Canon Law clearly and beautifully expresses it as follows: "The Most Holy
Eucharist is the most august sacrament, in which Christ the Lord Himself is
contained, offered and received and by which the Church constantly lives
and grows. The Eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and
resurrection of the Lord, in which the sacrifice of the cross is
perpetuated over the centuries, is the summit and the source of all
Christian worship and life; it signifies and effects the unity of the
people of God and achieves the building up of the Body of Christ. The
other sacraments and all the ecclesiastical works of the apostolate are
closely related to the Holy Eucharist and are directed to it." (Canon 897).
Canon 899 states: "The celebration of the Eucharist is the action of
Christ Himself and the Church; in it Christ the Lord, by the ministry of a
priest, offers Himself, substantially present under the forms of bread and
wine, to God the Father and gives Himself as spiritual food to the faithful
who are associated with His offering. In the Eucharistic banquet the
people of God are called together, with the bishop or, under his authority,
a presbyter, presiding and acting in the person of Christ; and all the
faithful present whether clergy or laity, participate together in their own
way, according to the diversity of orders and liturgical roles. The
celebration of the Eucharist is to be so arranged that all who take part
receive from it the many fruits for which Christ the Lord instituted the
Eucharistic Sacrifice."
From what is stated above, it becomes evident that next to Christ, it is
the priest who is the most important in dignity and office of all of the
faithful participating in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Canon 900 says of
him, "The minister, who in the person of Christ can confect the sacrament
of the Eucharist, is solely a validly ordained priest. A priest who is not
canonically impeded celebrates the Eucharist licitly observing the
prescriptions of the following canons." By commentary, it is noted that
while any priest may validly consecrate the sacrament, some priests may not
do so licitly, such as those who have been deprived of the exercise of
their order by a penalty or who have lost the clerical state.
There are two other Canons that speak of the priest as minister. Canon
909 states: "The priest is not to fail to make the required prayerful
preparation for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, or the
thanksgiving to God upon its completion." Canon 916 addressed the matter
of grace sin as it states, "A person who is conscious of grave sin is not
to celebrate Mass or to receive the Body of the Lord without prior
sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no
opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the
obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of
confessing as soon as possible." It should be clear here that a priest in
mortal sin, under the conditions mentioned, celebrates validly and licitly
and in no way does harm to the confection of the sacrament.
Next installment: The absolute importance of the confection of the Sacrament.