The late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." Meaning - Christianity is not an intellectual system, a collection of dogmas, or a religion of moralism.
It is possible to know all about doctrine, know everything about Jesus and strictly observe religious practices and still not know Jesus… meaning there are people who have relationship only with religion – and they are good at it…but not personal relationship – not friendship with Jesus.4Hopefully – we all reach the point in our lives when we can say – “I believe in God not because my parents told me… not because the Church told me, but because I have experienced God’s love, His goodness and mercy myself.”
--- experiential knowledge of God.
There is not one statement which can capture the full meaning of the Christian experience or encounter with Christ.
For that reason, the New Testament – the Scripture - speaks of Christ and our relationship with Christ in a number of different ways. Sometimes, Jesus is the leader whom we follow. Sometimes the master whom we obey. At other times Jesus is the example whom we imitate. At times, the teacher from whom we learn.
Often– Jesus is presented as the Savior of the world by whom we are saved, and at times as the physician by whom we are healed.
All of these relationships have at least one thing in common. They are essentially external in nature… meaning – in each of these relationships, Christ and we are related and yet we remain separate and apart,
… meaning – Jesus is outside of us, and we are outside of him.
Actually, we are all called to a deeper, more intimate relationship. Sometimes the Scripture refers to this as “our being IN Christ”. At other times, it refers to “Christ being IN us.” Those two expressions seems to be used interchangeably. Both ideas are that we become one with him… Christ lives IN us and we live IN Him.
In any relationship, communication is important – actually, critically important.
Thomas Merton – a Trappist monk and a mystic – said that the deepest level of communication is not communication but communion. It is wordless… beyond speech… beyond concept… as in Holy Communion….
Jesus said: “I am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he shall live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Jesus’ listeners found it strange and were puzzled by it… many even stopped following him. They began to ask among themselves, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?” Well - at least they are honest in their response to what they’ve heard.
Jesus heard their questioning, but Jesus refused to put it any other way in his language. In an even stronger statement, he said: If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.
So – How about you? What is your own reaction when you hear these words of Jesus
In a way we can say, you and I are probably not as greatly shocked by these words of our Lord, at least not as severely as his original audience – people of Jesus’ time - because we are at a considerable advantage… because of our position in history.
Meaning - we have heard these words over and over again. They are not new to us. We hear them in the context of the Eucharistic Celebration… we know that Jesus clearly had in mind our Eucharistic banquet. He was offering himself – his body, his blood, his very life – as spiritual food for all who would receive it… under the appearance of bread and wine… but transubstantiated into His Body and Blood at consecration.
If you are struggling with this belief, pray to God about it… spend more time before the Blessed Sacrament.
Meaning - Not only can we learn from Jesus and model ourselves after him. We can also partake of him in the Eucharist. We can feed our souls on “the living bread” until Jesus’ life is incorporated within us. His thoughts become our thoughts. His feelings become our feelings. And on the deepest, most difficult level, his commitment become our commitment… we share in His mission.
Christ can live in us, and we can live in him. His life can be intermingled with our lives until there is no more distinction. Jesus said: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him”… and join the life He shares with the Father. This life-giving relationship is at the heart of our Eucharistic experience…. Still, admittedly, quite hard to really grasp with our human mind. The Eucharist is such a profound mystery.
In his letter to the Galatians (2:20), St. Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” It is a picture of total intimacy to which we are called to – a complete sharing of life with life.
Think about this – the person you love lives within you. Think of your parents – we can say – their values, their spirit being alive in you. If you are married – your spouse is part of who you are – and - you are part of who your spouse is.
That is what Jesus want the Eucharist to do for us. Through the Eucharist, Jesus lives in us. Jesus and I become one in eating His Body and drinking His blood. Two lives become one… when we partake of the Body of Christ.
Jesus said: “As the Father is in me and I am in the Father”… so that we will all be One in all things.
Jesus has given himself to us without reservation. He did not hold anything back. He gives us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. When we receive Him, we, in turn, give ourselves completely to him. He knows everything about us – the worst as well as the best. Yet he accepts us just the way we are.
And so - this opens for us - the way to that deeper and more intimate dimension of Christian experience in which we are no longer separate from Jesus and therefore, we not only follow Christ, but now, there is this togetherness in which we commune with Jesus…. if only people can truly grasp and understand the grace/gift of God we receive through the Eucharist.
Just as salt can be dissolved in water until the two become one, so Jesus’ personality can be absorbed in our personalities, slowly but surely changing the quality of our living…. That is eternal life on earth as it is in heaven.
The question is: In what ways does our own faith, our own relationship with Jesus - is revealed in our lives – in how we live? – expressed in our daily life?
St. Augustine said: We become what we receive – the Body of Christ.
That is why as you approach the table of the Lord to receive Holy Communion, make your greatest effort to be in the present moment reality with great reverence, fully aware that you are about to receive Jesus: body, soul and divinity; and are about to
enter into communion with Him… that is why you are supposed to bow before receiving communion, and you are not bowing to the priest or deacon or minister, but you are bowing to the Lord of Life… our bowing as a simple humble gesture of reverence, gratitude, respect, honor, surrender and love.
We are invited into Holy Communion – a life-giving union with Christ because life is difficult, to say the least…our journey towards heaven is difficult… and so we need to be nourished by His Body and Blood – by his life – by his Spirit – to keep us going – and that we must commit to live our lives every day unselfishly like Christ.
That is why at the end of the Mass, we are commissioned to “Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life” – go out into the world and be signs of Christ for others…to bear the image of God like Christ… to be the living sacraments of God’s love, grace and mercy as Jesus is.
We must also become the bread of life for others, through Christ, with Christ and in Christ.
Amen.
God Bless
