June 2005 VOICE OF SHALOM

WE PROCLAIM YOUR RESURRECTION In giving his sacrifice to the church, Christ has also made his own the spiritual sacrifice of the Church, which is called to offer herself in union with the sacrifice of Christ. This is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council concerning all the faithful: "Taking part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, they offer the divine victim to God, and offer themselves along with it." Christ's Passover includes not only his passion and death, but also his resurrection. This is recalled by the assembly's acclamation following the consecration: "We proclaim your resurrection." The Eucharistic Sacrifice makes present not only the mystery of the Saviour's passion and death, but also the mystery of the resurrection which crowned his sacrifice. It is as the living and risen One that Christ can become in the Eucharist the "bread of life" (Jn. 6:35,48), the "living bread" (Jn. 6:51). St Ambrose reminded the newly-initiated that the Eucharist applies the event of the resurrection to their lives: "Today Christ is yours, yet each day he rises again for you." St Cyril of Alexandria also makes clear that sharing in the sacred mysteries "is a true confession and a remembrance that the Lord died and returned to life for us and on our behalf." Pope John Paul II Ecclesia de Eucharistia

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