Final Report: English-Speaking Participants

48th International Eucharistic Congress

Guadalajara, Mexico

The Final Report on the

Experiences, Insights and Recommendations of the

English-Speaking Participants of the

48^th International Eucharistic Congress

10/15/2004

INTRODUCTION:

The assembled English-speaking participants consisted of approximately two dozen archbishops and bishops, three dozen priests, two dozen religious sisters and nine dozen lay people from many different English-speaking nations.   This Report is a compilation of comments made during the session of 10/13/2004.  During the meeting of 10/15/2004 at St. Jerome Catholic Church, Guadalajara, Mexico, the English-speaking participants voted unanimously to submit this Report to the Congress with additions.

The Eucharist, Mystery of Communion and Mission.

The theme of our session was The Eucharist, Mystery of Communion and Mission. We believe that the Communion and Mission aspects of the Sacrament of the Eucharist are essential and inseparable.  One leads to the other.

COMMUNION:

The English Delegation focused first on The Holy Eucharist as the essential source of the communion of persons:

1. When we receive Holy Communion, we come into union with Jesus Christ: ¨He who eats my body and drinks my blood will live in me and I in him.¨ That leads us to participate in His communion with the Father, our brothers, oneself and the world. To practically live this out, we need the healing ministry of Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

2. By virtue of our Baptism into Christ, we are in communion, because our faith, life and worship are marked by unity, continuity and universality. The Holy Eucharist is the center, basis and foundation of our Catholic Faith. We come together in communion as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ during the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. The oneness of worship is offered world-wide as a visible sign of thanksgiving and praise offered to the heavenly Father. We give witness to one and the same Gospel to the world.

3. Peoples of different countries and cultures are in communion with each other as one family as a result of the sharing of the Holy Eucharist. We all jointly share in the joys and sufferings of Christ. Indeed, our reception of the Holy Eucharist and prayers in union with the Eucharist are what make possible all communion among persons.

4. In our communion as one church throughout time, we participate in the Last Supper. The Eucharist is our spiritual nutrition on our journey to the Father.

5. The Eucharistic sharing makes peace within ourselves so that we can be in peace with others. Community, in the truth and fullness of the Faith, gives us strength and courage to witness and share with love. We all share not only in our common faith, but also in our unity of work. There should be no separation or division from the common effort in parishes and various ministries.

6. We live our communion with each other when we share in Christ´s life-giving mission to others through our works of charity, both spiritual and corporal. In this way, we share with one another a unity of love for Him and others.

7. Celebrating the Eucharist and receiving Holy Communion also enables us and moves us to be in communion with all, including common efforts of charity and justice, often with other churches or people of other faiths. 

8. We live out and witness to our communion by being in unity with the mind of Christ. He said to St. Peter and the Apostles, ¨He who hears you hears me.¨ and again to St. Peter, ¨I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven...¨ (Mt. 16:17&18). So, we are in unity with the mind of Christ when we are in union with His vicar and the bishops teaching and governing in union with him.

9. In order to help enhance and promote the building of community, our members of the Roman Catholic Church need to receive the Most Holy Sacrament worthily. Also, the participants thought that there needs to be much more authentic catechesis on the Eucharist.  Specifically mentioned in the small groups was the recommendation that the lay faithful be educated on the true nature of the Eucharist using the documents of Vatican II, the encyclical,  Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the documents of this International Eucharistic Congress.  A study guide developed for the documents of the Congress is  available at  http://www.oakdiocese.org/congress/EuchCongStudyGuide.pdf. 

   MISSION:

The delegation then focused on many various aspects of the Eucharist and its essential role in living our mission as Catholics.

1. Each person among us has a unique mission, a call from God. He is our sustenance in order to be able to fulfill our Baptismal mission. That mission may take the form of our Sacramental vocation such as the priesthood or matrimonial life, or the vocation of the religious and consecrated single life. Each aspect of our life, and the opportunities of loving charity to God, our fellow man, ourselves or the world needs the presence of Love Himself  feeding the hungry, reaching out to our brothers and sisters to make them feel welcome in our church, even being able to see the presence of Christ in our fellow man. One participant shared that receiving Jesus in the Eucharist was the best thing that he could do for his marriage.

