Dear brethren,
Eucharist is Jesus' sacramental self-gift to us. The Church, therefore, draws life from this most wondrous Sacrament and cannot survive without it. For, it is the real and life-giving presence of the Lord and Master within the community of his disciples.
The Eucharistic Lord sustains the universal Church, and strengthens it so that it could withstand any evil onslaught from both within and without. This is effected by means of our intimate communion with Him. Each time we receive Him, in a state of grace, He draws us into His act of self-oblation; absorbs us unto Himself, and transforms us into His own likeness. That is the life-giving principle of the most Holy Eucharist. The Church is thus powerfully transformed and becomes the continuous presence of Christ in history. Each local Church participating in this mystical heavenly food becomes part of that supreme presence.
The Archdiocese of Colombo too wishes to delve deep into that life-giving mystery of the most holy Eucharist with a view to transforming itself, becoming a blessing to all those around her. She wishes to stop and take stock of her blessings and strengths along with her cares and concerns, and be renewed and filled with the life of the Eucharistic Lord. She recognises the centrality of this most wondrous Sacrament in her life of faith and wishes to stay ever more intimately united to Him. Indeed it is for this very purpose that we decided to institute a special year of the Eucharist in the Archdiocese of Colombo focussing our faith firmly on Him.
And so, I wish to address all our priests, religious and the laity on the envisaged activities of this Year of the Most Holy Eucharist which will commence on the 29th August 2010 at the National Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka at Tewatte. It will end on the 28th August 2011.
Uppermost in our mind is that this is a spiritual endeavour and it must be accepted and understood as such by all. Hence, at the very outset, I appeal to all priests, religious and laity to pray everyday for the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we may allow the Spirit of God to lead and direct our way through this spiritual journey. When and where possible I encourage fasting and penance, being our time-tested sources of spiritual power, so that we would always remember the purifying and reconciling power of the Passion of our Lord. Priests, religious and laity are invited to pray in groups and in the presence of the most holy Eucharist when they meet for deanery meetings or other spiritual exercises, not just in passing or in general, but in particular. I propose a triduum of fasting and prayer on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, i.e., 25th, 26th and 27th of August 2010, before we launch the Eucharistic Year on the 29th of August at the National Basilica at Tewatte. It is recommended that wherever possible Eucharistic adoration and benediction be held on 27th August Friday, after an evening Mass, as a culmination of this triduum of prayer and fasting.
I also wish to stress on the value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for it is important that we receive the Lord frequently and in a state of grace. I encourage the frequent and intense use of this great sacrament of healing, which opens us to the loving and life-giving mercy of God.
01. The Year of the Eucharist will be officially launched at the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka, at Tewatte, on 29th August 2010 during the afternoon service which begins by 1.30 p.m. His Eminence Antonio Cardinal Canizares Llovera, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Vatican will be the presiding celebrant at this solemn ceremony. I invite all priests, religious and laity to take part in this event of the inauguration of the Eucharistic Year. We expect one representative from each parish, religious congregation, apostolate, institution and school, to take part in the special Eucharistic Procession with a specially designed banner and a lamp, the details of which will be communicated to you by the Archdiocesan Liturgical Service shortly, through the deanery liturgy coordinators. Please make sure that you are suitably dressed for this spiritual exercise. I strongly recommend a decent white dress.
02. On 29th August priests are requested to make arrangements to celebrate an extra Mass in the morning where necessary, so that the evening is left free for all priests and people to come to Tewatte. Parish priests who have to come from a distance could make arrangements to come by buses with their faithful so that they may participate in one of the late morning Masses, and be at the Basilica before the beginning of the afternoon inauguration. Any extra banners with quotations about the Eucharist are welcome, though they may not be allowed to be taken in procession. Every parish is expected to participate in this event along with their pastors, without exception.
03. All priests in the Archdiocese, both diocesan and religious are most cordially invited to participate in the three-day Convention on the Sacred Liturgy which will be held from 1st - 3rd September at Aquinas University College, Colombo 8. I look forward to the participation of all priests, without exception, from the beginning till the end of the Convention. Please inform the parishes and institutions beforehand so that you could make yourselves available at Borella. If, for some unavoidable reason someone has to absent himself, let him obtain permission to do so personally from me. We are not in a position to find accommodation in Borella for those Fathers who need to stay overnight in Colombo. Hence, we have made the Retreat House at Tewatte and Subodhi Institute at Piliyandala available on these days for the priests to stay for the night if necessary. Please make sure that you inform the archdiocesan coordinator in writing before 25th July, if you wish to do so, and once you reserve a room, please make sure that you occupy it for the three days. Further information about the Convention on the Eucharist will be made available to you in due course of time.
