How the Fathers Shaped the Church's Eucharistic Faith

Among the great teachers and Fathers of the early Christian Church is Pope St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604 A.D.). Just as monastic Christianity was flourishing in Ireland, the entire Christian Church that was in communion with the see of Rome was, directly, under the leadership of the successor to Peter.

Sometimes, writers like to believe that Celtic Christianity was something very separate and unique, to such an extent that something called 'Roman Christianity' arrived, more or less, with the Normans in the 12th Century. This is a distortion of Irish history. Yes, there were features unique to Ireland and what is now Britain, including an emphasis on nature, monasticism, asceticism and fashions and habits that might hint at ties to Eastern Christian traditions. Pragmatically, Christianity, as it did elsewhere, had to negotiate its way into local cultures, 'baptising' some pagan symbols and rites by removing what was idolatrous and centring attention on the Son of God and not the Sun. Pagan ritual sites became holy wells, and some scholars argue that the cult of St. Brigid absorbed elements of an earlier pagan goddess of the same name — though the extent of any direct continuity is debated among historians of early Ireland and should be taken as a contested thesis rather than settled fact.

One area of interest is the Eucharist, because we can be assured that what was believed and practiced in the universal Church - East and West - was also held in Ireland, notwithstanding any particular local adaptations in the liturgy.

How to correct one another with Jesus in our midst

Sunday 6 September 2026

Lectio Divina:*

Ezekiel 33:7-9 Psalm 95(94) Romans 13:8-10 Matthew 18:15-20

(See also Luke 17:3)

Meditatio:

 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’  (Matthew 18:20)

Commentary:

Today's Gospel comes from a section of Matthew concerned with life within the Christian community. Written at a time when the early Church was emerging amid persecution, division and uncertainty, it addresses a persistent question: how do Christians deal with sin, conflict and reconciliation?

A consistent Eucharistic thread in Teilhard de Chardin

In yesterday's blog I introduced some of the ideas of Fr Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (TDC), the French Jesuit priest and scientist who left a significant mark on the spiritual, ecclesial and scientific worlds.

His essay-poem The Mass on the World (MOW) is a remarkable meditation on creation and its relationship to the Eucharist. It is important to state at the outset that The Mass on the World is not a sacramental Mass. TDC wrote it while on an expedition in the Ordos region of Inner Mongolia, where he had no access to bread, wine or altar for the celebration of Mass. What he offers is a meditation and prayer, not an attempt to celebrate the Eucharist without the matter required for the sacrament.

Underlying Catholic theology of the Eucharist are three fundamental realities:

• Presence
• Communion
• Sacrifice

At the Altar of the World

Today, the first day in the Season of Creation marks an important moment in the Church's annual observance of prayer and care for creation.  We are mindful of the creative power of God in creating all that is seen and unseen.  Christ, the eternal Word through whom all things were made, has entered creation to redeem, sanctify and bring it to its fulfilment.

 In the celebration of the Eucharist we return thanks for all that we are and have.  Not just that, but we are united in a mysterious way with Heaven and Earth in one single chant of praise, adoration and thanksgiving.  Immersed in the universe we are joining a chorus that lifts up the world.

Over a century ago, a French priest, Fr PierreTeilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) wrote a short and remarkable piece of work entitled The Mass on the World. Finding himself in the Ordos desert in Mongolia, in 1923 without bread, wine or altar, Fr Teilhard de Chardin was moved to write this piece that captures his mystical and scientific insights into a beautiful piece of prose. As a Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, philosopher, mystic and teacher he was able to bring a unique synthesis of insight in a unity that stretches our understanding and concepts.

Joining all creatures to praise our Creator

As Laudato Si’ has warned, the ecological crisis demonstrates a systematic failure to care for God’s gift of creation. Human sin is trashing the delicate web of life on this planet. The poorest suffer the most. The celebration of the Eucharist on 1 September is an opportunity to give thanks for creation (that goes to the heart of the meaning of the word Eucharist) as well as to pray for conversion and renewal.  Though we may differ on how exactly to proceed, this also has a huge political significance for how Catholics should behave, work, travel and vote. We owe it to this generation and the coming generations.  We are rightly concerned about the culture of death that threatens the unborn.  Likewise, we must be concerned about the culture of death that threatens those are already born as well as those who will come after us.

Tomorrow we celebrate the ‘Mass for the Care of Creation’.

Gardening in God's valley

It has been a strange summer, preceded by a strange winter. Some of my vegetables did not turn out well due to heat stress and the challenges of keeping the garden watered from our well. As weather patterns become more unpredictable and we experience extended periods of drought interspersed with heavy downpours, the topic of care for creation comes increasingly to the fore.

In 1989, Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople established 1 September as a Day of Prayer for Creation, marking an important milestone in Christian awareness of the environment and our responsibilities towards it. Following the publication of his encyclical Laudato Si', Pope Francis instituted the annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, also celebrated on 1 September. More than ever, we are aware of our call to care for the earth, receiving it as God's gift and stewarding it wisely rather than treating it merely as a source of extraction.

Weary trying to hold it in

Sunday 30 August 2026

Lectio Divina:*

Jeremiah 20:7-9 Psalm 63(62) Romans 12:1-2 Matthew 16:21-27

(See also Mark 8:34-9:1 and Luke 9:23-27 and John 12:25-26)

Meditatio:

 “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name’, then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." (Jeremiah 20:9)

Commentary:

There is a small irony in this Sunday’s reading. Last Sunday, we heard about the conferring of the keys on Peter, the rock on whom Christ builds his Church. This Sunday, immediately following that discourse, we hear Peter being called a stumbling block—a skandalon in Greek—ironically from the same Jesus who had just named him Petros, the rock.

Jesus does not mince his words: ‘Get behind me, Satan.’ Later in the Gospels we learn that Peter will deny the Lord three times, and yet be forgiven, restored and strengthened. His story is not one of perfection at once but of conversion.

Like Peter, we too can become stumbling blocks for others on life’s journey. By our attitudes, assumptions and ways of thinking, we can become instruments not of peace and unity but of discord, harm and alienation. Being a stumbling block is one thing; failing to recognise it and change is quite another. We can cling to self‑interest or to the approval of others while ignoring the demands of love. Many are deterred or scandalised because the light of Christ seems absent from our words, actions and manner of living.