2. We should intentionally make our reception of Holy Communion an expression of love. That will make it possible to reach out to specific people in love. We need to pray to God for the ability to do that.

3. In the mission which becomes possible because of the Eucharist, and is mandated by the reception of the Eucharist, we must reach out to others.  That outreach is often experienced on the feeling level which is best accomplished on the person-to- person level.  People are drawn into deeper communion with the community and new members are drawn into the Church.  Many examples of this were given.  Especially prevalent among the concerns of the participants were the following: a.) The need to make people feel welcome in the parishes; b.) The need to get people involved in parish life and the liturgical services; c.) The need to reach out and invite non-practicing Catholics back to the Church so that they may acquire a better understanding of the Catholic Faith and benefit from the sacraments, penitential services and retreats; d.) Going door-to-door in the communities to reach out not only in invitation to full participation in the religious life of the church, but to respond to the specific needs of the local community including driving the elderly, visiting the sick and bringing parish bulletins to those who are shut-in, material support where needed including soup kitchens-- involving particularly children in these outreaches to benefit them in their training for life; e.) Loving and caring for each member of our immediate family, praying together and going to Holy Mass and sacraments together;  f.) Spreading the good news to those poor of spirit who do not yet have the benefit of our Faith; g.) Listening with love to all those whom God has allowed in our lives and especially those who are hurting;   h.) Being a good example in our workplace and home;  i.)  Helping others develop spiritually to become truly alive in the Lord;  j.) Being missionary in nature--going out to places to witness for Christ; k.) Having concern for the environment, our natural life source;  l.) Reaching out to other Christians as our brothers and sisters in Christ;  m.) And, most importantly, bringing Holy Communion to those sick and shut-in brothers and sisters of our community or arranging for the celebration of Holy Mass in convalescent homes, where possible. The example of Mother Teresa of Calcutta was mentioned several times.

4. In order to do these things, we must own the truth of the Eucharist ourselves. We must have enthusiasm and love for our Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.  See the face of Jesus in the consecrated host.  We cannot share what we do not have. This will help us to have the quality of personal boldness to not compromise, to be, to know and to share our Faith, to be obedient, to be servants.

5. We must prepare to receive Our Lord worthily. The very reception of the sacrament worthily is in itself a great source of grace not only for ourselves but for the many and is, therefore, in itself of a most laudable, charitable and missionary nature.

6. We should all work to have the Eucharist affect our daily lives, to be connected to our daily lives, not just in church.  Members of the group used expressions such as  "to live Christ", "to be His light", "to be Christ to the World", "to become alive in the Lord",  ¨We become tabernacles of Christ.¨, ¨Being a living image of Jesus Christ¨, ¨Say what you mean and mean what you live.¨, ¨Make the Gospel real.¨ , ¨Going out and living it.¨, ¨Being other-centered.¨ ,¨We are missionaries in our field of work; wherever the Lord places you, you labor.¨  We can do this by means of daily Mass and other prayer, especially before the Blesed Sacrament, and Eucharistic Adoration. This has been exemplified by the wonderful hospitality shown to all Congress participants by the people of Guadalajara.     

7. All of our talents, goods and activities should be placed at the service of God.

8. For all of these things to happen, we need holy bishops and priests. We need for our priests and bishops to offer the daily Mass, pray, especially the daily Breviary and before the Blessed Sacrament. Then, spread devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

IN CONCLUSION:

We discover more fully that the profound personal communion with Jesus and with one another in the Holy Eucharist naturally leads to the sharing in His mission which is the eternal communion of each soul with and in Him.

ADDITIONS MADE 10/15/2004:

1.        The term "sacrifice" should be included in both sections, Communion and Mission.

2.        That in the section on Communion, number eight should be in first position.

3.        Add the clarification that we must reach out to all, not only fellow Christians.

4.        The laity is called to holiness as well as bishops and priests.

Respectfully submitted by

Bishop Albert Le Gatt
Canada
Moderator

Ralph and Brigitte Desimone
Secretaries