[stephenkhoo]

THE REAL PRESENCE OF JESUS IN THE EUCHARIST AND IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 9:1-20; JN 6:52-59
http://www.universalis.com/20140509/mass.htm

During this third week of Easter, the Church wants us to reflect on the theme of life which Jesus has come to give us. This life is ours only when we encounter the Risen Lord, as Saul did in the first reading. The question is, how can we encounter the Risen Lord today? The answer is clear: the Lord is encountered in a very special way in the Eucharist.


In the gospel today, Jesus, without mincing His words, declared that His disciples had to eat His flesh and drink His blood if they were to have life because His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink. To partake of His flesh and blood in the Eucharistic celebration is the way to draw life from Jesus because He is the bread that comes down from heaven, that is, from the Father. Eating this bread, Jesus says, will enable us to partake in the life of God. How does this happen? The truth is that many of us are receiving communion, some everyday and others weekly, yet we do not find life yet. So how can one truly say that to receive the Eucharist is a guarantee that we will have life?


The Eucharist certainly can bring us life. But that is provided we do not reduce the doctrine of the Eucharist simply to a literal consumption of His body and blood at the Eucharistic celebration. Rather, we must truly understand what the Eucharist really is and how it can effect a change of life in us. Now, to partake of the Eucharist means firstly, that we want to be united with Jesus. The Eucharist is the means left to us by Jesus to come to physical contact with Him. Jesus, who is truly present in the Eucharistic species, enables us to be in real personal contact with Him. But that is not all, to receive the Eucharist also means not only that we want to be in contact with Him. But we want to become like Him. Indeed, it is a fact of natural life that we become what we eat. If we eat well and eat healthy food, we will become healthy as well. Similarly, to partake of Jesus is to commune with Him and such communion will make us more like Jesus.


The next consideration we have to ask is, how can we become Jesus? Certainly as we have said, just by consuming the Eucharistic species in themselves will not change us. Rather, it is when we are serious about imitating what Jesus has done in the Eucharist that it will effect a new life in us. What, then, are we called to imitate? Principally, we are called first and foremost to accept our humanity. Indeed, the doctrine of the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist simply means that Jesus is truly present in person, in His entire humanity and divinity. Just as Jesus became flesh for us and took upon our humanity with all its pain and sacrifices, we too must come to accept our humanity with all its pains and struggles; with all its ambiguities and paradoxes.


Secondly, to partake in the Eucharist also implies that we too, like Jesus, want to give up our body and blood, that is, ourselves for the love and service of others. Jesus, in giving His body and blood to us in the Eucharist, expresses the summation of His whole life, which was offered for the service and salvation of humankind. Consequently, when we partake of the Eucharist, we too must have this in mind, that we want to join Jesus in this self-sacrifice.


The corollary of such union and imitation of Jesus in the Eucharist is that we become more and more like Jesus ourselves. That is why Jesus could say that by being united with Him in mind and spirit, we share in His life. In sharing His divine life in such a manner, we become Jesus ourselves. This is not far from the doctrine which St Paul taught about the body of Christ. In receiving the Eucharist, the reality is that we become Jesus and therefore members of the body of Christ.


If all Christians who truly receive Jesus in the Eucharist become members of the body of Christ, then we must also say that the whole Christian community is another dimension of the Eucharist. As the body of Christ, we encounter the Risen Lord in a special way in the people of God. This is confirmed in the first reading of today when Saul encountered Jesus on his way to Damascus. We must not take how Jesus identified Himself with the early Christians who were persecuted by Saul. He questioned Saul, “why are you persecuting me?” Hence, it is certain that the Risen Christ is identified with the Church, the people of God.


For us today, if we want to encounter the Risen Christ, then we must also give respect to everyone. To ignore the needs of our fellow human beings; to fail to help those who are in need; to despise the poor and the uneducated; to marginalize people etc, all these are sins against the body of Christ. Hence to receive the body of Christ sacramentally at Mass and yet on the other hand ignore the Christ that is present in the people means that we have not really received the Eucharist in its entirety. It is only a mere ritualistic, superstitious practice; not a real participation in the sacrifice of the mass.


Today, we are thankful for the example of Saul. Firstly, like him, we need to pray for healing just as he did. When Ananias prayed over Paul, we are told that the scales fell away from his eyes and he could see again. But it was not a mere recovery of his physical eyesight. Rather, he came to see that Jesus the man, is truly Lord. We too must also pray for this gift of recognition of Jesus as Lord in every man that we see today. We must pray for the gift of faith to see Jesus truly present not only in the sacramental species but in each one of us so that we can venerate and adore Jesus not only in the Eucharistic species but also His presence in each one of us.


Secondly, like Paul, we pray too that we will become more and more identified with Jesus. Indeed, God told Ananias that He has given the grace to Saul to encounter Him because Saul will be His chosen instrument, His representative to bring His name before pagans and pagan kings; and that he would suffer much for His name. Indeed, the life of Paul testified to the fact that he indeed suffered much from the very beginning of his ministry until the end. In the person of Saul we have someone who truly recognized the Risen Lord both in the Eucharistic species and especially in the members of the Church whom he later taught as the body of Christ. Yes, Paul was able to imitate Jesus so much because of his intimate union with Him, so much so he also bore the sufferings and marks of the crucified Christ in him; imitating Jesus who is the suffering servant of Isaiah whom we read in yesterday’s first reading from Acts concerning the Ethiopian eunuch. Let us receive the Eucharist in this way; both sacramentally with devotion and living out its full implications in loving others and giving ourselves, our entire being, body, blood and spirit to others. By so doing, we will truly share the life of Jesus, the life of God and mediate this life to others.

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh