Extracts from the address of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to the Plenary Meeting of The Congregatiion for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
(21 September 2001)
2. The Sacred Liturgy, described by Sacrosanctum Concilium as the summit of the Church's life, can never be reduced to a mere aesthetic reality. Neither can it be considered simply as a means to pedagogical or ecumenical ends. Before all else, the celebration of the sacred mysteries is an act of praise to the Triune God's sovereign majesty, and is willed by God Himself. Through the Sacred Liturgy man, personally and collectively, presents himself before God to render thanksgiving, fully conscious that his existence cannot be complete without praising God and doing His will as he strives for the Kingdom which is already present but whose definitive advent is only to be found in the Parousia of the Lord Jesus. Were the Liturgy not to have its effects on life, it would become void and displeasing to God.
3. The celebration of the Liturgy is an act of the virtue of religion which, in keeping with its nature, must be characterised by a profound sense of the sacred. Both the individual and the community must be aware that, in a special way, through the Liturgy they come into the presence of Him who is thrice holy and transcendent. Consequently, the disposition required of them is one that can only flow from that reverence and awe deriving from an awareness of being in the presence of the majesty of Almighty God. Did not God Himself wish to express this when he commanded Moses to remove his sandals in the presence of the burning bush? Was it not because of this same realization that Moses and Elijah did not dare gaze on God facie in faciem.
The People of God require a comportment in their priests and deacons that is completely imbued with reverence and dignity since it allows them to penetrate invisible realities without words or explanations. The Roman Missal, promulgated by Saint Pope Pius V, and the various Eastern Liturgies, contain many very beautiful prayers with which the priest expresses a profound sense of reverence and humility before the Sacred Mysteries. These prayers reveal the very substance of every Liturgy.
A liturgical celebration, at which the priest presides, is an assembly of prayer, gathered in faith to hear the Word of God. Its primary object is to offer to God the living, pure and holy Sacrifice made once and for all time by Jesus Christ on Calvary, and which is rendered present at every Holy Mass celebrated by the Church so as to worship God in spirit and in truth.
September 3, 1965
This important encyclical of Pope Paul VI was prompted by concern caused by the spread of heterodox theories regarding the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Hence the Pope refers to “certain opinions which trouble the mind of the faithful” on the subject of “private Masses, the dogma of transubstantiation and eucharistic adoration.” The aim of the encyclical is to recall the doctrines of the Church on these questions. Many elements of doctrines are evoked, and among these the Pope concentrates on those which are most attacked.
Thus we find, right from the start of the encyclical, a synthesis on the very nature of the mystery, taken from the Council of Trent, the teaching of which Vatican II made a point of recalling: “At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the Sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of His Death and Resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” This quotation therefore recalls first of all that the Mass perpetuates and applies the sacrifice of the Cross: this sacrifice is thus “unceasingly made present in our memory and its salutary virtue is applied for the remission of the sins which are committed each day”. This is effected by a non-bloody immolation. Upon this, therefore, depends the salvation of mankind, personal salvation and the salvation of the whole world. This applies to the living, but also to the dead, as the Fathers of the Church already taught.
The sacrament of the Eucharist is bound to the sacrifice of the Mass: “Sacrifice and sacrament are integrated together in the same Mystery so that one cannot be separated from the other”. This sacrament is “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end of all the other sacraments”, as the Pope recalls, quoting St Thomas.
What are its fruits? The sacrament gives a spiritual food to the hearts of the faithful through Communion. It strengthens and delights, vivifies and purifies. It gives grace and anticipates the gift of eternal life. Hence it is necessary to have a pure and holy heart for Communion.
From the ecclesiastical point of view, the sacrament effects the unity of the Mystical body, expressed by Communion, which creates a close bond of charity: according to the expression of the council of Trent, Christ made it “a symbol of this single Body of which He is the Head.” This is attested abundantly by the testimony of Christian antiquity and the Fathers of the Church. The Eucharist is thus the heart and the centre of the Church, the “sign and cause of the unity of the mystical Body, and it constitutes in itself a stirring appeal for unity of Christians.”
