| CONTENTS Oasis In The Desert
The Need
He Has Only To Will
Living Bread
Mystery of Faith
The Eucharist In The Early Church
God With Us
Prayers
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AN OASIS IN THE DESERT
It is sad to realize that as so many believe Jesus is Present in the
Blessed Sacrament, they so seldom visit Him. Men travel across the oceans
to see ancient ruins, paintings, landscapes, celebrities and mountains,
but they do not think of going into a simple church around the corner to
visit the Creator of all beauty.
Man complains of his tensions, hang-ups and frustrations and for these
human weaknesses he consumes bottles of pills and other remedies. He
spends time and money trying to ascertain who he is and how he came to be.
He is tormented by his past and entertains visions of grandeur or despair
for the future.
His worries are called "mature concern" and his failures are only the
result of other people's lack of cooperation. He covers up his faults and
parades his least act of virtue. There are few men who know themselves and
even fewer who are able to accept that knowledge with humility.
We have a need to empty ourselves, know ourselves, accept ourselves and
rise above ourselves.
We can try to fill these needs on a natural level, but when we empty
ourselves we find only a vacuum. When our weaknesses give us
self-knowledge we are saddened. When we make an effort to accept
ourselves, our love turns to self-hatred and when we try to rise above our
human nature to some sublime height of tranquility, we find ourselves
alone with nothingness.
We cannot purify ourselves. We cannot escape from the person we are. We
cannot excuse our weaknesses. We cannot bear fruit alone and on our own
power.
Our need is not so much in changing what we are, as in knowing how best
to change who we are. How does darkness turn into light? How does ice turn
into fire? How does a limited intelligence comprehend the mystery of life,
death and what is to come?
Where do we go to be filled, healed, forgiven, enlightened, and
strengthened? Who will listen to our mumbled complaints, inner groanings
and silent doubts?
To whom shall we go when no one listens, or cares to hear our tale of
woe? Who beckons to our broken heart or gives us the opportunity to cry
without shame?
Who waits and waits for one thought from our cluttered minds, one
whisper of love from our worldly hearts? If we do not know the answer to
these questions, the fire has burned and the Light has shone in vain.
"Whoever remains in Me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty." These
words of Jesus at the Last Supper give us a way of holiness that is both
simple and easy. The Holy Eucharist is God within us and with usit
is God in us and we in God.
To maintain a close relationship with the God of Love, we must remain
in that Holy Presence often. As the rays of the sun change and alter
whatever they touch, so the Eternal Son, ever present in the Blessed
Sacrament, changes whoever places himself in His Presence.
We must admit our weaknesses so His power can heal our wounds. We must
voice our doubts so His light can dispel our darkness. We must kneel in
His Presence to tell Him of our repentance.
We must silently place ourselves in His Presence, without a thought of
our miseries, quietly absorbing the humility and gentleness of Jesus in
this Sacrament of Love.
He is Present in the Eucharist to show us the depths of His love, the
lengths He would go to be with us, the longing of His heart to be always
near.
It is not important what we say in that Presence. It is only important
that we are thereoftento
let that Presence penetrate our souls and heal usto
shine on our minds, to strengthen our wills, to bring peace in the midst
of turmoil.
His Presence in the Eucharist is silentour
presence before Him can also be silent. His Presence is humble and
sacrificial and as our faith makes us kneel before a small white host,
locked away in a tabernacle, it grows in that humble acceptance of the
mysteries of God beyond our understanding. The time we give Him demands
many sacrifices, but we can make them because He made the Supreme
Sacrifice.
Only Jesus bears fruit in us and as we take Him into our souls as food,
so we must absorb His light by sitting in His Presencequiet
in thought, loving in heart, trusting in mind.
We must be content to be near Himto
let Him work wonders in our soulsto
silently absorb the beauty of His self-effacing loveto
let the rays of His light penetrate our innermost being and change our
stony hearts into hearts of flesh, our rudeness into kindness, our temper
into gentleness.
If only we had the humility to realize that He alone is Goodness and He
alone makes us good. As soon as we come into His Presence in the
Eucharist, our souls respond to the power before them, like a sunflower
turning toward the sun.
Before a sigh passes our lips, a thought enters our minds, or a simple
word is spoken, our soul has benefited by the Presence of its Creator. Our
sanctity is His work, but we cannot say "yes" to His commands unless His
grace fills our souls and His light enlightens our minds.
If we are lonely, it is only because we have not visited our Companion
in this valley of tears. If we are in doubt, it is only because we have
not placed ourselves in His light.
Our weaknesses will always be with us, but we shall be strong for at
least a little while, if we have spent some time in His Eucharistic
Presence.
His silent Presence, hidden in the tabernacle, says to each one of us,
"I love you. Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will
refresh you. Come to the fountain of life and drink. Tell Me your
problems. Listen to My Voice. I tug at your heart, guiding your way and
soothing your path."
Love speaks loudly in silence and that silence touches our souls. The
Voice of Jesus sounds in our hearts like the voice of mighty waters,
cleansing the debris collected during the storms of life. Our parched
souls, tired of the journey, find refreshment in the living water flowing
from the tabernacle.
There is between the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and the soul, a silent
exchange of love, a sharing of pain, an inaudible dialogue between two who
know each other perfectly and love each other deeply.
It is as if the soul sees itself in a perfect Mirror and knows clearly
its faults and imperfections. A strange phenomena occurs as the soul gazes
at Jesus. Its own reflection becomes brighter. Its faults fade away and
one day that "soul is turnedtransformed
into the Image it reflected." (2 Cor. 3:18)
This being true, why do we permit our souls to die of thirst when the
Fountain of Living Water is just around the corner?
Why do we live anxious, frustrated lives when the Source of Serenity
waits to pour His peace into our Hearts?
Is our faith in His Presence as real as His Presence is Real or is our
faith a mere intellectual acceptance of a revelation someone told us was
true? Is our Faith limited to knowledge or is it an experience that is a
Faith vision?
De we really believe He is in the Eucharist or do we only hope it is
true? And if we do believe, why are our Churches not full, our people on
fire, our spirits more zealous and our love like God's love?
Perhaps we need to examine His Gift and see how deep our Faith really
is in the depths of our hearts.
THE NEED
Deep in the heart of every human being there is the desire for Heaven
and a fear of the death that initiates that desired goal.
It is a strange phenomenon that we cling to what is temporal, desire
what is eternal, and wish that somehow we could have both at the same
time.
The thought of leaving those we love in the act of death fills our
souls with anticipated loneliness. We feel as if we were suddenly alone,
unseen by men and unknown by God. We look at the possessions we have
accumulated during the years and their value is blown out of all
proportion at the realization that they will be left behind in one act of
total detachment.
In this struggle we find a rich man misses his possessions more than
friends, and a poor man who had no possessions regrets the loss of his
opportunities. In an effort to solve this problem man tries to make a name
for himself so he is remembered when death overtakes him.
The rich man builds libraries, schools and institutions with his name
in a prominent place for posterity to remember him. The poor man hopes,
struggles and prays that one of his children will rise above the depths of
despair into which he was born and elevate the family name to heights of
fame.
All those who live somewhere between the rich and the poor have the
same fears and desires in varying degrees. So we find all mankind reaching
out for a better life while clinging to a lesser life, wanting to leave
this world to enjoy a better one and desiring to stay and bask in the love
of dear ones.
