Catholics throughout the world have just experienced a Passion tide like no other. 

Holy Week in the year 2020 will not soon be forgotten by faithful Catholics deprived of

attending parish liturgies.  From a small country parish in Texas to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, from Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain to Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the pews are empty.

We miss public worship and our parish communities.  We mourn being kept from the real presence of Christ in the tabernacle and being unable to receive Him in the Eucharist.  When this chaos is over, it is hoped Catholics will have developed a greater fervor for the Real Presence.  Yet, is it also possible this deprivation we now experience could lead us all to a more complete understanding of what the Mass really is?

Reading the online news, one finds many reactions to the situation Catholics throughout the world must now face.  The website for the Archdiocese of New York reads, “Masses Canceled in Archdiocese of New York.”  At a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mass is offered outside and Holy Communion is distributed as congregants come from their cars a few at a time.  A grateful parishioner remarks, “In front of the TV, I wouldn’t have had the Eucharist and that’s the most important part of the Mass.”  A priest in Italy has taped photos of his parishioners to the pews so that he might look at them as he celebrates Mass behind closed doors.

These scenarios indicate that now might be an excellent time, as we stay at home in social isolation, to read or re-read, the beautiful letter from Pope John Paul II “Ecclesia de Eucharistia” 

so that we might form a more perfect understanding of the celebration of the Eucharist. On each Holy Thursday throughout his pontificate, Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to the priests of the world.  The last such letter he wrote, to mark the twenty-fifth year of his reign, was written to the entire Church, because he wanted all the faithful to experience the Eucharist, “ever anew.” Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 7   Let us spend some time during this present crisis pondering the meaning of our Sunday obligation, the Holy Mass, so that when we are able to return to our parishes, we may experience the Eucharistic celebration with a renewed sense of awe in this great mystery.

We know that bishops around the world have not actually canceled Mass.  Catholic priests continue to celebrate Mass each day, but without the presence of a congregation.  For some it may seem strange to hear that the Mass can be celebrated without a congregation present to receive the Eucharist.  What exactly takes place at Mass if it can be celebrated without the community of the faithful gathered together?

As a church musician, the meaning of the Mass is something I have often reflected upon.  It is important to understand what the Church teaches regarding the celebration of the Eucharist. Music chosen to celebrate a community gathering will not be the same as the sung words of a sacred action.

In Ecclesia de Eucharistia, John Paul II repeats what the Church has always taught, the Mass is the “sacramental re-presentation” of Christ’s passion and death. “It is the sacrifice of the Cross perpetuated down the ages.” Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 11  Catholics in their pews each Sunday may not be mindful of the Mass as the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross. What does this actually mean?

In the children’s catechetical program, The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, there is a lesson for children ages three to six which offers a visual explanation.  The children have the opportunity to work with a diorama of the Cenacle.  The catechist reads Mark 14:12-17, 22-24, and 26 while the children have the figures of the Apostles and Christ prepare the table, move into the Cenacle for the Last Supper, and go out to the Garden of Olives.  The catechist finishes the scripture reading and proclaims to the children that the next day Jesus was crucified.  At this point a crucifix is placed in the center of the table in the Cenacle.  The catechist continues and tells the children that on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead.  Two candles are then placed on the table in the Cenacle and lit. Suddenly the table looks exactly like the altar which the children see each Sunday in church.

This is a beautiful, visual representation of what the Church teaches.  The Holy Mass instituted at the Last Supper was completed with Christ’s last words on the Cross, “It is finished.” John 19:30 The Body we receive is the living, resurrected Christ.  “The Eucharistic Sacrifice makes present not only the mystery of the Saviour’s passion and death, but also the mystery of the resurrection which crowned his sacrifice. It is as the living and risen One that Christ can become in the Eucharist the “bread of life” (Jn 6:35, 48) Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 14  Through the gift of the Eucharist “Jesus Christ entrusted to his Church the perennial making present of the paschal mystery. With it he brought about a mysterious “oneness in time” between that Triduum and the passage of the centuries.” Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 5

During Holy Week 2020 the Triduum was celebrated and the paschal mystery was again made present.  Christ, through His priests, offered Himself to the Father.  It is the priest who, “by the authority given him in the sacrament of priestly ordination, effects the consecration. …..or rather he puts his voice at the disposal of the One who spoke these words in the Upper Room and who desires that they should be repeated in every generation by all those who in the Church ministerially share in his priesthood.” Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 5  The Holy Father continues   “As I have pointed out on other occasions, the phrase in persona Christi “means more than offering ‘in the name of’ or ‘in the place of’ Christ. In persona means in specific sacramental identification with the eternal High Priest who is the author and principal subject of this sacrifice of his, a sacrifice in which, in truth, nobody can take his place”.  Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 29

This is not to say that the Catholic laity do not have a role to play in the celebration of the Eucharist. At the Mass, following the Consecration, we pray the oblation, “…we, your servants and your holy people, offer to your glorious majesty from the gifts that you have given us, this pure Victim, this holy Victim, this spotless Victim, the holy Bread of eternal life and the Chalice of everlasting salvation.” The Roman Missal, ICEL   The Church not only encourages the laity to embrace the Mass as the most important part of their Christian spiritual life, but places them under obligation to attend the celebration of the Eucharist on certain days. “In offering the Mass, the baptized laity offer themselves, as well as the Son, to the Father through their royal priesthood.  However, “it is the ordained priest who, “acting in the person of Christ, brings about the Eucharistic Sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people”. 56 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 28

The teaching of the Church has thus been, and continues to be, that although the laity participate fully in the celebration of the liturgy, it is the priest who makes the offering.  “We can understand, then, how important it is for the spiritual life of the priest, as well as for the good of the Church and the world, that priests follow the Council’s recommendation to celebrate the Eucharist daily: “for even if the faithful are unable to be present, it is an act of Christ and the Church”.65 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 31

Until the present social distancing ends, Catholics can remain joyful in the knowledge that behind the locked doors of our churches, the Holy Mass continues to be celebrated. And although we grieve that we are unable to participate in the Mass, we know that “as often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our pasch is sacrificed’ (1 Cor 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out.” Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 21 While the Catholic faithful are keptat home only able to watch the Mass on the internet or on television, Christ continues to build His Church by offering His sacrifice to the Father through His priests. 

Easter Week, 2020

Mrs. Zuberbueler holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia and a Masters in Music Education from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.   A church musician and music teacher for over twenty years, she is currently the Director of the International Center for Ward Method Studies at the B. T. Rome School of Music, Drama and Art, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.