The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI

Abstract

One will encounter views that there was no Supper of the Lord with His disciples, with the character of a religious and soteriological mystery, and that it only had the character of a simple supper or at most a mere Old Testament ritual. This position is ahistorical and anti-mysterial, and thus Arian and even secularist. On the other hand, there are frequent attempts to confine the Eucharist to the private sphere of life of the believers. The article shows that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI strongly challenges such views. For him, the Eucharist is not only the heart of his humble life and a theme of his extraordinary theological thought but also the central event, as well as the summary (ἀνακεϕαλαιώσις: cf. Eph 1:10) of the entire history and of all creation, which tends towards union with God. Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI argues that in the Eucharist the integral Christ is present, with His whole Person, historical and at the same time glorified, and with Him the entire Holy Trinity. Such an understanding of the Eucharist has important consequences for the faith and social commitment of the contemporary Church.