For more Living the Eucharist: A Reading of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Mass on the World

Abstract

The Eucharist, more than any other sacrament, is a highly symbolic ritual. Without a renewed effort to appropriate its meaning, it can become for the faithful (especially for priests, seminarians and religious) a mere compulsory rite and not, as it should be, a source of spiritual nourishment. In fact, beyond popular jubilations as experienced during Eucharistic celebrations in Africa or the gloomy involvements that masses show in some parts of the world, what meaning does the Eucharist bring so that it gives sense to the daily life? What do we mean by claiming that the Eucharist is the centre of Christian life if its celebration becomes just a routine? There is a need to find and appropriate contextualised meanings of gestures and words of Eucharistic celebrations in order to make them more living and deeply transforming.