Our People

“...non promiscue sed alii aliter, in liturgica actione partem propriam agunt…” (Lumen gentium, n.11)

Address to the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy Teleconference

By Most Rev. Julian Porteous
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney
25 February 2005

The reading of Lumen gentium n.11 on participation in the liturgical action according to that which is proper to each person, together with Sacrosanctum concilium n.14 on the faithful celebrating the liturgy in a way that is fully conscious and with active participation, invite us continually to celebrate and live vitally the Eucharist in its eschatological dimension; it is the tension of an orientation towards heaven  and at the same time a means of communion and service to this world and humanity.[1] This participation is founded in the priestly dimension of our baptism. When the sacramental priesthood is exercised in a profound unity with the common priesthood of the baptised the Eucharist indeed is realised “as both the source and the summit of all evangelisation, since its goal is the communion of mankind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit.”[2] 

This eschatological tension, the stimulant which provokes evangelisation, is dependent upon the priest fulfilling his part of acting in persona Christi Capitis and hence linking “the Eucharistic consecration to the sacrifice of the Cross and to the Last Supper.”[3] The laity, fulfilling their priestly, kingly and prophetic dimension of baptism in the celebration of the Eucharist are strengthened and nourished with spiritual power in their mission whereby they are orientated towards service to humanity, becoming a ‘sacrament for humanity, a sign and instrument of the salvation achieved by Christ, the light of the world and the salt of the earth, for the redemption of all.’[4] 

Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia de Eucharistia notes that ‘a significant consequence of the eschatological tension inherent in the Eucharist is also the fact that it spurs us on our journey through history and plants a seed of living hope in our daily commitment to the work before us.’[5] The Christian vision of a “new heaven” and a “new earth” does not lessen, but rather increases the Christians commitment towards the “building of a more human world, a world fully in harmony with God’s plan.”[6]  

For this reason it is important to avoid a partial and shallow reading of Lumen gentium n.11 and Sacrosanctum concilium  n.14, in regard to all taking part in the liturgical action, according to that which is proper to themselves and the faithful celebrating the liturgy in a way that is fully conscious and with active participation. When the primary focus of these two important aspects of participation in the Eucharist are reduced to trying to get as many of the assembly involved in some form of ministry within the Eucharist, all good within themselves (eg. acolytes, special ministers, readers, welcoming ministry, choir and so forth), these ministries can tend towards becoming an end in themselves and the ministers can mistakenly think that their primary mission by virtue of their baptism is orientated to a functional service/ministry within the Mass and not to the world. This can result in a form of ‘clericalisation’ of the laity taking place and the eschatological thrust of the Eucharist is weakened, opening up to a divorce between worship and life. 

Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia de Eucharistia puts before us the Virgin Mary, the “woman of the Eucharist” to show us the way to living the Eucharist as the source and summit of all evangelisation: “the Magnificat reflects the eschatological tension of the Eucharist ... Mary sings of the “new heavens” and the “new earth” which find in the Eucharist their anticipation and in some sense their programme and plan.”[7] Every time we celebrate the Eucharist the Lord Jesus comes ‘to us in the “poverty” of the sacramental signs of bread and wine, the seeds of  that new history wherein the mighty are “put down from their thrones” and “those of low degree are exalted,” take root in the world.’[8]

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[1] Cf.  Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 20.

[2] Ibid. a. 22.

[3] Ibid. a.29.

[4] Ibid. a. 22.

[5] Ibid. a. 20.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid. a. 58.

[8] Ibid.