Texts of addresses, interventions etc. here
Today, Arinze:
May the Virgin Mary, “Eucharistic woman” (Ecc. De Euch., 53), intercede for us.
May the Holy Spirit give us light, faith, wisdom, pastoral charity, evangelical courage, joy of proclamation and the awareness of our responsibility before God, before the Church and also before the world, to do our duty in these three weeks for the good of the holy people of God.
Eterovic, General Secretary of the Synod. Mostly procedural, but:
In this sublime sacrament he finds the truth on God and on his own existence as well as on the created world, the strength to remain faithful to the Christian vocation in the midst of the temptations in the world, the ardour of charity to bear witness to God’s love, especially with regard to the poor and the meek (cf. Mt 25: 31-44). By nourishing himself at the table of the Lord, the faithful is called to put into practice in every day life the teaching of the Master, who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28).
The eloquent icon of this attitude is the washing of the feet (cf. Jn 13: 1-15). This attitude of Eucharistic service can be perceived in the life of the saints, who reached perfection of the Christian vocation at an excellent level thanks to the sublime sacrament of the Eucharist which was at the centre of their life. They offer us an example which is always current of Eucharistic spirituality as a privileged journey towards Christian perfection. In addition, they continuously intercede for us, so that, by communicating with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we may become more and more what we already are through grace: children of God, members of the Church, that is of the mystical Body of Jesus Christ
Finally Schola, in a really lengthy intervention that couldn’t possibly all have been delivered right then and there. But good stuff, including a section on "Eucharistic Amazement." Good title for your next book, Michael!
The data gathered by the Instrumentum laboris prepared in view of this Synodal Assembly of ours show that the Eucharistic practice is very varied in the large areas of the globe. This certainly has a lot to do with their significant cultural differences, which are expressed in an evident way also in the quality of participation in the Eucharist, which, in turn, is connected to the authenticity of the ars celebrandi.
However, a general overview is needed. The decrease in Eucharistic amazement depends, in a final analysis, on the finitude and on the sin of the subject. Often however, this finds fertile terrain in the fact that the Christian community that celebrates the Eucharist is distant from reality. It lives in abstractions. It no longer speaks to the concrete man, to his sentiments, his work, his rest, his needs for unity, truth, goodness, beauty. And thus the Eucharistic action, separated from daily existence no longer accompanies the believer in the process of maturing of one’s self and in his relationship with the universe and with society.
The Synodal Assembly will need to look into this state of matters carefully and suggest some possible remedies. It cannot limit itself to re-emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist and the dies Domini. Objectively this is out of the discussion, but the difficulties lie in how to rekindle amazement, generated by the Eucharist, in the many non-practicing baptized persons (in some European countries this can be more than 80%). “Before men can come to the liturgy they must be called to faith and to conversion” [14] – we must not forget this. Therefore, the announcement and the personal and community testimony of Jesus Christ to all men are necessary to inciting vital and open Christian communities. Also, the life of these communities demands a systematic formation in the “mind of Christ” (1Cor 2:16) (catechesis – in a very particular way that concerning Christian initiation of children and adults, culture). This happens through education in the free giving (charity, commitment to social sharing). This requires a universal communication of the new life in Christ (mission). In a word, the constitutional factors of evangelization and of new evangelization are essential implications in Eucharistic action.