The Last Supper by Philippe de Champaigne

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“Remembrance” by Matt Maher

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Reflect

“Rabbi, where are you staying?” Each day the Church responds: Christ is present in the Eucharist, in the sacrament of His death and resurrection. In and through the Eucharist, you acknowledge the dwelling-place of the Living God in human history.

For the Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Love which conquers death.

It is the Sacrament of the Covenant, pure Gift of Love for the reconciliation of all humanity. It is the gift of the Real Presence of Jesus The Redeemer, in the bread which is His Body given up for us, in the wine which is His Blood poured out for all.

Thanks to the Eucharist, constantly renewed among all peoples of the world, Christ continues to build His church: He brings us together in praise and thanksgiving for salvation, in the communion which only infinite love can forge. Our worldwide gathering now takes on its fullest meaning, through the celebration of the Mass.

Dear young friends, may your presence here mean a true commitment in faith! For Christ is now answering your own question and the questions of all those who seek the Living God. He answers by offering an invitation: This is My Body, take It and eat. To the Father He entrusts His supreme desire: that all those whom He loves may be one in the same communion.

Pope John Paul II’s World Youth Day homily on Sunday, August 24, 1997 in Paris, France

Pray

Jesus, give me the grace to appreciate the Eucharist more in my life. Since it is your Body and Blood, I never want to take this sacred gift for granted. Give me faith when I doubt the real presence, and reverence when I’m tempted to be indifferent. Thank you for loving me so much that you want to be one with me in the Eucharist. Help me to share that love with everyone around me so that it’s not me they see, but You, Jesus, in me. Amen.

Do

Today we commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist and also the institution of the Priesthood. If you can, read and pray with John chapter 6, also known as the “Bread of Life discourse.” Say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for all priests and an increase in vocations.

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Joanna and I became friends in college, when I was a junior and she was a freshman. Her family had converted to Catholicism when she was a teenager and she struggled to embrace their new beliefs. I was a theology major who loved my Catholic faith and a good discussion. Joanna would often knock on my door, offer me a pudding snack, and spend hours grilling me about the Church.

Not Just a Symbol

Joanna’s biggest issue with the Catholic Church was the Eucharist. Having been raised Episcopalian, she had celebrated the Lord’s Supper as a “symbol” since her childhood. The bread and wine they had shared at her church on Sunday had been just that – bread and wine.

In the Eucharist, Christ left the Catholic Church not a symbol of Himself but His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We believe the promise of Christ, that, “I am the bread of life . . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).

When Christ said this, many of his followers left, saying this idea of eating his flesh was too hard to accept (John 6:66). Had Christ intended for the Eucharist to be a symbol, he would have clarified. Yet he allowed them to leave. 2000 years later, we continue to live the words of Christ, believing what He taught and the Council of Trent clarified: “that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood” (CCC #1376). We call this transubstantiation: the substance changes while the appearance remains the same.

Everything My Heart Wanted

This was the explanation I constantly offered Joanna, yet she couldn’t wrap her mind around this idea of the Eucharist. It was “too out there . . . something we had convinced ourselves of.” Holy Thursday, I returned from classes to find her at my door. I felt defeated, that after a year Joanna still struggled to understand. Exasperated, I invited her to come to Mass with me that evening. Well, not so much invited as said, “We’re going to Mass. If God wants you to believe this, it’s His turn to show you. I’m done!”

I really was done. My explanations of the Church, Christ, and the Eucharist had failed to make Joanna believe. However, what I had forgotten was that belief didn’t come from me, but from the Holy Spirit. For Joanna, that moment happened at Mass that night. She explained, “The incarnation, the cross, the Eucharist . . . everything my heart wanted all in one place. I had known for a while but it came down to a choice. The choice to say yes, I do believe.” I thought it was my explanations that would change Joanna’s heart, but that moment of belief came from grace. Not me.

Go, Ask, Recieve

This week, we do things differently from our non-Catholic friends. We celebrate the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday. We remember Christ’s death on Good Friday. Catechumens will be initiated and we will remember our baptisms at the Easter Vigil. If you wonder why, find explanations. If you struggle to believe, realize that while explanations can offer clarity it is grace that aids belief. By going to Mass that night, Joanna put herself in a place to receive graces before she fully understood. Don’t be afraid to go to Mass. Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, even if you don’t fully understand or believe.

Like the very first disciples, we come to Christ eager to learn how to pray (Luke 11:1). By teaching us the “Our Father” Christ establishes the pattern for all prayer. He explains our relationship with God and with one another: God is our Creator. He is our Redeemer. With him as our common Father we are brothers and sisters to one another.

When Jesus prays he uses the Aramaic word “Abba” (Mark 14:36), which is what small children would have called their fathers. Only Christ, the Eternal Son who is one in being with the Father, has the right to address with such familiarity, with such intimacy, the one whose throne is in the heavens. But we too have been given this privilege by our adoption as children of God in Baptism (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). We have become sons and daughters “in the Son” Jesus Christ.

This unimagined and undeserved gift of communion with God transforms every human relationship. We pray not to “my” father or to “your” father, but to “our Father”. Even when we “shut the door and pray… in secret” (Matthew 6:6), we are spiritually united with all our brothers and sisters in Christ and with every human person created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Prayer delivers us from selfishness, from isolation and loneliness. It opens us up to the mystery of communion with God and with others.

In the modern world, scientific and technological developments have dispelled many of our fears, relieved so many of the burdens of our existence, and opened up new possibilities for human self-realization. But these developments can also lead to a great temptation like the one “in the beginning” in the Book of Genesis: the temptation to decide for ourselves what is good and evil without reference to the God who made us, the vain attempt to place ourselves and our wills, rather than God and his law, at the centre of the universe. But if we reject or ignore God “who is love”, we reject love itself.

The first concern of the “Lord’s Prayer” is that God’s name should be glorified, that his Kingdom should come, that his will should be done. If that is our priority, then all else will be given us besides. Progress in science, economics, social organization and culture will not rob us of our humanity, but will reflect the love that alone gives life, meaning and joy to our human efforts. It is God who “gives us our daily bread”, even as we remember that it is not by bread alone that we live, “but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.

Homily
June 2, 1989
Stortorget, Tromso, Norway

Photos are from Camp Tepeyac Summer Camp 2010, Week 10, for middle school (EDGE) youth. The camp theme is “Behold the Mystery.” Camp host is Beth Davis and the musician is Matt Franklin.

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Photos are from Camp Tepeyac Summer Camp 2010, Week 10, for middle school (EDGE) youth. The camp theme is “Behold the Mystery.” Camp host is Beth Davis and the musician is Matt Franklin.

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