Today we celebrate another great solemnity in the
Church, “The Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.” In a very special way we call to mind the
Eucharist and its saving power. As
Catholics I would imagine we are all aware that the Eucharist is truly the
Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is not symbolic or a spiritual
presence of Jesus, the Eucharist also is not half bread and half Jesus, it is
totally Him, in a supernatural sense, by that I mean the change happens supernaturally
and one that can only be grasped by faith and love. I want to just reflect on one thing
today. Originally I was going to ask the
question, “Why do we receive the Eucharist in the first place and to look at
two concepts anamnesis and epiclesis, we’ll hold off on that.” Rather I wish to look at how our reception of
the Eucharist has strong connections and parallels to marriage.
I am continually amazed and pleasantly reminded
quite often that just when I think I know it all the Lord reveals to me that I
know very little, and not so much just knowing little, but that the Lord in His
goodness and wisdom reveals to us “truths” about himself, us, and the universe
all the time. It’s also reminder to remain
humble before the Lord, sometimes we priests think we learned it all in
seminary, when all we did was just scratch the surface.
Anyway, I was listening to the Bible Geek Mark Hart on
Sirius XM. He said, “The Bible begins
with a marriage story and ends with a marriage story.” Let’s take a look at that.
In Genesis Chpt. 2 the author writes,
“The
LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a
helper suited to him. So the LORD God cast a deep
sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and
closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built the rib that he
had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man, the
man said: “This one, at last, is bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken.” That is why a man leaves his father and
mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.” (Gn 2:18,
21-24)
From practically the very beginning of our story, of
creation, God speaks of marriage, the coming together of one man and one woman,
to be helpers to one another. But, it is
more than just being helpers to one another; it is also about intimacy, love,
friendship, and even perseverance in holiness.
C.S. Lewis in his work “The Four Loves” points out
that the first thing a baby knows is that it is alone. Therefore, it cries out for its mother,
father, for anyone to be in its presence, to feel its touch, to be touched, to
hear a voice, to speak itself what it can speak. All of us crave and have built into our very
being the desire to be with others, we are social animals, that is why the
toughest vocation is one of solitude, but even the strictest of monks, hermits,
and cloistered still come together for meals, mass, and every so often to
socialize.
Everything comes down to relationship. Even the Trinity which we celebrated last
Sunday in essence is relationship. The
Bible ends as it begins, with a strong concept of relationship,
"I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the
human race. He will dwell with them and they
will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their
God]. He will wipe
every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning,
wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.”
The
one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all
things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy
and true.” He said to me, “They are accomplished. I [am] the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end. The Spirit and the bride say,
“Come.” Let the hearer say, “Come.” Let the one who thirsts come forward, and
the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water." (Rev. 21:3-6, 22:7)
The phrase, “they are accomplished” refers to “it is
finished or done”, as in, “it is consummated.”
The wedding of the Church to Christ began in Genesis and ends in
Revelation, pretty powerful stuff. When
a man and a woman marry, they first exchange words, “their vows” to one
another, the marriage has begun at that point, but “it is finished, it is done,
it is accomplished, or it is consummated” happens when they join as one flesh
in sexual union. We are not comfortable
with talking about sex, for a number of reasons, but sex and sexuality are
biblical and God Himself in His marriage to us talks that way, we are one flesh
with God and it happens in all the sacraments, but most profoundly and intimately
in the Eucharist.
Let’s see what God says. God explains His love for us as the groom
when he leaves the bridal chamber after their marriage has been consummated. In those days the bride and groom’s relatives
would be waiting outside the bridal chamber because they wanted to see the
groom’s and the bride’s happiness once the marriage was accomplished (consummated),
that is uncomfortable for us because we have a 21st century view of sexuality
steeped in Puritanism, not the case with our ancestors. Anyway God says the love I have for you is
like when the groom leaves the bridal chamber.
You may be thinking what does this have to do with
the Eucharist, well, everything. A few
things happened before a wedding, the groom would visit with the bride and make
a contract (Covenant), he would then go and prepare a place for her (bridal
chamber), then when the time was right He would take her to where he was (drink
a cup of wine together) prior to entering the bridal chamber, then they would
finish the marriage act (it is consummated).
Listen to Jesus’ life and what He did with us His bride. He came to us and made a contract (covenant) then
he drank the last cup at his crucifixion and then uttered the words “It is
finished” (consummated) then He went
first to prepare a place for us (John 14 – dwelling place). The parallels of marriage and our own
relationship to God are unmistakable and clear.
And though Jesus is no longer here as He was when He
walked the earth He made sure that in some way He always would be, so He left
Himself here in a supernatural way in the Eucharist when we celebrate a mass. Every time we receive the Eucharist we
receive Jesus and we need to receive Him often because without Him we are weak
and alone. Each time we receive Him we
renew our wedding vows to Jesus. I say
to you, when you receive, “The Body of Christ,” and you respond, “Amen.” We exchange our vows with Christ and then
when we receive Him the act is consummated, it is finished.
When the Church declares that going to mass is very
important if not life saving she does so because she understands the
implications of the Eucharist, the Eucharist has strong parallels to marriage
and intimacy that no other relationship on earth can compare but only shadow or
relate to the relationship we share with Jesus Christ.
Just like a husband and wife become one flesh when
they first exchange vows (make a covenant) and then complete (consummate) the
act we too become one with Christ when we exchange our vows and then bring to
completion the act through reception of Jesus in the Bread and Wine, both of
which are completely Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. To miss mass on a Sunday or Holy day is
reprehensible to the true Christian because it is a denial of the marriage like
intimacy we have with Christ. That is
why the Church says missing mass is a serious and possibly a grave sin, because Jesus
invites us to His wedding with us and we tell Him, “No!”
Remember as we go through the Eucharistic prayer
today and as you come up to receive that Jesus is asking to be your brother,
friend, and even lover, as St. Augustine would say. All of us renew our vows to Him when we
receive Him, we need to pray that the Lord will strengthen us so that when we
do receive we do so with the intent to leave all sin behind and start anew, for
we are a new creation, we have been married to the Lord, it is
accomplished. AMEN! FJ
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