This desire to love and to be loved, this need of the presence of loved
ones is planted in the heart of every human being because we were created
by the God of Love to love. When man digresses from the mission to love,
he creates a hell for himself and everyone around him.
We see this concept in the life of the Apostles. Judas refused to love.
He became a misfit and finally alienated himself from Love itself. The
other Apostles with all their faults and weaknesses loved their Master and
desired to grow in that love and so they clung to Him.
Love is a flame that must be constantly fed to keep from diminishing.
One of the ingredients of love is to be needed. The sinners flocked to
Jesus because they had a need, while the self-complacent Pharisees were
only antagonized by His Presence.
Jesus knew that when He was gone we would need a moving force to enable
us to become and remain sons of the Father. He sent us His Spirit to
possess our souls, enlighten our minds, direct our wills and fill us with
the virtues we need to bear the fruit of Jesus.
This He did for our sake but as God-ManHuman
and DivineRisen
and GlorifiedHe
wanted to satisfy His love for us and to feed our love for Himself by a
total giving.
He sent His Spirit into us at Baptism, but to complete the work He had
begun He desired that He be present in our souls in a visible way.
His life on earth made Him experience what His Infinite Mind always
knew: Man needs to see to believe. How could man live by Faith and yet see
God? How could He leave us in order to send the Spirit and yet stay to be
our Companion? How could love be satisfied and thirst satiated without
interfering with man's free will and the need to choose for himself.
Would man accept a Faithvision
and would he choose Love above all things including himself? What Divine
invention would be able to satisfy all the desires of an Infinite God? Our
finite, weak hearts become weary of seeking ways and means of showing love
and our minds are stunned into inertia at the thought of loving an
Omnipotent God. We are only too ready to cry out, "Impossible. There is no
way to lovethere
is no way for God and man to be one!"
Our God is inexhaustible in the ways He uses to manifest His love for
us. Jesus devised a way to feed our souls, to nourish our bodies with
heavenly food, to thrill our souls with the taste of Infinite Loveto
stay with us after He returned to the Father.
To prepare us to accept this Mystery of Faith, He performed miracles to
symbolize the reality, and then at that solemn moment before His death, He
revealed just how He would be with us to the end of time. Divine Love
triumphed before death paved the way for the Resurrection. He revealed to
the crowds that He would be their food and drink and told them
emphatically that unless they ate His Body and drank His Blood they would
not have life in them.
Before we fully appreciate this Mystery of Faith let us see how Jesus
prepared His disciples for this Miracle of Love.
HE HAS ONLY TO WILL
It is significant to note that the first miracle Jesus performed was
not a gesture of compassion for the sick or possessed. He lived a life of
work and prayer for thirty years and as soon as He began to manifest His
Divine Nature, worked a miracle symbolic of something greater to come.
He and His disciples had been invited to a wedding feast and the wine
ran out. At the request of His Mother He performed a miracle that
astounded His Apostles. He asked the servants to fill water jugs with
water and then merely said, "Draw out now and bring to the chief steward."
(Jn. 2:8) He did not say a prayer over the water or touch it, He merely
willed that it be changed from water to wine. Only God can create or
change by an act of His Will alone. He had water put into jugs and wanted
wine to pour out, and it was done. Twenty to thirty gallons of water had
changed into wine because He willed it so.
Poets have said that the water blushed because it was in the presence
of it's Maker, but we must see more than power in this miracle. God's
Prophets performed similar miracles. Elias prayed and the oil did not
diminish until the famine was over. Here Jesus does not pray as one whose
gift depends upon the Will of God. NoHe
is Godand His Will alone creates or changes His creation.
It was so when more than four thousand followed Him and forgot to eat
for three days. The Apostles had seven loaves and a few fish, and Saint
Matthew tells us that "Jesus took the loaves and fish, gave thanks and
broke them and handed them to the disciples who gave them to the crowds."
(Matt. 15:35,36)
As at the wedding feast of Cana, there was in the feeding of the
multitude an important message. These kinds of miracles were performed by
Jesus to impress upon the minds of the crowd that His power was the Power
of God. These particular gestures of compassion were wrought as a symbol
of something greater to come. Their hearts were prepared to accept a
greater mystery that He would reveal before His deaththe
Mystery of the Eucharist. This Mystery was so great a gift from God that
the human mind would never be able to accept such an influx of love
without some preparation.
He would one day change bread and wine into His own Body and Blood. The
same Power would multiply; the same minister would distribute from the
some Source of LoveJesus.
As the steward at Cana and the crowds in the desert did not understand
how He did it, they all realized that what He did was done out of love. He
nourished their bodies, and though all benefited by the fruit of His
Power, none was deprived of His personal attention and love. These two
miracles foreshadowed the Eucharist.
He began His life by taking on the flesh of man and ended it by giving
that flesh back to man in the form of food. He began His public life by
changing water into wine and He ended it by changing bread and wine into
His Body and Blood.
He accomplished both miracles with great ease. On both occasions He was
surrounded only by His chosen few. Both miracles were accomplished in a
quiet conversational tone of voiceas
if it were nothing.
In the Wedding of Cana the only people who knew of the miracle besides
the Apostles were the servants who filled the water jars with water and
then watched as wine was drawn out. At the Last Supper only a few Apostles
watched as Jesus said simple but powerful words over bread and wine. "This
is My Body which will be given for you: do this as a memorial of Me." He
did the same with the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new
covenant in My Blood which will be poured out for you." (Luke 22:19,20)
As His birth was observed by only a small group in the silence of the
night, so this Divine Presence among us was given to mankind in a quiet,
unassuming way. How like God to do great things with humility.
As human beings, we do great things but with the attention of the
crowds upon us and all the noise necessary to keep that attention. During
the temptation in the desert Jesus was asked by the devil to do three
things and all three were intended to make Jesus a performer before the
crowds.
He was asked to change stones into bread. How sad that the devil has
more faith in the Power of Jesus than men have. Men of today do not
believe that Jesus could change bread into His Body.
The next suggestion was to throw Himself down from the parapet of the
Temple. This certainly would have attracted the crowds.
The third request was absurd, but then pride is an absurdity. Jesus was
asked to adore the Enemy of God for the sake of money and worldly glory.
The Will of Jesus, eternally one with the Father, recoiled at the thought
and told the devil to depart.
The one significant thing about the three temptations in the desert is
that the real test was to see if Jesus could, by a mere act of His Will,
change stones into bread, float down from the Temple parapet, and worship
the Enemy. The devil knew that only God can Will something to be or to
change, and it is so. Only God could change the atomic structure of one
thing and make it into another by merely willing it. He waited to see the
Divine Will in action.
This Act of Will was prominent in all of the healings and miracles
Jesus wrought among the people. The faith required of the people made it
necessary that they first believed He could heal them rather than that He
would heal them.
Only once was this brought into question by one who needed healing. A
boy had been brought to the Apostles by his father to be healed of
demoniac epilepsy. The Apostles' power seemed suddenly limited and the boy
was not healed. The boy's father then brought his son to Jesus and said,
"if You can do anything, have pity on us and help us." (Mark 9:23)
The leper who said, "Sir, if You want to, You can cure me" (Matt. 8:2)
never questioned the power of Jesus, never questioned His authority. He
humbly waited for Jesus to express what that Divine Will designed for him.
