Spiritual > THE EUCHARIST: TO BE LOVED
Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. (Jn 6:53-54)
Dear Friends,
Once a middle aged gentleman was complaining to his friend, “Look, I have been attending mass daily for the last 32 years. Thousands of homilies I have heard. But then, I do not remember a single homily today. I think, I have been wasting my time.” To this, his friend replied: “See, my dear friend, I have been eating my food for the last 35 years. I do not know, how that food was prepared, what ingredients were added to them. But one thing I know for sure: If at all I am healthy today it is because of the food that I ate. Similarly, you may not be remembering the homily. Yet, I am sure; it is the mass that has kept you spiritually fit till today.” Yes, friends, Eucharist has tremendous effect on our lives.
And this is why the year 2000, the year of “The Great Jubilee”, was celebrated as the “Year of the Eucharist.” Thereafter, again the Holy Father Pope John Paul II took initiative to declare October 2004 – October 2005 as the Year of the Eucharist. This shows how he values high the importance of the Eucharist in our lives. The Year of the Eucharist, guided and introduced by the Apostolic Letter Mane nobiscum Domine (Oct 7, 2004) offers us an important occasion further to sensitize the Christian community, so that they make this wonderful Sacrifice and Sacrament the centre of our Christian lives. The Encyclical prior to this: Ecclesia de Eucharistia leads us to the ‘source’ and ‘height’ of Christian life, inviting us to renew our fervour in the celebration and adoration of the Eucharist.
The Gospel text which we heard just now reminds us as clearly as possible of the centrality of the Eucharist to our Catholic Faith. The Eucharist is, in the simplest yet most profound of terms, the source of life. In giving us the Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus gave us his very own body and blood, a priceless gift, one that enriches our spiritual lives here on earth and leads us eventually to the perfection of eternal life in heaven.
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church" teaches us again of the importance of the Eucharist in the life of the Christian:
The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life... For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ Himself... By the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life... In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith. (#s 1324-1327)
Eucharist is present from the beginning of times. In the Old Testament times Eucharist was present in symbols. In Jesus, Eucharist lived here in the world in the form of man. In our days we have Eucharist in the sacrament.
Eucharist in Symbols:
From the beginning of human history the Eucharist was present in symbols. The ‘Manna’ that our ancestors ate in the desert (cf. Jn 6:31) symbolizes that the bread of life came down from heaven.
Isaac, the only son of Abraham, who was laid at the top of the Mount Moriah (Gen 22), is the symbol of the only begotten Son of God who was sacrificed at the top of Calvary. The lamb that was provided by God to Abraham represents the Lamb of God sacrificed. Gods priest Melchisadek offered bread and wine in sacrifice (Gen 14). The bronze serpent, lifted high in the sky by Moses in the desert for the serpent-bitten people to look at and be saved, symbolizes the Son of Man who was lifted high in the sky for the world to look at and be saved (cf. Jn 3:14).
The greatest symbol of Eucharist in the Old Testament is the Passover (Ref. Ex. 12) The Passover used to be celebrated on the 14th day on Nissan month. Four days prior to the celebrations they had to choose one lamb. The lamb was to be observed for four days. On the fourth day, if found without blemish (eligible for sacrifice), the lamb was sacrificed.
In the New Testament we have the Son of God becoming flesh. This was the Eucharist in the Human form. The Son of God became man and offered Him to be sacrificed for the salvation of the whole world. The letter to the Hebrews describes the sacrifice in OT and the sacrifice in NT as the earthly sacrifice and the heavenly sacrifice. Jesus instituted the memorial meal and moreover he laid down his life in Calvary for salvation of the whole world.
Today, we celebrate Eucharist using symbols, as guided by our Lord and which are meaningful to us. Through that Eucharist we receive Jesus in the form of bread and wine. The early community was ‘of one heart and body’ (Acts 4:32) because of this celebration of the ‘breaking of the bread’. The Eucharist was earlier known as the 'breaking of the bread'. At the Last Supper, Jesus broke the bread and gave the broken pieces to the disciples saying, "take and eat, this is my body" (Mt: 26-26). By the word 'Body' he meant - his whole being - His life His personality in whole. He himself was broken, for us to have fullness of life. While giving the cup filled with wine, He said - "this is my blood which will be shed for many" (Mt.26: 28). 'Blood', when shed, resembles death. Jesus meant to say that His blood must be shed for the salvation of the world. Thus we are saved by the 'life' and 'death' of Christ.
