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From: 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33

Abuses

[17] But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you
come together it is not for the better but for the worse. [18] For, in the first place,
when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and
I partly believe it, [19] for there must be factions among you in order that those
who are genuine among you may be recognized. [20] When you meet together,
it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. [21] For in eating, each one goes ahead
with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. [22] What! Do you
not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and
humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend
you in this? No, I will not.

The Institution of the Eucharist and its Worthy Reception

[23] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus
on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks,
he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance
of me.” [25] In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the
new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of
me.” [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord’s death until he comes.

[33] So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

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Commentary:

17-22. Here St Paul discusses a much more serious abuse. These Christians
used to combine the celebration of the Eucharist with a meal in common. In
principle, this meal was intended to be a sign of charity and solidarity among
those present: hence the fact that it was sometimes called an agape or frater-
nal banquet; these meals also provided an opportunity to help those most in
need. However, certain abuses had arisen: instead of a meal in which all sha-
red equally, they had been eating in groups, each group eating the food they
had brought, which meant that some ate and drank too much, while others did
not have enough or had nothing at all. The net effect was that this meal — giving
rise as it did to discontent and discord—was in sharp contrast with the Eucharist
the source of charity and unity. Very early on in the Church the Eucharist was
separated from these meals, which then became simple fraternal meals with no
liturgical significance.

23-26. These verses clearly bear witness to the early Christians’ faith in the eu-
charistic mystery. St Paul is writing around the year 57—only twenty-seven years
since the institution of the Eucharist—, reminding the Corinthians of what they
had been taught some years earlier (”c.” the year 51). The words “received” and
“delivered” are technical terms used to indicate that a teaching is part of aposto-
lic Tradition; cf. also 1 Cor 15:3. These two passages highlight the importance
of that apostolic Tradition. The words “I received from the Lord” are a technical
expression which means “I received through that Tradition which goes back to
the Lord himself.”

There are three other New Testament accounts of the institution of the Eucharist
(Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:16-20). This account, which is most like St
Luke’s, is the earliest of the four.

The text contains the fundamental elements of Christian faith in the mystery of
the Eucharist: 1) the institution of this sacrament by Jesus Christ and his real
presence in it; 2) the institution of the Christian priesthood; 3) the Eucharist is
the sacrifice of the New Testament (cf. notes on Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25;
Lk 22: 16-20; 1 Cor 10: 14-22).

“Do this in remembrance of me”: in instituting the Eucharist, our Lord charged
that it be re-enacted until the end of time (cf. Lk 22:19), thereby instituting the
priesthood. The Council of Trent teaches that Jesus Christ our Lord, at the Last
Supper, “offered his body and blood under the species of bread and wine to God
the Father and he gave his body and blood under the same species to the apos-
tles to receive, making them priests of the New Testament at that time. [...] He
ordered the apostles and their successors in the priesthood to offer this sacra-
ment when he said, “Do this in remembrance of me”, as the Catholic Church
has always understood and taught” (”De SS. Missae Sacrificio”, chap. 1; cf.
can. 2). And so, Bl. John Paul II taught, the Eucharist is “the principal and cen-
tral reason-of-being of the sacrament of the priesthood, which effectively came
into being at the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, and together with
it” (”Letter to All Bishops”, 24 February 1980).

The word “remembrance” is charged with the meaning of a Hebrew word which
was used to convey the essence of the feast of the Passover — commemoration
of the exodus from Egypt. For the Israelites the passover rite not only reminded
them of a bygone event: they were conscious of making that event present, re-
viving it, in order to participate in it, in some way, generation after generation (cf.
Ex 12:26-27; Deut 6:20-25). So, when our Lord commands his Apostles to “do
this in remembrance of me”, it is not a matter of merely recalling his supper but
of renewing his own passover sacrifice of Calvary, which already, at the Last
Supper, was present in an anticipated way.

33-34. These precise instructions show how desirous the Apostle is to surround
the mystery of the Eucharist with due adoration, respect and reverence, which
are a logical consequence of the sublimity of this sacrament. The Church is tire-
less in making this point: “when celebrating the Sacrament of the body and blood
of the Lord, the full magnitude of the divine mystery must be respected, as must
the full meaning of this sacramental sign in which Christ is really present and is
received, the soul is filled with grace and the pledge of future glory is given (cf.
Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47).

“This is the source of the duty to carry out rigorously the liturgical rules and every-
thing that is a manifestation of community worship offered to God himself, all the
more so because in this sacramental sign he entrusts himself to us with limitless
trust, as if not taking into consideration our human weakness, our unworthiness,
the force of habit, or even the possibility of insult. Every member of the Church,
especially bishops and priests, must be vigilant in seeing that this Sacrament of
love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God, so that through all the
manifestations of worship due to it Christ shall be given back ‘love for love’ and
truly become ‘the life of our souls’ (cf. Jn 6:51-57; 14:6; Gal 2:20)” (Bl. John Paul
II, “Redemptor Hominis”, 20).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.