Issues Around Eucharistic Practice

Abstract

The current state of liturgical life in the Church is marked by theological tension and competing practices. Recent documents from Rome like Redemptionis Sacramentum (On Certain Matters To Be Observed or To Be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist) are marked by a change of tone and vision with regard to liturgical celebration and ongoing renewal. The return to a view of liturgy as rubrics and the sharpened distinction between the ministerial priest and the lay faithful are indicative of deeper theological tensions. According to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963, hereafter CSL), the entire celebration of the Eucharist, rather than only the words of institution, is an expression of the Eucharistic faith of the Church. And so, we can say that the deep pattern of the celebration of the Eucharist—the Liturgy of the Word, Eucharistic Prayer, and participation in Bread and Cup—is a text-in action (see Ricoeur, 197–221) that is both a model of what we believe and a model for what we believe and its ethical implications (see Geertz, 87–125). Each of us reads and interprets every facet of the Eucharistic celebration from our subjective perspective, that is, the understanding that we bring to our participation. It is, therefore, not surprising that there should be such a wide range of reactions among pastoral ministers to the recent documents and directives pertaining to this central act of worship. What are some of the sources of these tensions?