The man with the epileptic boy, however, questioned His Authority and
Power. He brought this boy to the Apostles in the same way one goes from
Doctor to Doctor. The 'Apostles had failed and now he decides to try
Jesus.
Jesus' feelings towards this man are very evident in the Gospel of St.
Matthew. Jesus replies to the man's doubting question by saying,
"Faithless and perverse generation. How much longer must I put up with
you?" (Matt. 17:14-18)
When the Apostles saw this boy writhing and foaming at the mouth, their
fear caused them to question the power Jesus had given them to heal. When
they privately asked Jesus why they could not cast the demon out, Jesus
told them in no uncertain terms, "Because you have little Faith." (Matt.
17:20)
A necessary ingredient of Faith then is a belief not only in what God
reveals, but in His Power to accomplish anything He wills to do. Our part
is to humbly wait for Him to manifest His Will. We are never sure that
what we ask for is for our good, and so we wait for a confirmation if the
answer is "Yes" and enlightenment if the answer is "No."
The one thing we cannot do as Christians is to question His Power and
the right to manifest that Power by a mere act of His Wail. God has only
to Will and out of nothingness comes existence, and from existence comes
change. Whether that change is abrupt and sudden or gradual and
imperceptible, the same Power is at work.
It is significant of the humility of Jesus not to work miracles for the
sake of show. St. Matthew tells us he did not work any miracles in
Nazareth because of their lack of faith. (Matt. 13:58) It says "did not"
not "could not." Jesus demanded a belief in His power that was far beyond
human abilities. If that belief were absent, then He would refuse to
perform any miracles. They had to believe in His Divinity and Power, and
submit to His Will. His humility would not be violated even for the sake
of the hard-hearted.
Jesus wants our belief in His Power to do the miraculous and the
impossible, to be without question, and our humility to be trusting enough
to realize He does only what is for our good.
When a centurion told Jesus it was not necessary for Him to travel to
his home to heal his servant, Jesus was amazed at his faith. It told the
crowds listening to his appeal that Jesus, being God, had only to Willto
say the wordand
his servant would be healed. (Matt. 8:5-13)
Jesus as Lord has only to Will and whatever He wishes becomes a
reality. Our limited intelligence ca ,not comprehend such a Power, and our
lukewarmness cannot imagine such Love.
Why do we find the Miracle of the Eucharist
difficult to accept? Is it a question of
His Power or His Love? We cannot question His Power for the One who
created mountains, hills, planets and stars out of nothing can surely
change something that already exists into something else.
Neither can we question His Love. Who can fathom a Love as great as the
Love of Jesus? He proved it Himself by His birth, life, death and
resurrection. Since the source of the doubts cannot be in God, it must be
in ourselves.
Perhaps we are afraid of the obligations placed upon us when we believe
in His Real Presence in the Eucharist. Perhaps our love is too lukewarm to
accept the total abnegation of Jesus as He places Himself into a small
host. Perhaps our pride refuses such an act of Faitha
surrender of our senses in favor of an invisible reality. How sad it is
that the humility of Jesus escapes us because we desire to drag His Power
down to our limitations. We must believe He is our Living Bread, our only
Hope. We must trust His message and live by His Word.
LIVING BREAD
"I am the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven. Anyone who eats
this Bread will live forever; and the Bread that I shall give is My Flesh
for the life of the world." (Jn. 6:51)
In his Prologue John calls Jesus the Word. He tells us that the Word
was with God and the Word was God. Jesus came down from the Father as One
who gives life. All men lived in darkness and though many saw the Light it
was always at a distanceit
was a Promisea
taste of something greater to come.
As men lived in the shadow of this Light they became holy, but only
when Jesus became man did the Light come into their midst and live among
them. Only after His Resurrection did His Spirit live within them. What
they were by Promisesons
of Godthey
became in reality.
During their sojourn in the desert God fed the Israelites with manna.
They were His chosen people, and as they wandered from place to place God
kept them alive by giving them a fresh daily supply of manna.
This food kept their bodies healthy and strong, but what it symbolized
increased their faith. It was a food sent by God to manifest His
Providence and Love. "It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven"
Jesus told the crowds. "it is My Father who gives you bread from heaven."
(Jn. 6:32)
It is strange that in describing a past event Jesus used the present
tense. The Father is still feeding His people. In the past He sent Manna,
in the present He sends Jesus.
The people asked for this bread of life, expecting some type of manna
that would satisfy them forever. "Give us this bread always" they pleaded.
The answer they received was not what they expected. "I am the Bread of
Life" He told them.
Doubts began to cloud their minds as they looked at Him and wondered
what He meant. When He promised that all who went to Him would never be
hungry or thirsty again, the crowd began to separate into various
categories of doubt.
He tried to explain that belief in Him was a special gift from the
Father and that belief and adherence to Him as Lord meant Eternal Life.
They were to hear and follow the Word of God come down from Heaven.
In a very short discourseJn.
6:32-58Jesus
told the crowds four times that He would raise them up on the last day:
three times. that He was living Bread; and twice, that they would live
forever. There was a condition to all these promises. This condition has
two facets. "I tell you, solemnly. everybody who believes has eternal
life." (Jn. 6:47) Belief in the message Jesus gave them from the Father
was food for the soul. He was man's true bread but a Bread that only Faith
could receive. That Faith in Him made them heirs to the Kingdom.
He explained this kind of food when He said, "It is written in the
Prophets 'They will all be taught by God' and to hear the teaching of the
Father and learn from it is to come to Me." On. 6:45)
They were to hear and learn, absorb and digest the words of Jesus as
they flowed from the Father. Lest they think it sufficient for them merely
to hear the words, He said, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate
manna in the dessert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes
down from Heaven so that a man may eat it and not die." (Jn. 6:49,50)
The crowd was puzzled but before another doubt could take root in their
minds Jesus explained exactly what He meant"l
am the living bread which has come down from Heaven. Anyone who eats this
bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My Flesh for
the life of the world." (Jn. 6:51)
Jesus was a victim whose Body and Blood would be offered in sacrifice
for the salvation of all mankind.
St. John in his Prologue tells us that the "Word was made Flesh." God
became man to teach man how to be like God. Such an impossible feat needed
more than a revelation to be accepted, an example to be followed. Man
would have to share the Divine Nature.
For man to be a son of God, the very Spirit of God had to dwell in Him,
and so Jesus promised us another Advocate. To sustain that Spirit within
us it was necessary to constantly feed our souls with the Grace that the
Advocate would giveus.
Spiritual food was as necessary as physical food. The word of God had
to be taken in by the mind so man would know what to do to please God.
However, once that word entered the soul it needed power to germinate.
Something else was needed to permit it to bear a hundredfold fruit. So
bountiful was this fruit to become that it took over the soul completely.
and that soul, created with limitations, would contain within itself its
very Creator. The Creator would shine forth in the soul and transform it.
Love itself would take possession of the soul and it would begin to love
with God's own Love.
How was this marvel to be accomplished? Sad to say, the crowds of His
time grasped the Mystery more quickly than the people of today. "The Jews
started arguing with one another, 'How can this man give us His Flesh to
eat?" Jesus replied: "I tell you solemnly, if you do not eat the Flesh of
the Son of Man and drink His Blood you will not have life in you." (Jn.
