+ Jesus could not have left us a more real and visible
expression of His Risen Self than in his Eucharistic Presence – under the sensible
manifestations of bread and wine. Though
we can see and feel and touch what still
appears to be the bread and the wine, the
astounding nature of the reality
involved in them is beyond our wildest imaginings: it is so totally
illogical, unreasonable and absurd: bread
and wine changed into GOD, into Christ’s own Body and Blood! To those
without faith it is absurd! But to those accepting and using the
gift of faith, the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus is very comprehensible,
wonderful and believable. It is what it is, a fitting object of adoration and worship by mind
and heart! And it begins with an appreciation that is first sparked by divine
grace and then nurtured and developed our whole lives long!
The
Eucharist is the very Risen
Jesus – in Person – given as spiritual food for our hungering and thirsting souls: souls
hungering for love, peace, forgiveness
and fulfillment; thirsting for truth, beauty, goodness and justice. And all
of this is found in that transubstantiated
“bread we eat” and “cup we drink” at every Mass. It is there for the receiving,
it is there for our use!
While
the ordinary route to everlasting life would be to eat this Bread so to gain
everlasting life, there are many auxiliary and supportive ways
to eat the Bread, and thus sharing in the bliss of eternal peace in God. It is
true that all who follow their rightly forming consciences at no matter what level
of growth and maturing they may be at at any given moment are in fact
participating in the Body and Blood of Christ.
The Eucharist is also a sign of our unity – our communion with
those who also ate the same bread, and have now gone before us – but this does
not in any way mean that we are an “exclusive club” and that all others just
won’t make the grade. That is nonsense. We are all “saved by the Passion Death
and Resurrection of Jesus. We are all members of the “exclusive club.” The
Eucharist is meant to be a sign of this universal membership, that now includes
all manner and stages of initiation
Let us rejoice in the fact
that we are all invited to partake of the “New Manna from Heaven,” unlike the bread our fathers were given
to eat in the desert, who ate it and died nonetheless – we feast on Panis Angelicus, the very Bread of Angels, and we will never be
hungry or thirsty again – and we will have life forever!
And now, with what is going on
in our homes, our neighborhoods, our states, our country and our world with our
required navigation through unchartered waters where at least three major weight-bearing
realities are converging on us: a Coronavirus pandemic that is showing no signs
of letting up, police reform and racial injustice that must be addressed headon
and compassionately NOW, and national economic structure that teeters more
every day in undesirable negative ranges – we need to make “CORPUS CHRISTI” the
BODY OF CHRIST our slogan – we are all ONE in his scourged, beaten, bloodied,
battered, broken Body, that because he accepted it willingly and loving for ALL
– makes us all BROTHER AND SISTERS who
can get through anything, who can rebuild anything, who can reform everything
according to the Divine Plan of MERCY, COMPASSION, and LOVE.
All hail to you, Lord Jesus
Christ, our Eucharistic King!
Amen! Amen!
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