The Mystical Christ ... is a professor and a merchant, an engineer, lawyer and laborer, prisoner and monarch

A week of adoration before the closing of the Bishops' Synod - Canonization of Fr. Alberto Hurtado

Toda la iglesia esta llamada a unirse en adoración esa semana The enitre church is called to unite in adoration this week Die ganze Kirche ist aufgerufen zur Anbetung in dieser Woche Foto: POS Fischer © 2005
Canonización el 23 de octubre: Padre Alberto Hurtado, Chile To be canonized on October 23: Father Alberto Hurtado, Chile Heiligsprechung am 23. Oktober: Pater Alberto Hurtado, Chile Foto: Archiv Chile © 2005

ROME; Fr; Alberto Eronti. The Bishops Synod on the Holy Eucharist has completed its second week and now enters the proposition phase. On Tuesday of next week, the first conclusions will be turned in. There will be a period for amendments and addendums and the final propositions will be voted upon on Saturday the 22^nd and then presented to the Pope. The text will help Benedict XVI draft his first post-synod reflection.

In the Italian media, the Synod has not had a great repercussion perhaps because it is a very specialized topic. Its comprehension is beyond them and furthermore, it does not foresee an impacting statement. But, beyond what the media keeps silent or publishes, there is another dimension which must be highlighted. It deals with the web of Eucharistic adoration which takes place in Rome, Italy and in the entire Church. It is a fact that it is silent, but it is taken as essential at the hour of participating in the Synod by prayer and confident supplication to the Spirit. The Synod Fathers give witness to this since daily they can participate in an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel which is adjacent to the Synod conference room. Nevertheless, through the initiative of the Holy Father, between this Saturday and next Saturday, Eucharistic adoration will increase in the entire Church. It not only deals in the first place with accompanying the end of the Synod, but to close the Eucharistic Year with a strong centralization of "the Mystery of faith."

There is a clear awareness that what Pope John Paul II proclaimed in his Encyclical "On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church" has been achieved: "I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic amazement" (E.E.n*6). "I wish to involve the whole Church more fully in this Eucharistic reflection, also as a way of thanking the Lord for the gift of the Eucharist and the priesthood: ‘Gift and Mystery’(…..) indicating to the Church with renewed strength, the centrality of the Eucharist. From it the Church draws her life" (E.E. n* 7).

The message of Father Alberto Hurtado

On the other hand, the closing of the year dedicated to the Mystery of the Eucharist coincides with the canonization of new saints which will be presided by Benedict XVI. In this context, there is one canonization which in addition to being a source of joy for the entire Church, especially affects the Church of Latin America. It is the canonization of the Chilean Jesuit, Father Alberto Hurtado. A great deal could be written about this exceptional priest, but basing myself on the last Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, I would like to pause on the luminous and particular relationship of Alberto Hurtado with the Eucharist. I believe that to approach the unfathomable mystery of the "Testament of Jesus" at the Last Supper, nothing can help us more than the testimony of those who lived it as the center of their lives and learned through it that"….. the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: (E.E.n* 1).

Father Hurtado developed an impressive apostolic activity, but he never left what someone termed "the soul of all apostolate": prayer, contemplation, adoration. In this way he achieved a particular equilibrium between "Martha and Mary" (Lk.10) and became the "good Samaritan" (Lk.10) of the street children. In them he radiated and fostered the Church’s social action…..he formed the youngsters for political and social commitment in the light of the Gospel….. Cardinal Errázuriz writes: "The work of Father Hurtado could not be explained if it did not have a hidden basis which supports it. His life of unlimited generous surrender cannot lack a profound foundation….. Upon reaching the depths of the foundation of the life of Father Hurtado, the Eucharist appears. Many testimonies by those who knew him well concur with this opinion" (n* 4-5).

To be Christ

One of the phrases which the saint repeated most throughout his life is: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal.2,20). Here is the living center of his life: Christ! He wanted to form himself on Him, to live and act like Him. In a retreat for the clergy he said: "How simple is our spirituality! To be Christ; to be like Christ in every circumstance of my life and in whatever Christ sets before me." He also said: "My only obligation is to walk on the path which is Christ…..to live…..to imitate Him…..in other words, to be Christ. My obligation is not to triumph, not to create great works, but to work in conformity with what I am." The Jesuit, Father Paolo Molinari, postulator for the cause of the saint, wrote: "Father Hurtado spent long hours before the tabernacle in silent adoration; in the daily celebration of the Eucharist he would unite his heart to that of the Savior(…..). From this loving attachment to Jesus, Alberto Hurtado received the strength, the courage, the sensitivity and the goodness which characterized his apostolate….. " He extended the mission of Jesus because he was intimately united to Him, because his entire life tended to reproduce the life of his Master.

This relationship with the Eucharist set on fire the soul of Alberto Hurtado and developed in him a passion to be Christ in the heart of the world. He expressed it thus: "The historical Christ was a Jew living in Palestine in the era of the Roman Empire. The Mystical Christ is Chilean of the 20^th century, German and French and African….. He is a professor and a merchant, an engineer, lawyer and laborer, prisoner and monarch…..He is every Christian who lives in God’s grace (…..) and who always aspires to this: to do what he does as Christ would do in his place." "The central act of our day should be our Mass. After communion, to be faithful to the great transformation which has taken hold of us. To live our day like Christ. To be Christ for ourselves and for others: That is taking communion! The Mass, the center of the day and of the whole day."

A man and a priest of the Eucharist

It is a symbolic that the entire year dedicated especially to the Eucharist coincides with the canonization of Father Alberto Hurtado. We can parapharase the expression of John Paul II referring to Mary as "Woman of the Eucharist" saying that Father Hurtado was "man and priest of the Eucharist". That is why he made his life an offering. He surrendered himself. He gave of himself to the extreme as did his Lord and Master.

May Sunday, the 23^rd of October, remain in our memory as a program: the year dedicated to the Eucharist comes to an end, but what does not end is the Eucharist of each day and may the entire day be a Eucharist. It has to do with what Father Kentenich expresses in this way: "From Holy Mass to daily life! Always from the altar to daily life! If I separate my life from the altar then tomorrow my life will no longer be a life lived in God, it will be a life of the world (…..) Daily Mass should become the Mass of life. What does this mean? All of the day’s activities should become a constant repition of the offering, consecration and communion" (November 29, 1964). Amen!

Translation: Carlos Cantú La Feria, Texas USA