Colombian Sees Eucharist as Panacea to Societal Ills

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 7, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Eucharist is the antidote to the «negative signs of contemporary culture,» a Colombian archbishop told the Synod of Bishops.

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Archbishop Juan Francisco Sarasti Jaramillo of Cali said that «in contrast with the culture or anti-culture of death which traffics with arms, which builds massive systems of destruction, which legitimizes abortion, which authorizes research using human embryos, Jesus defines himself and gives himself to us as ‘Bread of Life.'»

«Our culture is marked with hatred and terrorism,» the archbishop said today, «and the Eucharist is the permanent possibility of reconciliation with God and our brothers and the invitation to reconcile ourselves with one another before offering worship to the Lord.»

It is for this reason, he continued, «that the ‘rite of peace,’ renewed in the liturgical reform, is so deeply felt in many communities.»

In an age of scientific positivism and relativism, «the Eucharist the reality of ‘mystery,’ and the validity of believing and loving as ways of knowledge, are affirmed,» Archbishop Sarasti Jaramillo said.

The Eucharist, he said, also offers «a profound company and a promise of eternal life which fills us with definitive hope.»

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