The Pope insists again on this bond with the mystery of the Church: "[the Church] in her entirety, taking in union with Christ the part of priest and victim, offers the Sacrifice of the Mass and is offered in it in her entirety.” The Mass is thus the spiritual centre of the Church. From this it follows that any Mass is public and social: “the Mass, even if it is celebrated in particular by a priest, is never, for all that, a private proceeding, but the action of Christ and the Church.” Therefore private Mass should not be undervalued: “ the celebration of Mass in private is not to be censured, but on the contrary to be approved”; moreover “one may not favour the so-called ‘community’ Mass in such a way as to devalue the private Mass”. In any case, it is the whole Church which offers the Sacrifice, “without detriment to the proper difference in nature, not merely in degree, which distinguishes the priesthood of the faithful from the hierarchical priesthood”.
Finally, the Pope develops at length the questions of transubstantiation and the Real Presence, fearing the spread of erroneous concepts in this regard. Thus he makes a point of firmly recalling that the Church is attached to the term ‘transubstantiation’: it is not a question of mere ‘transignification’ or ‘transfinalisation’. What takes place is a “conversion of all the substance of the bread to the body of Christ and all the substance of the wine to the blood of Christ; a singular and marvellous conversion, which the Catholic Church names in all accuracy and in the proper use of the term, ‘transubstantiation’”. The Church fixed an immutable rule of language which “must religiously be respected”. The word employed by the Church is particularly adequate, and belongs to these formulas which are “intelligible for men of all times and all places”.
To support his argument, the Pope quotes testimonies of the Fathers of the Church and the Councils, in order to show the constancy and the unanimity of tradition in the assertion of this doctrinal point.
This miraculous conversion involves the Real Presence of the Saviour. This presence is not merely symbolic, but it is at the same time sacramental: “by the effect of the words of consecration He begins to be sacramentally present as spiritual food for the faithful under the species of bread and wine”. It is also real and substantial: “this presence is named ‘real’, not on a purely exclusive basis, as if the other manners of presence were not ‘real’, but par excellence or “antonomasia”, because it is substantial, and Christ, the God-man, thereby makes Himself present entirely”. Consequently Christ is present, “truly, really and substantially, under the appearance of these realities perceptible to the senses”, as Paul VI recalls, quoting the Council of Trent. He also specifies that “Christ whole and entire is present in His physical, even corporeal, reality, although according to a different mode of presence from that in which bodies occupy a place”. Therefore it is not the senses that should be trusted, “but the words of Christ, which have the capacity to change, to transform, to ‘transelementize’ the bread and the wine into to the Body and Blood of the Lord”. Consequently each fragment must be the object of “precautions and an extreme respect”. The Pope also underlines that this presence is not brought about only by the faith of the Church, “but by the fact of objective reality itself”.
This objective reality means that the Real Presence remains in the sacred species even after the Mass. Worship is therefore always due to them: it is necessary to offer “this worship of adoration to the Sacrament of the Eucharist not only during the Mass but also apart from its celebration”. The Christian tradition is rich in testimonies concerning this worship. One should not cease to promote it: “Please promote, without sparing words or efforts, Eucharistic worship, towards which all other forms of piety must ultimately converge.” We should therefore be mindful to visit and honour the Blessed Sacrament.
It seems, then, that the Pope insists particularly on the dogma of the Real Presence and transubstantiation, and on the bond of the Eucharist with the mystery of the Church, and especially her unity. This forms part of a detailed reminder of the many points of doctrine related to a correct approach to this sacrament. None the less, the Pope reaffirms that the Eucharist is, and remains, a mystery of faith, as the title of the encyclical underlines, along with the words of the hymn of Saint Thomas: “Taste, touch and sight in thee are each deceived/The ear alone most safely is believed”. This is why Paul VI affirms that “the Eucharist is a most sublime mystery and even, properly speaking, as the Liturgy says, the Mystery of faith.”
