THE SACRAMENTS

The Unending Search for Freedom

An International Congress on
"The Eucharist and Freedom"

by Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, p.s.s.

An International Eucharistic Congress is to be held this year in Poland, during the week leading to the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament (Corpus Christi), and we are all invited to join in the solemn homage it will render to Christ and to share in the spiritual benefits it should bring. Such celebrations, though they are taken in charge by a particular nation and local Church, are of universal interest. Held at regular intervals in different parts of the world, they bring the whole Church together to renew her commitment to the service of God and of society.

Site and Theme

The coming Congress will take place in Wroclaw (formerly Breslau). It will be inspired by the affirmation of Saint Paul to the Galatians: "It is for freedom that Christ has made us free." Its theme will be: "The Eucharist and Freedom."

Commenting on the site and the theme he has chosen for the Congress, Pope John Paul II expressed the hope that it would be "an extraordinary hymn of gratitude to Christ for the freedom which from Central Europe has brought benefits to the whole Church and all the world." And he explained: "It will be able to show how faith in Christ the Redeemer present in the Eucharistic celebration has been the source of hope and love, which survived all suffering and persecution and, in the end, deserved and achieved liberation." But the Congress will not be content with looking at the past: "It is in the Eucharist that we can discover the secret for freeing ourselves from the new forms of slavery which are emerging in today's consumerist and hedonistic society."

The choice of the site and theme of International Congresses is not without meaning. It is often meant to recall or celebrate particularly important moments in the Church's life and to draw from them the necessary teaching for the present. It can also bring to our attention some of the great challenges now faced by Christianity. The last Congress, in Seville, Spain, reflected on the centrality of the Eucharist in the Evangelization of the Americas and the role it should now have in the New Evangelization needed at the beginning of a new millennium. The preceding one, in Seoul, stressed the responsibility of Christians in the huge task of bringing universal peace. The former one in Nairobi, Kenya, was inspired by the Pope's conviction that the Christian Family cannot fulfill the fundamental function it has in society unless it finds its dynamism in the Eucharist. Congresses in Bombay, Bogota, Melbourne, Philadelphia and Lourdes reminded us that receiving the Bread of Life makes it imperative to work at satisfying the multiple hungers of man and eradicating poverty and social injustice.

After the fall of the Berlin wall it was felt that a Congress should be held in one of the countries which are recovering political and religious freedom after years of overt persecutions or unjust restrictions.

Budapest volunteered to host the Congress: it had done so before the war and Hungarians remember how it had been a source of strength and faith in Christ's Eucharistic presence for those who persevered under duress and are now rebuilding their communities.

But it was thought that there were even more convincing reasons to hold it in Poland: the country has never been the site of an International Eucharistic Congress, and, no doubt, it was there that started and soon became irresistible the popular movement which broke the communist grip on Eastern Europe. Even during Marxist rule the Polish Church had fought to keep well attended the Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist and catechism classes as a rallying point for the faithful. And it is not a mere coincidence that many of the public manifestations that shook the regime followed religious celebrations.

For the City of Wroclaw, birthplace of Blessed Edith Stein, freedom has a particular connotation: its region, Silesia, has just been liberated, not only from communism, but also from foreign domination. Close to the German border it is easily accessible to all of Europe and already large delegations from countries long isolated behind the Iron Curtain are getting ready to head the Pope's invitation and make the Congress an unforgettable event.

In a "Basic Document" which convokes the whole Church to the Congress, the organizing Committee describes its objective: "This Congress will take place in the very heart of Eastern Europe, where nations have experienced being subject to totalitarian regimes involving the negation of personal and social freedom Stanilist and Nazi totalitarian systems failed in forming human persons from within concentration camps, gulags, prisons and political trials brought about the inhuman destructions of human beings. But they also occasioned countless victories of the human spirit and inner freedom that witnessed to the mystery of human beings' encounter with God."

An act of praise and gratitude to God for the gift of freedom, the Congress should hear testimonies, such as those which deeply moved the Bishops in a recent Synod, on how many priests, religious and lay faithful heroically faced prison and death rather than let the communities be completely deprived of the Eucharist and the Gospel. Mass was celebrated like in the Catacombs; men and women traveled long distances so as to attend Mass at places where they would not be recognized with the risk of loosing positions from which they could exercise spiritual influence and prepare a better future.

The Congress should also make us remember that entire populations still lack political freedom and that in too many places Christians suffer persecution. It is our duty not only to pray for their liberation but to help bring it about.

True Freedom

The Church in Poland and other Eastern Countries will remind us that the conquest of freedom is never fully achieved: the electoral success of former communist parties leaves no place for complacency.

There is also a real danger that the dictatorship of Marxist materialism be replaced by other materialistic powers, by the invasion of unscrupulous profiteers, organized crime, the intrusion among policy makers of secret societies and atheistic humanism.

Saint Paul had already warned the Galatians that they should not let the freedom of the Spirit, obtained at the price of Christ's sacrifice, give place to the false freedom of sin.1

Pope John XXIII, before the Congress of Munich, specified what should be its main intention in prayer: "Be of one mind before the Lord, our God, praying that the so-called materialism which threatens the moral life of humanity give way to a spiritual awareness of the highest quality and that it can be overcome ... It is for the same reason, he added, that we have decided to convoke the Ecumenical Council."2

The challenge implied in the theme of the Congress this time is really universal and is why the Holy Father insists that the preparation should involve not only the host Country and the prospected pilgrims but "the whole People of God, individuals, local Churches, the universal Church."

Indeed, who can claim to live in a society where freedom has been achieved and feel dispensed from joining in what is to be a universal prayer for and commitment to the cause of freedom?

