The Eucharist and everyday life

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ which we, as the Church, are celebrating today, drives home an important point for you and me: The Eucharist is not merely a liturgical ritual. It is, first and foremost, a daily commitment.

Once, Saint Faustina wrote: “All the good that is in me is due to Holy Communion. I owe everything to it. I feel this holy fire has transformed me completely.” How much humility there is in the latter thought as shared with us by this great Polish mystic. Faustina openly admits that any good there was in her came directly from Jesus, as present in the Eucharist. Let us not forget that in the Eucharist Jesus gives himself entirely to us. Day and night and in every season throughout the year! His incessant love continually makes Him a 24-hour prisoner of love for us. Always, thanks to His own word! Yes! That much fulfilling word which keeps reverberating in this solitary and elusive world we are living in dominated that is by virtual relationships and empty promises. He, in the deepest recesses of our being, keeps telling us, personally and insistently: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt 28:20).

Surely, Saint Faustina must have understood very well what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI taught us: “In a world where there is so much noise, we are accompanied by the One who simply is. Jesus in the Eucharist “will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber”. The Eucharistic Jesus “will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life... will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore” (Ps 121:3. 7-8). That is why spending time with Him is so essential and so important. Because, in that silence that envelops both Jesus and us in prayer, there is an important message that is being communicated between Him and us and the other way round: remembrance!

Pope Francis has a very interesting reflection concerning remembrance within, of course, the Eucharistic milieu. In a homily he gave in the Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ of last year, he said: “Remember. Memory is important, because it allows us to dwell in love, to be mindful, never forgetting who it is who loves us and whom we are called to love in return. Yet nowadays, this singular ability that the Lord has given us is considerably weakened. Amid so much frantic activity, many