The communicational dimension of the Eucharist
Fr. Charles Ndhlovu, PhD
Fr. Charles Ndhlovu, PhD, studied and graduated with a Doctorate in Social Communication specializing in Communication Theology at the Pontifical University of Salesianum in Rome – Italy. Some of his publications can be found on his website: charlesndhlovu.wordpress.com; he is also on Youtube (Fr. Charles Ndhlovu – Mkhalirachiuta). In this paper, he has argued that it is possible to look at the Eucharist from a communicational dimension – just as it is possible to consider theology from a communication perspective – precisely because – the Christian God is a communicating God.
We are going to explore the communicational aspect of the sacrament of the Eucharist. We will be basically looking at those aspects of the Eucharist that are communicational not only from the side of God to the human person but also from the human person to God. We will look at the Eucharist from a communicational perspective - namely the graces that God communicates to the human person and the prayers of supplication, intercession, praise and worship that the human person communicates to God.
As a preamble, mention should be made here of the fact that it is the same Jesus that is offered in the Eucharist and on the Cross, but what is different is the way Jesus is offered. On the Cross, the manner of sacrificial offering consisted in shedding of blood but in the Eucharist, the manner of sacrificial offering is transubstantiation in which the gifts of wine and bread become the body and blood of Jesus through the words of consecration and at the epiclesis.
Both events, the death of Jesus on the Cross, and the sacrificial offering of Jesus in the Eucharist, are a communication of the graces of God. God sends his graces to the human person who is the recipient. These graces are sent through the mediation of a priest in the prayer of consecration and the effect of such a grace filled action is that the bread and wine, become body and blood of Jesus.
Both events, have a salvific effect. Both events, the death of Jesus on the Cross and the sacrificial offering of Jesus in the Eucharist are a communication of the graces of God – this communication has salvific effect. As we have also said and written elsewhere, the roles of recipient and sender are interchangeable – the human person not only receives the graces of God – but he also becomes the sender of intercession, worship and praise to God.
It is a double movement of sending and receiving. God sends the graces for the human person, just as the human person sends prayers and petition to God, who responds. It is a communication that leads to the sanctification of the human person – that is the effect especially in the liturgical celebration and at mass in general terms.
The Eucharist communicates, draws back and plugs in to the bloody sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and that is why, the bread becomes body and the wine becomes blood – that body of the historical Jesus that was bruised and wounded – that blood of Jesus of Nazareth that gushed out at Golgotha.
The Eucharist is the sacrament of sacraments as we read from the Catechism of the Catholic Church because it is concerned with the deepest mystery of the life of the Church. In the Eucharist, the bread becomes the real body of Jesus and wine becomes the real blood of Jesus Christ. This is basically the doctrine of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist – that it is not just apparenza but real – not just appearance but the real Christ!
It is thus, not only a communication of something like Christ – or something that appears like Christ but the Eucharist is the communication of the real Christ – we commune with the real Christ – and that’s communion – communis from which the word communication derives.
That is why, the Eucharist is not only the sacrament of sacraments – but it is also the sacrament of communion – the sacrament of communication. It is a sacrament through which the individual person is brought time and again into communion of the mystical body of Christ, that is in communion with Jesus and then in communion with other Christians.
The Eucharist is not only private, it is public. As a public celebration, it brings into communion – into communication, the received Jesus with the human person – not only as an individual but brings the single person into communion with other recipients because they all share the same Christ.
Communion is an important word and element in the ritual theory of communication and F.X. Dance, a communication scholar, cites communion as an important communicational word. Communion is communication – to commune is to communicate – to communicate is to bring commonness – common ground – understanding, sharing and participation – which comes about because of communion in Christ.
That is why Jesus’ prayer before the disciples was – may they be one! It is in this perspective that we can say that there is horizontal and vertical communication in the Eucharist. The human person receives graces from God but also stands in a special relationship with other persons that have received the Eucharist. We commune, not only with Jesus but through Jesus, we commune with other people and that’s the mystical body of Jesus!
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very emphatic on the importance of the Eucharist when it states that the Eucharist is the centre of the Church’s liturgy – it is a sacred mystery – the most Blessed Sacrament and it is the sacrament of sacraments. The sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted by Christ himself. The Eucharist is a sacrament that communicates and nourishes the life of grace that is received at baptism. Through the Eucharist, we are also able to participate in the suffering of Jesus Christ. This in a nutshell is the communicational dimension of the sacrament of the Eucharist!
