Sunday, August 11, 2013

Fr. Robert Barron: The Sacrament of the Eucharist as a Sacred Meal

This is a part of what I'm assuming will be a three part installment from Fr. Barron on the Eucharist.  He speaks of it here as a sacred meal, tracing the origins of this concept through the Old Testament and into the ministry of Jesus.  From how he set this video up, I'm guessing he will explore the ideas of the Eucharist as a sacrifice and as True Presence in the future.

One of the struggles of the Post-Vatican II period has been over how the celebration of the Eucharist should be viewed.  In the Pre-Conciliar period the stress was placed on the sacrificial aspect of the Mass.  Over the last fifty years more of an emphasis has been placed on the Mass as a communal meal.  But rather than trying to show the complementary nature of these two qualities of the Mass they have too often placed in opposition, as if these things were mutually exclusive.  Here Fr. Barron is trying to demonstrate that what we have is a case of both-and, not either-or.


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