The sacrament contributes to the five key areas of the Diocese of Knoxville’s strategic plan
By Father Randy Stice
Bishop Mark Beckman has begun implementing his pastoral vision for our diocese, “Bearing the Light of Christ in East Tennessee.” One of the chief ways that the light of Christ is communicated to each of us is through the Eucharist. “The Eucharist is a mystery of light!” exclaimed St. John Paul II.1 In the Eucharist, we receive Christ who is “the light of the world” (John 8:12). “Bearing the Light of Christ” is rooted in the diocesan strategic plan. In this column I want to discuss how the Eucharist contributes to the five key areas of our strategic plan: vocations to the priesthood, youth and young adult engagement, neighbors in need, discipleship formation, and the mission of Catholic schools.
The first priority is vocations to the priesthood. In an oft-quoted essay, Father John Hardon made three assertions about the Eucharist and vocations.2 First, the Eucharist “is the best way to foster vocations” because when we receive Christ in Communion we “obtain light and strength that no one else has a claim to.” Second, “the Eucharist is also the best way to recognize vocations,” because a man devoted to the Eucharist “is an apt subject for the priesthood.” Recent statistics bear this out. Over 80 percent of diocesan priests ordained in the last two years regularly participated in eucharistic adoration prior to entering the seminary. And third, the Eucharist is “the infallible way of preserving one’s vocation.” Christ calls men to the priesthood, and He will sustain them.
The second priority, youth and young adult engagement, is also enlivened by the Eucharist. Pope Francis, in his letter to young people, Christ is Alive, emphasized the power of the Eucharist to draw and engage young people. “Despite the changing times and sensibilities of young people, there are gifts of God that never grow old, for they contain a power transcending all times and places. There is the Word of the Lord, ever living and effective, the nourishing presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the sacrament of reconciliation, which brings us freedom and strength.”3 God is always offering us more: “more of His friendship, more fervor in prayer, more hunger for His word, more longing to receive Christ in the Eucharist, more desire to live by His Gospel, more inner strength, more peace and spiritual joy.”4 Just like the grain of mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32), a small seed planted by young people can bear abundant fruit because it “has its living source in the Eucharist, in which our bread and wine are transformed to grant us eternal life.”5
The third priority is reaching out to neighbors in need. In this regard, St. John Paul II called the Eucharist “the school of active love for neighbor.”6 Pope Benedict XVI elaborated on this in The Sacrament of Charity: “In the Eucharist Jesus also makes us witnesses of God’s compassion towards all our brothers and sisters. The eucharistic mystery thus gives rise to a service of charity towards neighbor… the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in Him to become ‘bread that is broken’ for others, and to work for the building of a more just and fraternal world.”
Just as He once fed the 5,000, “Christ continues today to exhort His disciples to become personally engaged: ‘You yourselves, give them something to eat’ (Matthew 14:16). Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world.”7 So vital is this aspect of the Eucharist that St. John Paul II said that “our concern for those in need … will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our eucharistic celebrations is judged.”8
The fourth priority is discipleship formation. Pope Francis wrote of “formation by the liturgy.”9 The Eucharist forms us in many ways. In the Liturgy of the Word, we hear and respond to the Word God speaks to His people today. The Mass is a school of prayer: confession (“I have greatly sinned”), petition (“only say the word and my soul shall be healed”), intercession for the Church and the world (“Grant us peace”), praise (“You are indeed holy, O Lord”), thanksgiving (“always and everywhere to give you thanks”), and the Lord’s Prayer, “the most perfect of prayers.”10
The common postures of kneeling, standing, sitting, and genuflecting form us by fostering attitudes of prayer, listening, humility, adoration, and worship. Finally, St. John Paul II called the Eucharist “a great school of peace, forming men and women who, at various levels of responsibility in social, cultural, and political life, can become promoters of dialogue and communion.”11
The fifth priority is the mission of our Catholic schools. The Eucharist is essential to all instruction and catechesis, since “it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of human beings.”12 The purpose of the Catholic school is centered on “constant reference to the Gospel and a frequent encounter with Christ.”13 In this regard, the Congregation of Catholic Education emphasized the importance of our encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. “The moment of closest encounter with the Lord Jesus occurs in the Eucharist, which is both Sacrifice and Sacrament. In the Eucharist, two supreme acts of love are united: Our Lord renews his sacrifice of salvation for us, and He truly gives Himself to us.”14
In the Eucharist we receive Christ, “the true light, which enlightens everyone” (John 1:9). The enlightening light of Christ draws men to the priesthood, invites young people to Christ and His Church, leads disciples to serve those in need, conforms disciples more deeply to Christ, and is the heart of the transforming power of Catholic schools to transform lives. The Eucharist illuminates us and sends us out to bear the light of Christ to East Tennessee.
1 St. John Paul II, Stay With Us Lord, 11
2 Father John Hardon, “The Eucharist and Vocations,” religiouslife.com/fr-hardon-sj/the-eucharist-and-vocations
3 Pope Francis, Christ is Alive, 229
4 Christ is Alive, 161
5 Christ is Alive, 173
6 St. John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae, 6
7 Pope Benedict XVI, The Sacrament of Charity, 88
8 Stay With Us Lord, 28
9 Pope Francis, Desiderio Desideravi, 34
10 St. Thomas Aquinas, quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2774
11 Stay With Us Lord, 27
12 Catechesi Trandendae, 23; italics added
13 The Catholic School, Congregation for Catholic Education, 55
14 The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, Congregation for Catholic Education, 78
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.