Two main objections we hear quite frequently today concerning the Cult of the Eucharistic Presence are answered well by the renowned French theologian, Fr. Jean Galot, SJ. in this and the following article.

IN RECENT YEARS, the cult or worship of the Eucharistic Presence has come under attack, with a notable drop in devotion towards it. The principal objection raised against it centers on its lacking a Biblical foundation and its having been unknown in the practice of the primitive Church. It has been looked upon as a later outgrowth which may interfere with the Sacrifice of the Mass and tend to supplant it. Some stress the fact that Jesus did not tell his disciples to adore his Body but to take it and eat it....

Genuine Worship Never Ceased

Genuine worship is not limited to the days of the primitive Church; it is the worship of a Church that has never ceased to live and to manifest herself ever more perfectly; it is a life which, for its being in continuity with the past, moves ever onwards to a better tomorrow. Worship is forever in a state of progress. That is what the Constitution on the Liturgy, promulgated by Vatican II demonstrates. . . .

In the progress achieved over the centuries, we note the development of Eucharistic adoration. It is not our purpose here to review this development, which took shape especially at the time when medieval theology was busy defining the essential points of Eucharistic doctrine and delving into the full significance of faith it the Real Presence We should like merely to emphasize the fact that this Eucharistic worship has been productive of fruits of sanctity. The witness of the Saints proves that this worship is part of the living Church and an important element in her mission of sanctification of the world.

The contemporary liturgical movement has aimed at giving broader scope to the cult of the Word of God. In the celebration of the Mass, the liturgy of the word plays more actively the role proper to it through a more vital and effective adaptation to the assembly of the faithful. The insistence laid on the homily is part of this renewal.

In extra-liturgical ceremonies, an important place is usually given to the Divine Word by a reading of, or

commentary on, extracts from Holy Scripture. In certain churches, the Missal or the Bible remains permanently exposed so that the faithful may return in the course of the day to nourish their souls with the sacred words.

We would be restricting the cult of the Word unduly were we to picture it as opposed to, or competing with, the cult of the Eucharistic Presence. What, in fact, is the real scope of the liturgy of the Word if not that it necessarily leads, at its summit, to the veneration of Christ? otherwise, it would cease to be what it ought to be and would completely fan in reaching its goal. �In the beginning was the Word� declared St. John at the opening of his Gospel. That Word is the Person of the Son of God, and the Christian religion is the religion of the Word not precisely because it is the religion of a book, bat because it is the religion of a Person. In the Christian perspective, the fundamental Word is Christ, and all the words found in the sacred books are the proclamation or the expression of that one Word.

�The Word was made Flesh�; the great book opened before us by God is his Incarnate Son. The eternal Word, who was �in the beginning,� has come to earth in time and has willed �to dwell among us� The Evangelist declares that this Incarnate Person has made us penetrate into the mystery of God: �No one has at any time seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him� (John 1, 18). The incarnate Word has told as who God is and, by his existence here below, has revealed. to us the secrets of the divine Being.

Law Through Moses, Grace and Truth Through Christ

St. John stresses the greatness of this gift by comparing the Law, the Word par excellence of the Old Testament with the truth revealed by Christ: �The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ� (John 1, 18). The final revelation of God came no longer through the action of a purely human intermediary but through the Son of God made man. The difference between the two is the difference between one who, like Moses, speaks about God, and one who, being God, speaks to us about himself. The revelation is direct: God makes himself known no more by means of words which others speak, but by means of a divine Person present among us. The liturgy of the Word should never lose sight of the fact that by virtue of the nature of Christianity, it must be a liturgy of Christ. The Old Testament is only a preparation of the Presence of the Word made Flesh, a the New Testament is only the expression of it. The sacred books must therefore make room for the Person of the Son of God.

It is here that the profound link between the liturgy of the Word and the veneration of the Eucharistic Presence becomes evident. If revelation consists essentially in the coming of the Son of God and if the Presence of Christ among men is the ultimate truth about God, the permanent Presence of Christ in the tabernacle remains then the revelation par excellence of the truth of God. That Presence is God who gives himself out of love in perpetuity; it is the principal truth that imposes itself upon us: �God is love� (I John 4, 8). The Word made flesh, who abides it the sanctuary, deserves a worship that perfects the cult with which we venerate and receive the Word contained in the books.

