Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

As we begin a new year and continue on our journey of faith, I would like to dedicate a few of my upcoming Pastor Messages to Holy Communion: The Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus.  This is such an important part of our Mass and our faith life that we must approach it with the upmost reverence.

Let us first look at “The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist.”  In the General Instruction of the Roman Missal we read “On the night before he died, Christ gathered his Apostles in the upper room to celebrate the Last Supper and to give us the inestimable gift of his Body and Blood.  “He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection.”  Thus in the Eucharistic Liturgy we are joined with Christ on the altar which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and in the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s body and blood.” 

Like all acts of the sacred Liturgy, the Eucharist uses signs to convey sacred realities.  Sacrosanctum Concilium: Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy reminds us that “the sanctification of man is manifested by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which is proper to each of these signs.”  In a preeminent way the Eucharistic Liturgy uses the signs of bread and wine in obedience to the Lord’s command and after their transformation gives them to us as the Body and Blood of Christ in the act of communion.  It is by taking and sharing the Eucharistic bread and chalice – “signs perceptible to the senses” – that we obey the Lord’s command and grow in the likeness of the Lord whose Body and Blood they both signify and contain.

The Eucharist constitutes “the Church’s entire spiritual wealth, that is, Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread.”  It is the “Sacrament of Sacraments.”  Through it “the work of our redemption is accomplished.”  He who is the “living bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:51) assures us, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. (John 6:54-55)

The Eucharist is a sacred meal, “a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity” in which Christ calls us as his friends to share in the banquet of the kingdom of heaven.  (John 15:15)  This bread and chalice were given to his disciples at the Last Supper.  This spiritual food has been the daily bread and sustenance for his disciples throughout the ages.  The bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper – his Body and Blood – as broken and poured out constitute the irreplaceable food for the journey of the “pilgrim church on earth.”  The Eucharist perpetuates the sacrifice of Christ, offered once and for all for us and for our salvation, making present the victory and triumph of Christ’s death and resurrection.  It is strength for those who journey in hope through this life and who desire to dwell with God in the life to come.”

May God be with you,

Fr. David