L’EUCARISTIA E LA CHIESA NELLE OPERE PRECONCILIARI DI YVES CONGAR
THE EUSCHARIST AND THE CHURCH IN THE WORKS OF YVES CONGAR, PRIOR TO THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the key ideas of Yves Congar’s theological reflections on the relationship between the Eucharist and the Church, reflections made prior to the Vatican II Council. It refers, more specifically, to rediscovering the historical reality of the Church as the new “People of God”, and its relationship with the Eucharist, seen as the sacramental event which generates and, at the same time, reflects the Church’s communion along its pilgrimage in time. Another key contribution is emphasizing on the Holy Spirit’s role in the celebration of the Eucharist and in building the Ecclesiastical Body of Christ. At the same time, Congar points out at the Eucharistic synaxis as being the place where the Church’s mission is fully expressed, both through the common priesthood of all the baptized and through the ordained priesthood of some of its members. A special ecclesiological and liturgical importance is given to the active participation of the faithful to the celebration of the Eucharist. Building on the relationship between the Eucharist and the Church, Congar establishes the framework for a theology of the laity which will later be thoroughly studied, during Vatican II and by the post-Vatican II ecclesiology.

• Details
• Contents