. In other words, for the sake of all creation, the Church has been created and recreated by the power of the Holy Spirit, realized in the Eucharist as sacrament of communion.
From its pneumatological perspective, the Eucharist has been considered, upon reflection, as the sacrament of communion which the Holy Spirit bestows on the Church for the sake of communion of all creation, in which not only each human person, all human beings, and the Church, but also the whole creation are united in Christ the Head.
ii) The Eucharist, by the power of the Holy Spirit, fulfills a full communion in Christ at all levels of creation, not only in personal or interpersonal levels, but also in universal one.
As presented above,[49] the Holy Spirit is the source of communion and bestows this gift of communion in the Eucharist, the sacrament of communion, as well as unites man with God and brings about a unity between the body (the church) and its head (Jesus Christ).[50] Moreover, as the source of communion, in the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit also realizes a full communion: not only in a person, or among individual persons, but also with the whole of creation. In fact, it is rooted in the letter of Paul to the Ephesians: God’s will is to “bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in heaven and everything on earth” (Eph. 1:10). Ernest’s reflection on St. Paul’s letter to Ephesians (4:10)[51] leads us also to this assertion: “The world which has disintegrated in sin is to be led back to the center from which its order flows. In Christ, a head is to be given to all things, the cosmos in the widest sense. Christ ascended so that he might fill all things.”[52] But, how is the communion of the whole of creation in Christ realized sacramentally? The answer is that it is realized through the Body of Christ, the Church. The Church is entrusted to celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of Christ and becomes “the instrument of the fulfillment of all things,” i.e., the instrument of the communion of all creation in Christ.[53]
In brief, the Holy Spirit, as the source of communion, not only unites man with God and brings about a unity between the body (the church) and its head (Jesus Christ), but also bestows his gift of communion on the Church, above all in the Eucharist, so that the Church, through the sacrament of communion, becomes the instrument of the communion of all creation in Christ, in which all human beings and the Church as well as the whole creation are united in Christ the head. Thus, “it is only in communion of the Spirit that [in the Eucharist which is celebrated in and by the Church] we are associated with the whole Church and with the whole of creation [in Christ].” [54]
iii) In the Eucharist, the whole of creation is transformed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and the meaning of man’s work and of all created nature is revealed.
Transforming the gifts (bread and wine) into the Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit is affirmed in CCC that: “At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood.”[55]
According to Hay, in the Eucharistic celebration, “the Epiclesis,[56] [a structural element of the Eucharistic prayer], underlines the dynamic, unifying role of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharistic celebration.”[57] As expressed clearly in the epiclesis, “the gifts – [bread and wine] - are sanctified and transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to become divine nourishment and to transform the Eucharistic assembly into the Body of Christ.”[58]
Bread and wine are “natural elements refined by man.”[59] It means that they are a part of all created nature and the result of man’s work.[60] The meaning of man’s work and of all created nature is, therefore, revealed when bread and wine on the altar are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. In fact, man’s work, through the celebration, is united to the redemptive sacrifice of Christ,[61] and considered as a human cooperation with the power of the Holy Spirit in transforming the world and all creation into the Body of Christ;[62] and all created nature are also sanctified and transformed into the glorified Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit,[63] “and lifted up to a new level of existence in Christ’s universal renewal.”[64]
Thus, we can say briefly that in the Eucharist, the whole of creation is transformed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and therefore the meaning of man’s work and of all created nature is revealed. Man’s work and all created nature really have precious values in God’s eyes.
To recap, from a pneumatological perspective, the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist acquires the following characterizations: 1) the Eucharist is celebrated by the Church - a remembering and Eucharistic community which is created and recreated by the Holy Spirit - to thank God for his gift of creation; 2) the Eucharist, by the power of the Holy Spirit, fulfills a full communion of the whole of creation in Christ; and, 3) in the Eucharist, the whole of creation is transformed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and the meaning of man’s work and of all created nature is revealed. It is in God’s eyes that man’s work and all created nature have their precious intrinsic values.
