‘FONT AND APEX’
In France, in Notre Dame, Pope Leo XIV spoke to those in Holy Orders:
To you who celebrate the Eucharist each day, I ask you to ensure that the liturgical celebrations are always carried out with dignity and reverence, even where smaller communities gather.
Without the reverent and joyful celebration of the Eucharist, the pope went on, the ‘very meaning of any Church building would be compromised.’
The Eucharist is the ‘font and apex’ of the life of the Church, and the life of the world, because the Eucharist is Jesus Christ, under the veil (species) of bread and wine:
The basic elements of the earth are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus, thereby making his death and resurrection present. All that remains of the bread and wine are its appearances.
This is our essential response to the vicissitudes of modern life:
We live in an age deprived of fullness, depth and promise. The noble simplicity of song, spoken word and liturgical gesture can be for many a glimmer of hope, an oasis of peace in a hyper-connected and noisy society.
Many are seeking solidity amidst the fragility and fluidity.
Dare we deprive them?
AMEN.
