By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Gospel of John's account of the Last Supper features Jesus washing his disciples' feet and sending them forth, highlighting the fact that the Eucharist leads to mission and service in the world, said Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash.

The bishop, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressed the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist Oct. 8 and spoke to Catholic News Service in Rome Oct. 12.

The washing of the feet, he told CNS, "is integral to the Last Supper": It is St. John's way of saying Christ's followers remember his sacrifice in the Mass, but they also must remember his admonition to go out and serve the world.

Bishop Skylstad said that while some synod members have focused on abuses of liturgical norms or a lack of reverence for the Eucharist, most bishops seem more focused "on the positive aspects of Eucharist and celebration."

"The Eucharist has become a really powerful expression of the living of our faith," he said, citing as an example the worldwide media coverage given to Pope John Paul II's funeral Mass and to the election of Pope Benedict XVI.

"If you are looking for warts and moles" in how the Eucharist is celebrated, "you are going to find them," he said. "But I would rather focus on the positive things and continue to improve them."

Bishop Skylstad said he thinks one key to helping Catholics live their faith in the world is to help priests preach better.

The homilist must be able to integrate the scriptural readings with the church's doctrinal, moral and social teaching, and also with the issues members of his congregation face daily.

"We are constantly challenged to make sure that what we celebrate is what we live," the bishop said.

In his speech to the synod, Bishop Skylstad said the Eucharist is the chief source of Christian growth.

"We might be tempted to cling to this growth, to grasp it, to hold it close, as though it were meant only for us as individual believers," he said, but "this growth compels us forward, outward, into the world."

Those who receive the Eucharist are called to communion, not only with the church and their fellow parishioners, but also with the world. They are called to share the Gospel and care for the poor, the bishop said.

Bishop Skylstad also said the reconciliation celebrated around the altar must be echoed in the way Catholics are reconciled with each other and promote reconciliation and peace in the world.

In the interview, the bishop said the church's mission is to "help people connect the dots in their lives," helping churchgoers take an active role in society and helping those who do not go to church identify and satisfy their needs for "sacred space."

The bishop also said he hoped the synod would look at ways to help people recover "a sense of mystery, of amazement before the Eucharist."

Bishop Skylstad said he thought some worldly images could be used to help people understand why awe is appropriate before the mystery of Christ present in the Eucharist.

"When you look at the universe and the galaxies or the operation of an eye, which is so complex and wonderful, or at a newborn baby," he said, there should be a "sense of wonder that also can help us explain the Eucharist -- it is a wonderful thing, a mysterious thing."

"We need to capture the imagination," he said.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops