The one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament….

There are two kinds of food: food of the body and food of the soul. The food of the soul is the Word of God and the Body and Blood of a God. The Body and Blood of Christ is the greatest gift from God entrusted to the Church.

The Church is born of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to the Father. His sacrifice was accepted and brought a radical change, a sort of ‘nuclear fission,’ the total conversion of bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood (Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11: 24). Christ’s sacrifice and all its components are entrusted to the Church. The Mass is then the gift from above. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit this gift has been bringing life to all dimensions and aspects of the Church – spiritual and structural. The Church cannot exist outside the radiance of the Mass, including the proclamation of the Gospel and serving the poor.  
The Blessed Sacrament is not a “thing”, then. It is Jesus himself… and Jesus in action. “He who eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:57) – says the Lord. Saint Paul calls us to great preparation and writes that accepting Holy Communion in an unworthy state of soul brings God’s judgment.
When we consume Holy Communion, our body absorbs it and digests it for about 15 minutes and it is good to spend a special time of adoring Christ’s amazing presence and His loving generosity of self-giving and humility. Amazement and joy, romance, glory and honour, as God Himself has visited me. However, it is not Eucharistic “food that is changed into us, but rather we who are mysteriously transformed by it” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 70). It is Christ who penetrates us to the heart of our soul and sets off a process, which transforms my reality, to the point where God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28). In this way we are given “eternal life”. 
Fr Stan

Categories: Reflections