The teaching and the lived experience of the Church have helped us to understand more fully the many dimensions of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is understood in the following dimensions:
Eucharist is a sacrifice: The sacrifice of Jesus is a complete and totally gratuitous offering of himself to God the Father for the salvation of the world. The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium tells: “priests...exercise their sacred function in the Eucharistic liturgy or synaxis, where, acting in the Person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery, they join the offering of the faithful to the sacrifice of their Head. Until the Lord comes again (cf. 1 Cor. 11:26), they re-present and apply in the Sacrifice of the Mass the one sacrifice of the New Testament, namely the sacrifice of Christ offering himself once and for all to his Father as a spotless victim (cf. Heb 9:11-28).”
The Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, in treating the Eucharist as sacrifice, also teaches that the Church re-presents Christ’s sacrifice as an act of intercession; namely, the Son offers himself in his flesh and thereby becomes the mediator between humanity and the Father (12-13). This understanding is helpful in reading the following reference from the Encyclical: “The Mass makes present the sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to that sacrifice nor does it multiply it.”
Eucharist is a sacrament: It is a sacrament in which we have the real presence of Christ under the forms of bread and wine. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, 'the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, substantially contained'." (Catechism, #1374). Jesus instituted the sacrament of Eucharist to be with His people always in a visible and accessible form. The bread that God gives is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (cf. Jn.6: 33). In the Eucharist the Father receives the sacrifice of Christ and He together with the Holy Spirit gives himself to us as our eternal food.
We talk of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist because Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist is a presence in the fullest sense, where Jesus is wholly and entirely present. The consecration at Mass changes the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ and the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood and the Church calls this change transubstantiation (EE §15).
The Pope in Ecclesia de Eucharistia says those who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the next life to receive eternal life, they already possess it on earth as the first-fruits of future fullness. In the Eucharist we receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of the world (EE §18) and when we celebrate the Eucharist we are united with the liturgy in heaven where the angels and saints are continually praising God (EE §19).
Eucharist is a meal: No doubt, Jesus had lots of meals with his disciples. But then the episode of the Last supper was the most important event in their life, for in it he broke himself for others and taught us how to break ourselves for others. And this is a meal that nourishes our soul.
Eucharist is a liturgical celebration: It is a public proclamation of our faith in sign and symbol. In the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist we re-present the sacrifice offered on Calvary and ponder on the death and resurrection of Jesus. So, every Eucharistic celebration should be a new Calvary for us. If we, as the body of Christ, are not offering ourselves, the offering of Christ remains incomplete.
Thus, Eucharist is a sacrifice—the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross; it is a sacrament—the real presence of Christ under the forms of bread and wine; it is a meal—the same memorial meal Jesus shared with his apostles at the Last Supper; it is a liturgical celebration—a public proclamation of our faith in sign and symbol.
Because of human nature, we often take our gifts for granted, even the most special of our gifts - our life, our health, our family, our friends and our faith. It is even possible, because of our weakness and perhaps because the Eucharist is so readily available to us, to take the Eucharist for granted and to become less than clear about its meaning and importance.
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
Dear Friends, Pope John Paul II in the encyclical “Ecclesia de Eucharistia” and the Apostolic Exhortation “Mane Nobiscum Domine” laid out for us certain lines of Eucharistic spirituality. In reading these texts we feel profoundly touched, especially if we have had this experience before the Tabernacle. Christ continues to speak today, from heart to heart.
When we enter into the mind of Christ, in his heart, especially in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist, we experience the call to continue this intimate relationship during the day, without being able to exclude ‘spending a certain amount of time in dialogue with the Eucharistic Lord.’ (Mane Nobiscum Domine 30). Jesus in the tabernacle wants you to be at his side, so that he can fill your hearts with the experience of his friendship, which alone gives meaning and fulfillment to our lives. Speaking to the youth in Cologne on 18 August 2005 he urged them to turn to Christ present in the Tabernacle of mercy and in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Because we love Jesus in the Eucharist so much, in the Catholic Church, we have the privilege of being able to adore Jesus in the Eucharist outside of Mass also. Concerning adoration of the Blessed Sacrament the Pope says,
“The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church… It is pleasant to spend time with him, to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple (cf. Jn 13:25) and to feel the infinite love present in his heart. If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the “art of prayer”, how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time…in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? How often, dear brothers and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation and support!…Saint Alphonsus Liguori…wrote: “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us”. The Eucharist is a priceless treasure: by not only celebrating it but also by praying before it outside of Mass we are enabled to make contact with the very wellspring of grace… In the course of the day the faithful should not omit visiting the Blessed Sacrament…”(EE §25)
The Pope says the annual Corpus Christi procession with the Eucharist is a grace from the Lord and that unfortunately in some places Eucharistic adoration has been almost completely abandoned (EE §10).
