Word to the Wise
Monday, September 12, 2022 - Monday in the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 11:17-26, 33 and Luke 7:1-10]For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. [i Corinthians] "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.....but say the word and let my servant be healed." [Luke]
The quoted words from the two scriptures assigned for today's Mass from 1 Corinthians and the Gospel According to Luke should be familiar to us. They appear in the celebration of the Eucharist every day. The words from 1 Corinthians appear at the "consecration" of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ and in one of the "memorial acclamation" that follow the consecration. The words from the gospel appear just before the congregation comes forward to receive Christ.
This past Friday I was invited to give a presentation at the cathedral of the diocese as part of a monthly "first Friday" series on the Eucharist which is, in turn, part of a three-year program of "Eucharistic Revival" proclaimed by the bishops of the USA. They were startled (to say the least) to read a survey by the respected Pew Research Center on the beliefs of American Catholics in regard to the Eucharist. That survey revealed that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed believed that the host and/or wine were only "symbols" of the Body and Blood of Christ and not physically the person of Christ, as Catholic tradition has always proclaimed!
The great southern American writer, Flannery O'Connor, a devout Catholic, was once in a conversation in which the Eucharist was the subject. The others knew of her faith and after expressing their own varying opinions about the reality of the Eucharist, they turned to her and she said (as she later wrote about it):‘Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.’ That was all the defense I was capable of but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.” Her words reflect what a young woman told me after I had instructed her for reception into the church from a Protestant tradition. I asked her what was the most difficult part of Catholic faith for her. She said, "The Eucharist. If you can acccept that, the rest is easy."
Although we Catholics have a big word, "transubstantiation," to try and explain how the transformation of bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, the fact remains that this is a "mystery." We have Christ's word for it in the scriptures. If we believe that he is the "one whom God has sent" (John 3:34), then all things are possible for Him. The Eucharist is a person, not an object or symbol. Although Christ is "really present" in his Word, the assembly, and the priest who presides, he is "uniquely" present in the bread and wine offered at Mass. In this, I recall the words in the rite of baptism, immediately after the Profession of Faith: "This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus Our Lord." AMEN