The Social Justice Dimension of the Eucharist

Abstract

If there is no difference between the actions of those who celebrate the Eucharist and those who do not partake of it, then perhaps the real meaning of the Eucharist has not been fully grasped. This paper is an attempt to explore this lack of meaning of the Eucharist, especially in terms of the social-justice dimension of this most profound act of Christian worship. After sketching the historical background of the Eucharist, we shall look at some of the attitudes with which the Eucharist has been celebrated and lived, and then attempt to see a new way of understanding the Eucharist with a special call to its requirement of the crucial struggle for social justice.