(21 September 2001)
2. The Sacred Liturgy, described by Sacrosanctum Concilium as the summit of the Church's life, can never be reduced to a mere aesthetic reality. Neither can it be considered simply as a means to pedagogical or ecumenical ends. Before all else, the celebration of the sacred mysteries is an act of praise to the Triune God's sovereign majesty, and is willed by God Himself. Through the Sacred Liturgy man, personally and collectively, presents himself before God to render thanksgiving, fully conscious that his existence cannot be complete without praising God and doing His will as he strives for the Kingdom which is already present but whose definitive advent is only to be found in the Parousia of the Lord Jesus. Were the Liturgy not to have its effects on life, it would become void and displeasing to God.3. The celebration of the Liturgy is an act of the virtue of religion which, in keeping with its nature, must be characterised by a profound sense of the sacred. Both the individual and the community must be aware that, in a special way, through the Liturgy they come into the presence of Him who is thrice holy and transcendent. Consequently, the disposition required of them is one that can only flow from that reverence and awe deriving from an awareness of being in the presence of the majesty of Almighty God. Did not God Himself wish to express this when he commanded Moses to remove his sandals in the presence of the burning bush? Was it not because of this same realization that Moses and Elijah did not dare gaze on God facie in faciem.
The People of God require a comportment in their priests and deacons that is completely imbued with reverence and dignity since it allows them to penetrate invisible realities without words or explanations. The Roman Missal, promulgated by Saint Pope Pius V, and the various Eastern Liturgies, contain many very beautiful prayers with which the priest expresses a profound sense of reverence and humility before the Sacred Mysteries. These prayers reveal the very substance of every Liturgy.
A liturgical celebration, at which the priest presides, is an assembly of prayer, gathered in faith to hear the Word of God. Its primary object is to offer to God the living, pure and holy Sacrifice made once and for all time by Jesus Christ on Calvary, and which is rendered present at every Holy Mass celebrated by the Church so as to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Presentation on the encyclical Mysterium Fidei of His Holiness Paul VI
on eucharistic doctrine and adorationSeptember 3, 1965
This important encyclical of Pope Paul VI was prompted by concern caused by the spread of heterodox theories regarding the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Hence the Pope refers to “certain opinions which trouble the mind of the faithful” on the subject of “private Masses, the dogma of transubstantiation and eucharistic adoration.” The aim of the encyclical is to recall the doctrines of the Church on these questions. Many elements of doctrines are evoked, and among these the Pope concentrates on those which are most attacked. Thus we find, right from the start of the encyclical, a synthesis on the very nature of the mystery, taken from the Council of Trent, the teaching of which Vatican II made a point of recalling: “At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the Sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of His Death and Resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” This quotation therefore recalls first of all that the Mass perpetuates and applies the sacrifice of the Cross: this sacrifice is thus “unceasingly made present in our memory and its salutary virtue is applied for the remission of the sins which are committed each day”. This is effected by a non-bloody immolation. Upon this, therefore, depends the salvation of mankind, personal salvation and the salvation of the whole world. This applies to the living, but also to the dead, as the Fathers of the Church already taught.
The sacrament of the Eucharist is bound to the sacrifice of the Mass: “Sacrifice and sacrament are integrated together in the same Mystery so that one cannot be separated from the other”. This sacrament is “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end of all the other sacraments”, as the Pope recalls, quoting St Thomas.
What are its fruits? The sacrament gives a spiritual food to the hearts of the faithful through Communion. It strengthens and delights, vivifies and purifies. It gives grace and anticipates the gift of eternal life. Hence it is necessary to have a pure and holy heart for Communion.
From the ecclesiastical point of view, the sacrament effects the unity of the Mystical body, expressed by Communion, which creates a close bond of charity: according to the expression of the council of Trent, Christ made it “a symbol of this single Body of which He is the Head.” This is attested abundantly by the testimony of Christian antiquity and the Fathers of the Church. The Eucharist is thus the heart and the centre of the Church, the “sign and cause of the unity of the mystical Body, and it constitutes in itself a stirring appeal for unity of Christians.”
