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Augustinian
nun Juliana of Liège had a vision in which a glistening
full moon appeared to her. The moon was perfect but for
some hollow dark spots which she was told represented
the absence of a feast of the Eucharist. This led to the
celebration of the feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus
Christi, which was introduced into the church calendar
in 1264.
Why do
we need a feast of the Eucharist? A feast like this
affords us the opportunity to give God collective thanks
for Christ’s abiding presence with us which is made
visible in the Eucharist. It is also an opportunity for
us to seek a better understanding of the sacrament of
the Body and Blood of Christ and to order our attitude
to it accordingly, since the Eucharist is a sacrament of
life which, if misused, could bring about the opposite
effect. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “All who
eat and drink in an unworthy manner, without discerning
the Lord’s body eat and drink judgment against
themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and
ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:29-30).
In
order to arrive at a better understanding of the
Eucharist we need to ask why Jesus gave us this
sacrament in the first place. A closer reading of
today's gospel or, better still, the whole of the
Eucharistic discourse in John 6 from which it is taken,
provides useful answers. From the reading we find that
there are two main reasons Jesus gave us this sacrament.
(1) Jesus promised to be with us until the end of time
(Matthew 28:20). In the Eucharist he provides a visible
sign and an effective means of him being present to us
and us being present to him. As Jesus himself said, “Those
who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I
in them.” (2) Jesus said that he came that we may
have life and have it to the full (John 20:20). In the
Eucharist he provides a visible means of communicating
this life to us so that we can be fully alive both in
this world and in the next. As Jesus said, “Very
truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal
life, and I will raise them up on the last day”
(John 6:53-54).
The
Jews that Jesus was addressing in John 6 had gathered to
ask him for more bread. Jesus promised to give them the
sacramental bread and blood instead. But in their
worldly frame of mind they could not understand or
appreciate the sacrament. They disputed among
themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his
flesh to eat?” (v. 52). Jesus reaffirmed that “My
flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (v.
55). They ended up distancing themselves from the
Eucharist because the sacramental language makes no
sense to people in a materialistic frame of mind.
The
same problem that these early would-be followers of
Jesus had is still with us today. If we approach the
Eucharist with a materialistic mentality we fail to
understand and so lose the benefits of such a wonderful
gift of God’s love. The Eucharist is true food and drink
but at the same time it is very different from every
other food and drink. The great difference lies in these
words of Christ which St Augustine heard in prayer, “You
will not change me into yourself as you would food of
your flesh; but you will be changed into me.” We
transform ordinary food into our own bodies but the food
of the Eucharist transforms us into the body of Christ.
Ludwig Feuerbach's statement that we become what we eat
is never more true that in the Eucharistic experience.
Why then do many of us who receive the
Eucharist not experience more of this radical
transformation? Maybe this story will throw more light
on the question. A team of Russians and Americans were
on a common expedition. Among their cabin foodstuff was
Russian black bread. It was tasty but hard on the teeth.
It happened during a meal that an American bit into a
piece and snapped a tooth. He threw the bread overboard
and growled: “Lousy Communist bread.” The Russian
countered: “Is not lousy communist bread. Is rotten
capitalist tooth.” If we do not experience the
transforming power of the Eucharist it is probably not
on account of a lousy Eucharist but on account of our
rotten faith. Let us today approach the Eucharist with a
more lively faith in the real presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist and we shall experience therein God's saving
power and transforming love. |