2. Ecclesiological Perspective
God’s love for creation is also manifested through the Church, the body of Christ. “The Church was born of the paschal mystery”[65] and sent into the whole world to become “the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13) and “the light of the world” (Mt 5:14) and “to pray and labor” for the salvation of all creation.[66]
The Church - the body of Christ, universal as inclusive of all human beings, the entire universe, in fact, all creation - is entrusted to celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of Jesus (see Lk 22:19; see also 1 Cor 11:25).[67] Celebrating the Eucharist in memory of Jesus, therefore, is also “an action of the Church through the instrumentality of those who have received the episcopate or the priesthood”;[68] and quoting Martelet also: “But if the Church is really to hold firm in the confession of a ‘mystery’ which governs the fulfillment of the world in salvation, forbidding it to find its own self-sufficiency in itself and yet fulfilling its deepest hopes, then she must … also be fed every day from the Body of Christ and given to drink from his Spirit; and that food and drink are the Eucharist.”[69]
These universal character and action of the Church are manifested in the Eucharist in different ways, thus, revealing its cosmic dimension:
a. The Eucharist, which is celebrated in and by the Church in uniting with Christ and speaking in the name of all creation, is a thanksgiving of the Church to the Father for all His gifts, including that of creation.[70]
According to Hay, it has biblical basis in Jewish meal prayers and Patristic bases in the word and spirit of thanksgiving in the Didache and in Justin’s witness.[71] In terms of the structure of the Mass, its Thanksgiving aspect is expressed in “the Eucharistic prayer”: the Eucharistic prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving that the Church, united with Christ, gives thanks to God not only for God’s gifts of sanctification and of redemption, but also his gift of creation.[72]
The reason for the Church’s thanksgiving to God in the name of all creation is very evident. Humanity and all creation have received all things from God. Thus, to give praise and thanksgivings to God is really a profound mystery of justice on the part of the creature towards the Creator. It is emphasized in the Eucharistic prayer IV:
Father in heaven, it is right that we should give you thanks and glory: you are the one God, living and true. Through all eternity you live in approachable light. Source of life and goodness, you have created all things, to fill your creatures with every blessing and lead all men to the joyful vision of your light.[73]
However, it is only united with Christ, through Christ, and in Christ that the Church, speaking in the name of all creation, celebrates the Eucharist to give thanks to God for gift of creation. It is because, on the one hand, “of ourselves we are incapable of worthily giving thanks for the Divine benefits God has bestowed upon us;”[74] on the other, the thanksgiving of the Church in the name of all creation is contained in Jesus’ sacrifice,[75] and “only the Son could give back to the Father” everything, especially “the gift of himself” in the Eucharist, to thank God for all his Gifts, including his gift of creation.[76]
b. It is through the Eucharist which is celebrated daily in and by the Church in memory of Jesus that the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus is made “a part of human history” and “sacramentally present in every culture”.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his apostolic exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, affirms that: “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.”[77]
How has the Church made the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus a part of human history and sacramentally present in every culture? Developed in time and space, the Eucharistic liturgy, on one hand, has been affected by many factors in the Church and in human history, and also adapted in different situations and cultures in order to express creatively and faithfully Eucharistic faith of the Church. Concretely, the liturgical elements of the Eucharistic celebration, through many changes in the liturgical practice of the Mass through the ages, especially since the second Vatican Council, have become more interactive as well as more inculturated in many different cultures and peoples, in accordance with the Church’s greater understanding on the Eucharist through ages and with the norms of modern sciences of human culture and anthropology for liturgical adaptation.[78] The Eucharistic faith of the Church, therefore, has been rooted and expressed in different cultures at different times, and Christian life step by step has been imbued with a Eucharistic-cultural-faith experience.
