The Catholic Liturgical Celebration of The Sacrament of Eucharist and The Two Other Foundations of Catholic Theology

This paper comprises of two written assignments. This first assignment is a detailed description of my experiences at the celebration of the Catholic liturgical celebration of the Sacrament of Eucharist. On the other hand, the second assignment is on two ‘’other foundations’’ of Catholic Theology; the two foundations of Catholic Theology are elaborated and a description of how one would use these two foundations of Catholic Theology in a parish presentation to help the parishioners to identify the ‘’ truths of faith’’ contained within, is given.

In the Catholic Church, liturgy is understood as the official common prayers of the Church. Liturgy is meant to continue the priestly office of Jesus Christ (Pious XII, Mediator Dei). Understood in this sense, liturgy therefore is the official prayers of the Church that is meant to unite the believers, through Jesus Christ, to God, the creator. In the Catholic Church, there are many forms of prayers that are considered as Liturgy. One of the most common and important Liturgy in the Catholic Church is the celebration of the Eucharist. In this paper, I am going to describe my experiences at the celebration of Eucharist. In the description of my experiences at the celebration of Eucharist, I have focused on my experiences of the participant’s interaction, how I experienced the presence of Jesus Christ in the liturgical actions, how I experienced Liturgy as a teaching action, and how my experiences drew me closer to the community with whom I celebrated the Eucharist.

On the interaction among the participants of the Eucharistic celebration liturgy, I experienced that there was a close interaction among all the participants of the liturgical celebration. But, although, all the participants in the celebration related with each other closely, the participants, however, had different roles to play in the liturgical celebration. To begin with, the priest was the presider of the Eucharistic celebration and in that position, he acts in the person of Jesus Christ, i.e. he represents Jesus Christ in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice to God. The other members of the congregation also have different roles to play. Among them, there are choir members who lead the congregation in hymns. Also, there are those who read/proclaim the word, but the Gospel is proclaimed by the priest. But although, there are different roles played by the members of the congregation in the celebration of the Eucharist, the liturgical celebration, however, runs harmoniously and all the members participate keenly in each and every aspect of the celebration of the liturgy; while the priest leads in the celebration of the liturgy, the other members of the congregation participate in the mass keenly and lively and they make some responses where necessarily. In summary, all the participants in the Eucharistic liturgy relate closely and harmoniously in the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy.

In the celebration of the Eucharist, I experienced the presence of Jesus Christ in various ways. First, in the rite of the priest blessing the congregation with the holy water at the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration made me experience a lot of joy and inner peace as the mass started. Secondly, during the proclamation of the word, I felt deeply touched by the word of God. The word of God challenged me, inspired me and encouraged me to be more committed in my Christian life. Also, the preaching of the priest made me experience the presence of Jesus Christ more and more. The preaching of the priest made me understand the content of the word of God more. Then, the Consecration of the bread and wine into body and blood and Jesus Christ made me experience the presence of Jesus Christ more deeply. Again, the receiving of the Holy Eucharist made me to experience the presence of Jesus Christ more deeply. Apart from the prayers in the Eucharist that made me to experience the presence of Jesus Christ quite deeply, the manner in which the prayers were conducted and the various actions in the celebration of the Eucharist made me to experience the presence of Jesus Christ. For instance the kneeling down during the consecration of bread and wine made me to feel humble before God and this made me to experience the presence of Jesus Christ. In nutshell, all of the rites and prayers in the Eucharistic celebration made me to experience the presence of Jesus Christ.

Apart from experiencing the presence of Jesus Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist, I also experienced liturgy as a teaching action. The various prayers recited in the Eucharistic celebration made me to learn more about the teachings of the Church. For instance, the Nicene Creed recited in the liturgy of the Eucharist made me to learn more about the teachings of the Church. The Nicene Creed sets forth the basic teachings of the Catholic Church, especially, the Church’s teachings on the nature of Jesus Christ and his relationship with God the father. Also, the proclaimed word of God in the liturgy of Eucharistic celebration and the subsequent preaching from the presiding priest made me to learn more about the teachings of the Catholic Church. Also, the reception of the Holy Communion gave me a deep spiritual experience and this made me to confirm the truth of the Catholic Church teachings on the Eucharist as the real body and blood of Jesus Christ.

My experience in the liturgy of the Eucharist, also, drew me closer to the community with whom I celebrated the Eucharist. Since all the participants of the Eucharistic celebration were involved in the celebration, the celebration of the Eucharist made me to feel closer to all the participants of the liturgy at the end of the celebration. Also, in course of the Eucharistic celebration, during the sign of the cross, when the participants in the Eucharistic celebration are expected to greet each other as a sign of peace, I felt closer to the rest of the participants. Again, the Holy Spirit that I received during the celebration of the Eucharist made me feel closer to the rest of the participants in the Eucharistic celebration. In general, all the experiences at the Eucharistic celebration made me feel closer to the rest of the participants in the Eucharistic celebration.