6:52,53)
Why did the Jews not accept this statement of Jesus as a symbol? On a
day in the not too distant future Jesus was to call Himself a Vine and His
followers branches, growing from that Vine. They understood this as a
symbol and so it was.
The Author of Truth was bound to make this Mystery clear in the minds
of His listeners. Unless Truth was set forth clearly there would be no way
for that Truth to be accepted or rejected. The Free Will given to man by
his Creator would not be held responsible for a Light that was only
faintly visible. So bright was the Light of this revelation that it
carried with it the Promise of Eternal Life.
"Anyone who does eat My Flesh and drink My Blood has eternal life and I
shall raise him up on the last day." Jesus used the present tense again
and said. "has eternal life" and not the future tense "will have eternal
life." (Jn. 6:40 and 51)
Eternal Life begins with this Eucharistic communion of lovethis
intimate union of Creator and creaturethis
mingling of All with nothingness. The Eucharist enables Eternal Light and
the created soul to join together and become one Light. Living Bread and a
living soul unite and become one Love. one sacrifice for the salvation of
many.
To be positive they understood what He was saying, Jesus emphasized the
Mystery by saying. "For My Flesh is real food and My Blood is real drink."
It appears in this chapter of St. John that Jesus is trying to explain the
lengths Infinite Love will go to be loved in return.
He repeats Himself again and again as if to drive home a truth of
gigantic proportions. "He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood lives in
Me and I live in him." He wanted them to understand that two loves, one
limitless and one limited, would be as one. The Flesh of the Word made
Man, joining with the soul in a human being, would be so united that
whoever saw the man would see the God in him.
"As I." He told them. "who am sent by the living Father, Myself draw
life from the Father. so whoever eats Me will draw life from me." (Jn.
6:57) It staggers the mind to think that Jesus loves us so much. He
desires to possess us and we Him in the same way He and the Father are
one. Who could ever have dreamed of such a union of love? Who could ever
have imagined a Creator loving a creature so tenderly?
Realizing what was in the hearts of His listeners, Jesus tried to
explain how this would be done. As if to change the subject, He said,
"This is the Bread come down from Heaven; not like the bread our ancestors
ate; they are dead, but anyone who eats this Bread will live forever."
Only at the Last Supper would those who believed His Words then,
understand how they could eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. His
miraculous power would change bread into His Body.
Their lack of faith and hardness of heart worked a curious phenomenon.
They missed the revelation of how He would accomplish this Mystery but
they understood it was His real Flesh and Blood that they were to eat.
They took His message literally but completely missed His explanation
and comparison to the Manna in the desert. We have changed little since
that time. We refuse to believe in a visible reality when our own minds
cannot understand that reality.
We are appalled at the ignorance of men of medical science, who in the
past centuries refused to believed the existence of bacteria or the
necessity of cleanliness. As this is true in the field of science, it is
also true in the realm of the invisible world. Lack of humility and
confidence in the authority of Jesus has blinded many to the reality of
spiritual truthstruths
that can give us joy, peace, assurance and eternal life.
Later, when Jesus had referred to Himself as the Vine and we as the
branches, He merely stated the fact of the total dependence a creature has
upon its Creator. He did not press the subject, neither did He keep
repeating the simile to make His point.
Everyone present realized the symbolism of the Vine and branches and no
objections were made. This was not so in the synagogue on that memorable
Sabbath when the great Mystery of the Eucharist was revealed.
"After hearing it," John records, "many of His followers said, 'This is
intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?' " Jesus was aware that
His followers were complaining about it and said. "Does this upset you?
What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?" (Jn.
6:59-62)
The important point in this incident is that Jesus knew His statement
of eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood had disturbed many. The reason
was obviousthey
took Him literally.
At this point. Infinite Truth and Justice was bound to clarify His
statement if there were any chance of misunderstanding. He told them at
other times He was the Way and the Truth. His preaching would not leave a
shadow of doubt in the minds of His hearers as to what He meant.
When they had not understood His message before, He took time to
explain at length the meaning of His parables. Not so now. They had
understood correctly. There was no need for explanations. only acceptance.
If they did not believe His gift of the Eucharist. how would they
believe in His Resurrection? We find that those who did not believe the
former also failed to accept the latter. The Eucharist was "intolerable"
language. and the Resurrection became to them a hoax perpetrated by
well-meaning disciples.
The only gleam of light Jesus shed on the subject was to tell them that
"it is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The
words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." (Jn. 6:63)
The Father communicates life to the Son and Jesus passes on that life
to the faithful by making Himself their food. Only the Holy Spirit can
give souls the light to understand this Mystery of the Eucharist. The
"flesh"the
senseshuman
intelligencecould
never invent, believe or accept such a Mystery on its own.
Whatever is Divine can come to us only from the Spirit. To make this
clear Jesus told them "There are some of you who do not believe. This is
why I told you that no one could come to Me unless the Father allows him."
(Jn. 64-66)
Jesus was not excusing their hardened hearts. He was telling them that
because they refused to believe He was God's Son and had the power to
change and transform them, the Father would not give them the gift of
Faith so necessary to believe the Mystery of the Eucharist.
Faith in Jesus was the necessary quality of soul to open the heart and
mind to see Jesus as Living BreadFood
for His followers to grow on and change their lives.
Their pride rebelledfirst,
at the thought of eating Hi; Body and Blood; and then, at their dependence
upon the gifts of the Father to understand this Mystery. "After this,'
Scripture says, "many of His disciples left Him and stopped going with
Him." (Jn. 6:65)
At this point Jesus looked at His disciples and said, "There are some
of you who do not believe." "For Jesus knell from the outset those who did
not believe, and who it was that would betray Him." We seem to have three
categories of doubters. First, there were those who were in the SynagogueSabbath
worshipers. Secondly, there were disciples. Thirdly, there was one
Apostle. From His most intimate friends to the average men there were
those who did no believe.
Those who heard Him for the first time were the worshippers who said
"this saying was intolerable." Scripture describes the reaction of His
followers by stating simply "After this, many of His disciples left Him
and stopped going with Him." (Jn. 6:66)
Here it was that those whose enthusiasm had caused them to leave all
things in the beginning, walked out on Him Their realization that He meant
exactly what He said forced them to decide whether to follow Him or not.
They chose not to continue.
We find that those who had never heard Him had the opportunity to
benefit by His words. They saw with their own eyes the Messiah. Their
first encounter was one of shock and dismay. But Infinite Truth did not
say a word to change their minds or soften their hearts.
His followers, too, those who went from town to town and city to city,
watching. admiring and cheering everything He didthose,
too, had the opportunity to continue following continue defending, but
they did not. and He would not say a word to bring them back to His side.
Jesus watched the indignation of the people and the disbelief of His
followers. Many walked out of the Synagogue, and in that Temple of God,
God silently watched as men turned away.
Knowing the hearts of all present. Jesus turned to His Apostles and
said. "What about you? Do you want to go away, too?" There must have been
a time of silence before Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
the message of Eternal Life, and we believe; we know You are the Holy One
of God." (Jn. 6:68,69)
Jesus had just told the assembly that only the Father could make them
understand this Mystery. Once before when Jesus asked His Apostles who He
was, Peter had said, "You. are the Christthe
Son of the Living God." (Matt. 16:16) Jesus wanted all present to know how
Peter knew this truth and He told him, "Simon, son of Jonah, you are a
happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you
but My Father in Heaven." (Matt. 16:17)
By "flesh" Jesus meant our own human reason, that Intellect that is so
limited in what it sees, feels, hears and touches. Only a special light
given by the Father could make one see God in a man, and see God in bread.
