Holy Communion is inseparably linked to Christian unity

The ongoing reforms being undertaken by the Catholic Church regarding due reverence to Holy Communion, are linked to Christian unity. Whereas Anglicans esteem the sacrament as a mere remembrance and the thanksgiving of Jesus’s sacrifice, Roman Catholics and the Orthodox believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated species of bread and wine (John 6:55).

The difference basically lies in interpretation of the Scriptures.

Jesus instructed His followers to use bread and wine to remember the sacrifice He was going to make when He died for our sins on the cross (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Celebrating communion marks the story of Jesus’ offering of Himself completely to give us a better life and a fresh relationship with God and with fellow believers (1 Peter 3:18).

Jesus called Himself “the bread of life,” which means that we are nourished by Him, we survive because of Him, and He satisfies us when everything else leaves us empty (John 6:48-51). Christ authorised His Apostles to proclaim the forgiveness of sins and to celebrate Holy Communion as He Himself had done with them (see John 7.6.2 and Luke 22: 19, respectively).

Holy Communion has an ecumenical dimension. It signifies a relationship of recognition and acceptance between Christian Churches or denominations, or between individual Christians and the Church. This is, however, a journey that presupposes unity of faith, enlightened by God’s Word.

The Gospel account of the two disciples of Emmaus, helps us to appreciate how the Eucharist can reunite Christians (see Lk 24:13-35). The duo had not realised that Jesus’ death on the cross was meant to gather into one the children of God who are scattered (see John 11:52). Jesus patiently helped to explain to them the Scriptures concerning His Messiahship.

Later on “When He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised Him; and He vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:30-31).

The two disciples returned to Jerusalem to join the Church. Eucharistic communion is, thus, inseparably linked to the unity of the Church.

The connection between the interpretation of the Word of God and the Eucharist also appears when Jesus interprets the Eucharist by recalling the gift of Manna in the wilderness (see John 6:32-58). In the Church of Jerusalem the Apostolic teaching based on the word of God, preceded participation in the “breaking of bread” (see Acts 2:42).

In this light we can understand how the doctrinal divisions between the disciples of Christ, grouped in the various Churches and denominations, limit full sacramental sharing. Baptism, however, is the deep root of the basic unity that links Christians despite their divisions. It expresses the unity already existing and moving in the direction of the full communion of the Churches around the table of the Word and of the Lord’s Body and Blood.

Consequently, on exceptional occasions and for a just cause, the Bishop of the Diocese may permit a member of another Church to take on the task of reader during a Eucharistic celebration in the Catholic Church.

Likewise, permission may be obtained regarding the sacraments of Penance, the Eucharist and the Anointing of the Sick between Catholics and Eastern Christians, provided that the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided.

The Church must not be a body of divided and suffering members, but a strong and living organism. Christian unity must grow to its fullness, as Christ implored in His great prayer (see John 17:20-26). The limits to intercommunion at the table of the Word and of the Eucharist must become a call to purification, to dialogue and to the ecumenical progress of the Churches.