Cardinal O’Malley Visits BC; Talks about Eucharist

Cardinal Seán O’Malley greets audience members after his presentation last week

Last Tuesday The School of Theology and Ministry, in company with The Church in the 21st Century Center, invited the Archbishop of Boston to deliver a speech on the importance of the Eucharist. The Archbishop, Seán Cardinal O’Malley, was invited to speak on the way in which the Eucharist participates in the lives of Christians.

The dean of the School of Theology and Ministry introduced Archbishop O’Malley as both a man of authority within the Church as well as theological scholar. A second introduction by a Capuchin friar (the archbishop’s religious order) laid the floor bare for the speech by telling of the Cardinal’s ministry. He focused on his ministry in D.C., when the Cardinal was teaching at Catholic University. The Cardinal lived with an immigrant population and maintained a lifestyle concurrent with them. He refused to change his poor living conditions until some of the issues ailing this community were remedied.

The Cardinal’s discussion of the Eucharist was meant to engender a reverence for the Sacrament, and the strength for a reverent life that comes from the Eucharist. His speech was not steeped in the nuances of the Christian teachings of the Eucharist. Instead, he fleshed out the topic through real-life experiences and stories. The Cardinal’s first point was the great accessibility of the Eucharist to the Christian community. Mass is celebrated many times a day all around the world. God makes himself available with great frequency and resultantly the reflected attitude is one of commonality. In contrast, the Cardinal suggested that followers would make attendance a life’s goal if the Eucharist were celebrated only annually.

In order to demonstrate a true reverence for the Eucharist, the Cardinal told a story that transpired during his ministry in Washington, D.C. Many of his parishioners lived with intimate partners outside of marriage. During Sunday Mass these men and women would not receive Communion because they did not feel that they had prepared themselves appropriately. The Archbishop impressed upon the attendants that the Eucharist is not a gift to be taken for granted.

Father O’Malley credited the culture of immediate gratification with the predominant lack of reverence for the gift of the Eucharist. Christianity holds that the Eucharist is not to be held back but instead given freely. However, the Cardinal stressed the importance of being in a state of preparedness or even grace to receive the Eucharist. Immediate gratification permeates our reverence towards the reception of God.

Christians fall into the impression that reflection and preparedness are not necessary. The Cardinal suggested that prayer and reconciliation (confession) help in opening one’s self to Communion.

The Cardinal then focused on the charge that accompanies the gift. At the last supper Jesus tells his disciples “ As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). In the Christian tradition, the assumption of Jesus during the Eucharist helps to propel one towards charitable acts.

The Eucharist is then instrumental in understanding why Christians are charged with a life of service. Jesus exemplifies the self-giving love that acts as a model to be followed.

In the final moments of his presentation the Cardinal introduced a connection between the role of the Eucharist and some of the more contentious issues in Christianity. He suggested that faithful Christians, in concert with full gravity of the Eucharist, are charged to live chaste lives and grow a sensitivity to the impoverished. He went so far as to say that if one takes the Eucharist and is not affected towards these qualities then something is wrong.

In all, the Cardinal wanted to highlight that Christians should not passively participate in a ritualistic manner. Instead, Christians should recognize the importance of the gift and allow it to direct one’s life to emulate the model of Jesus Christ.

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