What quality of freedom do we enjoy when millions of human beings are frustrated of their right to live by abortions and wars? When it is allowed to protest about almost everything and to desecrate patriotic and religious symbols but "rescuers" in front of abortion clinics are jailed as criminals? When unemployment deprives so many of the young of the possibility of forming a family? When parents are discriminated against for claiming their right to verify what moral and sexual education is given to their children? When, as revealed in surveys sponsored by our Bishops' Conferences, an aggressive minority controls the mass media in such a way as to impose models of existence and behavior? When Courts' decisions can empty of their religious foundation the laws deemed essential for the common good by the builders of our Nations? The candid declaration by so-called moderate judges in a recent case exemplifies the dangerous evolution under way in our notion of morality and freedom: "At the heart of liberty, they affirmed, is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, the universe, and of the mystery of human life."

Rediscovering true God-given freedom would be an impossible task if we did not count on the presence of His Son among us in the Eucharist. And we who have free access to the Blessed Sacrament have a special responsibility in that task.

Churchwide Involvement

The practical organization of the Congress, and the determination of its program is done by the local hierarchy and secretariat. But the Pontifical Committee has to see that it be effectively international. For that purpose it has been given the mandate to obtain from Bishops' Conferences or Synods the appointment of "National Delegates" who will represent their local Church and insure the collaboration with that of the inviting country.

They will encourage and facilitate the presence of some of their countrymen at the Congress itself. But, most of all, they will transmit information about the event and propose programs for a spiritual participation through reflection on the theme, through activities in line with what is being done in Poland as a preparation and through liturgical celebrations simultaneous to that of the actual Congress.

More than 70 such delegates have been named and most of them attended a meeting in Rome to meet the Archbishop of Wroclaw, Cardinal Gulbinovicz, and his collaborators, to learn about the program, exchange views on the quality of Eucharistic devotion in their regions and on how the Congress can be a providential occasion to foster it. Some, going back to their communities, have put in motion significant initiatives. From countries as distant as Germany, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Switzerland, the call has been heard and sensitivities awakened. Regional and diocesan Congresses have clearly expressed their unity of thought and intentions with the coming Congress in Wroclaw and the one the Pope has announced for Rome in the year 2000.

To guide them in their work the National Delegates have received a "Basic Document" elaborated, under our Committee's supervision, by Polish and Roman scholars, with the title of "The Eucharist and Freedom." It presents the Congress "as an event of grace in the life of the Church," shows how the Eucharist is "a proclamation and gift of freedom," and how we should strive "towards an education to freedom in the light of the Eucharist."

The search for freedom is not a futile one, although as the Document admits, "Human activities and aspirations for human freedom bear within themselves the impossibility of reaching fulfillment in this world. Their end, indeed, is not in the historic future, but in the transcendent future. Human history will not reach fulfillment except in glory." But it is already a great gift of freedom to be able to hope for eternal bliss and to work towards it.3

Social Dimension

The Roman Ritual defines Congresses as a "special manifestation of eucharistic worship." It underlines its role in fostering solidarity between Churches: They should be "a genuine sign of faith and charity by reason of the full participation of the local Church and the representative sharing in its celebration by other Churches."4

Charity means, now more than ever, awareness of the needs of others and willingness to better the conditions in society. Emilie Tavernier and the other lay people who, moved by their devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, were at the origin of the Congresses, have always seen them in the context of the social needs of their time. In encouraging their celebration and being personally present, the Roman Pontiffs' have confirmed such a dimension and expressed confidence in their contribution to the good of humanity.

Before the Congress in Melbourne Pope Paul VI said it should stress the validity of every kind of eucharistic worship and he added: "By reviving worship of the real presence of Christ, we call revive the spirit of generosity, strength, heroicity to discover Christ in the faces and sufferings of the poor, the needy, immigrants, the ill, the dying: we serve Christ in them singlemindedly since we are sustained by the strength that comes only by the well-tried practice of familiarity with Him in prayer."

John Paul II similarly wrote referring to the Congress of Lourdes: "The Eucharist calls people to draw close to one another - especially the poorest - as brothers, to serve them earthly bread and the bread of love, build with them a more just world as befits God's children, while, at the same time, preparing a 'new world' to come, where God Himself will bring above definitive renewal and complete and unfailing communion." Congresses, he also said, "are a providential opportunity to deepen the sense of the Eucharist among priests, religious and the faithful, far beyond the narrow circle of' those who will be able to be actually present, or even to participate through radio and television. In a word, it is a question of making people understand the central place of the Eucharist in the Church."

If we think that rediscovering and recovering freedom needs an intervention from above, we cannot be indifferent to Wroclaw.

End Notes

1 In his Epistle to the Galatians St. Paul reminds them that it is at the price of His death that Christ has freed them from the yoke of the Old Law, and from the hypocrisy hidden behind mere external practices. He tells them that their new gained freeborn should not be a pretext to "serve the flesh." And where he goes on to compare the "desires of the flesh" to the "fruits of the Spirit" He gives a description still valid today of the difference between inner freedom based on charity and what the moods of the time present as liberation (Gal.4-6).

2 Many thoughts of the Popes on Eucharistic Congresses call be found, together with an historical and ecclesial presentation of the Congresses, in a publication of the Pontifical Council for International Eucharistic Congresses. It is entitled The International Eucharistic Congresses for a New Evangelization and was edited, under the direction of Father Ferdinand Patzner, s.s.s., and published by the Vatican Bookshop, in 1991.

3 A substantial Summary of the Basic Text can be found in Adoremus the periodical of the English Priests' Eucharistic League, Fr. Michael L. Gaudoin Parker, Editor.

4 Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Roman Ritual (De sacra cornmunione et de cultu mysterii eucharistici extra missam, ed. typica) 1973, nn. 109-112.