 |
|
|
The Feast of Corpus Christi - June 18, 2006
The Eucharist – We Got the Goods
What truly separates the Catholic Faith from all other religions, including every other Christian religion, is the Eucharist. It is the central aspect of our worship. Every day, at every Mass, in every Catholic Church, bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. At every Mass, the Sacrifice of our Lord – His suffering and dying for us – is re-presented. At every Mass, heaven and earth are united through the real, physical presence of God on earth.
Many devout Christians go to a church building to pray to God. Catholics go to church, not only to pray to God, but also to actually see Him and partake of Him. For Catholics, the Eucharist is not just a commemorative ceremony. The bread and wine are not just symbols. Rather, when the priest recalls the suffering and death of Jesus, that sacrifice of Christ that took place in history two thousand years ago is re-presented (not represented) to God the Father as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. It is not a representation or symbol of Jesus’ sacrifice. Nor is it a re-sacrifice (Jesus suffering and dying over and over again).
This re-presentation of Jesus’ sacrifice can perhaps be better understood through means of an example. Imagine that God gave us a crystal vase, beautiful beyond words and asked that we take care of it. And, imagine that we, through our lack of care, dropped and broke the vase. Jesus then came and fixed the vase for us. But He fixed it in a very special way -- he died and poured out his life (physical and spiritual) into the broken shards. The shards became animated into the perfect vase. Jesus then took our hands, placed the vase within them and led us before His Father to show the Father, with great joy, that the vase was no longer broken. But, as eternal God, this fixing of the vase was not just a fix for that moment, but for all times. Jesus remained in the vase so that any time we broke it again, we merely had to say we were sorry and ask Jesus for the vase to become whole again. Every time we experience the Eucharist at Mass, Jesus places the vase (which is made of Him) in our hands and walks with us before the Father to present this perfect gift to Him. Jesus does not have to keep dying and rising to fix it; the fix has been accomplished for all eternity. Nor do we walk up to the throne of God with a picture of the vase, but with the vase itself.
At the Last Supper, Jesus did not say to his apostles “this is a symbol of my body.” He said, “This is my body (Mt 26:26, Mk 14:22, Lk 22:19). Further, He said, “Whoever eats my flesh my blood has eternal life . . . For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink (Jn 6:54-55). At Mass, when the priest repeats the words of Jesus “this is My Body,” the bread becomes the Body of Christ. When the priest repeats the words of Jesus “this is My Blood,” the wine becomes the Blood of Christ.
The Catholic Mass is a daily party where the guest of honor shows up every time. Without the Eucharist, Jesus would still be present as He promised He would where two or more are gathered in His name (Mt. 18:20). But, without the Eucharist, Jesus would only be present in spirit. In the Eucharist, Jesus is present physically. In other words, it would be nice to go to a party where friends got together and toasted the guest of honor who, because he was in another country, could only “attend” the party by videoconference. He could give a speech. The guests could wander up to the microphone and whisper a few special words to him. And He could smile back from the screen, and maybe wink. But we are human. By our very nature, we crave physical contact. We don’t want to talk to our love via telephone; we want to be together in the same room. We don’t want to wave; we want to hug and to kiss. Because of the Eucharist, the Catholic Mass is a party where the guest of honor walks into the room right on cue. We can hug Jesus. We can kiss Him. He pats us on the back. He reaches out and wipes away a tear falling down our cheek. His belly heaves in and out right next to ours as we laugh together.
As a Catholic, I am not limited to closing my eyes, conjuring up a picture of God and addressing that image. As the Host is elevated for the entire congregation to see, I stare into the Host in awe and say along with “Doubting Thomas:” “MY LORD AND MY GOD!”
One Easter when our pastor was carrying a ciborium of consecrated hosts back to the main tabernacle, he heard someone behind him say in a low voice, “Hey, look, Father’s got the goods.” Prsumably, this parishoner was being humorous. I wonder, however, if this person knew how sublimely he was stating an awesome truth. Father did, in fact, “have the goods.” He was walking with Jesus in his hands. He carried Jesus’ Body; His Blood; His Soul and His Divinity. Within the hosts in the ciborium in Father’s hands was Jesus in toto. Father had the goods. And that man who made the remark, along with every Catholic who came to receive the Eucharist at that Mass, came to get the goods.
I’m a Catholic and I go to Mass because that is where I can "get the goods."
-JITIY-
|
|