We can be sure that Peter did not understand exactly how it would be
accomplished but He did believe Jesus to be Lord and as Lord, He could and
would accomplish whatever He revealed.
This was a consolation for Jesus but perhaps it was also a source of
the deepest pain. Instead of praising Peter for his witness of faith as He
previously did, He replied with a heart-rending statement, "Have I not
chosen you, you Twelve? Yet, one of you is a devil." It is strange that
no-one asked who was possessed. Only later did they know who He meant, for
John remarks, "He meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the
man, one of the Twelve, who was going to betray Him." (Jn. 6:71)
Judas was one who was more than a worshipper, more than a follower.
Here was a man specially and carefully chosen to be a leader, a teacher, a
witness, a friend and a priest of the New Covenant.
For a long time Jesus was a disappointment to Judas. The cause of the
Messiah seemed futile. He was not the kind of Saviour Judas had in mind.
His respect for Jesus waned and he began to steal from the common fund.
With the revelation of the Holy Eucharist his disappointment turned to
disgust but, unlike the Worshippers and the Followers, he decided it wiser
to stay with Jesus. Was it at this time that the thought of betrayal
crossed his mind? It was essential for crowds of people to acclaim Jesus
for Judas to keep up his enthusiasm. When he saw them turn away, his heart
sank into a state of hopelessness.
When Jesus had asked His Apostles who He was, Judas did not answer. He
did not knowhe
did not believe. Peter, however, was open to the light of the Father. Once
he believed Jesus was Lord, he could believe that Lord had power to change
bread into His BodyLiving
Bread sent to us by the Living Father as His Living Son.
Like Peter, then, we as Christians must affirm our Faith in His Love as
He gives us Himself as food and in His Power as He changes bread and wine
into His Body and Blood.
If the Voice of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist were to ask us one day,
"Who do you say that I am?" may we be open enough to the Light of His
Spirit to answer, "You are the Son of God."
MYSTERY OF FAITH
"I have longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer; because I
tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of
God." (Luke 22:15,16)
Jesus was not speaking of sharing a last meal with His friends. He was
not very concerned about food in itself and advised His followers to use
it to sustain life and not for their pleasure.
If He "longed" for this night and He did so before His death, then we
realize He had some important message to give usa
message quite separate from His "suffering."
What kind of food was He to share at this meal and then not eat again
until "it" was fulfilled in the Kingdom?
What kind of food would have a culmination pointa
point of fulfillment? Ordinary food is digested and reaches no point of
future fulfillment. What was the "it" He spoke of? These questions must be
answered if we are to understand the Mystery that He offers our Faith to
feed upon.
First, Jesus takes the Passover cup, gives thanks and says simply,
"Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I
shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes." (Luke 22:17,18)
This particular cup of wine was one of the four cups passed during the
Passover Supper. Jesus had told His Apostles that He had come to fulfill
the Law and now, He executes the Law for the last time and draws a
parallel between the Passover and the Eucharist He is about to institute.
After this part of the ceremony was over, Jesus "took some bread and
when He had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is
My Body which will be given for you; DO THIS AS A MEMORIAL OF ME." (Luke
22:19)
Jesus, who had healed bodies and multiplied bread, took simple bread
and thanked for it. Unlike the thanksgiving He said over the Passover
wine, this time He askedfor
more than a sharing. This was different. The Will that created all things,
willed that a change occur when He said, "This is My Body." It was the
same Will that said to nothingness "Let there be light." Just as light was
made by those simple words, so bread became something greater than itself,
yet retained the appearance of bread.
When the Spirit would come and take up His abode in man, man would look
the same but his invisible soul would be radically different. He would be
in reality someone he did not appear to bea
son of God.
And so it was with the Bread. It seemed like bread, just as one man
seemed like any other man, but that bread had changedit
was His Body just as man was a son of God.
They both retain their own appearance but what a change occurs! Both
would take Faith to seeFaith
to see God in bread and God in man.
For God to remain in man, man had to share the Nature of God. His Love
would do the impossibleHe
would change insignificant and common bread into His Body and Blood so
no-one would ever be deprived of this Food.
To be assured that all mankind would possess this Food, Jesus told His
Apostles "Do this as a memorial of Me." (Luke 22:19) As He had given them
power to heal bodies, He gave them power to change bread into His Body.
As once He shared with them His creative powers as they changed leprous
tissue into new flesh, now, He shares something greaterHe
gives them power to transform and changeto
say over bread as He did, "This is My Body."
This Institution of the Holy Eucharist was done after the Passover
Supper. The old was gone and the new Covenant began. Luke says, "He did
the same with the cup after supper, and said, "This cup is the New
Covenant in My Blood which will be poured out for you." (Luke 22:20)
"Drink all of you from this for this is My Blood, the Blood of the
Covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
(Matt. 26:28)
On Mount Sinai the blood of lambs sealed the covenant between God and
His people. (Ex. 24:4-8) Now, it is something greater offered to God as a
covenanta
pledge of the forgiveness of sins: the very Blood of God in one supreme
sacrifice pours Itself out for the Redemption of many.
Love was not satisfied with pouring out His Blood on the Cross. He
desired we drink that Blood in a most palatable way. He changes wine into
His Blood and that Blood gives us all the strength to seek His
forgiveness, the humility to repent and the love to change our lives to
conform with the reality within us.
The Apostles were men who were given power from Jesus when He asked
them to do as He had just done, to give to mankind that Sacred Body and
Blood. They would ever present to the Father and to mankind the Sacrifice
of Jesus on the Cross.
They would offer that one Sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of sins.
Just as a mother feeds her child with the milk from her own body, so Jesus
would feed those He redeemed with His own Blood.
He brought them forth from the darkness of sin into the light of the
Father's forgiveness by the pain of the Cross. To be sure that His
children, those whom the Father entrusted to His care, would grow into
this new life of Spirit and Truth, He gave power to men to consecrate
bread and wine and change them into His Body and Blood. He would continue
to feed His own.
Men throughout the centuries would be privileged to kneel at His Feet
on Calvary, ever present to them at the Mass, and thank Him personally for
His Sacrifice, thank the Father for His gift, and thank the Spirit by
whose power mere men brought down the Son of God for all to love and
adore.
To the Father all things are present and that Supreme Sacrifice of
Love, ever presented to Him for the salvation of souls, brings down upon
the world His Mercy and Forgiveness. It ever keeps before the eyes of our
minds the cost of our Redemption and the power of His Spirit. It spurs us
on to greater sacrifices that in some small way we may unite our pain with
His pain, our suffering with His suffering and our sacrifices with His
sacrifice.
The Eucharist is truly a Mystery of Faith, an outpouring of His
generosity and a call to be holy as He is holy, to love with His own Love
for His Blood flows in our veinsHis
Body is bone of our bone.
He called Himself "Living Bread" because He did not will that His
Supreme Sacrifice should remain in the minds of men merely as an
historical eventa
dead thing. No, that Sacrifice would go on as an ever "Living" Memorial of
an ever present event in the mind of God.
