THE REAL PRESENCE OF JESUS IN THE EUCHARIST

What does it mean to say that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist? Like love, it is something that we can never fully understand or explain. Pope Francis said: “The Eucharist is the memorial of God’s love.” Between Faith, Hope and Love; Love is the greatest. So today, I will focus on God' love while sharing about “The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist”.

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GOD’S DESIRE TO REMAIN WITH US

From the very beginning, after God created the planet, then, He “created human in His image” (Gen 1:27). Why did God create us that way?

God created human beings in His divine image and to His likeness with the desire to have a relationship with them, who are capable of communion, dialogue, and intimacy with Him. God created each one of us for Himself. We are the meaning for God’s life; everything about us matters to Him. We bring joy to God. God rejoices and suffers with us. We are everything to God. We are a mystery arising from the Love of the Triune God. God is our Loving Father.

Honestly, I did not understand the reason why God loved us so much until I had my first child. From my experiences as a mother, I began to see and understand more about God through parenting. I believe most of us are have the experiences as of a mother, father. So at this time, would you please try to imagine you and I are in warming arms of Jesus. When we were a child, falling down while running on the back yard, and Jesus kneel on the ground to hold our hands. When we hungry, God bent down to feed us. What a beautiful and wonderful loving father, mother.

“When Israel was a child I loved him

out of Egypt I called my son

Yes it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

Who took them in my arms

But they did not know that I cared for them

I drew them with human cords,

With bands of love

I fostered them like those

Who raise an infant to their cheeks

I bent down to feed them”

(Hosea 11: 1-4)

As God’s children, we have the capacity to love and care for others as God does. All parents try their best to provide for their children, sacrificing their own freedom and even their lives to nurture and protect their children. Most of the married couple would like to build up and deepen the relationships with their children.

Talking about the unending love of a parent, a few years ago my best friend suddenly found out that he had stage 4 lung cancer. His doctor told him that he had only a few months to live. He was extremely worried because his wife was also sick. Her cancer was also spreading, and their son was only 7 years old. He loved his family and wished that he could live a little longer so he could be with his family and care for them.

God love is way much more powerful than human love. As a Loving Father/Mother, God desires to remain with us and in us. He so much longs to be with each one of us and in us, for we all are His beloved children, masterpieces of His creation.

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GOD’ SELF-GIVING GIFT

When we love someone, we want to be with that person. We can see very clearly that, a couple who loves each other, usually will get married, so that they can stay together. Of course, you wouldn’t want to send someone else to represent you and be with your lover on your behalf. You don’t want another person to walk, talk, laugh, and share things with your lover. For sure you will be crazy because of jealousy. We want to be the one being with and staying next to our beloved. We want to give ourselves to our lover and to be present with that person all the time.

Before the foundation of the world, God thought of me, desired me, formed me in my mother’s womb, called me by name, and willed me into life to share in His love. There is nothing that God would not want to gift me with. Above all, God desired to give me His very self. How does God do it, to give Himself to us?

Being in love with us, Jesus desires to be by our side. Instead of asking how the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, a better question would be: “Why would Jesus transform the bread and wine into His own body and blood?” The answer is very simple – because He love us. He wants to be with us. Bread and wine are the forms through which He can enter our bodies, so He can be united with us, His beloved.

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BODY OF CHRIST

God formed us with body and soul. He nurtures our earthy bodies with daily bread. God spiritually nourishes our bodies and souls with His very own blood and body through Jesus Christ. Jesus confirmed again and again that we were part of His body, hence He had to come to this world to free us from sin and death, so we might have life and have it more abundantly (Jn 10:10). No one with a sound mind would neglect their own body, we spend thousand of dollars per year to take care of our health and outer appearance. How much more would God want to take care of our bodies, His temples, His own residence?

The Eucharist is the Real Body and Blood of Jesus. This is neither a metaphor, a symbol, nor a spiritual idea. When you love someone, you will try everything you can to be with that person. As Jesus affirms his longing for us: “Father, I want those you have given me, to be with me where I am.” (John 17:24).

Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist as spiritual nourishment because he loves us.

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EUCHARIST SACRAMENT

One of my spiritual director priest gave us the example about the effect of the “word”. He said: “If I said to you, “You’re under arrest,” you would think I had lost my mind, yoking! and it would have no effect. But if a properly deputized officer of the law says to you, “You’re under arrest,” whether you like it or not, you are, in fact, under arrest because his words have the authority to change reality.”

Jesus is the Word made flesh - the very same Word by which God created the universe has now become a human being, present in the person Jesus. Because of the power of the Divine Word is present in Jesus, thus His words have the power to transform the reality at the most fundamental level. So that right after Jesus took bread and said, “Take and eat; this is my body” and, “Drink from it, for this is my blood of the covenant” (Mat 26:26-28), the physical reality of bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. (CCC 1333,1277).

At mass, when the priest consecrates bread and wine, he is not using his own words, but rather he speaks in Persona Christi, in the very person of Christ. The priest speaks with the full authority of Christ, which is why his words have the power to change the physical elements of bread and wine.

Conclusion (USCCB)

Because of love, God our Father, our Mother, our Lover, desires to remain with us and in us.

We are His body which He desires to nourish and sustain. By His real presence in the Eucharist, the Lord fulfills his promise to be with us “always and until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). With this gift of Christ's presence in our midst, the Church is truly blessed.

In the Eucharist the Church both receives the gift of Jesus Christ and gives thanks to God for such a blessing.

Let quietly reflect on the love of Jesus in the Eucharist.

1 When did you first learn about Jesus being present in the Eucharist?

2 How do you think your life would change if you spent one hour each week sitting quietly in Jesus’s presence?