Eucharist: Sacrifice According to the Logos

Eucharist: Sacrifice According to the Logos Rev. Msgr. Richard Malone In Rio de Janeiro in 1982, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave a set of lectures on Christology, which he later arranged in his book, Behold the Pierced One. He started out with a striking basic principle: “… the whole of Christology – our speaking of Christ – is nothing other than the interpretation of his prayer: the entire person of Jesus is contained in his prayer.” It is clear that his Christology has its natural consequence in the spirituality of the sacraments. In fact, as you will see, he keeps Christology and liturgy so closely linked together that you cannot think of one without the other. It is helpful to preface a study of his theology of the liturgy with an overview of his Christology, centered as it is on the prayer of Jesus. After that, it comes naturally to expound his theology of the liturgy, which demonstrates how Christian worship unites heaven and earth in praise of the Father. At the center of the eucharistic liturgy is Christ, the paschal Lamb who was slain, rose from the dead, and is now the center of the heavenly liturgy. The Prayer of Jesus and the Church’s Confession of his Sonship The role of prayer in grasping the meaning of Jesus as Son is the heart of his spiritual Christology. “According to the testimony of Holy Scripture, the center of the life and person of Jesus is his constant com-   Presented as a paper delivered at the Society for Catholic Liturgy 2007 General Conference, “Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy,” held at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, 20-23 September 2007. The author is particularly indebted to La vita di Dio per gli uomini. Scritti di J. Ratzinger per Communio, 208-210, luglio-dicembre, 2006 (Milan: Jaca, 2007) and Helmut Hoping, “Gemeinschaft mit Christus. Christologie und Liturgie bei Joseph Ratzinger,” Communio [German edition] 33.6 (2006) 558-72. Unless otherwise noted, Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) is the author of all titles cited throughout this article.   Behold the Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology [henceforth: BPO], trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1986).   Ibid., 20. Antiphon 13.1 (2009): 65-83 66 Rev . Msgr. Richard Malone munication with the Father.” The prayer of Jesus offers the key to his identity and so his prayer to the Father is the key to Christology. In his public life, his disciples not only called him Christ (Mk 8:29; Lk 9:20), but St Peter went so far as to call him “Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). After the Ascension the title “Christ” was used with “Jesus.” The disciples also used for him the divine predicate “Lord.” Because even the title “Lord” was not unique to Christ, the disciples quickly favored the use of Son. In the end, the title “Son” becomes the only comprehensive term to explain the person of Jesus. “Son” includes and explains everything else. Calling Jesus “Son,” far from overlaying him with the mythical gold of dogma, corresponds most strictly to the center of the historical figure of Jesus. For the entire Gospel testimony is unanimous that Jesus’ words and deeds flowed from his most intimate communion with the Father, in which Jesus gives himself back to the Father’s hands and the Father commits everything to the Son. Of all the evangelists, Luke lays stress on this feature. He shows that the essential events of Jesus’ activity arise from the core of his personality, and that this core was his dialogue with the Father. His prayer is unique because He lives in a unique relationship with his Father as Son. His disciples will have a share in it as adopted sons. The Gospels do not record him anywhere praying with his disciples to the Father. He prays in the context of the faith and tradition of Israel, the People of God, even though he transcended it with his own special relationship with the Father. Praying, Jesus took his farewell from his disciples, and gave himself in his anticipated death. Jesus died praying, and in the abyss of his death, he kept present the name of God. He...