04. We have decided to invite 5 priests from all the other dioceses which will include the Vicar General and the diocesan Liturgy Coordinator. Three members from all non-clerical religious congregations will also be invited. Due to unavoidable circumstances we are not in a position to invite anymore participants. Since the numbers are large we are not in a position to provide accommodation for the visitors, and they are invited to make their own arrangements in that regard. Lunch and refreshments will be provided for all participants.
05. On the 5th of September, Sunday, the Year of the Eucharist will be launched in all parishes and institutions. Parishes are free to organise a special spiritual program for the day. All parish priests and heads of instutions and Directors of various Apostolates are kindly requested to organise special programs for the Year, while ensuring that they do not clash with activities at the archdiocesan and deanery level. Please send me in writing the programs you have planned in your parishes, institutions and apostolates before the 1st of August, with a copy to the Archdiocesan Coordinator for Liturgy.
06. The Year of the Eucharist will be launched in schools on the 9th of September. Please follow the instructions sent to the schools in this regard by the Manager of the Catholic schools, Revd Fr Ranjith Madurawela. Special programs have already been planned for schools by the Education Office and they will be carried out in schools during the Year.
07. The Religious are kindly requested to make use of the Year of the Eucharist for spiritual renewal within their own congregations and communities and to think very specially about their own missions within the archdiocese of Colombo. They could be actively engaged in parishes, schools, institutions and apostolates in making this Year a very meaningful one. I appeal very specially to the Contemplative Orders to pray unceasingly during this Year for the guidance of the Spirit of God. For their annual retreats and days of recollection, the religious also could take up the themes suggested by the archdiocese on the Eucharist.
08. May I request all parishes, religious houses, schools and institutions to display banners with the theme and the logo of the Year of the Eucharist as a sign of public witness and a reminder to all our faithful that this is an Year of spiritual renewal. Families also may join in this wherever possible, by displaying a suitable banner or a flag in their homes, especially along the main roads.
09. The Theme hymn of the Year of the Eucharist will be made available in all three languages to all deanery liturgy coordinators by the 15th of July. They are requested to make copies to be distributed among parishes, religious houses, schools and institutions. It is expected that all faithful will know this theme hymn by the time they come to Tewatte in August. Please make use of the music and the guide CD with the musical track to learn the hymn.
10. A special brief prayer for the Eucharistic hymn is also ready in all three languages. This prayer is to be prayed before the beginning of Masses from 29th August 2010.
11. The Year of the most Holy Eucharist will come to an end in 2011 on the last Sunday in August at Tewatte at which His Eminence Christoph Cardinal Schornborn, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria, will preside over.
01. Uppermost in our mind is the urgency to live the Eucharist in daily life through well-coordinated and directed works of charity. I have already requested Seth Sarana, the social services arm of the Archdiocese, to work out a plan of action in this connection. The most holy Eucharist is broken before its reception. It becomes our strength and nourishment only in this broken form. The vine is pressed and crushed before it becomes the most Sacred Blood that purifies and begets new life. Similarly, we need to break ourselves for others, and be pressed and crushed for justice and peace simultaneously as we believe and celebrate this most holy Sacrament. Hence, I very earnestly request all priests, religious and the laity to combine devotion with animation to show our love for the poor and the less fortunate people in our society by engaging in works of corporal mercy. Let our love extend not only to the poor people, but also towards mother nature so that our Eucharistic spirituality would incorporate also an eco-spirituality. Let us not forget that the bread which becomes the body of Christ, and the wine which becomes the Blood of Christ are God's gifts and fruits of the earth's fertility which are produced as food through human labour. Let this Year of the Eucharist be truly an Year to live the love of the Lord among our brothers and sisters, and an Year which will make us be grateful to God for His wonderful creation by safeguarding the equilibrium of nature. Indeed Pope Benedict XVI called for such an engagement in favour of creation when he stated: The Eucharist itself powerfully illuminates human history and the whole cosmos. On this sacramential perspective, we learn day by day, that every ecclesial event is a kind of sign by which God makes Himself known and challenges us. The Eucharistic form of life can thus help foster a real change in the way we approach history and the world(Sacramentum Caritatis 92).
