Saturday, June 15, 2019

"Remembrance" and the Eucharist


Tomorrow I will be teaching the Gospel Doctrine lesson on Matt 26/Mark 14/Luke 22 and John 18, and will be focusing on the institution of the Lord’ Supper and discussing the priestly sacrificial Greek terms, such as αναμνηεσις (“memorial”/”remembrance”; cf. Hebrew זכר). On the concept of “remembrance” vis-à-vis the Eucharist, a catechism issued by German Catholic bishops captured it very well in the following:

In the celebration of the Eucharist the Church does what her Lord did on the evening preceding his death. He commissioned her and gave her power to do this: ‘Do this in memory of me!” (cf. Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25).

‘Remembering’ or ‘memorial’ is a concept understood by Jews and Christians as more than mere ‘not forgetting’, more than a happy memory of something in the past, more than something which one is glad to recall. ‘Memorial’ means that God allows what is past to be present here and now, that we are related to that past which is here and now effective. So Jesus’ last supper is present in every Eucharistic celebration. (Credo: A Catholic Catechism [trans. Benedict Davies; London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1983], §27.2 [p. 164])

Of course, they continue to defend the Eucharist itself being a propitiatory sacrifice. On this point, see the listing of articles at: