In the Holy Eucharist we celebrate not a fleeting ghost or splendid idea but Him whom we daily see at this altar and hold in our hands: “that which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life” (1 Jn 1:1). Christ came to be eaten and drunk by the hungry and embraced by the sick and lost, and adored by the desperate, and not to be coolly admired at a distance by the self-satisfied. His Presence to us is as real, as raw, as fleshly as is our crying human need for him. Could an all-loving God be content with giving us any less than the fullness of his beloved Son—body, soul, and divinity? Let us, then, take deeply into our hearts with matching extravagant gratitude the incredibly extravagant words of Jesus, “this tremendous Lover”: My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. We must believe these words, and live according to them, not because we understand them and find them easy but on account of our absolute trust in the One who uttered them. Who but a passionately loving God could have conceived such a mystery and instituted such a Sacrament? Yet such precisely is Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church, to whom every day with corresponding passion she replies: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! (S of S, 1:1).
Photographs by Brother Brian. Reflection by Father Simeon.
