EUCHARIST

DISCIPLESHIP GOES beyond the Christians tendency to create an external law for himself at variance with a genuine surrender of the human heart to God.  Or the tendency to trivialize the great truths of faith, especially the meaning and dignity of the Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To be lived out, the truth of Jesus Christ must be lived <em>in</em>. The interior life of faith must be mirrored by an exterior life of grace....It is the Lord and no other who prepares a splendid table before us  and invites us to dwell in his house forever. We can go anywhere in the world for a meal, but there is only one place where we can go to share the banquet of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

WE WHO model our lives on Christ are to place blessed bread and wine at the very center of our lives. This we know. This we can understand. And having received the consecrated bread and wine, we are brought face-to-face with the mystery that what these blessed elements signify is at the center of God himself. Realizing that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is "...the source and summit of the whole of the Church's worship and of the Christian life"  why are the eucharistic species central? Why would the saints of renown have given up everything the world has to offer for the taste of this food? Because the consecrated gifts of bread and wine, united with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, is the mystery of life itself.

When Jesus declares, "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" [Jn 6:54], he does not speak allegorically or euphemistically. He does not infer, unless you eat my words, my body symbolizes the bread of life, my blood is poetic drink or any such dubiety. With unmistakable certitude, Our Lord insists unequivocally, "this is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever". [Jn 6:58] and establishes it as a fundamental, dogmatic test of faith!

Expedition climbing always involves groups of climbers who spend more time on the mountain and proceed more slowly along the narrow way that leads to life [Mt 7:14] than does the “alpiner”, a solitary climber who takes a route he will not use again and whose whole risky effort depends on speed. Everything that is “Church”, everything that is Catholic centers on the solemn expedition of a community which, in spirit and truth, ascends to the “summit” of faith—the fullness of the Eucharistic blessing in the lives of the faithful.

BECAUSE OF him who has something in his hands--"for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed"more will be expected from us. For our faith to survive, we must make the passover from hillside meal to eucharistic sacrifice in our hearts. This Jesus has enabled us to live by the self-sacrifice of his humanity. Therefore we, too, must share the good news of this heavenly banquet. We must lead others to share in Christ's glory, in his radiant goodness. Praising God for those who believe, and praying for those with whom we must contend in faith, we implore God: "Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice!"

I HAVE learned from personal experience that the division among the twenty-five thousand or more denominations and varieties of Protestantism, and their continued separation from the Roman Catholic Church, cannot be solved by appropriating Holy Communion with the same aplomb as one would take free tickets or promotional favors. I have learned that the reception of the Body of the Lord is not a right for anyone to appropriate for themselves, whether Catholic or non-Catholic. The right to determine these matters belongs to the Universal Church--in the person of the Holy Father in union with the College of Bishops--who alone establish the norms: "In the celebration of the Eucharist above all, no one, not even a priest, may on his own authority add, omit, or change anything in the liturgy."

THE EXAMPLE of Philip and Andrew is a caution, not a model. John's gospel story does not bring us to admire their response to Christ. John is telling you to pay attention to these two apostles, but do not do as they did. We fear trusting the truth and authenticity of Jesus' eucharistic teaching. So many of us are afraid to allow the Holy Eucharist to transform our lives. So many of us are uncertain of the Holy Spirit's power to transform  (show the laying-on of hands)  the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Open the eyes and ears of your soul to realize that the leaven for the bread which you eat today has been handed down from one Catholic generation to another.

THE BLESSED Eucharist commands reverence and devotion. Because Sunday is our <em>primordial feast day</em>, and the day of rest which crowned the creation of the world  [Gen 2:2-3], God instructs us to be faithful Sunday worshippers. Frequent, even daily reception increases one's union with Christ. Adoration of Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament of the tabernacle is highly recommended as is participation in the service of Holy Benediction. The Holy Father encourages the faithful to remain after Mass for a short while and pray. If one has a habit of arriving late and leaving Mass early without pressing cause, such a pattern of behavior must surely be reexamined and made to conform to Gospel standards.

AND IF, in one's way of thinking, the Holy Spirit does not or cannot transform the natural gifts of bread and wine into supernatural gifts of Our Lord's flesh and blood, then why would he wish to be counted among our number? That is to say, why would he be Catholic? Why would he be Christian? But as it is, the number of us who are reckoned as believers in the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church" is not to be counted. For the Body and Blood of the Lord, writes St. Ambrose of Milan (4th c.), "...is not what nature made but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed."

THE BLESSED Sacrament is the consummation of mans earthly labor. On the day of rest he receives the Body and Blood of Christ, the fruit of Our Lord's paschal toil. Christ labors that we may rest. What appears to be mere subtlety is actually profound truth: the Christian cannot pay for the Bread of Life; neither can he presume to reward himself with such. Yet a Christian may merit the Bread of Life by his diligent discipleship and worthy discernment of the eucharistic gift. We work in the Lord's vineyard that we may receive the Blessed Sacrament worthily as a gift from Christ. This thesis finds a home in the communion rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To grab the Blessed Sacrament from the priest is an act of vulgarity. The communicant is to receive it--whether on the tongue or in outstretched hands--as a visible sign of dependence and humility before the divine Gift-giver.