The Eucharist: Sacrament of Charity

Wonder…The word reminds us of parents gazing on their newborn for the first time, the joy of a bride and groom as they commit their lives to each other in Christ, the sight of a loved one returning home after a prodigal absence.

It is that sense of amazement, of awe, of joy quickening our hearts, that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called us to experience when we participate in the Eucharist, “the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God’s infinite love for every man and woman.”

Writing to Catholics worldwide — not just as a theologian but as a pastor — in The Sacrament of Charity, the Holy Father explained that he wished to encourage “the Christian people to deepen their understanding of the relationship between the Eucharistic mystery, the liturgical action, and the new spiritual worship which derives from the Eucharist as the sacrament of charity.”

More Pamphlets from OSV

• Pope Emeritus Benedict's First Encyclical
• The Way of the Cross with Pope Emeritus Benedict

Read Sacramentum Caritatis