The Pope insists again on this bond with the mystery of the Church: "[the Church] in her entirety, taking in union with Christ the part of priest and victim, offers the Sacrifice of the Mass and is offered in it in her entirety.” The Mass is thus the spiritual centre of the Church. From this it follows that any Mass is public and social: “the Mass, even if it is celebrated in particular by a priest, is never, for all that, a private proceeding, but the action of Christ and the Church.” Therefore private Mass should not be undervalued: “ the celebration of Mass in private is not to be censured, but on the contrary to be approved”; moreover “one may not favour the so-called ‘community’ Mass in such a way as to devalue the private Mass”. In any case, it is the whole Church which offers the Sacrifice, “without detriment to the proper difference in nature, not merely in degree, which distinguishes the priesthood of the faithful from the hierarchical priesthood”.
Finally, the Pope develops at length the questions of transubstantiation and the Real Presence, fearing the spread of erroneous concepts in this regard. Thus he makes a point of firmly recalling that the Church is attached to the term ‘transubstantiation’: it is not a question of mere ‘transignification’ or ‘transfinalisation’. What takes place is a “conversion of all the substance of the bread to the body of Christ and all the substance of the wine to the blood of Christ; a singular and marvellous conversion, which the Catholic Church names in all accuracy and in the proper use of the term, ‘transubstantiation’”. The Church fixed an immutable rule of language which “must religiously be respected”. The word employed by the Church is particularly adequate, and belongs to these formulas which are “intelligible for men of all times and all places”.
To support his argument, the Pope quotes testimonies of the Fathers of the Church and the Councils, in order to show the constancy and the unanimity of tradition in the assertion of this doctrinal point.
This miraculous conversion involves the Real Presence of the Saviour. This presence is not merely symbolic, but it is at the same time sacramental: “by the effect of the words of consecration He begins to be sacramentally present as spiritual food for the faithful under the species of bread and wine”. It is also real and substantial: “this presence is named ‘real’, not on a purely exclusive basis, as if the other manners of presence were not ‘real’, but par excellence or “antonomasia”, because it is substantial, and Christ, the God-man, thereby makes Himself present entirely”. Consequently Christ is present, “truly, really and substantially, under the appearance of these realities perceptible to the senses”, as Paul VI recalls, quoting the Council of Trent. He also specifies that “Christ whole and entire is present in His physical, even corporeal, reality, although according to a different mode of presence from that in which bodies occupy a place”. Therefore it is not the senses that should be trusted, “but the words of Christ, which have the capacity to change, to transform, to ‘transelementize’ the bread and the wine into to the Body and Blood of the Lord”. Consequently each fragment must be the object of “precautions and an extreme respect”. The Pope also underlines that this presence is not brought about only by the faith of the Church, “but by the fact of objective reality itself”. This objective reality means that the Real Presence remains in the sacred species even after the Mass. Worship is therefore always due to them: it is necessary to offer “this worship of adoration to the Sacrament of the Eucharist not only during the Mass but also apart from its celebration”. The Christian tradition is rich in testimonies concerning this worship. One should not cease to promote it: “Please promote, without sparing words or efforts, Eucharistic worship, towards which all other forms of piety must ultimately converge.” We should therefore be mindful to visit and honour the Blessed Sacrament.
It seems, then, that the Pope insists particularly on the dogma of the Real Presence and transubstantiation, and on the bond of the Eucharist with the mystery of the Church, and especially her unity. This forms part of a detailed reminder of the many points of doctrine related to a correct approach to this sacrament. None the less, the Pope reaffirms that the Eucharist is, and remains, a mystery of faith, as the title of the encyclical underlines, along with the words of the hymn of Saint Thomas: “Taste, touch and sight in thee are each deceived/The ear alone most safely is believed”. This is why Paul VI affirms that “the Eucharist is a most sublime mystery and even, properly speaking, as the Liturgy says, the Mystery of faith.”
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