‘A love for the Eucharist leads to a growing appreciation of the sacrament of reconciliation’
By Father Randy Stice
All the sacraments,” said the Second Vatican Council, “are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it. For in the most blessed Eucharist is contained the entire spiritual wealth of the Church, namely Christ Himself.”1 For this reason, the Eucharist is called the “sacrament of sacraments”2 and is “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend.”3 In this and subsequent columns, I want to look at the relationship between the Eucharist and individual sacraments, beginning with the sacrament of reconciliation/penance.
“A love for the Eucharist,” wrote Pope Benedict XVI, “leads to a growing appreciation of the sacrament of reconciliation.”4 This connection is rooted first in Christ’s initial announcement of the Gospel, as St. John Paul II explained: “Indeed, if the first word of Christ’s teaching, the first phrase of the Gospel Good News, was ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel’ (Mark 1:15), the sacrament of the Passion, cross, and resurrection seems to strengthen and consolidate in an altogether special way this call in our souls. The Eucharist and penance thus become in a sense two closely connected dimensions of authentic life in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel, of truly Christian life. The Christ who calls to the eucharistic banquet is always the same Christ who exhorts us to penance and repeats His ‘Repent.’ Without this constant, ever-renewed endeavor for conversion, partaking of the Eucharist would lack its full redeeming effectiveness, and there would be a loss or at least a weakening of the special readiness to offer God the spiritual sacrifice in which our sharing in the priesthood of Christ is expressed in an essential and universal manner.”5
A second link between penance and Eucharist is found in Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians. St. John Paul II wrote, “Nor can we, on the other hand, ever forget the following words of St. Paul: ‘Let a man examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup’ (1 Corinthians 11:28).” The Apostle Paul’s exhortation “indicates at least indirectly the close link between the Eucharist and penance.”6 Citing this same passage, Pope Benedict urged that “an authentic catechesis on the meaning of the Eucharist must include the call to pursue the path of penance.”7 (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29).
Pope Benedict also observed that we “are surrounded by a culture that tends to eliminate the sense of sin” In “Reconciliation and Penance,” St. John Paul II noted the loss of the sense of sin and identified several contributing factors/discussed various factors that have contributed to this crisis. These include the influence of secularism, explanations that shift blame from the individual to societal or environmental influences, a rejection that certain attitudes and actions are always sinful, identifying sin as “a morbid feeling of guilt or with the mere transgression of legal norms and precepts,” and “preaching a love of God that excludes any punishment deserved by sin.”8 Losing a sense of sin, wrote Benedict, “always entails a certain superficiality in the understanding of God’s love.”9
Pope Benedict suggested an effective way to counteract the loss of a sense of sin. “Bringing out the elements within the rite of Mass that express consciousness of personal sin and, at the same time, of God’s mercy, can prove most helpful to the faithful.”10 First, there are elements that we all say together. In the “Confiteor/I confess,” each of us acknowledges, “I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault.” And just before receiving Communion, we pray together, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
The pope also noted the beautiful prayers said quietly by the priest. When the priest proclaims the Gospel, he first prays, “Cleanse my heart and my lips, almighty God, that I may worthily proclaim your holy Gospel.” At the conclusion of the Gospel, the priest or deacon kisses the book and says, “Through the words of the Gospel may our sins be wiped away.” When the priest washes his hands he prays, “Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Finally, before inviting the assembly to Communion the priest quietly prays, “By your most holy body and blood, free me from all my sins and from every evil; keep me always faithful to your commandments, and never let me be parted from you.”
The intimate connection between penance and the Eucharist deepens our understanding of the Eucharist, that here we encounter Christ Himself, the entire good of the Church. Realizing “who it is that we receive in eucharistic Communion” impels us to pursue holiness through penance and confession, which “are essential for sustaining in us and continually deepening that spirit of veneration which man owes to God Himself and to His love so marvelously revealed.”11
1 Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 5
2 Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 1211
3 CCC, 1374
4 The Sacrament of Charity (Charity), 20
5 The Redeemer of Man, (Redeemer), 20
6 Redeemer, 20
7 Charity, 20
8 “Reconciliation and Penance” (1984), 18
9 Charity, 20
10 Charity, 20. Examples taken from The Order of Mass, Roman Missal, third edition
11 Charity, 20
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.