I feel so blessed with the grace that God gives me through continued fascination and connection with the Eucharist. As I have said so many times, the Eucharist is the most important thing in my life. My fascination, wonder and awe of this sacred dynamic is heightened by the honor of presiding. I sense such reverence in sharing with you the celebration of God, who gives himself to us in Jesus, and Jesus, who then gives himself to us in the Eucharist. This sharing of those gifts with you and with so many brings me such joy and fulfillment. I know that so many of you, if not all of you, feel the same.
This giving progression, God of himself in Jesus, and Jesus of himself in the Eucharist is, in my opinion, the greatest font of and manifestation of grace. I say this as a preface to a recent realization that I had about the physical and spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharistic Liturgy and I am passionate about sharing this with you here.
In his book “The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels For Christian Preachers and Teachers” (Liturgical Press 2005), our friend Jack Shea offers some profound insights on the Gospel for this weekend (John 20:19-31). Of his appearance to huddled disciples Shea writes, “The post Easter Jesus does not enter through doors as people with physical bodies do. The doors are locked yet he is in their midst.”
We know and believe that Christ rose from the dead. He was not a ghost, he was real; yet he didn’t appear or be manifest in their midst in a typical physical manner. He was physically present, but not through normal physical ways.
We believe in the REAL presence of Christ in the Eucharistic bread or host. Yet, Christ does not become real in a normal physical way. We believe that the Holy Spirit changes ordinary and simple bread and wine, making them much more, making them extraordinary and transforming them into Christ’s Body and Blood.
This process is strikingly similar to what Shea describes as Jesus appeared to the disciples after his Resurrection. He was really in their midst, but does not appear through ordinary, typical physical ways.
Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, Christ comes into our midst as an assembly, and then individually, physically in the form of consecrated elements of bread and wine. Those elements are real and they are a vehicle for the REAL presence of Christ.
We also know and believe that Christ is present in us, God’s people gathered who do appear through normal physical means, by car, through doors etc… We also believe he is present in the sacred stories of scripture proclaimed, sung about and preached on. These are physical realities as well. And last I checked, each priest who presides, and others who lead the celebration, are, in fact, real and are present through typical physical means.
So my fascination with Christ’s REAL presence continues, augmented by Jack Shea’s insights of physical presence realized in spiritual ways through atypical physical action, resulting in a presence that, like the peace that Jesus offers, is not of this world, yet it is real in this world. Fascinating!!!!
Coming up….
I have heard and noticed so many people have heightened anxiety during these unique and stressful times. There are several online resources that can help you if you feel increased anxiety, due to uncertainty or other factors, and many of them focus on using silence and techniques such as Meditation and Contemplation.
For this reason, I am offering a three part series during the Easter Season entitled, “Three Rivers of Silence.” During these sessions I will be offering and modeling three ways of praying with scripture – using silence.
The three rivers or ways are MEDITATION, CONTEMPLATION and CONSIDERATION. I hope you will find these helpful in managing some stress and anxiety, as well as deepening your prayer with scripture.
The dates are Wednesdays, April 24, May 5 and May 19 via Zoom at 7:00pm. Please see our website for details or send Marsha Adamczyk in our Adult Faith office an email at madamczyk@holyfamilyparish.org.