On the other hand, it also has gradually helped to renew history[79] and, in the process of “inculturation,” make different cultures of different places/environments “more Eucharistic” cultures.[80]
3. Eschatological Perspective
Eschatology, since Vatican II Council, especially in the light of the post-Vatican II theology, has been regarded not only as the study of the “Last Things,”[81] but also as a dimension of every aspect of Christian life and thought, especially as a dimension of the Eucharist.[82] The eschatological significance of the Eucharist, therefore, has been emphasized, developed and understood deeply with its various and rich meanings in the post-Vatican II Eucharistic theology.[83]
It is from this eschatological perspective on the Eucharist that the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist has been tightly connected. In fact, according to this eschatological perspective on the Eucharist, not only human beings have ultimate eschatological end, but also the whole of creation has been destined by God to come to its ultimate eschaton in Christ as God’s purpose for them, as affirmed in the Letter of Paul.[84] It is also in the light of this eschatological perspective that the Eucharist is understood as God’s gift of love given to the world for “the hope for the consummation of his purposes for all creation, for the completion of the creative and redemptive activity of God in Christ and the Spirit, that is for the coming of God’s kingdom in its eschatological fullness.”[85] In other words, from an eschatological perspective, the Eucharist is understood as a sacrament of hope,[86] not only for human beings, but also for all creation on their journey towards its final completion: “From the whole of humanity God chooses the Eucharistic community, and from the whole of the rest of creation this bread and wine, in order to show forth His purpose for the whole universe.”[87] This fulfillment of all creation will be realized sacramentally in the Eucharist in different ways which mark out the various characterizations of the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist: 1) The transformation of the universe,[88] and 2) eschatological communion as perfect fulfillment.
a. Transformation of Universe in the Eucharist
The earth was cursed because of man’s sin. However, it is promised and now in the hope of being set free from the bondage of decay through the revealing of the sons of God, for which it waits with eager longing (see Rom 8:19-21).
It is the Eucharist, as affirmed in the Gospel of John,[89] which contains not only the pledge of the resurrection of our mortal bodies, but also a promise for the earth.[90]
Pope John Paul II states that “not only the Church, but the cosmos itself and history are ceaselessly ruled and governed by the glorified Christ. It is this life-force which propels creation, ‘groaning in big-bangs until now’ (Rom 8:22), towards the goal of its full redemption.”[91] In the same vein we hear Stoeckl states: “the whole universe is called to recapitulation in Christ the Lord through the life-giving power of his death and resurrection present and active in the Eucharist.”[92]
Consequently, it is in the Eucharist that the all creation “starts to become what it will be at the Lord’s final coming.”[93] It is a process of transformation of the universe realized sacramentally in the Eucharist.[94]
But how can the Eucharist penetrate and transform the universe/creation? In other words, on what does the transformation of the creation depend? Of course, on the one hand, “the Eucharist is the divine seed that contains [its transforming] power”[95] which “is nothing else but the love of the Trinity”[96] manifested/expressed in the life-giving power of Jesus’ death and resurrection present and active in the Eucharist. In fact, “by means of the gift of the Eucharist - as Pope John Paul II explains - God sanctifies hearts, people, communities, nations and the whole cosmos. The Eucharist thus becomes the principles of the new humanity and the renewed world…Already now it is growing as the seed and leaven of the kingdom of God.”[97]
However, on the other hand, just as the bread and wine are the “natural elements refined by man” before being transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ by the epicletic effect of the Holy Spirit, the transformation of the universe “also depends on the collaboration of man.”[98] In fact, “in the depth of the human heart - as affirmed in Dominicae Cenae - that the merciful and redeeming transformation of the world happens.”[99] The Eucharist, therefore, “can only penetrate and transform humanity and creation to the extent that man opens himself to its transforming power,”[100] i.e., to “the love of the Trinity,”[101] which is bestowed and manifested in the Eucharist. In other words, “the more we allow Christ to renew us by the transforming power of his love, the more we will be capable of building a more human world, a world more fully in harmony with God’s plan.” [102]
In brief, the Eucharist is understood as the sacrament of transformation of the universe/creation – a characteristic of the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist from eschatological perspective.
b. Eschatological Communion as Perfect Fulfillment
As presented earlier,[103] from its pneumatological perspective, the Eucharist has been considered, upon reflection, as the sacrament of communion which the Holy Spirit bestows on the Church for the sake of communion of all creation, in which not only each human person, all human beings, and the Church, but also the whole creation are united in Christ the Head.