I feel happy to hear that Jesus becomes a reality to lots of people in the Eucharist and in the Blessed Sacrament. Recently when I went to Delhi I got a feedback from the priests there that there are lots of groups emerging with tremendous love for Christ. Many parish youth have begun the so called night vigil. They would voluntarily come and spend time with the Lord. I am sure that they have experienced the Risen Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Dear Friends, I can cite lots examples where people loved Eucharist more than their life. We have an exemplary model for this in the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkota who witnessed to the love of Christ with the strength gathered from the Eucharist. The communities of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity start the day with the Eucharistic adoration and the Holy Mass. Eucharist is the ‘bread of life’ which sustains those who, in turn, become ‘bread broken’ for others, paying at times with martyrdom, their fidelity to the Gospel.
Blessed Alexandrina and her love for the Eucharist:
Some of the pilgrimages which go to Fatima visit the town of Balasar many miles north of Fatima. It became famous in 1832 when the earth changed to form the appearance of a large cross which you can still see today inside a chapel which has been built over it. That was preparing for events one century later, Alexandrina Maria da Costa suffering the passion of Jesus and living on the Eucharist alone for thirteen years. Alexandrina was born in April 1904. A dreadful thing happened to her in 1918 which left her life shattered ever afterwards. When her sister Deolinda, another girl and she were in the house three men knocked at the door, one of whom had previously tried to molest Alexandrina. They broke into the house. Alexandrina wanting to preserve her chastity jumped from an upstairs window. The men fled but Alexandrina’s spine had been irreparably injured. Six years later she had to remain in bed for the rest of her life. The slightest movement caused her intense pain. She began to grow closer and closer to the Lord and realised that she was suffering in a special way for the salvation of souls. She received Holy Communion every day and her thoughts frequently turned to Jesus in the tabernacle. She went into her first ecstasy in 1931 when she heard Jesus say to her, “Love, suffer and make reparation.” She saw her vocation to be that of a victim soul, to make reparation for all of us. Under the order of her spiritual director she was dictating her life’s story to her sister but many times the devil threatened her not to write any more. In 1936 Our Lord asked her to spread the message of Fatima and to urge the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart and she offered herself as a victim soul for this.
In one of her ecstasies Jesus said to her,
“Keep me company in the Blessed Sacrament. I remain in the tabernacle night and day, waiting to give my love and grace to all who would visit me. But so few come. I am so abandoned, so lonely, so offended…. Many…do not believe in my existence; they do not believe that I live in the tabernacle. They curse me. Others believe, but do not love me and do not visit me; they live as if I were not there… You have chosen to love me in the tabernacles where you can contemplate me, not with the eyes of the body, but those of the soul. I am truly present there as in Heaven, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.”
From October 1938 Alexandrina began to suffer the passion of Jesus every Friday. She suffered the passion of Jesus 180 times. Until 1942 she was suffering in silence without fame but after a report appeared in a newspaper from then on she was besieged by pilgrims asking for prayer. During the Holy Week the same year Jesus said to her,
“You will not take food again on earth. Your food will be my Flesh; your drink will be my Divine Blood …”
So on Good Friday 1942 she began an absolute fast which lasted for the more than thirteen years until her death. The only nourishment which her body filled with pain received was Jesus in Holy Communion every morning. News of her fast spread and the crowds became even bigger. Some people had doubts and suspicions about her fast and accused her, her sister and mother of fraud. Therefore she agreed to medical observation. The doctor asked her, “Why do you not eat?” She replied, “I do not eat because I cannot. I feel full. I do not need it. However, I have a longing for food.” It was decided that she should be admitted to a nearby hospital for a thirty day observation of her fast. While she was in the hospital some tried to persuade her to take food. The doctor in charge of the examination was nasty to her and at the end of the thirty days said the nurses watching her must have been deceived and decided she was to remain there for a further ten days. They even showed her tasty food to entice her to eat. When the test was finally over the doctor said to her he would visit her at home not as a doctor-spy but as a friend who esteems her. Part of the medical report reads as follows:
“Her abstinence from solids and liquids was absolute during all that time. We testify also that she retained her weight, and her temperature, breathing, blood pressure, pulse and blood were normal while her mental faculties were constant and lucid and she had not, during these forty days, any natural necessities…The laws of physiology and biochemistry cannot account for the survival of this sick woman…”
While medical science could not explain, the explanation was simple. Jesus had said to Alexandrina,
“You are living by the Eucharist alone because I want to prove to the world the power of the Eucharist and the power of my life in souls.”
She died on 13th October 1955, having received nourishment only from Holy Communion for more than thirteen years. Some of the pilgrimages to Fatima visit her town Balasar and you can visit her house, see her room and visit the local Church where she is buried to the left of the altar.
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; He who believes in me will never thirst.”
