During the eight days following Easter Sunday, the Church provides us with beautiful meditations in the Liturgy of the Hours (the Liturgy of the Hours is a collection of psalms, Scripture passages, Church writings, and prayers that every bishop, priest, deacon, and religious promise to pray multiple times every day). A meditation on the Eucharist is offered on the Friday of Easter week. Given that the Eucharist is where we encounter the Paschal Mystery every day, I want to share it to help us enter more deeply into the Mystery of the Lord’s Presence at Mass, which He gave us as the living and eternal memorial of His Passover:
Since Christ Himself has declared the bread to be His Body, who can have any doubt? Since He Himself has said quite categorically, This is my Blood, who would dare to question it and say it is not His Blood? Therefore, it is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Christ. His Body is given to us under the symbol of bread, and His Blood is given to us under the symbol of wine, in order to make us by receiving them one Body and Blood with Him. Having His Body and Blood in our members, we become bearers of Christ and sharers, as Saint Peter says, in the divine nature…
Do not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine: they are in fact the Body and Blood of the Lord, as He Himself has declared. Whatever your senses may tell you, be strong in faith. You have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not bread and wine but the Body and Blood of Christ. You know also how David referred to this long ago, when He sang: Bread gives strength to man’s heart and makes his face shine with the oil of gladness. Strengthen your heart, then, by receiving this bread as spiritual bread, and bring joy to the face of your soul. May purity of conscience remove the veil from the face of your soul so that by contemplating the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, you may be transformed from glory to glory in Christ Jesus our Lord. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
(from the Jerusalem Catecheses)
At Mass, Jesus is continually working out our salvation by applying the saving power of His Cross to our lives now. In the Eucharist, we are conformed to that work. The Mass is where we receive salvation. The Eucharist is where we enjoy what salvation has opened up to us: glory.
When we gather for the celebration of the Mass, we gather time and time again to experience the redemptive work of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection by which we are saved from our sins, and in the Eucharist, we enjoy the greatest treasure of His Grace: to be united with His glorified Body in Heaven. Our Faith in this Sacrament is our salvation. If we struggle to believe, let us first examine our consciences and rid them of all the impurity of sin, and hear Jesus when He speaks the truth: This is my Body, this is My Blood. Hearing Him with pure consciences, let us devote ourselves more fervently to the Eucharist and truly live, enjoying here and now the Easter glory to which we are called and which we truly consume in this Blessed Sacrament. Next week at Saint Henry, our Eucharistic Lord will return to the center of the sanctuary, and with this may He also take His rightful place at the center of our hearts, there to be praised, honored, and adored forever through a life lived with virtue and grace. May God bless you in the week ahead and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus. I remain,
Affectionately yours in Christ,
Fr. Hess
