THE EUCHARIST IS A FORETASTE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 25, 2000 (VIS) - The theme of the Holy Father's catechesis during today's general audience, which was attended by 50,000 pilgrims, was: "The Eucharist opens to the future of God."

"The communion with Christ which we are now living as pilgrims and travellers along the paths of history, anticipates that supreme encounter of the day in which 'we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is'." In this way the faithful "find, in the bread of the Eucharist, the strength to walk towards the radiant goal of the holy city."

John Paul II recalled that St. Luke and St. Paul both affirm that "the Eucharist is an anticipation of the kingdom of God's horizon of glorious light." St. Paul explicitly states that "the Eucharistic supper is associated with the final coming of the Lord: 'As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes'."

St. John, continued the Pope, when he says that whoever eats of this bread "will live for ever," gives us to understand that "eternal life" is "the same divine life that surpasses the frontiers of time. The Eucharist, being communion with Christ, is, therefore, participation in the life of God who is eternal and triumphs over death."

The Holy Father encouraged Christians not to neglect "this encounter, this banquet which Christ prepares for us in His love. May our sharing in it be most worthy and joyful!"

In his greetings at the end of the audience, the Pope recalled that Saturday, October 28 marks the 42nd anniversary of the election to the See of Peter of Pope John XXIII, "whom I recently had the joy of proclaiming blessed. He will remain in history as the Pope of goodness, the 'good Pope'."

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