A mountain of books has been written about the Eucharist which is described by the Catechism as the Source and Summit of Christian Life. The Eucharist is so central to our faith that we are obliged to receive it every Sunday if possible. Today we will explore the role the Eucharist plays in uniting us with God and our fellow disciples.
*All Bible quotes are taken from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, unless otherwise indicated.
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Opening Prayer
Lord, Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, I thank You, for even though I am a sinner, Your unprofitable servant, not because of my worth but in the kindness of Your mercy, You have fed me with the Precious Body and Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy Communion may not bring me condemnation and punishment but forgiveness and salvation.
May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of goodwill. May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions. May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience, and growth in the power to do good. May it be my strong defense against all my enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of all my evil impulses, bodily and spiritual. May it unite me more closely to You, the One true God, and lead me safely through death to everlasting happiness with You.
And I pray that You will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where You, with Your Son and Holy Spirit, are the true and perfect light, total fulfillment, everlasting joy, gladness without end, and perfect happiness to Your Saints.
Grant this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas
Source and Summit
It is fitting for any Christian formation program to have a topic dedicated to the Eucharist. This essential Sacrament is tied to everything we do as Christians; all our ministries, works of the apostolate, and even the other Sacraments are oriented towards it [1]. In the Eucharist, we receive Christ, His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, and we take Him into ourselves.
The Eucharist is a sign of our union with God and our unity as the People of God, the Church [2]. A priest once told me why the Eucharist is called Holy Communion. It signifies the common union of Catholics because our creed and belief unite us in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and is a sign of our physical presence and spiritual union with God. When those who believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and are well-disposed consume the consecrated host, they receive the Risen Christ: body, blood, soul, and divinity, and are brought into intimate union with Him and with one another as Jesus declared "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:56 ESV)."
In the liturgy, we offer up bread and wine. These are signs of “the goodness of creation” [3]. The bread and wine represent our offering, things we have made from the gifts of God that He has bestowed on us through creation. This is a collaborative effort that God has ordained. God can do everything for us but He has set up such that it is a partnership with Him. He provides the material and the grace, and we take the materials and open ourselves to His grace to return to Him the bread from wheat and wine from grapes. This partnership allows us to participate in His cause and purpose which is His desire for us to be united in heaven with Him.
The celebration of the Eucharist is a command from Jesus. Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me [4].” It is to be done until He comes again. The liturgy is a memorial of the life of Christ, His life, passion, death, resurrection, and His constant intercession for us with God the Father [5]. In the Acts of the Apostles, from the beginning of the Church, the Eucharist plays the uniting role among the believers.
“And they held steadfastly to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers… And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved [6].”
The Eucharist was the high point of their formation and fellowship, and it became their common union. Let’s explore these two important aspects of what the Eucharist does for us, Union with God and Union of Believers.
A. Union with God
Theology of the Body
Pope St. John Paul II, in his teaching on the Theology of the Body, taught that the union between husband and wife is an expression of the love of Christ and the Church. How do the Eucharist and the liturgy help us to connect with that expression?
If you have been to St. Peter’s Basilica and, more locally, the Church of St. Teresa in Singapore, you would notice the baldacchino, this canopy structure suspended over the altar, held up by four pillars. The baldacchino is a representation of the bridal bed in which a husband and wife consummate their marriage. In marriage, the husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved the Church - which was to die for the Church [7]. During the liturgy, under the baldacchino, the priest represents Christ who gave up His body for His bride, the Church [8].
As the bride of Christ, we receive Christ into ourselves through the reception of the Eucharist. This mirrors the love of the wife for her husband when she responds to and receives the love of her husband. And like how children come from the union between husband and wife, the union of Christ and His Church produces the fruits of grace in the world. We as Christian disciples continue to evangelise and to bring more people into the union with God and increase the family of God in the way Christ commanded us to “make disciples of all nations” [9].
Being Fed
It is clear from Scripture that Jesus invites and urges us to receive Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist [10]. He tells us that we have no life if we do not receive him, and He commands that we take it and eat it. The Catechism encourages us to have the proper dispositions when we present ourselves for Holy Communion and in that way we can be like the centurion who was praised by Jesus for having great faith, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed [11].” In Mass, we replace the word “servant” with “soul” so as to recognise that we are the ones to receive and to be humble before God condescends and gives Himself to us.
It may seem to be an odd choice for God to determine this method of uniting Himself with us, more so that Catholicism is the only major religion that proclaims that God has given Himself to us to eat - something which was inconceivable to the Jews of Jesus’ time [12]. But we can see from the passage on the Theology of the Body that there is a purpose to what God does. The receiving of Holy Communion where we are fed by God can also help to allude to three more relationships that God plays for us.
1. When we are young
We all know that infants and toddlers require help to feed themselves. They receive sustenance from their parents who take time and effort to ensure that they are fed and have the nutrients to grow. We are infants and toddlers before God, we require the graces from Him to grow in our Christian life and to cooperate with His will.
2. When we are sick
Ever been so sick that you cannot move or know of someone who is or has been in such a situation? Their caretakers must be around to take care of and feed them. By analogy, this is us when our charity is weakened in daily life. We are “sick” in this regard, and unable to take care of ourselves. God loves us that He takes care of us. He feeds us because He knows we cannot do it on our own and we need His help. The Eucharist “wipes away venial sins” and “preserves us from future mortal sins [13].”
3. When we are in love
When people are in love, they feed each other. This is a lovely image of love because it signals the sharing of lives and the care, they have for each other. More so with God who loves us deeply, He is the divine lover who feeds us because He shares his life and cares for us.
The Eucharist communicates God’s complete love for us coming from the angles of spouse, parent, caretaker, and lover. When we partake of this Sacrament, we abide in Christ and Christ abides in us [14].
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Footnotes
1. CCC 1324
2. CCC 1325
3. CCC 1333
4. Luke 22:19
5. CCC 1341
6. Acts of the Apostles 2:42,46-47
7. Ephesians 5:25
8. West, Christopher. Theology of the Body Explained. Revised Edition. Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media, 2007, 511.
9. Matthew 28:19 Making disciples is inseparably connected with evangelization – it is the very reason why the Church exists.
10. John 6:53
11. Matthew 8:8
12. John 6:52
13. Of course, we should not be receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin (in this regard, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is necessary before receiving the Eucharist). Nevertheless, the Eucharist “strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins” and “preserves us from future mortal sins” (CCC 1394-1395).
14. CCC 1391
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