One day, someone observed Mother Teresa of Calcutta as she brought in a woman to one of her centers. This poor woman had been living on the streets and was barely alive. Her body was covered in sores and was infested with bugs. But Mother Teresa did not flinch when touching here. She very lovingly and tenderly bathed and cared for this lady from the streets. She cleaned and dressed her wounds. All the while, the woman was screaming and cursing at Mother Teresa, hurling insults and threats against her. Mother Teresa responded lovingly, without any anger or frustration. Later, Mother Teresa was asked how she can do this work day in and day out without getting frustrated or impatient. Mother Teresa replied: The Mass, the Eucharist, is the spiritual food that sustains me in my life. Without the Eucharist, I could not get through one single day or one single hour of my life.
Today, we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive in the Eucharist. Lumen Gentium, a document from the Second Vatican Council, called the Eucharist the source and summit of Christian life, stating that our very life of faith and very identity as disciples of Christ should flow out of the Eucharist.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” This strong statement from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel is a part of the Bread of Life discourse. If we Catholics want to really know what we believe regarding the Eucharist that we receive at mass, we could read this chapter again and again and still learn something from it each time we read it. Certainly, Jesus does not hold back his words in today’s Gospel. Our Church believe want is contained in the truth of these words. These words are not just symbols. We are to believe what these words say and to live them out each day on our journey of faith. These words are to be believed in what they say. These words are to be lived on our journey of faith each day. For us, the Eucharist is much more than a memorial service using ordinary wine and bread. The Eucharist is a sacrifice and a meal. The sacrifice comes in two forms. First, as disciples of Christ, we give ourselves over to him as a sacrifice. Secondly, in our celebration of the mass, in the reception of his body and blood, we continue the sacrifice made by Christ in his flesh and his blood. In the Eucharistic meal, we accept the gift of holy food in the form or Christ’s body and blood. So, we celebrate our joyful solemnity today as believers in the Body and Blood of Christ.
Pope Francis said something very profound about the Eucharist that has helped me see the Eucharist in a new light. Pope Francis echoed what St Ambrose, a Doctor of the Church, said many centuries ago: “If, whenever Christ’s blood is shed, it is shed for the forgiveness of sins, I who sin often, should receive it often: I need a frequent remedy.” Pope Francis has said that the Eucharist is not a prize for the just or a reward for living a perfect life, but rather that the Eucharist is a sacrament of healing, a type of spiritual food and spiritual medicine that corresponds spiritually to the nourishment and healing that is brought about by the food our physical bodies consume. The Eucharist strengthens us in our weaknesses and heals us in our infirmities.
Then we have the thoughts and reflections of Pope Benedict XVI, who emphasized not only the deep, mystical spirituality we can derive from the Eucharist, but also saw the Eucharist as being able to have a profound affect on our daily lives. Benedict wrote: “The Lord gives himself to us in bodily form. That is why we must respond to him bodily. That means above all that the Eucharist must reach out beyond the limits of the Church itself in the manifold forms of service to men and women and to the world. But it also means that our religion, our prayer, demands bodily expression. Because the Lord, the Risen One, gives us himself in the Body, we have to respond in soul and body.” Benedict expands upon what Paul tells the Church at Corinth: that in the cup we receive and in the bread we break together as a community, we participate in Christ’s Body and Blood. As we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we become the Body and Blood of Christ to the world.
Indeed, being the Body and Blood of Christ means living the Eucharist, which we know is not an easy or one-sided task. It is actually a life-long task. As we meditate on the mystery that we receive each time we gather around the Lord’s table in our Eucharistic celebration, let us try each day to become what we believe, to become what we receive.
