Today we reflect on the great sacrament we come together to celebrate as a community each Sunday. Indeed some of us actually come together in this Church to celebrate it every single day. We acknowledge this marvellous sacrament as Christ’s greatest gift to us because it is the living reminder of all that he achieved through his Passion, Death and Resurrection. By bringing his closest disciples to the Upper Room the night before he died and celebrating the meal with them that we know as the Last Supper Christ was deliberately creating a lasting legacy, giving them something that would constantly remind his followers of what he was all about. We know from the Gospel of John that he washed their feet as an example of how he wanted them to serve each other.
And we know from the other Gospels how he took the bread and wine, blessed it and shared it with the Apostles telling them to do this in memory of him. At the time I do not suppose that the Apostles understood exactly what was happening; it was something they were only able to make sense of later and in the light of the events that followed. Nevertheless we know that this solemn meal made a deep impression on them and was something that they remembered very clearly afterwards. What Jesus was doing at the Last Supper was in effect to sum up all that was to come about the next day, Good Friday. He knew he was going to make the sacrifice of his life on the Cross of Calvary and he knew he was going to rise three days later from the Empty Tomb, and he knew that his death and resurrection would bring about the salvation of all mankind. And in giving us this meal in which the bread would be transformed into his body and the wine would be transformed into his blood he knew he was giving us a great sacrament by which the events of his death and resurrection would be kept alive in the Church until the end of time. In this wonderful sacrament we are enabled to become united to Christ though our reception of the Holy Eucharist. Through this sacrament we are able to come as close to him as it is possible to be here on earth. Of course, to the outside observer nothing remarkable happens when the mass is celebrated. To the outsider this is just bread and wine over which a few words have been spoken and which is shared out and then everyone goes home. Seemingly it is nothing special at all. But to the believer this is the holiest thing that could ever happen; to the believer Christ becomes present on the altar and is consumed by all the participants and they are sent home having been fed in the deepest possible spiritual way to be missionaries in the world. To us this is no mere food and drink, even though to outward appearance that is all that it looks like. No, to us who believe this is Christ himself made present to us, sharing his life with us and by our participation in Holy Communion we receive untold graces.
Sharing a meal is a very significant thing. I remember how from the small office I used to have I could overlook the school dining hall and so I was able to observe the boys taking their dinner trays from the serving hatch and begin to look for a table at which to sit. It was obvious that it was frequently difficult for them to choose where to sit. The younger boys were afraid to sit with the older ones and the older ones were too disdainful to sit with the younger ones. Mostly what they wanted to do was to sit with their friends, with the people they knew, with those they had something in common with. When I was young I remember hearing from a family we knew that they had welcomed a lonely single person for Christmas Dinner. At the time I thought they were crazy and that this stranger would spoil their family meal on this most special day. Only years afterwards did I realise that they understood far better than me just what Christmas was all about. Meals are indeed significant and there is no more significant meal that the Eucharist. And it is important with whom we share our meals. With the Eucharist being so special we do not wish to share it with those who do not have any regard for it or with those so deeply sunk in sin that it would be a sacrilege for them to join in. But apart from these things, it is actually a meal that we do want to share with others even if we have nothing very much in common with them. It is a meal that we are actually happy to share with strangers because we know it marks our much deeper union in Christ. We recognise that it is by means of the Eucharist that the whole human family despite its many differences will ultimately come together. From this we see that the Eucharist is the source of unity in the
Church and that by gathering together to celebrate it each Sunday we come closer to each other and closer to God. It is therefore important when we come to mass that we don’t put barriers up against other people. This is sometimes evident at the Sign of Peace; we should do our best to be warm and friendly with those around us at the Sign of Pace; without, of course, overdoing it. Another thing worth mentioning is how important it is to be reverent when receiving Holy Communion. It should be evident from the respectfulness of our manner that at that moment we are receiving the Lord Jesus into our lives and hearts. We have put in the weekly newsletter some guidelines about how to receive Holy Communion which it would be worth your while to take note.
Our depth of understanding is often revealed by our actions and sometimes when a person receives Holy Communion in a very casual way it is clear to everyone else that they do not value the sacrament that they are receiving. Today at two-thirty we will be having a special procession of the Blessed Sacrament around some of the neighbouring streets as a sign of witness to our depth of faith. It would be good for as many parishioners as possible to join the procession and demonstrate to the people of this area just how much we value the Blessed Sacrament. It will be followed up by Solemn Benediction back here in the Church. I hope to see you there.
TAKE AND RECEIVE
We always speak of “spreading joy”, giving things to others, sharing our possessions with the needy…But are we really willing or inclined to let others give us something?
A woman who had been inspired by one of the books by Leo Buscaglia ( known as the “Dr. of Love” ) tried to practice what the author called “the desire to get out of myself a bit, and give freely to others.” So she decided to explore the art of giving something to others. She was rather young and didn’t have much to give, so she decided to buy a bunch of daisies, stand at a local public intersection, and hand them out with a simple, “have a beautiful day.” “I thought it would be fun and might help others to feel a bit happier.” It ended by being a very enlightening experience – not exactly what she had expected, but she learned a lot about human nature.
An Irish priest vacationing in Paris decided one Sunday to attend Mass at a Russian Orthodox Cathedral. While admiring the splendor of his surroundings, he noticed several little tables on which bread and wine had been placed. Their purpose remained a mystery to him until Communion time. After receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, each communicant ate a little bread and drank a little wine. The Irish priest took nothing as he had no idea what was going on. However, as he returned to his pew, a firm hand gripped his arm and steered him back to the nearest table. Gesturing towards the bread and wine, the self-appointed usher waited for the priest to help himself. “But why?” asked the priest. Fortifying his grip on the clerical arm, the usher responded, “It is the custom.” The visitor did as he was bid without further ado. Later he learned that the consuming of unconsecrated bread and wine after communion is a symbolic way of saying: All of life, the sacred and the secular, is one.
We speak a lot nowadays about “Globalization”, the “European Union”, the “World Bank” and other such “communities of nations”. The reality, however, is painfully far from those beautiful expressions. There is too much blood shed and too little bread to share with the hungry.
In our own Christian and Liturgical celebrations, of which the Eucharist and the reception of Bread and Wine are the pillars of our prayer and community life, we commemorate, re-enact and offer our thanks for the Mystery of Christ’s Sacrifice and Presence in our midst: A Mystery, a Meal and a Memorial. We are here to be “companions” along the journey of love, to “break bread” with one another and to build up the Kingdom of God. “Whenever you do this – in memory of Me…”
The crowds were hungry, and Christ asked His disciples, “Why do you not give them something to eat?” We are a people who hunger. Unlike the millions in developing countries, our hunger is for fulfillment, for meaning, for security, for happiness. But, as the song goes, “we look for love in all the wrong places.” We look to our vices to make us feel better about ourselves or as a “pick me up” when we are down. Today we are asked to look to the Eucharist and see it as being the one thing that truly feeds us. There is a hunger in all of us that is never satisfied by “eating/ taking more”, but by “sharing and giving away” – bread, love, one self.
We live in a society that says “having is happiness”, but the reality is that the happiest people are often those who decided to give away part or most of their possessions. Modern history is filled with such generous “givers” – some who possessed immense fortunes, and others who only had “five loaves and two fishes”. There’s a “common-union” among all.