Cardinal Tagle: The Eucharist makes us God’s family.
Bishops from all over the DRC and thousands of the faithful attended the closing Mass of the 3rd Eucharistic Congress held in Lubumbashi, Congo’s second-largest city in the country’s southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia.
Cardinal Tagle urges unity
Cardinal Louis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, was Pope Francis’ special envoy to the ceremony, whose theme was: The Eucharist and the Family.
The closing Mass was held at the Mazembe football stadium. The Congress comes four months after Pope Francis’ visit to the DRC.
In his homily, Cardinal Tagle said the Eucharistic Congress allowed Catholic Christians to reaffirm their unity as Congolese people.
Nourished, we become united
“The Eucharist makes us God’s family. Though we are many and different from each other, we are one family in Jesus Christ. And this family’s life is the love of the Holy Spirit, who makes us grow into the full stature of Christ, the Head of the Body,” said Cardinal Tagle.
The Church in the DRC has had two Eucharistic Congresses in its history. The first was held in Kisantu in 1933, and the second in Kinshasa in 1980. The importance of this third Congress was the focus on the family, which is one of the Church’s concerns at both universal and local levels.
Living in filial communion
For Cardinal Tagle, meditating on the day’s liturgical readings brings about the presence of Christ in the Word. On the other hand, the Eucharistic bread and wine make of us a new creation. To eat His body given for us is to absorb His humility, generosity and love. To drink His blood shed for us on the Cross is to imbibe and immerse ourselves in his compassion, justice and forgiveness.
To live by the Word of God, which became flesh and blood, is to live as He lived, always in filial communion with God and fraternal communion with our brothers and sisters, especially the weakest and most forgotten.