However, the Eucharist, as a sacrament of communion for the sake of communion of all creation, will not be understood fully and totally if it is only reflected from pneumatological perspective. It also needs to be studied from the eschatological perspective, because the Eucharist is also the sacrament of the Eschaton, a “sacrament of Christian hope,”[104] in which, i.e., “in the Eucharist – [as Pope John Paul II affirmed] - everything speaks of confident waiting ‘in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ’.” [105] In other words, as the sacrament of hope, the Eucharist also looks toward a future in hope and with confidence that the victorious death and resurrection of Christ makes a definitive difference and will bring all creation to perfect fulfillment.[106]
The perfect fulfillment of all creation, as God’s purposes for them, is not something else, but their eschatological communion realized in the Eucharist when God will be all in all, in which each human person, all human beings, the Church and all creation are in full communion with Christ the Head, and with one another in Christ who “by means of his self-emptying, draws the whole world to him and raises it to God.”[107]
In brief, in the light of eschatological approach to the Eucharist, together with Denis Edwards we can say that “there is nothing outside the scope of this universe as ‘God’s body,’ and as ‘the Body of Christ’ in which every creature is ‘God’s self-experience, a word of God, a sign of the Trinitarian God, a mode of divine presence’.”[108] Martelet expresses this point in this manner: “In a veiled and partial manner he transforms the world of history into what that world will become in eschatology. Christ gives us our bread and wine as things that have become in advance, at the level of sign, what the whole world will become in the blaze of glory.”[109] But, how can the Eucharist as a sacrament of hope realize a full eschatological cosmic communion in which each human person, all human beings, the Church, and all creation are united with Christ the head and with one another?
The answer is, “it is through the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection God has entered into solidarity with the cosmos and, through the grace of the Eucharist, begun the process of divinization of the material universe. A renewed Eucharistic hope as cosmic communion thus emerges.”[110] To celebrate the Eucharist daily, therefore, is really to celebrate “both the holiness and wholeness of creation,”[111] in which “matter, life, and the human spirit are connected in the one God-created universe, where the fruits of nature and the work of human creativity are integrated in the deeply cosmic sense of how God communicates himself to us in Christ.”[112]
At this point we can say that, on one hand, in communion with the whole of creation as God’s body and as the Body of Christ, it is no longer possible for human beings to view the material cosmos as merely a resource to be exploited to serve humanity’s needs;[113] and, on the other, this full communion with the whole creation cannot be separated from the communion of each human person, and that of all humankind, as well as that of the Church. As we have come to assert that “the loss of our human bodies, and of fraternal relationship (or fellowship) has resulted in the damage of environment and the loss of lives in the world community today;”[114] this full communion, therefore, does not allow us to see our bodies/ourselves and other human beings as resources and slaves to be dominated/exploited to serve humanity’s needs, but to calls for challenges and demands us to build this cosmic community or fellowship of all creatures by opening to the power of the love of the Trinity, and participating in the whole process of enfraternalization of all creatures, with the hope that “fraternal relationship or fellowship can result in the preservation of environment and contribute to the fullness of life.”[115]
III. Conclusion
Based on a deeper analysis and reflection of the different perspectives as a whole, in the light of the post-Vatican II Eucharistic theology, the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist has been given ample attention and prestige. This particular Eucharistic dimension is expressed through interlinking perspectives. These cosmic characterizations are the various manifestations of God’s love in the Eucharist for the whole of creation since the world “[coming] forth from the hands of God the Creator now returns to him redeemed by Christ.”[116] This is truly “the mysterium fidei which is accomplished in the Eucharist.”[117]
As a demand of God’s love and also as a loving vocation for all human beings, cosmic dimension of the Eucharist with its various characterizations as was shown above, must be translated concretely into loving care of humans for the sake of all creation, i.e., for the protection, preservation, cultivation, transformation and communion of all creation in accordance with God’s purposes for it. We must be prodded to care for mother earth solely by virtue of God’s Love in Christ through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit living in us.
[1] See Joan Andrea Hutchinson, “Preface,” Reflection: Greening the Fading Grass – NGOs and the Environment, vol. 1, 4 (October, 1991), 4.
[2] See Bishop Jose R. Manguiran, DD, “The Trinity (‘Triangular’ Quality), Life Today, August 2000, 11.
