The Eucharist as a source of Christian witness

Abstract

Vatican II affirms that the Eucharist "is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life" . This means that Christianity flows from the Eucharist as its source as the light comes from the sun. Secondly Christianity is realised and ordered to the Eucharist as its summit or highpoint to which all Christian actions are to be directed. It is Eucharistic worship that constitutes the soul of all Christian life. Although in contemporary Christian life, worship and witness seem to be somehow disjointed~ it was not so in the early C'hnrch Jn the early Church there was no dichotomy between liturgy and service, prayer and charity. They were practically one as St. James reminds us in his epistle. "Looking after orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself unspotted by the world made for pure worship without stain before our God and Father" (Jas 1,27). If liturgy and life are to be separated, Christian life could be like that of the Levite and priest in the parable of the Good Samaritan who despite knowing the liturgy well, ignored the man needing their assistance.