by Daniel S. Trout
It is the apex of Christian worship and our taste of heaven’s glorious future, yet no matter how many times we “do it,” the Church depends on constant reminder of the altar’s significance to keep her memory fresh. I think this is so because it is those most precious things in life: a marriage, a friendship, a life’s-pursuit—all such concerns that particularly depend upon fervent love and dedication—must be nurtured with thought and action to preserve a living memory, viz. a perpetual now that unites what has been and what is into a single stream of intention. This is how the most vital relationships thrive: through a constant abiding that refuses to allow our notions of time and familiarity to succumb to forgetfulness or thoughtless repetition; in true love, all things shared are fresh, engrossing and deliberate. The Church’s Eucharistic love with Christ should be no different, but rather the epitome of a vibrant communion for all other relationships to imitate. The congregation that excels in this love will not only find favor with the Lord, but yield much fruit through solidarity and hard work. Let’s consider this in detail.
First, the Eucharistic direction toward God depends on and fosters our union with Christ. We pray in every Mass that our sacrifice would be acceptable to the praise and glory of God, but now what about the benefit of which we also speak? The benefit is nothing less than our reception of the living Jesus by which he takes us into union with his own divine life, cleansing our bodies and washing our souls to reflect his perfection. Admittedly, it is often hard to concentrate on this supernatural wonder when we become dulled by frequency or distracted by other thoughts, but we must never allow this communion to become old or commonplace: being a Eucharistic people means that we delight in this holy mystery as our constant essential. Jesus’ words in John 15:4 merit some reflection here: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” Each participation in the Eucharist more thoroughly grafts us into Christ and transmits the grace of his person to us. From God’s perspective, this makes us indistinguishable from Christ himself—our old nature passes away and we are reconciled into the glory of his new creation. All of this depends, however, on our determination to live in this communion. If we do not respond to Christ’s gift with equal self-surrender and let him transform us after his image, then we will not bear fruit and the grace will be lost.
Our resolve to abide or no is most ostensibly seen in our Eucharistic formation as a community. As I John 4:12 reads, “If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us.” Our communion with Christ is not just our soul with his, but the whole Body as one sharing a single partnership and purpose. With no one else in this life will we share a greater bond than in the company of fellow communicants because each joins in the same offering, to be returned to God as a living sacrifice in mutual love. Like our intention toward Christ, our love for one another depends on constant abiding—patience, care and a unified raison d’etre that recognizes the Eucharistic now as eternity in our midst. Whether or not we are cognizant of it, each one of us affirms in the Eucharist that he is surrounded by brethren that he desires immortality with, flawed as we all appear now. When this truly becomes our collective awareness, then we will have the mind of Christ to love and grow together into the Eucharistic people.