THE EUCHARIST IN THE EARLY CHURCH
"These remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles, to the
brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers . . . They went
as a body to the Temple every day but met in their houses for the breaking
of bread." (Acts 2:42-46)
Every day the Apostles instructed the first Christians in Holy
Scripture. All the prophecies concerning Jesus were studied in the light
of His life among them. Love reigned in their midst and they lived a
communal life as one body of people, dedicated to the Lord. They were
"brothers" of the Lord and of each other.
They were Jews who followed Jewish customs and so, after they
worshipped in the Temple they went to their homes for the breaking of
bread.
The "breaking of bread" was a Jewish custom. The one who presided over
the meal gave thanks, broke bread and distributed it to his family. Jesus
had used this custom as part of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.
After His Resurrection, the breaking of Bread, as the words "This is My
Body" were pronounced, became a central part of their spiritual lives. The
Apostles, to whom this power was given by Jesus, presided over this
function as well as over the prayers said by the brethren.
Before Pentecost and many times thereafter they joined together in
prayer. In the First Chapter of Acts we read that the Apostles "joined
together in continuous prayer."
We get a glimpse of the functions of these men in the early Church when
the social aspects of its structure began to distract them from their main
duty. The Twelve called a meeting of all the faithful and told them, "It
would not be right for us to neglect the Word of God so as to give out
food." (Acts 6:2,4)
What was more important than feeding the hungry? What did these
Apostles have to do that did not leave them time for this work of charity?
We find that they did not neglect this duty of feeding the poor but,
putting first things first, realized that as Apostles of the Word they had
to take care of the spiritual food of their converts as well as their
physical needs.
"You, brothers," they told the congregation, "must select from among
yourselves seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and Wisdom
. . ." (Acts 6:3)
The Apostles insisted that those chosen would be men of deep spiritual
insight and not merely distributors of food packages.
The important passage in this Scripture is the reason the Apostles gave
for this change. "We will hand over this duty' to them, and continue to
devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the Word." (Acts 6:4)
The Apostles obviously felt their mission from God was separate from
anyone else's. They were to lead the prayer at the breaking of bread and
they were responsible for the doctrinal elaboration of the Good News.
Questions as to interpretation were constantlyset
before them. St. Peter made it clear one day when he said, "We must be
most careful to remember that the interpretation of Scriptural Prophesy is
never a matter for the individual." (2 Pet. 1:20)
There were times when many things regarding the sayings and counsels of
Jesus were misrepresented or ill-used.
In every case recourse was made to the Apostles as men set apart in the
New Covenant, as the tribe of Levi was set apart in the Old Covenant.
When Philip, the deacon, went to Samaria, he preached the Good News and
"baptised both men and women." (Acts 8:12,13) Rut we find that his
ministry was limited to preaching, healing, and baptizing. Scripture
recounts that, "When the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them and they went
down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, for
as yet He had not come down on any of them: they had been baptized only in
the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received
the Holy Spirit." (Acts 8:14-17)
Philip, the Deacon, did not have the power to bring down the Holy
Spirit on the new converts. It was the function of the Apostles only, to
lay hands on these people for them to receive this gift of the Father.
We see the Apostles preaching and explaining the Good News, breaking
bread at the Lord's Supper, and conferring the Spirit by laying on of
hands. They were priests of the Lord, forgiving sins in His Name, healing
bodies in His Name, delivering demons in His Name, and changing bread and
wine into His Body and Blood in His Name.
Faith in the Holy Eucharist was strong among the Apostles' converts.
St. Paul had a special love for the Eucharist and mentioned It to the
Corinthians in strong language.
Some of these Christians received the Eucharist at the breaking of
bread and then proceeded to go elsewhere to eat food that had been
sacrificed to idols.
Paul reminded them of their obligations when he said, "The blessingcup
that we bless is a communion with the Blood of Christ and the bread that
we break is a communion with the Body of Christ." (1 Cor. 10:16,17) As
each of them partook of the one loaf of bread changed into the Body of
Christ, they formed "a single body." They were united with Jesus and each
other in a way they never dreamed of.
He tried to explain that though the food they ate which had been
sacrificed to idols had no value, still it constituted a communion with
demons. "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons" he
reminded them.
The Corinthians had worshipped idols for so long that they began to
combine Christianity and idolatry.
It was not long before their reverence for the Eucharist began to fall
into lukewarmness. Paul was angered by their indifference and explained
both the Eucharist and their punishment for receiving It unworthily.
His reprimand was in the form of an instruction. "I hear," he told
them, "that when you come together as a community there are separate
factions among you." (1 Cor. 11:17-34)
When they came together as a community it was for the express purpose
of celebrating the "Lord's Supper." However, instead of waiting for all to
arrive for this meeting, one would begin to eat his own supper while
others indulged in too much drinking. "Surely you have homes for eating
and drinking" Paul chided them.
The conduct of these few embarrassed the entire Community and Paul
sarcastically remarks, "What am I to say to you? Congratulate you? I
cannot congratulate you on this."
Paul seemed desperate to explain his viewpoint on the Eucharist and in
an effort to do so, he gives us a small glimpse into his interior life.
Jesus had appeared to Paul on numerous occasions. In fact, he tells
everyone that all he learned came to him directly from Jesus, even though
his humility made him check all his revelations with the Apostles in
Jerusalem. (Gal. 1:11-13)
With this authority behind him he says, "This is what I received from
the Lord and in turn passed on to you." The explanation of the Eucharist
Paul was about to give had been given to him directly by Jesus. He made
this point, to be sure that those who interpreted the words of Jesus at
the Last Supper as symbolic, would know for certain that the words Paul
was about to say were the words of Jesus and not his own opinion.
"On the same night that He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some
bread, and thanked God for it, and broke it, and He said, 'This is My
Body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of Me.'"
"In the same way He took the cup after supper and said, 'This cup is
the New Covenant in My Blood. Whenever you drink It, do this as a memorial
of Me.' " The similarity between Luke's account and Paul's revelation is
clear. Luke was Paul's traveling companion and knew him better than most.
His account of the Last Supper is the most detailed and we can be sure he
and Paul discussed this Mystery often.
The Eucharist is God's new covenant with His people, and Paul tried to
impress Its importance upon the minds of his converts. "Until the Lord
comes, therefore," he told them, "every time you eat this Bread and drink
this Cup you are proclaiming His death." (1 Cor. 11:26,27)
The consecration of bread and wine into His Body and Blood proclaims to
all mankind the death of Jesus. It is not another sacrifice, but the one
and only Sacrifice, proclaimed anew to all the world.
Paul was not present at the Last Supper or on Calvary but as a follower
of Jesus he was not deprived of this privilege. This was to Paul so real
an experience that he explained, "Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the
cup of the Lord unworthily will be behaving unworthily towards the Body
and Blood of the Lord."
How was Paul to impress this truth upon his converts? He told them to
"recollect" themselves before they partook of this Body and Blood. There
was to be some time of prayer, reverence and gratitude for such a gift
from God. "Because" he solemnly remarked, "a person who eats and drinks
without recognizing the Body, is eating and drinking his own condemnation.
