With their garden betrayal, Adam and Eve sent this resounding message to God: “You are not enough.”  Later Jesus, the incarnate son of God, became man. Taking bread at his last supper, Jesus responded to Adam and Eve’s betrayal, saying: “Take this bread and eat of it. This is my body. Do this in memory of me.”

At that moment Jesus, the true nourishment for eternal life, became the nurturing way, the truth, and the life for eternal life.  While God’s word is food, Jesus’ words gave this food profound assurance that it is the true nourishment to gain eternal life. And it is more than enough to get us all into heaven.

When believers receive the Eucharist, they know they are heading for their divine destiny. The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi, proclaims for all Jesus’ followers that the true way to heaven is through nourishment from Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.

This truth begins at a child’s first communion and continues as often as the child receives the Eucharist throughout his or her journey.  It concludes with his or her final Eucharist, which may be intermingled with the prayers of the anointing of the sick. 

This is the same for believers everywhere.  The identical incarnate son of God is received by all believers on every continent using the same words to proclaim God’s presence, “The Body of Christ.”  And with bowed heads every recipient answers, “Amen.”

It does not matter where we live, in what language we speak, Jesus’ body and blood makes sisters and brothers of us all.  The place may be a peace-filled monastery or a war-torn country.  Each receives the same loving and compassionate prince of peace, the same son of God, and the same savior of the world, and the same Incarnate God. 

Worshippers kneeling before the altar gaze upon the separated bread and wine, which is the offering.  This separation reminds believers of the heavy price Jesus paid for their salvation.  Not only is the Eucharistic banquet set before them, so is its astonishing cost.

After these words, “Behold the lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb.”  Comes the spoken assent, “Amen.”  Our reception reminds us to accept sacrifice and suffering as a part of living, as Jesus did.

Judy, a tenth grader, asked her religion teacher: “At Mass, when Father holds up the Eucharist and says, ‘Do this in memory of me,’ what is the this mean?” The teacher replied, “He means what we are doing right now.  It can be a joyous event, or a difficult moment, but we do it because it is what life is asking us to do right now.”

Judy’s teacher continued, “Jesus did what was asked of him, and he will help us do what is asked of us. That is why we receive Eucharist, to be like Jesus.”  That says it all for every follower of Jesus! 

 To all this we say a resounding, “Amen” which means “So be it!”

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I recently wrote an article on preaching which appeared in The Priest magazine. Here is the link to the article. I hope you enjoy reading it and that it resonates with what preaching means to you. Please pass it on to your priest friends. Father Richard De Lillio, OSFS

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW:

https://www.thepriest.com/2021/05/15/believe-teach-and-practice/.