In the name of all creation

 

All of creation is suffering serious harm because of human greed and disordered behaviour, greatly aggravated by wars, repression, and the misuse of the gifts God has entrusted to us (refer to Laudato Si). Creation is a gift, and we are part of it. If creation “groans” as Saint Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans (8:22), then we, too, “groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (8:23). Our time on earth is limited, and the older we grow the closer we come to that moment when creation itself “will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (8:21).

The late Pope Francis captures the intimate bond between creation and the Eucharist in Laudato Si:

In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love…(#236)

He cites Pope Saint John Paul II in his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia issued in 2003:

Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation. (#8)

“Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world”

In the Eucharist we offer our bodies, our anguish, our suffering, and our pain to the heavenly Father in union with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As the Catechism teaches:

The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of praise by which the Church sings the glory of God in the name of all creation. (CCC # 1361)

Immediately after the Words of Institution -  the words spoken by the priest in the person of Christ by which the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ -  the people proclaim the Memorial Acclamation. This acclamation is distinct from the anamnesis, which is the priest’s prayer that follows. Together, they express the Church’s living participation in the Paschal Mystery. We are not merely recalling past events; we are standing within them, here and now, and receiving the graces that flow from Christ’s saving sacrifice.

Our united response, offered in the name of all creation, is:

“We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.”

This pattern is rooted in the earliest Christian practice, as Saint Paul records in his First Letter to the Corinthians:

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)

And Paul goes on to say:

In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:25–26)

In a world afflicted by war, climate disruption, and the collapse of biodiversity, we lift up ourselves in Christ each time we proclaim the mystery of his death and resurrection. Though we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for liberation with patience (Romans 8:25).