My dear brother priests,
our Holy Father John Paul II had shared his reflections of the Holy Eucharist
especially for us. In fact there was a special letter he made, the “Iglesia de
Eucharistia.” I would like to point out certain things about this. Let me begin
with this Eucharistic prayer that we pray everytime we celebrate the holy mass:
“The day before he suffered, He took bread into his sacred hands. And looking
up to you his almighty Father, He gave you thanks and praise. He broke the
bread, gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this all of you and eat it.
This is my body which will be given up for you.”
It
might be useful to repeat the last words, “This is my Body which will be given
up for you.” Christ did not just say, “this is my body”, He gives the body, His Body which will be
handed over for us. It is the self, in
the mode of self-giving and of dying forever; giving himself.
The
same thing happens with the cup. He says “Take this all of you and drink from it. This is the cup of my blood,
the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for
all so that sins may be forgiven.” The cup is given. It would be poured out for
all. Jesus did not just say, “this is the cup of my blood.” No. Once again he
said, “This will be shed for you.” The mode is self- giving, the self is handed
over; life is handed over for all so that sins may be forgiven.
The
bread is broken so that it may be shared. In the Jewish thinking, the self is
given so that it may somehow go into hundred lives and even thousand lives; so
that it may be spent in a hundred and a thousand deeds - of serving others ‘diakonia’. The wine is poured out, just
as blood is shared so that it may be drunk by a hundred even by a thousand people and therefore give them life, His life—entering
into their lives becoming a part of their living and loving .
Christ is food – feeding
the world. Christ is drink, nourishing all over the world. Christ is body and
blood empowering all to give themselves in turn to pour out their lives pro mundi vita, for the life of the
world. “Do this in memory of me.” It is Jesus who says, "I who assume your thoughts and decisions and make them my
own. Your commitments, become my own commitment; your deeds become my deeds. In
you and through you I make the whole earth Eucharist – blessing and
thanksgiving. When I say “Do this in memory of me,” this is what I mean: in
your body and blood, do what I am doing; make your own lives into Eucharist. Do
this in remembrance of me, patterning your lives after my life.”
The Eucharist my dear friends is not
just food or drink for ourselves. It is about food for self-giving, drink for
the sharing of life. The Eucharist is about loving the Father in obedience even
unto death. It is about loving our brothers and sisters, even laying down our lives for them.
The
Eucharist makes it possible for Christ’s self-giving to become our commitment
and self-giving. As St. Augustine said, “Our commitment and all our lives and
deeds become us, and through the Eucharist they become Christ’s own.” Jesus did
not say, ‘you do not change me into yourself.” No, “I change you into myself.” Let us remember St. Augustine’s words about
the Eucharist. “Be what you see and become what you receive.”