By E.S. Kerwin, Notre Dame
Dear Council Fathers,
Your venerable forefathers observed that the “circumstances of the life of modern man [had] been so profoundly changed in their social and cultural aspects, that [they could] speak of a new age of human history.” (1)
Now sixty years into this “new age,” we find our societies, and even our Church, split into a thousand pieces, most men sidelining, if not outright rejecting, their Lord and Creator. Children trafficked, an unprecedented number of families broken, social and political ideologies becoming the mainstream: these and numerous other societal diseases plague modern man in most of today’s world. Yet, we must not neglect to mention an issue weighing most heavily on some of our hearts – the consistent decline of Holy Mass attendance and belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Knowing, with St. Augustine, that “God in His Omnipotence could not have given [us] more… than the Eucharist” we must ceaselessly endeavor to make every Christian, and indeed every human being, understand, believe in, and love Him Who “is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life.” (2)
The actions undertaken worldwide over the past several years to increase love for our Eucharistic Lord have proved remarkable, seeing that they aim to make man concern himself once again with Jesus Christ our Lord in the way most intimate this side of heaven. These include, among others, the United States’ National Eucharistic Congress and Eucharistic Revival, the London Eucharistic Octave, the development of Eucharistic Congresses in Africa, and the grassroots efforts of millions of faithful Catholic Christians around the world to spur Eucharistic Adoration and a return to the Most Holy Sacrifice. We, the faithful, hope sincerely that these continue as long as possible.
However, our efforts would surely prove remiss if we stopped at emphasizing the need for continually more Eucharistic initiatives to blossom. In fact, numerous Catholic Christians seem to sense a problem more fundamental, which from roughly the fall of Rome to turn of the twentieth century, and now again in these latter days, infects the Christian world: the failure to see the Eucharist as Heaven Himself, the goal of all our loves and desires.
In the disorder and disillusionment following the collapse of the once-seemingly-impenetrable (Western) Roman Empire, the devil greatly delighted in gradually drawing Christians away from the practice of frequent, even daily, reception of Holy Communion. (3) This most grievous trend continued to the degree that the Fourth Council of the Lateran bound all Catholics under pain of mortal sin to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, and that during Easter time. (4) Yet, even this entrenchment of the “Easter Duty,” followed by the Eucharistic teachings promulgated at the Council of Trent, and subsequent initiatives centered around the Most Holy Sacrament, failed to reach significant parts of the Christian world. Not until the turn of the twentieth century did we see a marked increase in the faithful frequently receiving the Spouse of their Souls.
We would like to draw particular attention to that ‘Pope of the Eucharist,’ and indefatigable destroyer of heterodoxy, Pope St. Pius X. His efforts helped the Church embark on a new golden age of Eucharistic devotion and catechesis. Nevertheless, for all his and his successors’ efforts, love for this Sacrament of sacraments plummeted in the wake of the immediately preceding council.
Instead of understanding the Eucharist as the Divine Presence, from Whom all graces and good works flow, the culture formed in the post-Conciliar period reduced our Eucharistic Lord to a discardable symbol, an expendable habit important only insofar as it served the new gods of social work, political involvement, and that so-called “liberation” of man, which really constituted an attempted exoneration of man from all debts of sin and the responsibilities of duty.
Now having the priviliege of gazing back upon the onslaught wrought by these cultural upheavals, a privilege unenjoyed by the fathers of the Second Vatican Council, we wish you, venerable fathers, to further expound upon your predecessors’ championing of the universal call to holiness, now more than ever in light of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Over half-a-century has passed since the Church’s heightened emphasis on the Universal Call to Holiness began. This great call extends to every single soul. Yet, we find in our world today too few who realize the tremendous import of such a call. On one side, we sense a laudable veneration of the saints, yet one that looks on them from afar, as though the ordinary man cannot attain their virtue. More often than not, such a lax gaze seems to arise more from a lack of desire to love God, rather than from a genuine and intrinsic disparity between the individual and the canonized.
On the other hand, we find those who rightly emphasize the “ordinariness” of the saints, that they dropped not out of the sky, but, reared in the world’s midst, penetrated the depths of God’s love through continual prayer, penance, and perseverance to the end. But, we also see in this vein a frequent overemphasis on the ordinary nature of the saints, as though the path to sainthood proves an easy one, without the patiently-borne sufferings and trials present in the life of every canonized saint.
We therefore urge you to propose, as a general rule of life for every Christian, a form of living as old as it is virtuous. And that is to live a hidden, steadfast life, replete with charity and humility, centered entirely on the Lord. Conseuqently, for one to live in this manner, he or she must seek always to love God alone and above all else, whereby, seemingly paradoxically, he may only then love his neighbor to the full. For, by forgetting all else besides God, he grows free to seek for his fellow man naught except God.
Now, where, we might ask ourselves, where can we turn to find this God, both omnipotent and all-Loving, immutable and yet personally interested in each individual? The answer: the place where this Love beyond all loves makes Himself available to us under the humble means, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, where, under the appearances of bread and wine, Christ in his entirety, comes to dwell not only in all the tabernacles of our churches, but even within the tabernacles of our hearts. There, in mystical union, we can most easily and most lovingly surrender ourselves to Him, allowing Him to transform us into His “little” saints, as the Little Flower often fondly remarked. Indeed, we can allow Him to mold us into little Christs, ready and eager to set on fire a world drowned by the floods of sin.
