| POST-SYNODAL
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS
OF THE HOLY FATHER
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY,
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON THE EUCHARIST
AS THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT
OF THE CHURCH'S LIFE AND MISSION INDEX Introduction [1]
 The food of truth [2]
The development of the eucharistic rite [3]
The Synod of Bishops and the Year of the Eucharist [4]
The purpose of the present Exhortation [5]
PART ONE:
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED
The Church's eucharistic faith [6]
The blessed Trinity and the Eucharist
The bread come down from heaven [7]
A free gift of the Blessed Trinity [8] The Eucharist: Jesus the true Sacrificial Lamb
The new and eternal covenant in the blood of the Lamb [9]
The institution of the Eucharist [10]
Figura transit in veritatem [11] The Holy Spirit and the Eucharist
Jesus and the Holy Spirit [12]
The Holy Spirit and the eucharistic celebration [13] The Eucharist and the Church
The Eucharist, causal principle of the Church [14]
The Eucharist and ecclesial communion [15] The Eucharist and the Sacraments
The sacramentality of the Church [16]
I. The Eucharist and Christian initiation
The Eucharist, the fullness of Christian initiation [17]
The order of the sacraments of initiation [18]
Initiation, the ecclesial community and the family [19]
II. The Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation
Their intrinsic connection [20]
Some pastoral concerns [21]
III. The Eucharist and the anointing of the sick [22]
IV. The Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders
In persona Christi capitis [23]
The Eucharist and priestly celibacy [24]
The clergy shortage and the pastoral care of vocations [25]
Gratitude and hope [26]
V. The Eucharist and matrimony
The Eucharist, a nuptial sacrament [27]
The Eucharist and the unicity of marriage [28]
The Eucharist and the indissolubility of marriage [29] The Eucharist and Eschatology
The Eucharist: a gift to men and women on their journey [30]
The eschatological banquet [31]
Prayer for the dead [32] The Eucharist and the Virgin Mary [33]
PART TWO:
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE CELEBRATED
Lex orandi and lex credendi [34]
Beauty and the liturgy [35] The eucharistic celebration, the work of “Christus Totus”
Christus totus in capite et in corpore [36]
The Eucharist and the risen Christ [37] Ars celebrandi [38]
The Bishop, celebrant par excellence [39]
Respect for the liturgical books and the richness of signs [40]
Art at the service of the liturgy [41]
Liturgical song [42] The structure of the eucharistic Celebration [43]
The intrinsic unity of the liturgical action [44]
The liturgy of the word [45]
The homily [46]
The presentation of the gifts [47]
The Eucharistic Prayer [48]
The sign of peace [49]
The distribution and reception of the Eucharist [50]
The dismissal: “Ite, missa est” [51] Actuosa participatio [52]
Authentic participation [53]
Participation and the priestly ministry [53]
The eucharistic celebration and inculturation [54]
Personal conditions for an “active participation” [55]
Participation by Christians who are not Catholic [56]
Participation through the communications media [57]
Active participation by the sick [58]
Care for prisoners [59]
Migrants and participation in the Eucharist [60]
Large-scale celebrations [61]
The Latin language [62]
Eucharistic celebrations in small groups [63] Interior participation in the celebration
Mystagogical catechesis [64]
Reverence for the Eucharist [65] Adoration and eucharistic devotion
The intrinsic relationship between celebration and adoration [66]
The practice of eucharistic adoration [67]
Forms of eucharistic devotion [68]
The location of the tabernacle [69] PART THREE:
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE LIVED
The eucharistic form of the christian life
Spiritual worship – logiké latreía (Rom 12:1) [70]
The all-encompassing effect of eucharistic worship [71]
Iuxta dominicam viventes – living in accordance with the Lord's Day [72]
Living the Sunday obligation [73]
The meaning of rest and of work [74]
Sunday assemblies in the absence of a priest [75]
A eucharistic form of Christian life, membership in the Church [76]
Spirituality and eucharistic culture [77]
The Eucharistic and the evangelization of cultures [78]
The Eucharist and the lay faithful [79]
The Eucharist and priestly spirituality [80]
The Eucharist and the consecrated life [81]
The Eucharist and moral transformation [82]
Eucharistic consistency [83] The Eucharist, a mystery to be proclaimed
The Eucharist and mission [84]
The Eucharist and witness [85]
Christ Jesus, the one Saviour [86]
Freedom of worship [87] The Eucharist, a mystery to be offered to the world
The Eucharist, bread broken for the life of the world [88]
The social implications of the eucharistic mystery [89]
The food of truth and human need [90]
The Church's social teaching [91]
The sanctification of the world and the protection of creation [92]
The usefulness of a Eucharistic Compendium [93] Conclusion [94]
1. The sacrament of charity (1), the Holy Eucharist is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God's infinite love for every man and woman. This wondrous sacrament makes manifest that "greater" love which led him to "lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). Jesus did indeed love them "to the end" (Jn 13:1). In those words the Evangelist introduces Christ's act of immense humility: before dying for us on the Cross, he tied a towel around himself and washed the feet of his disciples. In the same way, Jesus continues, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, to love us "to the end," even to offering us his body and his blood. What amazement must the Apostles have felt in witnessing what the Lord did and said during that Supper! What wonder must the eucharistic mystery also awaken in our own hearts! The food of truth 2. In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God's image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27), and becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free (cf. Jn 8:32), Christ becomes for us the food of truth. With deep human insight, Saint Augustine clearly showed how we are moved spontaneously, and not by constraint, whenever we encounter something attractive and desirable. Asking himself what it is that can move us most deeply, the saintly Bishop went on to say: "What does our soul desire more passionately than truth?" (2) Each of us has an innate and irrepressible desire for ultimate and definitive truth. The Lord Jesus, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim hearts, our hearts yearning for the source of life, our hearts longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself. "Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom: without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to empty caprice. With him, freedom finds itself." (3) In the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus shows us in particular the truth about the love which is the very essence of God. It is this evangelical truth which challenges each of us and our whole being. For this reason, the Church, which finds in the Eucharist the very centre of her life, is constantly concerned to proclaim to all, opportune importune (cf. 2 Tim 4:2), that God is love.(4) Precisely because Christ has become for us the food of truth, the Church turns to every man and woman, inviting them freely to accept God's gift. |
