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Franciscan at Home

Forming those who form others

The Eucharist: Source of Cultural Renewal

Stained Glass Window at Leicester Cathedral by Lawrence OP

 

 

Western Culture needs renewal. This task of ennobling culture is vast indeed, and requires each of us to be a part of it. There are no sidelines or bystanders. It has been said that “Culture is the root of politics, and religion is the root of culture.”[i] To go a step further, religion rests upon the worship of God, and the Eucharist is at the center of true worship. Therefore, the task of ennobling culture requires ennobling religion and, correspondingly, ennobling worship, at the center of which we find the living God present in the Eucharist. Christian disciples must set Jesus Christ in the Eucharist at the center of their lives, as the Eucharist truly is the source and summit of that life,[ii] from whom flows rivers of living water (Jn 7:38), and apart from whom they cannot have life (Jn 6:53). The Eucharist celebrated and the Eucharist lived can transform our lives, the lives of others, and our culture itself.

 

Notes


[i] Fr. Richard Neuhaus, quoted in “Richard John Neuhaus Society,” First Things, https://www.firstthings.com/richard-john-neuhaus-society.

[ii] See Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, no. 11.

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Dominic Figueroa is one of eight children and grew up in Northern California. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theology and is currently working on an MA in Catechetics and Evangelization. He has served over the past ten years as a catechist, youth minister, and missionary.

This article is from The Catechetical Review (Online Edition ISSN 2379-6324) and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of The Catechetical Review by contacting [email protected]

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