June 4 - 5: the 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Eucharist as Banquet (cont.)
Last week I wrote of the problems many of us have with the meal aspect of the Eucharist. I concluded by stating that I think we need to go back to the venerable tradition of referring to the Eucharist as a banquet. Even in today's world, people view banquets as special. We dress up for them, we don't rush through them, we practice proper etiquette, etc. I believe that this change in terminology may help restore some dignity to our Eucharistic celebrations.
But we should not permit our choice of terms to distract us from the more important question - Why did the Lord give Himself to us in the form of food? I will answer that with these three words: Intimacy, Hunger and Strength.
Intimacy: The Lord made Himself present as food because that way He can be as close as possible to us on earth. When we eat His Body and drink His Blood we really become one with Him. In addition, sharing in the Eucharist with our fellow communicants should bring us closer to them, since we
all partake of the One Loaf, which is Christ.
It should be pointed out that this does not happen automatically. As St. Paul told the Corinthians, a person should examine oneself before receiving the Eucharist and “discern the body.” (1 Cor. 11:28-
29). We need to recognize that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ and that our fellow communicants are members of His Body.
Hunger: Food and drink satisfy hunger and thirst, but physical hunger and thirst are not the only lacks we feel. We hunger and thirst for love, for immortality, for peace of mind, for a meaning or purpose to life, for example. By giving Himself to us as food and drink, Jesus was showing us that He could and would satisfy our hearts' deepest longings. Once again, we must ask ourselves do we believe and recognize this?
Strength: We eat and drink nourishment not only to satisfy hunger and thirst, but also that we might have the strength we need to do what we want or need to do. Once again, Jesus gave Himself to us as food so that He might teach us the source of the strength we need to live a Christian life. As the saying goes “Seven days without Holy Communion makes one weak.” We can no more perform spiritually without regular Eucharistic nourishment than a person can perform athletically without eating properly. Do we recognize and believe this?
- Msgr. David A. Lockard