-
1200 BCE
Israelites are freed by God
The Israelites praise God for freeing them from slavery and now the conduct sacraments to thank God for that -
33
Jesus conducts Passover
Jesus breaks the bread for the first time changing the eucharist forever -
150
Eucharist was made more prayerful
Gradually the apostles and their successors developed the Eucharistic celebration into the
structure that endures to this day. They first named it the “Breaking of the Bread” but soon
they saw the need to separate the rite from a meal, both because of abuses at meals (1 Cor
11:17-22) and because they wanted a more prayerful setting for this act of worship. Eucharist was moved to Sunday in memory of Christ’s resurrection -
313
The Growing Body of Christ
Persecutions suddenly ended. Constantine
gave freedom to Christians and spent great sums of money building basilicas for Eucharistic
worship. Modest house churches gradually ceased to exist. Processions, courtly movement
in the sanctuary, metered chant and sung litanies that galvanized the voices of thousands,
incense and bells, kissing sacred objects and the use of genuflections became a pattern to
accompany the ancient structure of the Eucharist -
500
The Eucharist Becomes Distant for Most
During these times,
active participation in the Mass declined. The altar was often hidden from public view.
Priests conducted the liturgy without the need for participation of the congregation in the
Eucharist. The Mass remained in Latin, even though people began using their local languages
for most things in their lives -
1517
Reformation and the Tridentine Mass
t took the Church 28 years to gather to its energies and open the Council of Trent in 1545
to deal with Martin Luther’s Reformation of 1517. The Council Fathers called for a renewal
of the mass. In 1570 Pope Pius V responded to this call that would be a standard book for
the celebration of Mass for the Western Church. The priest would celebrate both the Liturgy
of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist at the altar. -
Mass in the Era of Vatican II
In 1951 Joseph Jungmann, S.J., published The Mass of the Roman Rite, that revealed the
complex history of the Mass. With relatively little debate and very small opposition, the
Constitution on the Liturgy was approved by the Council. The sonorous words of the
Constitution reached a high point when it declared, “The liturgy is the summit to which the
activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows” (10). -
The Eucharist as it is today
The eucharist only recently became as we know it today. In the late 20th century the priests finally followed through with their words. No the priests stand close to their audience in order to engage with them in their local language. The priest now explains the eucharist during their sermon.