The Eucharist

30 Jul

“Once you understand the Eucharist, you can never leave the Church.  Not because the Church won’t let you but because your heart won’t let you.”  ~ Unknown

One of the things that almost every person looks for in life is true love.  It begins when we are quite young.  We most likely remember the first instances of what would be called puppy love, that first crush we had on another.  As we grew older, our crushes became deeper and we began to look for more in relationships.  Again, we were looking for true love and for a love that would last.

We have a true love that will last forever if we just opened our eyes.  God loves us completely.  He loves us passionately, so passionately that He gave His Son to us and His Son loved us so passionately that He gave His live for us on the cross.  God’s love for us will never diminish.  It will never waver.  It will never have strings attached.  It will always be unconditional.

One of the ways that we experience the love of Jesus is in the Blessed Sacrament.  The Eucharist — Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — has been made available to us from the time of that first offering at the Last Supper the night before Jesus died for our sins.  Jesus told His people that they would have life if they ate of His Body and Blood.

We, in the Roman Catholic Church, believe in Transubstantiation, that is, at the consecration, we believe that the bread and wine are changed immutably into the Body and Blood of Christ. That is our belief in the Eucharist.  If we understand and embrace that wondrous mystery, it will keep us in the Church because we will realize that it is that Eucharist that binds us and makes us one.

That Eucharist feeds us, nourishes us, and sustains us.  It helps us to be the people God calls us to be.  It emboldens us to proclaim the Good News.  It gives us the grace that we need to forgive others.  It helps us to reach out to the poor and needy.  It transforms us from our own private and often petty worlds into a people of the Kingdom.

Reflect upon the great gift of the Eucharist and ask God to give you a proper and deeper appreciation for so wondrous a gift.  Allow the Eucharist to transform you and to unite you to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

FAITH ACTION:  Find some time within the next few days to make a visit to a church to spend time in front of the tabernacle wherein dwells the Real Presence of God.