An Agonizing Question Presents Itself

From Tissa Balasuriya, The Eucharist and Human Liberation, 1979

“An agonizing question presents itself in our minds.  Why is that that in spite of hundreds of thousands of eucharistic celebrations, Christians continue to be as selfish as before?  Why have the “Christian” peoples been the most cruel colonizers of human history?  Why is the gap of income, wealth, knowledge, and power growing in the world today – and that in favor of the “Christian” peoples?  Wh is that persons and people who proclaim eucharistic love and sharing deprive poor people of the world of food, capital, employment, and even land?  Why do they prefer cigarettes and liquor to food and drink for the one-third of the humanity that goes hungry to bed each night?  Why are cars, cosmetics, pet dogs, horses, and bombs preferred to human children?

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The churches have spoken during the last two decades of identification with the poor, but how minimal have been the changes in the churches as a whole!  All the same, the deep social commitment of some Christian groups is often inspired by a more meaningful celebration of the Eucharist.  This is generally in small groups, among youth, workers, women, religious, priests, and the like.  They are, not infrequently, marginalized by the official church authorities.  Eucharistic life pulsates through them.

Photo: Dhammika Heenpella