Source: Agenzia Fides
Rev. Fr. Donald Zagore, an Ivorian Theologian of the Society of African Missions, has explained that the Eucharist remains essentially the heart of the Church’s missionary activity and without it nothing could be achieved.
He noted in an interview with Agenzia Fides that “as St. Teresa of the Child Jesus said, in the absence of the Eucharistic Jesus, the Gospel cannot be announced, the sick cannot be comforted and healed, and the world cannot be led to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The reason for the existence of the mission, the Theologian pointed out, is the Eucharist. John Paul II said that ‘the Church lives by the Eucharist’. Without the Eucharist, the Church no longer has her reason for being, continues the missionary. Yet, without being responsible for this dramatic situation, many Christian communities in Africa and in the world remain for years without the Eucharist due to lack of Priests”.
He noted that many Christian communities in Africa and in the world are forced to a true ‘Eucharistic famine’, to the impossibility of sacramental communion. Without exaggerating, one could even speak of a form of involuntary ex-communication”.
In the light of this, he noted that “a vigorous and prophetic response is needed more than ever, that offers a saving solution to this pastoral problem that not only seriously undermines the missionary activity of the Church in Africa, but also empties our Christian communities. Without concrete answers to their situations, our faithful turn to other religious realities”.
“Besides praying to the Lord of the harvest, so that he can send workers for his harvest, as the Gospel recommends, concrete actions must be taken to provide concrete answers to this question. One of the plausible paths today is to work for an accurate formation of the Laity, Catechists or Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, and for those who have thirst and hunger for the Eucharist”, concludes Fr. Zagore.