Furthermore, we ought never to fear of loving the Eucharistic Christ too much, as the late great holy father, St. John Paul II repeatedly lived and proclaimed. Consequently, in this vein, we would like you to encourage all bishops, pastors, priests, and laymen of all occupations and positions in society to ceaselessly work for greater Eucharistic love within their cities, towns, and parishes, not overlooking even seemingly insignificant small changes.
In fact, there stands one issue, in particular, which seems to press continually the sensus fidelium, which has risen steadily in scale over the past several decades, only recently beginning to improve: the failure to use some form of guard to prevent accidental desecration of the Eucharist. In the 19th and 20th centuries, this guard often took the form of the communion paten (still seen in some churches today), which provided a means of catching particles of our Lord which accidentally fell from the priest’s fingers during the distribution of Holy Communion. We would like to see the use of the paten reintroduced worldwide (as already articulated in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal), (5) its meaning and purpose thoroughly explained to parishioners by their parish priests.
This reversion to a largely forgotten practice will, in our estimation, serve not only the practical purpose of preventing our Lord from being trampled underfoot, but also the indirect purpose of drawing attention to the awesome dignity of the Blessed Sacrament, engendering a greater love for Him in the hearts of Catholics.
Now, we recognize the potential difficulties of pursuing such a course, particularly in light of occassional objections from some pastors that such a change would require the daily presence of altar servers to hold the paten for the priest. While this concern is understood, we do not think this objection precludes one from utilizing such an instrument. If there is no altar server available that day, then perhaps a parishioner could at the time of the distribution of Holy Communion, holding the paten for the priest as a server would. Or, if the priest is using a tall ciborium, he may be able to hold the paten in the same hand as the ciborium. Thirdly, if the priest uses a larger, shallower, ciborium, he could utilize the vessel itself as a functional paten. Not only does this usage work to prevent potential desecration, but it also does work to edify the congregation, even if by initially subtler means than a paten.
The reintroduction of the communion paten may serve the stellar purpose of both a direct service to our Lord Who has humbled Himself to such mean estate, as well as a means to prompt the congregation to approach the Holy Table with their hearts and exterior “girt about with [the] truth” of charity (Eph 6:14).
We would also, in this letter, like to suggest that you, dear fathers, encourage pastors do all in their power, in tandem with their parish community, to work towards restoring the ancient and venerable practice of preferring the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to occur in the morning. Though it is true that the beginnings of the Church saw Christians hearing Holy Mass in the evening times, it quickly became the norm for this Sublime Mystery to be celebrated in the morning, as the focus shifted from aligning It with the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday to doing so with the Resurrected Christ on Easter Sunday. The Church, in her perennial wisdom, has recognized the general restriction of the celebration of the Most Holy Sacrifice to the morning to produce numerous advantages, chief among which stand a general increased attention and awareness from the lay faithful who have not yet been tired by the duties and burdens of the day, a generally greater preparation for the Sacrifice in terms of fasting, maintaining the midnight fast from any solid or liquid nourishment and thus giving God the first fruits of the day as Abel so gave to Him, and finally, the reality that we seek first those whom we love the most, meaning that those who seek the Lord above all things seek Him first both in the “day” of their lives, as well as in the daily rising and setting of the sun.
Finally, we implore you to earnestly beseech all Christians to foster a deep and abiding love for and devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God. All the love and care for Eucharist just advocated above can be realized fastest through the Mother of God, and, in some ways, by God’s will, only through her. We understand and affirm with that Martyr of Charity, St. Maximillian Mary Kolbe, that we ought “never be afraid of loving Mary too much [for we] can never love her more than Jesus did.” (6) Through her, the Church will triumph, through her all souls will be saved, for it is through her that God has chosen to administer every single grace that comes to mankind. If you want to know Christ, therefore, and if you want to love Him, hidden under the sacramental species in His most loveable form, go then to the divinely appointed Mother of our Lord, that Mother who hid Him in her womb for nine months, and for thirty years kept Him in anonymity.
Trusting then in her motherly and regal intercession, in the love and benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, we commend these thoughts and desires to your apostolic charity and authority.
Footnotes
1 Catholic Church, “Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI, December 7, 1965.
2 Vatican Council II, “Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI, November 21, 1964.
3 Pope St. Pius X, “Decree on Frequent and Daily Reception of Holy Communion,” December 20, 1905.
4 Fourth Lateran Council, “Canon 21,” 1215.
5 Catholic Church, “General Instruction of the Roman Missal 118,” 1969.
6 Patti Maguire Armstrong, “It Is Impossible to Love Mary More Than Jesus Did,” National Catholic Register, November 13, 2020, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/it-is-impossible-to-love-mary-more-than-jesus-did.
Bibliography
Catholic Church. “Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.” Promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI. December 7, 1965.
Catholic Church. “General Instruction of the Roman Missal 118.” 1969.
Fourth Lateran Council. “Canon 21.” 1215.
Maguire Armstrong, Patti. “It Is Impossible to Love Mary More Than Jesus Did.” National Catholic Register, November 13, 2020. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/it-is-impossible-to-love-mary-more-than-jesus-did.
Pius X, Pope St. “Decree on Frequent and Daily Reception of Holy Communion.” December 20, 1905.
Vatican Council II. “Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.”
Promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI. November 21, 1964.
This essay followed the prompt: You are a representative at the Third Vatican Council and have 1,500-2,500 words to explain an issue that you believe needs utmost attention in the Church today. What will you say to the Council Fathers?