To the world it is irrational and stupid to think that bread changes to become the body of Jesus. It is equally irrational and stupid to think that a human can survive for thirteen years only being nourished by Holy Communion. But one is not more irrational than the other. Alexandrina is a sign given to the world by Jesus to remind us of his presence in the Eucharist. In 1996 Pope John Paul II declared Alexandrina Venerable and on 25th April 2004 declared her Blessed. (Alexandrina: The Agony and the Glory by Francis Johnston You may not be aware that in our time there is another sign similar to Alexandrina given to our world, Olive Dawson, who is also nourished only by the Eucharist and I was privileged to attend a talk she gave in 2003.)
The life of Blessed Alexandrina is indeed edifying to each one of us. Besides this, there are quite a few Eucharistic Miracles to strengthen our faith.
Eucharistic Miracles: In the year 1263 a priest from Prague was on route to Rome making a pilgrimage asking God for help to strengthen his faith since he was having doubts about his vocation. Along the way he stopped in a Bolsena 70 miles north of Rome. While celebrating Mass there, as he raised the host during the consecration, the bread turned into flesh and began to bleed. The drops of blood fell onto the small white cloth on the altar, called the corporal. The following year, 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Pope asked St Thomas Aquinas, living at that time, to write hymns for the feast and he wrote two, better known to the older members of our congregation, the Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris. That blood-stained corporal may still be seen in the Basilica of Orvieto north of Rome.
Although that is the Eucharistic miracle that led to the institution of this feast, a more famous Eucharistic miracle is the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, also in Italy, which took place many centuries earlier, in the year 700. A monk who feared he was losing his vocation was celebrating Mass, and during the consecration the host turned into flesh and the wine turned into blood. Despite the fact that that miracle took place almost 1300 years ago you may still see the flesh in a monstrance which is exposed every day and the blood in a glass chalice. The blood has congealed and is now in five clots in the glass chalice. In 1971 and 1981 a hospital laboratory tested the flesh and blood and discovered that the flesh is myocardium, that is heart muscular tissue, so we could say it is the heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart, and the blood is of the blood group AB positive. In 1978 NASA scientists tested the blood on the Turin Shroud and interestingly also discovered that it is of the blood group AB positive. (The Sudarium, Face Cloth of Christ, mentioned in John 20:6 is also of the blood group AB positive.) Despite the fact that human flesh and blood should not have remained preserved for 1300 years the hospital lab tests found no trace of any preservatives. One final interesting point about the five blood clots in the chalice is that when you weigh one of them, it is the same weight as all five together; two of them together weigh the same as all five. In fact no matter what way you combine the blood clots individually or in a group to weigh them, they always weigh the same. (This shows that the full Jesus is present in a particle of the Eucharist no matter how small.)
These Eucharistic miracles and many other have been authenticated by the Church after investigation. In spiritual books you will read of many more Eucharistic miracles throughout the world which have been authenticated by the Church. All of these authenticated Eucharistic miracles throughout the world are surely an answer to any doubt we may have about Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is really with us in the Eucharist. Jesus comes to us in every Mass under the form of bread and wine. The Eucharist is a celebration of the love of Jesus for us, his blood shed for us in love and his body scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified for us. The wine poured and the bread broken is the love of Jesus for us, body and blood given for us. Because the Eucharist is the love of Jesus for us we always approach Jesus in the Eucharist with great respect.
My dear friends, I am sure, you will have lots more living examples, inspiring you and promoting in you the love for the Eucharist. All the same, we have the greatest of the examples in the person of Mary, our Mother.
Mary, the Woman of Eucharist
There is no doubt that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Woman of the Holy Eucharist. Pope John Paul II considered Rosary and the Eucharist to be the two strong pillars on which our Church is built upon. That’s why immediately after the Year of the Rosary (Oct 2003 – Oct 2004) he declares Oct 2004 – Oct 2005 as the Year of the Eucharist. Moreover, the Holy Father makes it clear that Mary was the woman of the Eucharist throughout her life. Why is she called the woman of the Eucharist?
Besides, Mary has all the attributes of the Holy Eucharist such as attitudes of self-emptying (kenosis) and self giving, sense of dedication, sharing, readiness for immolation and above all unconditional love.
Interiorize:
What is my relation to the Eucharist? Do I make mass for people and to me a moment of encountering Jesus in the Eucharist? If given an option, would I partake in the Eucharist willingly and happily? Do I find fulfillment of my religious life in Christ? How much do I love Christ in the Blessed Sacrament? Do I give prime importance to the Eucharist in my life? What do I do/have I done to spread the love of the Eucharist in this Year of the Eucharist? Do I draw inspiration from Mother Mary for my love for the Eucharist?
Fr. Isidore D’Souza