In fact, that is why many of you are weak, ill, and some of you have
died." (1 Cor. 11:28-31)
Paul's faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the
power of the Mass, whose Consecration produced this marvel, was so strong
that he believed that all those who committed a sacrilege were punished by
God.
Those who deliberately partook of this Sacrament unworthily were guilty
of sacrilegious communion and in the mind of Paul this spiritual evil
produced physical illness and even death.
This is strong language but Paul was speaking to a hardheaded people
who seemingly indulged themselves in food and drink during a Sacred
function. The Breaking of Bread was no symbol to Paul but a real sacrifice
and a real participation in the Body and Blood of the Lord.
As an Apostle to the Gentiles his instructions had to be clear and
sound. He would not pronounce a condemnation of body and soul upon a
symbol, like the Vine and Branches mentioned before.
Jesus had told him, as He did the Apostles in the Synagogue, "My Flesh
is real food and My Blood is real drink." (Jn. 6:55) It was not something
to be treated lightly.
No-one was to be present on Calvary eating and drinking riotously
without bringing down upon himself the anger of God. "If only we recollect
ourselves" he suggested, "we should not be punished like that. But when
the Lord does punish us like that, it, is to correct us and stop us from
being condemned with the world." (1 Cor. 11:32)
"So, to sum up, my brothers, when you meet for the Meal, wait for one
another. Anyone who is hungry should eat at home, and then your meeting
will not bring your condemnation." Over and over, Paul warns them of the
Sacredness of this Meal, this Mass. The Sacrifice of Calvary, the
partaking of His Body and Blood was an awesome occasion and not one of
indifference, lukewarmness and revelry.
They had a New Covenant with God, in which He would be faithful to the
end. These new converts to Christianity were to be fervent, prayerful and
zealous. The Eucharist was the very core of their spirituality. Their God
fed them with His own Body and Blood. His Spirit dwelt within them and
they were in truthsons
of God.
St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews makes it clear that the old
sacrifices were repeated over and over because "bulls' and goats' blood
were useless to take away sins." Jesus, however, has offered one single
Sacrifice. "By virtue of that one single offering, He has achieved the
eternal perfection of all whom He is sanctifying." (Heb. 10:11-15)
It was important for the Christian community to ever keep that
Sacrifice in mind. It was to be proclaimed for all to remember. "Do not
stay away from the meetings of the community," Paul urged the Hebrews,
"but encourage one another to go." (Heb. 10:25)
Whatever suffering, persecution and pain they might endure, the
Eucharist was their strength, their hope and their courage. Their Jesus
would be with them to the end of time.
How true were the inspired words of Malachi: "From farthest east to
farthest west My Name is honored among the nations and everywhere a
sacrifice of incense is offered to My Name and a pure offering." (Mal.
1:11)
GOD WITH US
From the beginning, when man first began to live and breathe, he
desired to see and communicate with God.
The Book of Genesis tells us how God fulfilled this need throughout
Salvation History. God spoke to Adam in the Garden and walked with Henoch
in the cool of the night.
Abraham spoke to God and heard Him promise a posterity as numerous as
the stars in the universe.
Moses, in his turn, refused to lead his people to the Promised Land
unless God promised to go with them. And so it was that He appeared to
them in the form of fire at night and a cloud in the day. (Ex. 33:13-17)
When He gave His chosen people the Commandments He requested an ark be
made and He took up His abode among men in the Ark of the Covenant. This
Presence was so awesome that when Uzzah only touched the Ark to keep it
from falling, he was struck dead. (2 Sam. 6:7)
After Solomon built the Temple of the Lord, we read in the Book of
Kings that "when the priests came out of the sanctuary, the Cloud filled
the Temple of Yahweh." "Then Solomon said, "Yahweh has chosen to dwell in
the thick cloud. Yes, I have built you a dwelling, a place for you to live
in forever." (1 Kgs. 8:10-13)
During the time of the Roman conquest, the Temple built by Herod had
within it a portion called the Holy of Holies. Here God dwelt and the High
Priest offered incense to Him.
The people were at peace, knowing that God was with them. When Jesus
died, however, the veil of the Temple was rent in two. It was as if God
burst forth from His hiding place to rest in our hearts and in the
Eucharist.
God has instilled within each of us a desire to know and see Him.
Throughout Salvation History He spoke directly to some and through
Prophets to others.
When the time arrived to send His Son, it was the ultimate in
communication. Now, His chosen people could both see and speak to their
God face to face.
In all past experiences of communication there was always the element
of Faith. Even as men spoke to God there was never that total vision that
would exclude the necessity of Faith. When Moses asked to see God's Face
he was told that to see such glory meant death. Our poor human nature was
not capable of such joy.
It requires humility to accept God on His terms, and so when He came in
the flesh many did not believe. He preached to the poor, to those whose
minds were not cluttered with intellectual speculation and whose hearts
were unencumbered by possessions. In these kinds of people Faith would
grow. Faith would mean an adherence to the words of Jesus as the words of
the Father.
Was there anyone in Jerusalem who would not have rejoiced at the
thought of speaking directly to Godface
to face? Why was it that so many missed Him? Why did so many desire to
have their God visibly in their midst and then never see Him as He walked
by their side?
Jesus often reprimanded His people for their lack of Faith and He told
the disciples of John the Baptist, "Happy is the man who does not lose
faith in Me." (Matt. 11:5,6) And so it was that many found it difficult to
believe that God was made Mana
man like to themselves in all things except sin.
In the beginning God had made man to His Image but now God came down
and lived in the image of manGod-Man.
The miracles He performed were to prove His Divinity and Authority. To
accept even these proofs demanded Faith.
No matter how much man desired to see God in this life, when he did, it
took Faith to believe that the One sent by God was GodHe
looked and spoke like a man when in reality He was Lord of all, Creator
and Incarnate Wisdom.
To those who had their own idea of how God would manifest Himself,
Jesus was an imposter. To those who were humble of heart, He was Saviour.
Those who were complicated wanted a concept to ponder, a voice to hear, a
revelation to decipher. Those who were poor in spirit desired God more
than themselves. They were open to Truth and ready to change their lives
according to that Truth.
There was a quality of soul that all those who believed possessed and
that quality was Faith. Faith made them leave all things. Hope made them
sure that having nothing and Jesus, was better than having everything
without Him. Love made them want to be like Him, cling to His word and one
day be with Him in the Kingdom.
In order for men, outside His time in history, to persevere in this
determination, they would need His Presence. They would need that
invisible quality that gave mere men the power to change and follow their
Lord.
The Spirit's Indwelling would give them this invisible reality
Gracea
Participation in the very Nature of GodGod
within us.
God would not only inspire men, He would dwell in their midst and
through His Spirit live in their very souls as in a Temple. This new
status gave man grave responsibilities. He had to change all those
temperament defects that were not in line with his new dignity as son of
God.
John did not leave his converts in any doubt as to their obligations.
"We can be sure that we are in God," he told his followers, "only when the
one who claims to be living in Him is living the same kind of life as
Christ lived." (1 Jn. 2:5,6)
Through Sanctifying Grace man became the dwelling place of the Trinity.
God took up His abode, no longer as a cloud or pillar of fire, but placed
Himself in the very souls of those covered by the waters of Baptism. All
those so privileged shall be as "first born sons" in the Kingdom of
Heaven. (Heb. 12:23)
This grace, this life of the Trinity in the soul, had to grow and
develop in a way that was a witness to the world.
