From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts…
The disciples then went off, entered the city,
and found it just as he had told them;
and they prepared the Passover. …
While they were eating,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them, and said,
“Take it; this is my body.”
Mark 14:16,22 from Sunday’s Gospel
Passover celebrates the exodus of the children of Abraham from their slavery in Egypt. Luke in his Gospel speaks of Jesus’ “exodus” he would achieve in Jerusalem—an exodus from this life to eternal Resurrected life. Jesus’ exodus was not simply for himself, but for all who need his help to escape the power of sin and death. He offers that help to all who believe in him. Let us underline those last three words: “believe in him.”
We are embodied souls. We are not souls who happen to inhabit a body, a body that may be cast off casually or ignored. Body and soul are uniquely bound together in each of us, making up a unified whole, with both elements contributing to our identity and worth. Everything we do, even “sitting and thinking” is done by that unified whole. We “believe” with our whole body/soul selves. That is why postures, such as kneeling, influence and express our thoughts/feelings/attitudes. And that is why thoughts and feelings can mess up our dance steps.
Even more: we believe “in him.” That is, “in Him, in Christ himself” not as some object out there (“I believe that’s an oak tree, Sam”) but “in him” in the sense that, after Baptism, Christ lives within us, and we live “in him” as part of his “greater Body” which we call the Church. Since he is Divine, omnipotent and omniscient, he includes each of us body/souls within his very being, now, daily in this world, preparing us for the great transition into the everlasting Resurrected life that begins with our worldly death.
It is a mind-boggling idea to try to grasp. He is referring to it when he teaches about himself as the bread of life in John’s Gospel in terms such as these: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides (or “remains”) in me, and I in him.” (Emphasis added, John 6:56) A “believer” lives in direct, daily, life-giving relationship with Jesus, right now.
That is why the Eucharist is so important, why Jesus insists in the strongest terms that we must “eat his flesh and drink his blood.” That organic connection with his own being strengthens our living soul/body connection with Him. It nourishes us, body/souls that we are. Through Holy Communion he can strengthen and inspire us in many different ways in all kinds of circumstances.
He knows how much we need this—that is why he instructs his disciples to take and eat his Body, the divinized substance of his very being. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” John 6:54 Note: “has,” the present tense, now.
“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 word.” John 6:51
We know where we must go to receive this.
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For further reflection:
There is one more immense gift that comes to us in the sacramental presence of the Son. When we receive Christ-as-Eucharist with an open and repentant heart, our charity is strengthened, “and this living charity wipes away venial sins.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1394. Emphasis in the original. See also #1393 and the quotation from St. Ambrose) This is no small help in responding more fully to the invitation of Jesus to follow him.
To help increase your devotion to our Lord in the Sacrament of the Altar, you might use the Prayer to Christ (“Prayer to Christ as the Eucharist”) page at the top of the blog.
Your thoughts, comments, questions welcomed. Leave a reply or email me direct (see “ABOUT” above).