Picture yourself receiving Holy Communion or gazing upon the Eucharist in adoration. What goes through your mind? Do you think about life and love?
Frankly for a good part of my life, I went through the motions of my Catholic faith—with no great love attached to it—based on what I was taught. Yes, the Bible teaches us the Holy Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Savior. However, I don’t think I let the life and love that comes in the Eucharist truly sink in.
Thankfully, the National Eucharistic Revival is helping me look more closely at the Most Blessed Sacrament. I no longer take the Eucharist for granted. Still, grasping the greatness of the Eucharist in my mind and heart is a challenge.
Great and Small
God so loves the world, that he gives divine life to us through the Holy Eucharist. In this Most Blessed Sacrament, we receive Jesus Christ and he receives us, entering into friendship with us. How can such a small host give us so much?
Remember, the Eucharist is the Sacrament of Sacraments [CCC 1330]. Do we really think about that? In each sacrament we encounter the power, the grace of Jesus. In the Eucharist, we encounter Christ himself—body, blood, soul, and divinity! That is why the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324, Lumen Gentium, 11).
According to Pope John Paul II, “The Eucharist reinforces the incorporation into Christ which took place in Baptism through the gift of the Spirit.” Truly, to receive the greatness of the Eucharist, we need to recognize our own littleness and be properly disposed. Examining our conscience and confessing our sins enable us to persevere in sanctifying grace and love.
Never Alone
Consider this: God created human life for intimate communion with Him. Sadly, human sin gets in the way, separating us from our Lord and his graces. With sin, we face the destructive force of loneliness, isolation, and alienation.
However, Holy Communion separates us from sin, saving us from that destruction. By consuming and adoring the Most Blessed Sacrament, we are in communion with the life and love of our Lord. Although we will still face days of pain and suffering in our lifetime, with Christ, we are never alone.
By opening ourselves to the life and love that comes in the Eucharist, we are renewed and replenished. In communion with Christ—through him, and with him, and in him—comes unity with the Holy Trinity. United with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, our lives take on a whole new meaning and purpose.
Eucharistic Life
We are called to be partakers of the divine nature. With the Eucharist comes responsibility. “The Eucharist commits us to the poor” [CCC 1397] and strengthens our charity. However, I’m not sure that I always feel the effects of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Perhaps the thought of the responsibility that comes with the Eucharistic life is overwhelming.
The life and love that come to us in the Eucharist are meant to be shared by the way we live. Practicing the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, as Jesus taught us, by following the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we bring God’s light to the problems that darken our world. To do any less is just going through the motions.
4 thoughts on “Life and Love”
I’m very glad you introduced me to it; that’s a really great idea. We are grateful that you shared this important information with us.
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We need to be separated from sin before we participate in Communion otherwise we are not in the state of sanctifying grace. The sacrament associated with our separation from sin is Baptism. This is when we receive the Spirit of Christ within us and our separation from sin. Life, agape love, and our unity with the Holy Trinity happen within us through the Holy Spirit. This is probably why according to Pope John Paul II, “The Eucharist reinforces the incorporation into Christ which took place in Baptism through the gift of the Spirit.” Reinforcing is not the same as receiving. I think that many Catholics have expectations of feeling effects from the Eucharist that are better placed in Baptism and our interaction with the Holy Spirit.
Peter, thank you for your thoughtful comments. Yes, “Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin” and turns us back toward God, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 405). However, the temptation to sin persists. The Catechism also says (CCC 1393) “Holy Communion separates us from sin…the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins.” In addition, the article says that to receive the Eucharist we need to be properly disposed. The way “Life and Love” is written is NOT meant to imply to the reader that unity with our Lord starts with the celebration of the Eucharist. It assumes that the unity already exists for the reader, starting with Baptism. The article attempts to explore what the Eucharist does for us. “Holy Communion augments our union with Christ” (CCC 1391), separates us from sin, and strengthens our charity.