[3] See Fidelis Stoeckl, John Paul II and the Mystery of the Eucharist: A Synthesis of the Eucharistic Teachings of Pope John Paul II (Pasay City: Paulines, 2006), 48, 51.
[4] Quinn, James Quinn, Theology Today: The Theology of the Eucharist - No. 27, ed. Edward Yarnold, [Indiana: Fides Publishers, Inc., 1973], 85.
[5] Ibid., 74
[6] Sacred Congregation of Rites (SCR), Eucharisticum Mysterium (EM), 6.
[7] Photina Rech, Wine and Bread, trans. by Heinz R. Kuehn (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1998), 108-109.
[8] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 47-48.
[9] Joseph M. Powers, SJ, Eucharistic Theology (London: Burns & Oates/Herder and Herder), 69 and as a gift, 68-77.
[10] See Charles Miller, The Eucharist, Reflections on the Eucharistic Experience of God [Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1995], 74-75.
[11] See Exod 13: 3-10.
[12] SCR, EM, 3c.
[13] See The Theological-Historical Commission for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 (THCGJY2000), Eucharist, Gift of Divine Life, translated from the Italian by Robert R. Barr (Pasay City: Paulines, 1999), 59-60.
[14] Frank Anderson, MSC, Making the Eucharist Matter (Notre Dame, In: Ave Maria Press, 1998), 61.
[15] Anderson, MSC, Making the Eucharist, 61-62.
[16] Ibid., 62.
[17] Ibid.
[18] See M.V. Bernadot, OP, The Eucharist and the Trinity (Delaware: Michael Glazier, 1977), particularly 47-50).
[19] José Antonio E. Aureada, OP, “Christ Frees and Unites” in The Eucharist and Freedom, Fifth national Eucharistic Congress, Manila, January 22-26, 1997, 60.
[20] See Jn 3:16; 6: 32-33.
[21] John Paul II, Homily on April 12, 1979.
[22] See Leo Hay, Eucharist, A Thanksgiving Celebration – Message of the Sacraments 3-A [Delaware: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1989], 31.
[23] See Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (SC), 35.
[24] Ibid.
[25] See Jn 13:1.
[26] Quinn, Theology Today, 89.
[27] CCC, 1333.
[28] See CCC, 1333-1334.
[29] Hay, Eucharist: A Thanksgiving, 46-47.
[30] Benedict XVI, SC, 47.
[31] Jurgen Moltmann, God in Creation: An Ecological Doctrine of Creation (Munich: SCM Press Ltd, 1991), 70.
[32] See Luke 22:17.
[33] See Stoeckl, John Paul II, 54.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid.
[36] See Col 1: 20.
[37] See Bishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, “The Freedom that Liberates” in The Eucharist and Freedom, Fifth national Eucharistic Congress, Manila, January 22-26, 1997, 23.
[38] See Hay, Eucharist, A Thanksgiving, 93.
[39] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 46.
[40] See John Paul II, Homily on June 14, 1987.
[41] Quinn, Theology Today, 85.
[42] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 126.
[43] Ibid.
[44] John Paul II, Christifideles laici (CL), 19.
[45] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 127.
[46] John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis (RH), 20.
[47] See Ibid.
[48] See Hay, Eucharist: A Thanksgiving, 103.
[49] See in 3) i) ...Pneumatological Perspective above.
[50] See, e.g., Chiara Lubich, The Eucharist (New York: New City Press, 1977).
[51] Eph 4: 10: “The one who rose higher than all the heaven to fill all thing is none other than the one who descended.”
[52] Josef Ernest, “Significance of Christ’s Eucharistic Body for the Unity of Church and Cosmos.” Concilium: Theology in the Age of Renewal: The Breaking of the Bread, vol. 40 [New York: Paulist Press, 1969]: 113.
[53] See Ibid., 114.
[54] Hay, Eucharist, A Thanksgiving, 33.
[55] CCC, 1333.
[56] The word “epiclesis” is a Greek word meaning ‘invocation’. (see Hay, Eucharist: A Thanksgiving, 94).
[57] Hay, Eucharist, A Thanksgiving, 100.
[58] See Ibid., 101.
[59] S.C.R, EM, 1.
