Communion at Mensa in Family and Eucharistic Liturgy

In celebrating Communion at mensa-Missa in family-Ecclesia throughout the history of Salvation, of culture, of anthropology, of sociology, of religion and of the Church’s Liturgy till today, the meal ritual is one of the efficacious & significant means that enhances human-Divine communion. The mensa unfolds physical, social, intellectual, memorial, spiritual, emotional, or integral dimensions that engage all the senses and faculties of the human person’s body, mind, heart and soul, enabling all to foretaste communion with God, others, oneself and creation, already now but not yet, both at the mensa in the family and the Eucharistic Mensa in Ecclesia, where the Lord becomes one with us, food for us and life within us as He nourishes us with His own Word, Body and Blood.

This Volume analyses how Eucharistic Liturgy, like the meal ritual in its anthropological, biblical and liturgical perspectives: has a communitarian character; is remembrance and presence of God’s marvels in the past, present and future; is an explosion of life; consists of joy, sacrifice, festivity, spontaneity and solemnity; is an experience of love, communion, hospitality, reconciliation, fraternity, solidarity, communication, transformation, healing, liberation and thanksgiving, even amidst today’s secularized realities that risk dividing rather than integrate persons. With liturgy, God’s people derive the true human-Christian spirit of communion, thanks to the Passover and Last Supper Memorial of the Eucharist as a «Sacrament of Love, a sign of Unity, a bond of Charity, a Paschal Banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with Grace, and a pledge of future Glory is given to us» (SC 47). 

Fr. Dr. WANJALA Moses, SDB is a Ugandan Catholic Priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Education at Don Bosco College Moshi - Tanzania, an affiliate to the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi – Kenya; Bachelor’s Degree in Sacred Theology at the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome – Italy; Licentiate (Masters Degree) and Doctorate (PhD) in Sacred Liturgy at the Pontifical University of St. Anselm (PIL), Rome. He served as a Formator & Professor at Don Bosco Utume, Nairobi, affiliated to the Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. He is the author of the Book: “Foretaste of Heavenly Liturgy: Commemorating, Celebrating and Living”, issued by the STS Publications, Jerusalem – Israel in 2015. He is currently ministering in Jerusalem - Israel at the Studium Theologicum Salesianum (STS), Salesian Pontifical University (Rome) – Jerusalem Campus. 

Emails: wanjala@jerusalem.unisal.it & wanjalams2002@yahoo.com