Emmanuel
Pius X (Tra le Sollecitudini, 1903). They maintained with conviction the
eucharistic decrees of Pope Pius X, Sacra Tridentina Synodus (1905),
about frequent Communion, and Quam Singulari Christus Amore
(1910), regarding the age of First Holy Communion for children, and
in more recent times, the action of Pius XII who signaled approval to a
vast renewal program with Mediator Dei (1947) and the reforms of the
Paschal Vigil (1951) and Holy Week (1955).
The emphasis on the essential relationship between the church and
the Eucharist intensified as a result of the liturgical renewal of the
Second Vatican Council. Congresses have sought to contribute to the
renewed face of the church produced by Vatican II and the doctrine
of the Eucharist, the “source and summit of the entire Christian life”
(Lumen Gentium, 11).
In recent years, pastoral concerns have increasingly influenced
eucharistic congresses, among them the need to deepen the vision of
Vatican II, address the collapse of culture and of religious practice in
many parts of the world, the rise of secularism, the rediscovery of the
meaning behind the eucharistic mystery and ways of living it, and the
role the Eucharist plays in the “new evangelization.” Starting from this
background, we can better understand the task and commitment of
international eucharistic congresses today to answering the pressing
concerns raised by cultural and ecclesial trends.
Humankind needs to hear the message of our hope in Christ Jesus.
The Introduction of the Basic Text states: “The IEC is intended to be a
station — a kind of a ‘stopover’ on a journey — where a local church
community gathers around the Eucharist to celebrate, render honor,
and pray in the presence of the Lord in his eucharistic mystery. To
this sacred event, she invites nearby local churches and other church
communities from all over the world, for the IEC is intended to be an
affair of the universal church. The Rituale for the celebration of the
congress demands that the actual celebration of the Eucharist be
truly the center of all that takes place at the congress itself, so that
everything points to it and prepares for it.”
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