Thus is apparent how wrong is the perspective of those who may have been tempted to replace, in the churches, the veneration of the eucharistic Christ with the veneration of a boot. The cultus of the book has meaning only if it leads to the veneration of Christ In the tabernacle as the one divine Word.

It is true that by deferring to Eucharistic adoration, the liturgy of the Word becomes silent. But does not the reception of the Word call for silence? It does happen that some liturgical celebrations are too replete with human words; so much so that they make h almost impossible for the Word of God to penetrate silently into souls. The Incarnate Word that dwells in the tabernacle possesses a silent splendor and is capable of helping the liturgy to appreciate better the value of silence.

The value of the personal Presence of Christ as the supreme Word is still more susceptible of being appreciated in our day, since it harmonizes well with the tendency of the modern apostolate. We note, in fact that this apostolate often places the accent more on a witness of presence than on preaching. The word that gathers hearts closer together is personal behavior, example and a life of brotherhood in one�s own little world. Such is the tendency that has manifested itself In certain forms of Christian presence in the world of labor and in the spirituality inspired by Charles de Foucauld. That form of presence merely prolongs the mystery of the Incarnation, of the divine Word that spats by taking on flesh and dwelling among us; and is particularly in accord with a worship of the Presence of God among men, the worship of Eucharistic adoration, in which are revealed both the drawing power of that Presence and the response of faith in its devotion to a Person.

He Took the Place of God Himself

The return to the Bible, so much to be admired in the Church of today, is most suited to help us explain better and to justify worship of the Eucharistic Presence.

The researches of the exegetes concerning the words of the Consecration lead us to interpret these words in a sense that calls still more for adoration. In the Creek text of the Gospels, we read; �This is my body.� These words evoke only the thought of the body of Christ. But in the Hebrew or Aramaic language, the words �This is my Flesh� had a broader meaning. The word �flesh� usually designated the whole person. By stating that this flesh was present Christ wished, therefore, to speak of the gift of his entire self through the gift of his Body....

By proclaiming himself present in his Flesh, did he not imply that he meant to continue dwelling among us? The Eucharistic words connote an extension of the Incarnation and, at the Last Supper, Christ gave sufficient evidence of his intention to remain with his disciples: �Abide In me, and I in you. ... Abide in my love� (John 15, 4, 9). Thus he manifested he intention of offering is not a passing Presence but an eternal one.

The whole Biblical background of the first Eucharistic Meal confirms this intention. When Jesus said to his disciples, �Do this In remembrance of me� (Luke 22, 19), he replaced the Paschal Meal which was being held in remembrance of Yahweh and of his favors, with a Meal which was to be repeated in remembrance of himself, he set himself at the center of the new cult in the same way that Yahweh was present to me old cult in a perpetual manner in the temple at Jerusalem. God stood in the most sacred section of the temple, the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant had been placed of old. His presence was considered a an assurance of protection and as a source of blessings; it consecrated the Covenant made with the Jewish people.

Desirous that the new cult be effected in remembrance of himself, Jesus also wanted to give his disciples a perpetual Presence. The remembrance of Himself, still more than that of Yahweh, had to be rendered always actual, because the Incarnation was meant to assure a greater closeness of God to humanity. If the divine Presence was the great treasure of the temple of Jerusalem, the Presence of Christ had to become the great treasure of Christian churches. That the Savior should not have given his disciples what the God of the Old covenant had given his people, a permanent Presence, would be inconceivable. ..

But the Presence of the Person of the Lord calls for a personal response on the part of Christians. A person cannot be treated just like a thing, even if it were the holiest of things A person has a right to respect and love; its vary presence demands recognition as the presence of a person. It invites dialogue, and since we are dealing with a divine Person, that dialogue is carried out in faith and adoration.

This article is a condensation of a more lengthy article titled, �The Cult of the Eucharistic Presence in the Church Today� reprinted from EMMANUEL.

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