The impassioned feelings and sometimes heated controversies surrounding the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Ordo of pre–Vatican II worship highlight the complex nature and sacred purpose of the Eucharist whose institution we celebrate this evening. The relatively simple and pared‑down Novus Ordo might even be considered elaborate when set beside the utter simplicity of that Last Supper on the night before Christ died. Conversely, the older Latin Mass—like the liturgies of the Eastern Churches—can be thought excessively elaborate, risking the obscuring of the central meaning and purpose of the Holy Eucharist. Honoring the central meaning of the Eucharist is, in turn, complicated by its complex nature.
This complexity is evident in the multifaceted reality of the Eucharist. For, it is a sacred meal, a living sacrifice, and the real presence of the Risen Christ under the forms of bread and wine. As such, the Eucharist is a powerful means of grace, sanctification, and ultimately, deification. It is also an expression of heartfelt thanksgiving, but above all, an act of perfect worship—drawing us into Christ’s own worship of the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Eucharist is also a source of communion, binding Christians together in Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church. And for those who approach this great mystery worthily and mindfully, the Eucharist offers a foretaste of future glory and of the ineffable mystery of eternal life with our Triune God.
While the Eucharist as thanksgiving, communion, and foretaste of eternal life harmonize naturally, its other dimensions can be more difficult to integrate within a single sacrament. Thus arises the tension between the imagery of table and altar, between the intimacy of a shared meal and the stark reality of the Cross, and its suffering sacrificial victim. Likewise, there is a tension between the closeness of that Last Supper—Saint John resting his head upon Jesus—and the simultaneous call to bow, kneel, and prostrate ourselves in loving, awe‑filled worship before our God, present on the altar under the very humble forms of bread and wine.
It seems to me that these latter dimensions—worship, reverence, and awe—are at the heart of the present controversies surrounding the celebration of the Eucharist. Complicating matters is the fact that impressive outward expressions of reverence, worship, and homage do not necessarily always reflect the inner state of those performing them. Conversely, simpler and seemingly less reverential gestures may arise from hearts that are truly worshipful, reverent, and filled with awe. This should remind us to be exceedingly careful in judging outward manifestations of worship and reverence, and lead us to resist assigning praise or blame to others whose inner disposition and intentions we cannot possibly know.
Sadly, the failure to guard against such judging is why, in a recent message to the French Bishops’ Conference, the Holy Father lamented that the Holy Mass—meant to be the “sacrament of unity”—has instead become a cause of conflict and division. Therefore, on this Sacred Day when we honor the institution of the Eucharist, let us pray that our common love and devotion to this great Sacrament will inspire a desire to renounce conflict and the divisive polemics that threaten to fragment an already fragmented Christian world. Equally important is that, whether we feel drawn to earlier forms of celebrating the Eucharist or are at peace with the present form, the essential dimensions of humble worship, reverence, awe, and devotion may fill our hearts and be expressed accordingly. Thus may the Eucharist we celebrate bind us anew to Christ and to one another, healing division and restoring in us the humility, reverence, and charity that befit so great a mystery.