Parish celebrates 50th Eucharistic Congress

The Congress is an international gathering of people which aims to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church.

Among that gathering is Kirkinriola’s Fr Aidan McCaughan who will be attending all week.

A coach full of local people will travel from Ballymena to Dublin for the final Mass on June 17 at which Ballymena native, Fr David Delargy, and his fellow “Priests” will sing.

The daily programme for the Congress is taking place in the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) with the Statio Orbis, the Liturgy on the final day, being celebrated in Croke Park on Sunday.

The Programme is built around the daily celebration of the Eucharist and each day has a theme of its own, related to the main Congress theme ‘The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another’.

All this week various devotions and liturgies are being held at All Saints in line with the daily themes in Dublin while, last week, Parish Priest Fr Patrick Delargy reflected the changing themes each day in his homilies at Mass in All Saints.

In one such homily - “A Reflection on The Eucharist”, Fr Delargy said: “The benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice are available at the Eucharist. It is a memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus, a pledge of the coming kingdom, a thanksgiving to God, a way to salvation and communion with God.

“Since the Reformation Catholics and Reformers have debated in a polemical way about the significance of the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper. There were disagreements over terminology and about the meaning of sacrament, sacrifice and memorial. Nowadays in ecumenical circles each side presents its own understanding in a way that is respectful of other viewpoints and tries to learn from other perspectives.

“...It is agreed by all Christians that Jesus offered himself to his heavenly Father on Calvary and at the Last Supper as a sacrifice which gives life and takes away sin. At the Eucharist the priest repeats sacramentally the words and actions of Christ at the Last Supper and Calvary. Jesus took bread and gave thanks and gave up his body as sacred food to his disciples. He said his blood was poured out for the forgiveness of sins. This is sacrificial language.

“So the Last Supper, Calvary and the Eucharist are all sacrificial events which make people holy. Christ anticipated his sacrifice at the Last Supper, completed his sacrifice for mankind on Calvary and makes it present effectively today in a special way at Mass. Christ makes himself present to enable us to offer ourselves with Him in sacrifice in a way acceptable to God the Father.

“Catholics agree with early Reformers like Luther that Mass is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for God’s gifts by which we give God glory. It is also a way to make intercession for all our needs and a way to make atonement for the sins of the living and the dead. The risen Christ offers his sacrifice sacramentally today and cleanses the participants from sin so that they are drawn to offer themselves in service to God.

“Moreover when Jesus says, ‘Do this in memory of me’ he is using the realistic language of the Jewish idea of memorial. A memorial makes the past event present again.

“We have a very realistic understanding of what Jesus meant when he asked his Jewish followers to drink his blood in remembrance of him. As the life-force, blood was offered to God in sacrifices for purification from sins. This life-force belongs to God alone. Jesus the Christ is going beyond the rules of the Old Covenant and leading his disciples into a new covenant.

“When they eat his body under the appearance of bread and drink his blood under the appearance of wine they receive the great sacrament of his new covenant uniting them to Christ’s life- force. Through this action they were now dependent on him like branches on a vine.

“To make our obedience to God’s will effective Jesus gives himself as the gift for our nourishment. He calls us to eat and drink in personal communion.

“The Eucharist builds up the Church: the local community as well as the whole Church. It leads people to the celebration to develop their spiritual life and sends them out from it to the world. In the Eucharist the Holy Spirit makes our offerings holy and acceptable and makes us holy as we receive the help we need to live by the Spirit in our daily lives”.