THE POPE VISITS BY FRANCESCO LUTHERAN AND COMMEMORATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER

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Being able to celebrate together, Catholics and Lutherans the Lord's Supper, It is certainly something beautiful and highly desirable. But if for now we do not agree on what does and says the president or minister of the assembly, and what Christ does happen in that moment, what sense can have an assembly as what some call with severe lightness "intercommunion"?

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Author
John Cavalcoli OP

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The 15 November 2015, to a question on the Holy Communion on him by a lady during the informal meeting at the Evangelical Lutheran Community of Rome, Pope Francis responded: "When asked to share the Lord's Supper is not easy for me to answer, especially in front of a theologian like Cardinal Kasper! I'm scared! I think that the Lord told us when he gave this mandate: "Do this in memory of me". And when we share the Lord's Supper, remember and imitate, we do the same thing that made the Lord Jesus. And the Lord's Supper will be, the final banquet in New Jerusalem there will be, but this will be the last. Instead the path, I wonder - and I do not know how to respond, but his request I make my - I wonder: share the Lord's Supper is the end of a journey or is the encouragement to walk together? I leave the question to the theologians, those who understand ".

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15.11.2015, Pope Francis to visit the Evangelical Lutheran Community of Rome. Clicking on the image you can open the video footage of the Vatican Television Center

The Holy Father visited the 15 Last November the Evangelical Lutheran Community of Rome [see video, WHO] and he mentioned the significance for Christians of ritual commemoration of the Last Supper, urging those present to a deepening and clarification of the Lord's words pronounced on the bread and wine, and formulating the hope that one day all Christians, overcome the current divisions, can, on the basis of existing common values, from Baptism, remember and live in perfect and full communion among themselves this key event in the life of Christ and consequently of our salvation.

Being an ecumenical encounter occasional and informal, Pope obviously has not even mentioned the Catholic dogma of the Eucharist, about which they are still ongoing discussion, negotiation and ecumenical officers of experts, in which the Pope did not want to go. He merely noted that we Catholics agree with the Lutherans to recognize that when the minister of the church service repeats the Lord's words over the bread and wine narrated in the Gospels, The faith of all Christians is that Jesus Christ is really present in the glorious celebrating community with the offer of his grace.

This truth of faith shared by all, He has made it clear the Pope, is one of the bases of dialogue and debate that, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in sincere charity and a spirit of reconciliation in diversity, It should lead to the unity of eschatological one flock and one shepherd.

The speech of the Holy Father at the Evangelical Lutheran

As we all know, Luther, opposing the dogmatic interpretation of the traditional Church, denied that Christ, after the words' this is my body ", meant that this, he had in his hands was no more bread, although it maintained the appearance of bread, but it was just really, and substantially His body. Luther believed that this was a false interpretation and that until then the Church was wrong. Because of this, he thought he had found the truth, interpreting the words of Christ in the sense that he would be present in the bread, as if he had said: "I am in this bread", thus formulating the concept of presence "in-with-and-under the species of bread and wine ". However, this does not correspond at all to what really and literally said Jesus.

Memorial holy and living

Even Jesus, with the word "this» Even Jesus, with the word "this" [this, in Greek (the οὗτος, she, this, "this"), which corresponds to the Latin hoc], he meant to say "this bread", because it is a neutral, namely 'this thing', "This substance" in a generic sense, so that it can refer either jointly or with bread and body, because it is the moment in which the bread is the body transustanziando. The other part, it is impossible that Jesus meant to say: "This bread is my body ', because it would be an absurdity: nothing can be a thing and simultaneously be another thing. Everything has its own identity and excludes all other than her. Instead Luther seemed absurd that the bread should repent in the substance of Christ's body keeping accidents or form or "species" own bread. Indeed, he paid no attention to the fact that among the accidents and substance of created there is a real distinction, and therefore a principle of separability, whereby, although in fact in nature it never happens that there are accidents without their substance or a substance without its accidents, if he had kept in mind the above-mentioned separability, would have no difficulty he remains faithful to dogma and he would have realized that it was not the Church to err, but it was him.

Mass of the Holy Father Francis

Now, Ecumenism is certainly looking what we Catholics have in common with the Lutherans. However, Catholics can not be satisfied and stop, as mistakenly believes Rahner [1], the findings of the Truth, albeit beautiful and consoling, resulting from or arising out of the ecumenical agreement, almost that with what our duties to the Lutheran brothers and their love for Christ and for us until finished, as if there was nothing else to do for us Catholics and the unit was already achieved, ma, on the basis of common values, we Catholics have to find them and to their service, life, times, places, the ways and methods charitable, cautious, lowly, fermi, persevering, patients, persuasive, to lead them and prepare them to gradually regain lost truths and among these is the right interpretation of the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood, and then that of the Mass at the Last Supper by the Lord.

Mass of the Holy Father Francis

Being able to celebrate together, Catholics and Lutherans the Lord's Supper, It is certainly something beautiful and highly desirable. But if for now we do not agree on what does and says the president or minister of the assembly, and what Christ does happen in that moment, what sense can have an assembly as what some call with severe lightness "intercommunion"? Which communion where there is division? Let us unite where we can be united, that is where we have the same faith. If one believes what the other believes false true, and vice versa, that sense may have come together on a similar basis? You can do communion on a given thing, when we accuse each other of being the fake precisely rifermento that thing, ie on the basis of the disagreement on what is the truth of faith in the game or on the meaning of Christ's words? Let us agree now to where you can do it. We do not force things. Expect more, It would be fiction or comedy, in the end, offensive of the Christ, we all love. Let's get used to wait, while we operate the can. "Sopportiamoci one another in love" [cf. Ef 4,2].

Journeying through the paths of the Spirit …

Not precorriamo times, we advance where the path opens, in "reconciled diversity", in testimony and in the search for truth, in that degree of communion, that for now we are not allowed, In respect, in forgiveness and mutual correction, giving us the works of justice and charity, particular attention to the poor, to the needy and suffering, without stagnation, but without haste, without illusions, but without losing heart, devoted to prayer and asking light to the Word of God.
These are tips, stimuli and ideas that come to us or we can come from the words of the Holy Father. Welcome them with confidence, and let them earn, open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit unpredictable and invigorating.

Varazze, 17 November 2015

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[1] Rahner explains his thesis in the book Union of Churches. Real possibility, Publishing Morcelliana, Brescia 1986.

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