THE ENIGMA OF THE EUCHARIST

• 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats^* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
  John, CHAPTER 6 – USCCB
• My belief does not make the Eucharist happen. The priest has the authorization from Christ, through the Church, to utter these words and confect the Sacrament Most Holy. The questions I always have are;
• If it really is indeed the body and blood of Christ, would I not sell all I have and place receiving the Eucharist before all else, my job, my family, my friends, my riches, my very self?
• Would I not die to myself each day so that I can receive into myself that which the universe fails to contain?
• Would not my heart race within me as that which the world contains humbles Himself once more to come into my unworthy temple and reside next to me.
• Would I let nothing keep me from visiting the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration?
• Would I not just “go to Mass” every Sunday but use Eucharist as the forgiveness of sins and the opportunity to bear Christ Himself in the depths of my heart where I keep my own Arc of the Covenant, in which I treasure the Ten Commandments, protect the precious body and blood of Christ by not living a life of phony Faith but rather embrace the cross?
• Would there be anything in the world that could keep me from the love of Christ?
• Would I not try to convert myself daily in that most precious of all tabernacles, the upper room of my inner self, and keep it swept clean of the seven deadly sins?
• Would I not try to emulate the Blessed Mother and receive all (from God) that her humanity could endure and ponder all this in her heart throughout her lifetime?
• Would I not try to purge all pride and deceit from my approach to others by loving others as Christ loves me?
• Would I not be grateful to the Father for adoption as his son (daughter) and for the strength each day to persevere in my resolve to be worthy of that trust in me.
• Would I not want to spend as much time as I possibly could before the Blessed Sacrament at Church or in the Arc of the Covenant in the silence of my own heart?
• Would I not remind myself at the beginning of each day with a pledge of allegiance to doing God’s will and for mercy for my continued failures to have in me the mind of Christ Jesus?
• Would I not want to do the maximum in placing myself in that real presence of Christ through Lay Cistercian practices to cultivate the charisms that I don’t take for granted every day as I slosh through the mire of original sin around me?
• Would I not depend upon myself for salvation but rather Faith in the energy of the Holy Spirit that would allow me to believe authentically.
• Would I not long to be present daily even hourly to the One I love, unsure of all that that means, but resolute in the Hope of the Resurrection as promised by my Master?
• Would I not trust that Christ in the body and blood could even entertain entering this unworthy temple of the Holy Spirit with all its cracks and weeds grown up around it?
• Would I not try to love God each hour with all my mind, with all my soul, and all my strength and to love my neighbor as myself?
• Would I not long to be with Christ and give glory to the Father, through, wit and in Him, in unity of the Holy Spirit?
• Would I not focus on gaining the kingdom of heaven rather than worry about making money, prestige, what others thought of me, or what I think of myself?
• Would I not seek the sign of contradiction in viewing the world’s allurements to be the purpose or center of my life?
• I would and I do, with the help of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “I believe, help my unbelief.”
• uiodg