The Catholic Parish of Our Lady and St John

A short reflection on the Eucharist

 

I recently undertook a week long pilgrimage to Rome during the jubilee of youth and so Fr. Francis has asked to share some spiritual reflections. While I saw and did much while in my time there, there are two moments in particular that I think are worth reflecting on.

 

The first was at the mass Pope Leo held at Tor Vergata. Over one million people had gathered there and it was as you would expect, quite noisy and a bit chaotic to say the least. People quieted down somewhat as the mass began though it was still quite loud. However once the consecration began, and especially when the Pope uttered the words “This is my body” and held aloft the Eucharist, the whole crowd fell totally silent in reverence. People from America, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Australia and many others besides who, in spite of differences in culture, race, class and language, had been made one in Christ.

 

Which leads me to the second moment which happened earlier in the week. I was attending Eucharistic adoration at the Basilica of Saint Mary of Minerva and while gazing at the Eucharist I became overwhelmed with a feeling that I can only describe as joy and sorrow all at once. I began to weep and was at that moment acutely aware of both the depths of our sin and the heights of God’s love that he should give even his very body and blood for our sake.

 

These two moments both reflect parts of a greater truth; that Christ seeks not only to unite us to himself but all the world to each other in and through him. That there is not one sinner in all the world that Christ does not wish to see reconciled and brought back into the fold. In the Eucharist, the memorial of Christ’s saving passion, we can find hope that despite all the war and conflict that afflicts our world, despite all of our personal failings and iniquities, that all shall be joined together through the same Lord our God.

 

Where as bread of the Earth becomes a part of us and only nourishes the body for a time, the bread of life makes us partakers in God’s divine nature and nourishes our not only the body, but the soul as well. A gift to us so great that it’s full value is impossible to fathom in this life and is so easily underappreciated. So when we receive the Host we should not do so idly as if it’s just another part of our Sunday routine, but turn the light of our minds fully towards Christ and give thanks and worship for the great mercy of uniting us together and to him under his body.

 

 

“What man of you that hath a hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it?...

...I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.” - Luke 15

 

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” - Galatians 3:28

 

 

 

Zachary Collins