Sacramentum Caritatis
(The Sacrament of Charity)
This column was written by Michael Brumley, candidate in the Permanent Diaconate Formation program for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.
Benediction of the blessed sacrament begins with presider going to the altar, genuflecting, then kneeling, and incensing the blessed sacrament while a eucharistic song is sung. He then rises and offers a prayer which he chooses from the liturgical rite. The prayer is a petition that starts with expressing our faith and belief in Jesus’ presence in the sacrament, celebrates the salvation won for us, and pledges our undivided love and loving service to others.
It is within this prayer, and its alternative forms, that we find a petition and grace for living a Eucharistic life – a life of faith and service celebrated in continual thanksgiving.
Our recently deceased Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in his Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, reflected on The Eucharist as A Mystery to be Believed, to be Celebrated, and to be Lived. Benedict sought to stir in our hearts “a renewed commitment to Eucharistic enthusiasm and fervor in the Church” (SC, 5) inviting all of us to enter into the Benediction prayer and seek to live more fully a Eucharistic life.
The Holy Eucharist – The Sacrament of Charity
Benedict XVI, in the opening paragraph of Sacramentum Caritatis, describes the Holy Eucharist as “the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God’s infinite love for every man and woman.” Later in that same paragraph, drawing from the words of John the Evangelist, Benedict reflects on the amazement of the Apostles in “witnessing what the Lord did and said during that Supper” and then in experiencing Jesus’ love “to the end” (Jn 13:1) by “lay[ing] down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). In this opening paragraph Benedict explains the Eucharist as a sacrament instituted by a ritual meal which both anticipated and celebrated the sacrificial offering of Jesus’ body and blood and as this “wondrous” sacrament that makes “manifest that ‘greater’ love” (Jn 13:1). Benedict also points to key elements of the Eucharistic Liturgy – a gift of Jesus himself, a ritual meal, and a sacrifice – all acting together as the action of Christ (truly present) to reveal to us God’s infinite love for every man and woman.
In the second paragraph Benedict explains how “Jesus shows us in particular the truth about the love which is the very essence of God.” He goes on further, “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 center of her life, is constantly concerned to proclaim to all… that God is love. 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.”
A Mystery to be Lived
Benedict specifically encourages “Christian people” to seek a deeper “understanding of the relationship between the eucharistic mystery, the liturgical action, and the new spiritual worship which derives from the Eucharist as the sacrament of charity”(SC, 5). He calls each of us to enter into a “new way of understanding and living one’s life” (SC, 77) as a sacrifice to enter “into full communion with the Pasch of Jesus Christ” (SC, 85).
An Invitation
Benedict proclaims that God is love and invites every one of us to reflect on this truth, to see this truth, to accept this truth, and to receive and consume this truth as “food of truth.” As Lent approaches, I encourage you spend some time each day with Pope Benedict in reflecting on his words in Sacramentum Caritatis, especially during this Eucharistic Revival, so that the love of the Eucharistic may burn in your hearts.