[60] See Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, The Mass Is Never Ended, Rediscovering Our Mission to Transform the World (Notre Dame, Indiana: Are Maria Press, 2007), and particularly, “Part Three: The Spirituality of Work,” 65-111.
[61] See Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (SC), 47.
[62] See Quevedo, “Freedom that Liberates,” 23-24.
[63] See S.C.R, EM, 1.
[64] See Quinn, Theology Today, 89.
[65] John Paul II, EE, 3.
[66] See LG, 9, 17.
[67] See also John Paul II, EE, 8.
[68] Quinn, Theology Today, 85.
[69] Martelet, Risen Christ and the Eucharistic World (Publisher: Collins, 1976), 162.
[70] See John Paul II, DD, 42.
[71] Hay, Eucharist, A Thanksgiving, 56-57.
[72] See Ibid., 46-47.
[73] Charles Belmonte and James Socias, eds., Handbook of Prayers (Manila: Aletheia Foundation, Inc., 1988), 173.
[74] A. M. Roguet, The New Mass: A Clear and Simple Explanation of the Mass as Restored and Renewed in Accord with the Decrees of Vatican Council II, trans. Walter Van de Putte (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1970), 122.
[75] See CCC, 1359.
[76] See Stoeckl, John Paul II and, 54.
[77] Benedict XVI, SC, 12.
[78] See Hay, Eucharist, A Thanksgiving, 41-43.
[79] See Benedict XVI, SC, 10.
[80] Ibid., 77-78.
[81] See Jacques Duport, “This is My Body,” 26-28.
[82] See, e.g., Geoffrey Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology (NY: Oxford University Press, 1981), especially 147-154.
[83] See Hy, Towards a Constructive Retrieval of the Eschatological Dimension of the Eucharist.” Australian EJournal of Theology, August 2004 – Issue 3 – ISSN 1448-632. Retrieved December 22, 2007 from http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_3/Paul.htm.
[84] See Eph 1:10.
[85] See Hy, “Towards a Constructive Retrieval.” Emphasis mine.
[86] See Sebastian Luistro, SSS, “Eschatological Dimension of the Eucharist: Hope” in Theo Week 2005 Eucharist with Mary, ed. José Antonio E. Aureada, OP and Richard G. Ang, OP (Manila, Philippines: UST Publishing House, 2007): 149-157.
[87] Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology, 150.
[88] See Hy, “Towards a Constructive Retrieval”.
[89] See Jn 6:54.
[90] See Stoeckl, John Paul II, 184.
[91] John Paul II, DD, 75.
[92] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 184.
[93] John Paul II, General audience of Dec. 2, 1998.
[94] See Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology, 150.
[95] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 173.
[96] Ibid.
[97] John Paul II, Angelus on June 17, 2001.
[98] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 173.
[99] John Paul II, DC, 7.
[100] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 173.
[101] Ibid.
[102] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 174.
[103] See in 2.a.1)c) i. of Pneumatological Perspective above.
[104] Paul Vu Chi Hy, SSS, “The Pledge of Future Glory: The Eschatological Dimension of the Eucharist: A Systematic Exploration.” Retrieved September 15, 2009 from http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp58.29082005/index.html.
[105] John Paul II, EE, 18.
[106] See Ibid.
[107] Stoeckl, John Paul II, 97; see also John Paul II, EE, 8.
[108] Denis Edwards, Jesus the Wisdom of God: An Ecological Theology (Homebush, N.S.W: St Pauls, 1995), 130.
[109] Martelet, Risen Christ, 176.
[110] Hy, “Towards Constructive Retrieval.”
[111] Tony Kelly, The Bread of God: Nurturing a Eucharistic Imagination (Missouri: Liguori Publications, 2001), 90.
[112] Ibid., 90-91.
[113] See Hy, “Towards Constructive Retrieval.”
[114] Brisco A. Cajes, OFM, “Enfraternalization in God: A Brief Essay on St. Francis’ Vision of Cosmic Fellowship,” Religious Life Asia: Ecology and Consecrated Life, vol. II, 3 (July-September 2000): 40.
[115] Ibid.
[116] John Paul II, EE, 8.
[117] Ibid.
