In a new reflection, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone identifies a common thread linking abortion, homelessness, and the urgent need for Eucharistic revival among Catholics: a challenge to look beyond outward appearances and see “the deeper spiritual reality.”
“As political issues, homelessness and abortion are treated as separate things. But with the Catholic sacramental sense we can see that whether we are speaking of the unhoused or the unborn, the underlying issue is the same: Can we see beyond the merely material to the deeper spiritual reality?” Cordileone said.
“What we Catholic bishops and other leaders must seek is not just words on a page,” he added, “but a profound Eucharistic revival, which requires a renaissance in the Catholic sacramental imagination.”
The reflection also comes just weeks before the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, held Nov. 15-18 in Baltimore, where consideration of a new document on Eucharistic revival will be one of the chief items on the agenda….
Cordileone’s reflection refers to the 2007 Aparecida document, in which the term “Eucharistic coherence” is used to explain why public servants, such as government officials and health care workers who act to encourage “abortion, euthanasia, and other grave crimes against life and the family” cannot receive Holy Communion.
Then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who is now Pope Francis, was a chief architect of the 2007 Aparecida.
“Pope Francis rightly reminds us bishops to think and speak as pastors, not as politicians: it is souls that are at stake, not elections,” Cordileone said in the reflection. “Lost sheep are to be lovingly called to return to the fold, not angrily denounced in the way that would imitate so much of the animosity of our political culture….
The above comes from an Oct. 30 article on the site of the Catholic News Agency.
“a profound Eucharistic revival, which requires a renaissance in the Catholic sacramental imagination.” Nice sounding words, Excellency, but what do they mean operationally? Just what is this deeper spiritual reality? Is it seeing Christ in the unborn and the unhoused? That was my first thought. Is it also the grave peril souls are in who, in public policy, attack the unborn or unhoused — the latter in the sense that they fail to provide corrective relief of the conditions leading to homelessness? Who are the lost sheep and what does it mean to lovingly call them back? Please spell out, if possible, what a Eucharistic Revival might be, and the requisite renaissance of the imagination.
Read before you comment. Answer your own questions. The answers to your questions are in Cordileone’s statement. Your questioning sound disrespectful and rhetorical.
I am sorry that I am not as smart as you. My questions came from my reading; I failed to see the answers that you see so clearly. Do be kind– not everyone has your insight, fair enough? And now that I know you have this insight, perhaps you would condescend to help me? And thanks in advance. (I am not being sarcastic, but appeal to you earnestly).
The fact that you say “I am not as smart as you” is an indication that your are being sarcastic to me, as your questions to Cordileone earlier can be perceived as disrespectful to him. All the questions you ask in your first comment are answerable by going over the article again and reading them truthfully. There is no need for me to point out things that are obvious in reading honestly the article and Cordileone’s words. The questions you ask in your second comment to me are put downs. “You have insight,” “I failed to see the answers you see so clearly” mean to debase and insult.
A “profound Eucharistic revival” would start with treating our Eucharistic Lord with the respect He deserves: Holy Communion kneeling, on the tongue, with a paten.
The early Christians took communion with their hands. Last Supper too. So there.
The Apostles were ordained as priests at the Last Supper. No one seems to know, if Christ fed the Eucharist to them, or they took it out of a dish on their own. One thing we know is that there is more abuse of the Holy Eucharist when it is give in the hand — dropped particles, stolen Hosts — often desecrated or used in Satanic rituals. In the Old Testament only ordained priests could perform certain sacred duties. Only ordained priests could even touch the Ark of the Covenant. One man feel down dead when he attempted to do so. Of course you probably do not believe that happened and think it just a myth.