02. While enriching ourselves with the power and blessings of the Eucharistic Lord we look forward to deepening our understanding about the mystery of the Eucharist. Aided and inspired by the theology and the spirituality of the Eucharist we wish to accept the regulation of the celebration of the liturgy not as something imposed on us, but as something which flows naturally from the mystery we need to uphold, cherish and safeguard. I wish to draw the attention of all priests, religious and the laity to what follows in this connection:
2.1 The Liturgical Guardian of the Archdiocese of Colombo which has already been given to the priests in the Archdiocese, and which will be made available for all others from 29th August 2010, is the main point of reference in all matters pertaining to liturgical celebrations within the Archdiocese of Colombo. Please abide by its stipulations faithfully without trying to implement personal views and opinions. Those wishing to do things as they wish make themselves like God himself, and that is self-idolatry. During this Year we shall concentrate very specially towards eliminating all erroneous practices regarding the celebration of the most holy Eucharist, the Sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours. I would draw your attention also to the renovation and construction of churches which need to be done according to the guidelines set forth in the Guardian. In order to deepen our understading about the Eucharist I wish to appeal to all parish priests, heads of institutions, principals of schools, superiors of religious houses to organise liturgical formation sessions on the Eucharist, sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours. Please pay special attention to the training of lectors which is conducted in the Archdiocese as a deanery level training session, formation of choristers and training of church organists while not neglecting other ministries.
2.2 I appeal to all rectors of seminaries, administrators of archdiocesan shrines, superiors of institutions and directors of archdiocesan apostolates to very specially cooperate in this effort. While not exempting others, in such places we cannot tolerate liturgical errors. The Episcopal Vicars and the Deans have been instructed to be responsible for the implementation of the Liturgical Guardian in all parishes and religious houses, while the Archdiocesan Coordinator for Liturgy and the Deanery Liturgy Coordinators have been authorised to closely monitor the progress of this endeavour. Religious in the Archdiocese are not exempted from following what has been accepted as the liturgical law of the archdiocese.
2.3 An effort will be made to make common Latin chants popular during this year. With this aim in mind the Archdiocesan Coordinator for Liturgy, together with Mr Francis D' Almeida will be organising sessions of practice in all 15 deaneries and teach all choirs some basic Latin chants which could be used in parishes and institutions. Once these practice sessions take place parishes may sing at least the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei at parish Sunday Masses on the first Sunday of the month. No. 36 of the Constitution on the Scared liturgy clearly sets forth the principles in this regard. Latin still remains the main liturgical language of the Church. In Sri Lanka we made a mistake in abandoning the language of our worship altogether. Let this Eucharistic Year be an occasion for us to resuscitate this lost tradition at least to some extent. I appeal to all priests, religious and laity to cooperate.
I also wish to affirm that as indicated in the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7th July 2007 priests and institutions are now permitted to celebrate, where it is appropriate, the Tridentine Mass and the Sacraments in that rite. In this case it is best that the faithful be prepared for it beforehand. I myself hope to celebrate a solemn Eucharist in that rite sometime in the near future at the Archdiocesan Cathedral.
2.4 The sub-commission for Sacred Art and Architecture has been authorized to identify some churches for the improvement of church sanctuaries. I appeal to priests not to start renovating anything without the permission and supervision of this sub-commission. This sub-commission has been recently re-constituted and is headed by Revd Fr Cecil Joy Perera, our Liturgy Coordinator. At the same time the Ars Celebrandi required from us require that we think seriously about Mass vestments, altar linen, altar vessels and the liturgical vesture for various liturgical ministries. Let the Year of the holy Eucharist be an occasion to improve all such aspects of our celebration.
2.5 The Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission will also try to provide extra reading material on the holy Eucharist in all three languages. An effort is being made at present to provide a booklet with daily reflections on the Eucharist, and to make available at least some of the major Church documents on the Eucharist. Please try to make use of this Year to read, reflect, discuss and study such source material.
In chapter 6 of the Gospel of John Jesus asked the disciples whether they would also leave Him. And it was Peter who answered, and said Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Jesus said this because by that time, after His discourse on the Eucharist many people began to abandon Him. They wanted only miracles, but Jesus wanted to offer Himself as the true bread from heaven. In the present times also people seem to look for miracles, and often only for miracles. When Jesus begins to talk about belief in Himself, people seem to lose interest. They seem to go elsewhere, Let us remember that the Catholic Church is so rich because of the treasure of the Eucharist. All Churches offer the Word of God. But it is the Catholic Church that can offer the Eucharist in its fullest richness. If people have left the flock due to various reasons, the Lord will continue to ask those of us who are with Him, whether we would also leave Him. We need to answer with Peter, and answer not only for ourselves but also for those who have abandoned the flock. This leaves us with the challenge of bringing those who have gone away back to the Church, though this should not be understood in a narrow sense of augmenting numbers. Let us be nourished by the Eucharistic Lord and be ready to take His love to the world, and thereby whenever possible pray for the unity of all disciples of Christ. Let the Eucharist transform all of us to be a blessing for others.
May the Lord in the most holy Eucharist bless and keep you! May the Blessed Mother and all the saints intercede for you! |
