The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This is the theme of Pope St. John Paul’s encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. Something similar could be said about our community: Our community draws its life from the Eucharist. Without it we might as well pack up and go home. Today’s feast is our opportunity to affirm this and adore Our Lord Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.
It is good to remember that Our Lord had our community in his heart on the night he was handed over. “Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one…” That we may all be one. We have difficulty with this. It means setting aside our own wills, being on time for meals and prayers and lectio divina. But that is precisely what Jesus did for our sake. He was always on time. And when the ultimate hour arrived, he was there with his community of disciples, and he “…took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you.’” He would go so far as to hand over his body and blood to make our community possible.
St. Paul understood this. He had received a share in our Lord’s mission to gather communities. When we read the Letter to the Corinthians, we can see how difficult a task this was. Paul emphasizes that it is Jesus who made the community at Corinth, not Paul, not Apollos, not Cephas. He says: “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over…” Paul was referring to the handing-over that took place on the cross. It was not Paul who was crucified for the Corinthians but Jesus. He goes further and warns them not to receive the gift of God in vain: “…whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord…For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” We must discern daily how our very life and the life of our community depends on the Eucharist. Any goodness we have flows from the body and blood of Christ.
Finally, it is not only Paul who has received the mission to build up a Christian community. This mission has been entrusted to us also. Community flows first and foremost from Jesus, but we are responsible to draw from this source and to imitate him. Jesus made this clear in today’s gospel when his disciples urged him to send the people away to get food. He said very simply, “Give them some food yourselves.” We need to gather what bread and wine we have, even the hidden portions, and bring them to Jesus. A response like “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” will not do. We must be ready to help others with the necessities of life. We must give ourselves as Jesus did in order to sustain our community.
The Eucharist makes our community possible, because it makes present the Lord Jesus, to quote, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do…If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” Let us begin anew today and eat this bread and drink this cup worthily that we may proclaim the gift of Jesus’ life and death until he comes.