One of the foundations of Catholic Theology is the Traditions of the Church. Traditions of the Church refers to all the teachings of Jesus Christ that were handed on from Jesus Christ to the apostles, and then from the apostles to the bishops of the Church up to the modern time (Verbum Dei, web). The Church holds that, although the New Testament records the works and the teachings of Jesus Christ, the New Testament, however, doesn’t record all the teachings of Jesus Christ and, therefore, what the apostles of Jesus Christ learned from Jesus Christ and passed it to the later bishops is as valid as what is recorded in the New Testament about Jesus Christ. The Church also attaches a lot of importance on the teachings of the apostles and on their interpretation of the scriptures. Also, the teachings of the church fathers who wrote in the patristic and post-apostolic period forms an important part of the Church’s tradition. The Catholic Church, therefore, attaches a lot of importance on the traditions of the Church and regards it as the legitimate teachings of Jesus Christ.

The second foundation of Catholic Theology is the Magisterium. The Magisterium is the official teaching body of the Church. The Magisterium is composed of the Pope and all the bishops of the Catholic Church. But, although, the Magisterium is the official teaching body of the Church, the bishops can delegate their teaching job to the priests for efficiency in the spreading of the Gospel. For this reason, the bishops through the authority given to them by the bishops can teach in the Church. The idea behind the Magisterium is the fact that, although Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he did not leave his followers as orphans, but he left an authoritative body that would be able, through the aid of the Holy Spirit, to preach without error on matters of faith. The Church therefore holds that the Magisterium is promised the gift of inerrancy by Jesus Christ himself. In Catholic theology therefore, the theologians should work in collaboration with the Magisterium of the Church and the findings of the theologians should be approved by the Magisterium if the findings of the theologians are to be regarded as the true and official position of the Church.

In the parish setting, I would use these two foundations of Catholic Theology to identify the’’ truths of the faith’’ within. On the traditions of the Church, I would inform the parishioners that the contents of the traditions of the Church are an integral part of the Catholic Theology. I would shore up my argument by arguing that since the disciples of Jesus Christ had been with him throughout his public ministry, they must have learned from him a lot of things from him that could not all be put down in one book. For this reason, these disciples of Jesus Christ had to pass on the invaluable information that they had learned from Jesus Christ, to the disciples who took over from them. In addition, I would argue that all the traditions of the Church are not contrary to the teachings of the Bible, but they are in harmony with all the teachings of the Bible and they explain the biblical teachings more. For this reason, I would tell the parishioners that the content of the traditions of the Church are true, and therefore, should be abided to as the true teachings of Jesus Christ.

On the Magisterium, I would inform the parishioners that the basis of the Magisterium is in the teachings of Jesus Christ. I would argue that the promise of Jesus Christ that he would send the Holy Spirit to the apostles after his ascension, came true when he send the Holy Spirit to his disciples on Pentecost day and he still continues to send the Holy Spirit to the current leaders of the Church, the Magisterium, and therefore the Holy Spirit continues to guide the leaders of the Church to the truth of Jesus Christ’s teachings. As such, I would argue that the promise of Inerrancy to the Magisterium is in the teachings of Jesus Christ. In addition, I would argue that none of the teachings and the biblical interpretations by the Magisterium is contrary to the teachings of the Bible; the teachings of the Magisterium are actually in conformity with the teachings of the Bible. I would therefore call upon the parishioners to accept the authority of the Magisterium and to accept the teachings of the Magisterium as the authoritative teachings of Jesus Christ himself.

To ensure that my parishioners have clearly understood and accepted the truth of these two foundations of Catholic Theology, I would argue that the teachings of the traditions of the Church and the Magisterium of the Church are based on right reason and that they are not contrary to the reason; the content of the traditions of the Church and the Magisterium are explainable in terms of the popular Theology. Just as the ‘’ Letter from a Birmingham Jail’’ shows (Laurance, 2008), theology is reconcilable with the right reason. In the letter, Martin Luther King, jn, defended his agitation for the end of the segregation of the blacks by the whites at Birmingham in Alabama. Martin Luther argued that his actions in a foreign land, Alabama, could be likened to the prophet’s works, whereby the prophets left their homelands to go to preach the word of God in faraway places. Martin Luther also argued that human being segregation is an injustice that dehumanises human beings and, therefore ought to be discarded. Martin Luther, therefore, compellingly argued that segregation is evil and ought to be discarded. Martin Luther’s popular rationalisation of the theology of justice and injustice in this letter made his argument quite effective in convincing people that he was right and that segregation ought to be discarded for it is evil.

I would conclude my argument in my attempt to convince the parishioners of the truth of these two foundations of theology by arguing that the content of the traditions of the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium can be explained in terms of the modern technological theological explanation. This proves that the content of these two foundations of Catholic Theology are true.