Weekly THIS AND THAT for April 11, 2010: Eucharist -- Our Easter Sacrament

This and That
Eucharist: Our Easter Sacrament


The word “Eucharist” means literally “thanksgiving.” Our parish First Com-munions will take place in a few weeks, so I thought I’d share some ideas about the Eucharist, and the Eucharistic life; a life which leads us not just to first communion parties, but to Mission.

A Eucharistic life is one lived in gratitude. The two disciples in the “Road to Emmaus” story (Lk. 24:13-35), shows us that gratitude is not an obvious attitude toward life. Gratitude needs to be discovered and to be lived with great inner attentiveness. Our losses, our experiences of rejection, and our many moments of disillusionment keep pulling us into anger, bitterness, and resentment. When we simply let the facts “speak,” there will always be enough facts to convince us that life, in the end, leads to nothing and that every attempt to beat that fate is only a sign of profound naïveté.

Jesus gives us the Eucharist to enable us to choose gratitude. It is a choice we, ourselves, have to make. Nobody can make it for us. But the Eucharist prompts us to cry out to God for mercy, to listen to the words of Jesus, to invite Him into our home, to enter into communion with Him, and to proclaim good news to the world; it opens the possibility of gradually letting go of our many resentments and choosing to be grateful. The Mass keeps inviting us to that attitude. In our daily lives we have countless opportunities to be grateful instead of resentful. So often we say: “Life isn’t fair. I have no choice but to be angry and to let my anger show.” However, there is always that “still, small voice” that asks us to have a completely new look at our lives, a look not from below, where we count our losses, but from above, where God offers us His glory.

Eucharist – thanksgiving – in the end, comes from above. It is to be received. Often. Weekly. It is freely offered, and asks to be freely received. This is where the choice is! We can let the stranger in the Road to Emmaus story continue his journey and so remain a stranger to us. But we can also invite Him into our inner lives, let Him touch every part of our being and then transform our resentments into gratitude. We don’t have to do this. In fact, most people don’t. But as often as we make that choice, everything, even the most trivial things, become new. Our little lives become great – part of the mysterious work of God’s salvation. Once that happens, nothing is accidental, casual, or futile any more. Even the most insignificant event speaks the language of faith, hope, and, above all, love. That is the Eucharistic life, the life in which everything becomes a way of saying “Thank You” to Him who joined us on the road of life.

Love and Prayers,

Jack