Dr. Ann Riggs, NCC Faith and Order Director, Reflects on Pope's Holy Thursday Encyclical

On April 17, 2003, Holy or Maundy Thursday, in the Western Christian churches, Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical on the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist. Entitled Ecclesia de Eucharistia (On the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church), the encyclical is addressed to the members of the Catholic Church. It is, however, of general interest to those in ecumenical relationship with the Catholic Church and several sections make points of specific ecumenical significance.

The document unfolds in an introduction (paragraphs 1-10), six chapters: The Mystery of Faith (11-20), The Eucharist Builds the Church (21-25); The Apostolicity of the Eucharist and of the Church (26-33), The Eucharist and Ecclesial Communion (34-46), The Dignity of the Eucharistic Celebration (47-52), At the School of Mary, "Woman of the Eucharist" (53-58), and a conclusion (59-62). The text reiterates teachings of the Council of Trent, the Second Vatican Council, a variety of Papal encyclicals, including Pope John Paul II’s own 1995 encyclical on ecumenism Ut unum sint, and the norms of the Catholic Church’s two law codes, the Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

The Pope’s personal Eucharistic devotion is warmly present in the text as he recalls the special experience of celebrating the Eucharist in the room that tradition identifies as being the very Upper Room of the Last Supper and reflects on his more than fifty years of priesthood and twenty-five years as Bishop of Rome. He closes the Marian section with a characteristic joining of themes. "Every time the Son of God comes again to us in the ‘poverty’ of the sacramental signs of bread and wine, the seeds of that new history wherein the mighty are ‘put down from their thrones’ and ‘those of low degree are exalted’ (cf. Lk 1:52), take roots in the world. . . . The Eucharist has been given to us so that our life, like that of Mary, may become completely a Magnificat!" (# 58)

The text uses as underpinning the biblical narratives and theological reflection of the Gospels, Acts, I Corinthians, Hebrews, Revelation and the hymn to Christ of Philippians 2. It weaves together insights from the wide variety of ancient Christian traditions, John Chrysostom, Ephraim, Ambrose, Cyril of Alexandria, and the Liturgy of St. James, and closes with a poem, hymn, of Thomas Aquinas.

The Pope makes reference in his own reflection to a broad range of themes that have come to be of particulate concern or emphasis in a very wide variety of present day Christian communities. There is evident a vivid awareness of the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist, the connection between the Eucharist as remembrance and Eucharist as anticipation of the final fulfillment of all things. This relationship leads or ought to lead in the Eucharist to a stronger awareness of the needs of the world for justice, peace, and care. In the Eucharist Christ enters into friendship with us each believer as an individual and makes the Eucharistic community a sign of salvation for the world, empowering mission and bringing about sanctification of the community.

In these few paragraphs, the text reflects familiarity with the concerns of a wide diversity of ancient Eastern Asian churches, the diverse Byzantine churches, Mennonites, the Religious Society of Friends, Pentecostals, those who have traditionally questioned and feared that adoration of the Eucharist might be an idolatrous worship of the elements rather than true worship of Christ, those that have been traditionally concerned to emphasize an understanding of the work of the Cross as a sacrifice made by Jesus on our behalf, and the concerns of those, especially Holiness and Mainline Protestant churches, that have traditionally emphasized the need for the Eucharist to be connected with care of the poor and those suffering from injustice. Because of our many years of dialogue together the Pope can address his own people throughout the world in a way that others will be able to overhear and know that he is aware of their faith and faithfulness and their longing for greater unity in the life of the Church. The fact that our churches have come to know one another well enough that the Pope is able show an awareness of and respect for the teachings and spirituality of so many Christian communities is a sign of tremendous ecumenical success.

It is clear that for some the encyclical’s reiteration of our still existing disunity will give pain. Some have hoped that as we have been able to articulate greater unity in our understanding of the apostolic faith it would be possible for greater openness in sharing of the Eucharist among the Christian communities. For some it will give pain as the Pope reiterates here that for the Catholic Church Eucharistic openness, beyond the needs of specific individuals in particular cases of urgent need and under specific conditions, there are limits which cannot be transgressed and from which it is not possible to give dispensation. For some it will give pain to hear the pontiff reiterate that for his Church sharing in the sacrament of the Eucharist requires unity among Christian communities not only in the apostolic faith, as it may be articulated in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and recent ecumenical successes such as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, but also unity "in the Church’s hierarchical order" (#35) and the sacrament of Orders.

In reading this Paschal message, in the ecumenical community we can choose to be discouraged by how long the path is before us. Or we can join with Pope John Paul as he reiterate his own reflections from Ut unum sint: "And yet we do have a burning desire to join in celebrating the one Eucharist of the Lord, and this desire itself is already a common prayer of praise, a single supplication. Together we speak to the Father and increasingly we so ‘with one heart’"(# 44 quoting Ut unum sint # 45).

The Commission on Faith and Order at the NCCCUSA includes representatives from the wide spectrum of church communities with which the Pope has indicated his familiarity in the encyclical: ancient Eastern churches of Asia, the Byzantine churches, Mennonites, the Religious Society of Friends, Pentecostals, Evangelicals who have feared that adoration of the Eucharist might be a form of idolatry rather than worship of Christ, those who emphasize an understanding of the work of the Cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, Holiness and Mainline Protestant churches, as well as representatives of the Catholic Church. The Commission is presently engaged in long-term study of all the issues Pope John Paul has identified as necessary for full communion and Eucharistic sharing with the Catholic. One study has engaged specifically the theme of "full communion" and is nearing the completion of an initial four-year enquiry. The Commission has committed itself to a second four-year period of study continuing the probing of this theme. Another of the Commission’s studies of the past four years has been a study of authority in the Church, which has engaged among other questions, issues of hierarchical order in the churches, including the Catholic Church. That study group anticipates having a convergence text on Authority in the Church ready for publication after the fall 2003 meeting of the Commission.