There were various ways man could grow in grace. Jesus mentioned that
doing the Father's Will was food for His Soul. He promised that whoever
did His Father's Will was His brother, mother and sister. All three are
blood relationships.
He promised us a reward when we do the least act of kindness for our
neighbor, for what we do to him we do to Jesus. The reading of Scripture,
too, is food for the soul.
All these means of grace are helpful to man but most of them depend
upon our motives. Our acts of kindness are often mixed with selfish
motives. Our adherence to His Will is sometimes rebellious or at least in
an attitude of enduring the inevitable.
When we read His Word in Scripture our minds wander and its various
interpretations escape us.
God would not leave us with various means of grace that were so
dependent upon usupon
our motivesour
intelligence. He knew, as Scripture reminds us, what man was made of and
He would not permit our growth in Him to be the least dependent upon
ourselves.
His Grace would always be free, always be a pure gift. God's Infinite
Mind devised a way to guarantee man a pure source of grace, totally
independent of man's holiness or worth: a soul that could always be pure
and holy as He is pure and holy, by partaking of His Body and Blood.
He devised a way by which He would be food for man's soul to grow,
develop and one day enter His own Kingdom as a son.
"He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood lives in Me and I live in
him." (Jn. 6:56) A real sharing of His Body and Blood enables God to live
in each soul. It makes us all brothers and sisters because we share the
same Father and partake of the same Body and Blood.
He knew that we would need Someone to see with our eyes and experience
with our senses. We want to see, touch and taste what our Faith tells us
existsGod.
What a marvel of Wisdom! We can see Him and live in Him without any
interference with the Faith so necessary in this exile.
We can see Him and not die; we can touch Him and not be annihilated. We
can speak to Him in the Eucharist and have that assurance that He has
heard us.
Our Faith tells us He is truly, really and substantially present in the
Eucharist.
Our hope gives us that joy which begins here and culminates in
Eternity.
Our Love is set aflame by being cast into the Fire of His Love.
This Gift of Giftsthe
Eucharistpermits
us to talk to God like Moses, look upon His Face like Peter, become His
dwelling place like Mary, be zealous like Paul, courageous like Stephen,
repentant like Magdalen, enlightened like Philip, and loving like John.
It is more than power, more than solace in the heat, or a refuge in the
storm.
The Eucharist is food for starving souls, His Presence in our midst,
His grace in our souls, His companionship during our journey, His strength
in our weakness, the center of our lives, the yeast in the dough of our
spirituality.
The Eucharist is God with usGod
in us.
PRAYERS
My Jesus, Your love for me is beyond my comprehension. I am speechless
at the thought that Infinite Intelligence dwells in this Bread and Wine
before me. Your humility is so great and my pride so absurd. I love You in
this Host and I thank You for stooping to this level for love of me.
What makes You so much desire to be with sinners? What makes You go to
such extremes to be with us? Surely You knew, my Lord, that many would not
accept Your Presence in the Eucharist. Your kind of love is different from
mine. My love is easily discouraged and ready to quit at the first sight
of obstacles. Give me that same unselfish love that You have, humble
Jesus.
Obedient Jesus, no matter how unworthy Your priest may be You come to
dwell in the Host in his hands when he breathes the words "This is My
Body." You are content wherever he places You. You are patient no matter
how alone You are in this Sacrament. You do not put up a struggle when
many receive You unworthily. Teach me, dear Jesus, to be obedient to Your
commandsto
Your least wishYour
slightest desire. Grant that I may go where You place me, do Your will
rather than my own and wait patiently for the time of Your consolation.
Eucharistic Jesus, only a few came to visit You today. What would
happen if I went to the square and shouted, "He is hereHe's
herehere
in the Hosthere
on this altar." Would You cry when they all turned away? Would it all seem
futile to wait so patiently for just one visit from Your creatures? Is
Your humility our stumbling block? Does Your obedience to the Father's
Will strain our intelligence? Sweet Jesus, give me Faith to see and Hope
to trust, and Love to stay near You, forsaken and forgotten.
Humble Jesus, grant that I may understand Your love for me in a better
way. The One whom the heavens cannot contain has come down to live in this
small Host. I am lukewarm but Your Love is a blazing fire. I am forgetful
but You never cease to think of me. You are humility itself and I seek
only myself. You wait and wait for me to visit You in Your voluntary
Prison but I am so busy with petty things. Do Angels take my place when
I'm not with You? Century passes century and still You are in this
Sacrament of Love, and yet there seems to be so few who appreciate Your
Sacrifice, Your Love, Your longing. Jesus, let me be a comfort to Your
lonely Heart.
Lonely Jesus, is it not the essence of ingratitude for so many to
believe in Your Real Presence in the Eucharist and never visit You? Does
Your Heart leap for Joy when someone finally comes into Your Temple to say
"Hello"? What must be Your pain if all they do is complain of their
crosses and ask for more and more things. Are there many who come just to
say "I love You, Jesus in the Sacred Host"? I praise You for Your Goodness
and Love. Your Mercy has no end but I fear lukewarmnessthe
kind that never asks for mercy. Please, humble Jesus, make me fervent and
grant that I may never take Your Presence for granted.
My hidden Lord, the world is in such a rush. People say they do not
have time to visit Youothers
say You are only a symbol. Let the whole world see You hidden under this
Eucharistic Species. What comfort would fill their hearts if they realized
they could speak to You and You were really there to listen. Increase my
Faith, too, for very often I take Your Presence for granted. During Holy
Week when Your Presence is gone from the Church I realize how very empty
everything would be without You.
Body of Christ, make me holy. Fill my weak soul with an overflowing of
Grace so You and I may be as One. You have created me for Yourself. What
an act of ingratitude to keep any part of me for myself. My weakness and
pride make me forget You but Your humble Presence in the Eucharist stirs
my soul to repentance. Let us be hidden together in love and union.
HumbleJesus,
my soul is often in darkness. Your Presence in my soul, as in the Host, is
hidden from my eyes but I do believe You are there. Your Presence in my
neighbor is also hard to discern and yet You have said, whatever I do to
the least, I do for You. All these disguises You take on in this life
demand Faith, and so, sweet Lord, I ask for more Faith. I want Your
Presence in the Eucharist to be so real to me that I will receive from It
the grace to see You in my neighbor, in the duties of the present moment,
and in my own soul.
Eucharistic Jesus, I wish I had the talent of a poet to put in rhyme
the wonders of Your Love. I wish I had the words of the Saints to tell You
of my desires. I wish my mind was not so blank and my heart so empty, so I
could say all those beautiful things Your Angels must say every day. I
want so much to tell the world of Your Presence here in this Host and then
guide them all to Your Throne. Accept my desires, dear Jesus, for my hands
are empty of good works, my mind is blank, and my soul is parched from the
desert heat. Accept then my wretchedness and wrap it in Your Power and
change it all in the fire of Your Love.
_______
The author prays that all those who read this booklet will have a
deeper awareness of the Father's Mercy, the Son's Love and the Spirit's
Power.
Printed with the ecclesiastical approval of
JOSEPH G. VATH, D.D.
Bishop of Birmingham
Alabama, USA
©1977 Eternal Word Television Network, Inc.
Scripture Quotations taken from Jerusalem Bible unless otherwise
indicated
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