I Eat and Drink my God

When thinking about the Eucharist, the question always comes to mind, “How is that His body and Blood? To me it looks and tastes like bread and wine.” Even trying to talk about this with friends and family who may or may not be Catholic seems to be a struggle for many people. Why are we so afraid to believe this? Often when the debate on Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist comes up, many people say that it was meant to be done as a symbol. However, Jesus never said, “Do this as a symbol of me,” or “Pretend that this is me.” Jesus says to do this in remembrance of me. This paper will address the meaning and significance of the Word of God—the creative words of our Heavenly Father that nothing is impossible for. Through a brief analysis of certain words of God, we can come to a small understanding of the mystery of the Eucharist. Whether our questioning is about the transubstantiation or representation of Christ, through mediation, prayer, and reading of the Sacred Scriptures, we can come to know the Eucharist.

In Raniero Cantalamessa’s book Eucharist, Our Sanctification, he explains the Eucharist as an event. At every mass, we celebrate with Christ the last Passover meal. We are not imitating what happened or simply remembering an event that took place two thousand years ago. Instead, we are actually in the presence of Christ and His disciples. We are celebrating Jesus’ last meal, His death, and His resurrection. In the first Chapter of The Eucharist Our Sanctification, Cantalamessa writes, “The word that meets with the greatest ecumenical consent today is the verb represent, understood in its strongest sense, re-present or , make present again…we mysteriously become contemporaries of the event.”[1] How is this possible? We are celebrating mass on a Sunday in the year 2008, yet at the same time we are celebrating it in the first century. To an unfaithful person, that sounds just as crazy as eating and drinking the Body and Blood of our God. However, if we look to the Word of God in Scripture we can see the truth in this. During the Last Supper, Jesus said, “This is my body…This is my blood…do this in remembrance of me.” The word spoken created the Eucharist as we know it. The “this” that Jesus spoke of is what we have now at every mass. The “this” that Jesus spoke of was not meant to be a symbol. The exact words were “Do this in remembrance of me.” This was a command spoken from the mouth of God to His disciples, His first priests. The mass, the Eucharist as an event was created through the spoken word of Christ Himself.

It is important to note that without faith, none of this can be understood. To constantly question, “Why?” or “How?” is the sign of an unfaithful person. I often find that my parents get upset when people allow their children receive the Precious Blood during communion. They always ask me, “How old do you have to be to receive the wine?” When I respond with, “After you receive your First Holy Communion,” they wonder how the church can allow children to drink wine. Trying to explain to them transubstantiation, that actual changing of substances from bread to flesh and wine to blood, is always a treat to under take. My parents’ mentality, however, is a scary thing. How many Catholics out there do not believe they are receiving Jesus’ body and blood? How many think they are just getting some free booze before noon and that the Church solicits alcohol to minors? The truth is that we cannot fully understand the mystery of the Eucharist. If we truly saw the Eucharist as the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we would be in Heaven. Our humanity blocks us from seeing the fullness of God on Earth, yet we must have faith in order to recognize Him in the Eucharist. We must look to His word and see the truth of it all.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life within you.” He does not say, “Unless you eat bread that symbolizes my body and drink wine that symbolizes my blood, you do not have life within you.” The entire Gospel of John prepares us to understand that Jesus is the bread of life. For the unfaithful, the Bread of Life discourse in the sixth chapter of John can be frightening. Usually, one will hear the words, question them, and selfishly disagree and use their rationale to create a conclusion, rather than delving deep into why the Church teaches this and why for over two thousand years, people have been gathering around a table to eat and drink the Body and Blood of their God.

In conclusion, the struggle for the unfaithful is a continuous battle of questioning and unconscious personal rationale. The truth is written out in the word of God, stating that Jesus is true bread, without eating the Body and Blood of Jesus we do not have life, and we celebrate the Eucharist in remembrance of Him. Yet, somehow people are still blind to the truth. Some may not even want to know the truth. Some think that they already know the truth and don’t even know they are receiving their condemnation when the priest places the Body of Christ in their hands and they respond, “Amen,” which means yes, I believe. The unbelief of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, transubstantiation, and this blindness to the truth is a cancer within Christ’s mystical body, the Church. We must find a cure for it; otherwise we will cease to be Catholic.

Bibliography
New American Bible.

[1] Raniero Cantalamessa, The Eucharist Our Sanctification. (Minnesota: Liturgical Press,1995) 13.

Obama WILL BE President--Accept it and Respect it

I do not agree with the majority of Barack Obama’s views. However he has been elected as our next President. As a Catholic Christian, I believe that ALL life is sacred, including Barack Obama’s. He was created in the image and likeness of God with a dignity—he was created out of love for love. I am not saying that we have to agree with everything he stands for or that we shouldn’t be writing to our congressmen to fight some of the laws he wants to pass (ie. The Freedom of Choice Act). What I am saying is that we must have faith in the American people and our government that our new president will do his job the way it supposed to be done—to take into account ALL views of the American people, not just the democratic party.

I am so proud to be part of history. Think back to the struggles African Americans went through in this country. Slavery, of course is the most predominant occurrence of the African-American struggle in this country, but what about the Anti-bellum era, the 1950s and 60s? What about their struggles today? I was overwhelmed on the night of the election when I noticed most of my friends reacted so emotionally to an Obama victory—and rightly so. This election meant so much more to one particular race in this country than just issues and campaigning. This was a milestone in American History, more importantly, Black-American history. After 236 years of white presidents, a black man has been ELECTED to the highest office in the world.

As a white male, I have grown up with white presidents, mostly white school teachers, mostly white classmates (until college) and what is known to some as the “white advantage.” I was completely taken back by the number of my friends who posted “I cannot believe it. I am crying tears of joy. We did it. Finally!” How many times have you heard a white person say, “I am so happy that there is finally a white person in this particular job,” That would be absurd. There is something to be said about the overwhelming sensation over overcoming a giant obstacle—something that because of its commonality in the white community is taken for granted. Why is that joy missing from the rest of the American people?

So I congratulate Mr. Obama for his election. My prayers go out to him as my future leader. I hope that he will stay true to the values that shape this country. That the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are protected and not discarded. I pray that he does a great job as a leader and can prove me wrong for not supporting him. I pray that those of us who are struggling to find the good that can come from an Obama presidency to have faith. I pray for those who are doubtful that these people open their eyes and look at the common good and understand that Barack Obama will swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States to the best of his ability. We cannot judge him or condemn him—his actions lie between him and God. We must stand firm and stand up as Americans and as a people who serve their God and their country. God bless America.