“THE EUCHARIST, THE SOURCE OF OUR CHRISTIAN STRENGTH”
(Deut 8:2-3,14b-16a, Psalm 147, 1 Cor. 10: 16-17, John 6: 51-58)
The celebration of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is an opportunity for us Christians especially Catholics, who believe that the communion we receive is truly the body and blood of Christ to reflect on the pillar of our faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches and I quote [“The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life”. “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch” CCC 1324]. Permit me to use manna in the Old Testament as a link to the Eucharist which is Christ body and blood for my reflection.
In the book of Deut 8, Moses reminded the people to remember what God did for them by feeding them in the wilderness with manna. This text gives us a deeper reflection on the meaning of the Eucharist. Manna was an unexpected gift of God that gave life to the people of Israel during their stay in the desert. God himself fed His people when they were hungry during their sojourn in the desert. They needed strength for the journey which was their pilgrimage to the promise land. This was bread which God rained from heaven to the people of Israel to sustain them. The Lord heard their cries of hunger and descended to feed His people to relieve them from hunger (Ex 16). The gospel of John 6: 51-58 presents to us a gift immensely superior to manna, it is the bread that gives eternal life. This is the difference between the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert and the Eucharist which Jesus Himself indicated in the gospel of John (6: 49,58). Their ancestors ate manna which they died but for His body and blood anyone who eats and drinks it in a befitting manner shall never die (Jn 6:49). Even if the mortal body dies, he/she shall live on and remain in union with God. “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).
My dear friends in Christ, as Christians on our pilgrimage to heaven we need the necessary graces and strength to embark on this journey successfully. It is the Eucharist that gives us this strength to achieve this basic Christian goal. The Eucharist unites us with Christ so that we can obtain the strength to journey as a church towards God. Our own strength cannot suffice in this regard. “What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life. Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh “given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit,” preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism. This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum” CCC 1392.
Just like the human body which needs physical food for sustenance all the time the spiritual soul also needs spiritual food for sustenance so that it can daily be in communion with the Lord. Indeed, the Lord said:[“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” Jn 6: 56. “Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet: “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.”Jn 6:57, CCC 1391].
The Eucharist also helps us to live in communion as a body of Christ seeing ourselves as one people with a common goal. One of its major fruits is the power of unity which it bestows on us as Christians. Its separates us from sin there by cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins. It gives us the power or the strength to overcome sin and avoid the near occasion of sin. It is the sanctifying grace which we receive through the reception of the Eucharist which helps to have the power to control ourselves which distance us from sin. In receiving the Eucharist, we receive the grace to grow in the virtues of Christ which enables us to grow in holiness and righteousness as expected of us as followers of Christ.
If we are communicants and we are not growing in our Christian virtues then there is a problem somewhere. That brings me to the question: How do we receive the Body and Blood of Christ? Do we receive it in a befitting manner? Our disposition for the reception of the sacraments is very important so far as its efficacy is concerned. When you dispose yourself well the fruits of the Eucharist is able to penetrate your inmost being which makes you to become living examples of the gospel. It is in this light that St. Paul talks about abuses at the Lord’s Supper and the unworthy reception of the Eucharist. He advocates that we should examine ourselves very well before receiving the Eucharist. The apostle to the gentiles indicated that those who receive the Eucharist in an unworthy manner brings judgement to themselves. And for this reason some of us are weak, ill and some have died (1 Cor 11: 27-34).
It is the case that we have become sick spiritually because of our attitude towards the Eucharist. Some of us are also losing or have lost respect for the Eucharist. The necessary reverence which needs to be accorded the Eucharist is on the decline. This situation is worrying because majority of our youth who are the future of the church are the culprits of this unfortunate situation in the church. Some of them when they come to church will only be on their phones without listening to the word of God. But when it is time for communion, they will be the first to go and receive it. How then can the Eucharist have an impact on our lives? The Eucharist is the pillar of our faith, hence a disregard for it means that the foundation of our faith is shattered.
On this day of Corpus Christi, I want us to reflect on our relationship and attitude towards the Eucharist. I want each and every one of us to spend some few minutes and examine how we have been receiving the Eucharist. Let us make amends areas we are not performing well and ask for the grace of God to change from it. It is a call on all of us because no one is perfect. In one way or the other we all fall short to this negative attitude towards the Eucharist. May God help us to grow and fall in love with the Eucharist and its reception so that we can become the other- Christin the world.AMEN.
RECEIVE COMMUNION IN A WORTHY MANNER. GIVE REVERENCE TO THE EUCHARIST.
HAVE A BLESSED CORPUS CHRISTI SUNDAY AND A FAVOURED WEEK AHEAD.
REV.FR. AKAKPO MATTHEW
