Virtual Eucharistic Participation
Rev. Johnson Mlambo
Archdiocese of Harare
The Eucharist - the meeting point of God and Man Man is born with a desire for God (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, i.e., CCC 27), hence, a Christian’s life can be talked of as an endeavour to find God, or striving to be and remain in communion with him. For Catholics the Eucharist is central to both Man’s quest for God and his finding God. It is so because it is the desire for God that takes people to Mass. Christ, their God, whom they seek, is present in four ways during Mass: (i) in the assembled people of God, for he said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20); (ii) in the person of the minister, for it is the same Christ, through the ministry of priests, who offers the same sacrifice
he formerly offered on the cross, the offering of himself; (iii) in the Word of God, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church, and (iv) Christ is especially present, in the Eucharist broken and shared (cf. Vatican II Document Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). So, in the Eucharistic celebration God descends on the altar to meet his people gathered around the altar who ascend to him by raising up their minds and hearts to him. Virtual Eucharistic Participation, whither are we drifting? Due to the Coronavirus pandemic the current restriction of fifty congregants per given time may compel some parishioners, at least occasionally, to shift to Virtual Eucharistic
Mukai -Vukani No.77 | July 2020 |
Participation. Virtual Eucharistic Participation can be described as following – on the internet – the proceedings of Mass being celebrated at a given parish. Loosely speaking, it can be talked of as attending Mass online. However, a number of pertinent questions arise from this phenomenon, such as: Can one say one has really attended Mass by Virtual Eucharistic Participation? How does one make the prayers of the liturgy incarnate in one’s own home? Will there be any active participation of the faithful, which the Vatican Council II encourages? Does Virtual Eucharistic Participation not lead to the privatisation of faith and the growth of the sense of alienation that arises from isolation from the Christian community? Will Virtual Eucharistic Participation not give way to a culture, especially among the youths, of instantaneous gratification? In this kind of culture one does not see the need for physical presence to satisfy social, and even religious and spiritual needs. Are there ways that the virtual Mass can provide at
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