Body and Blood of Christ C 2004. June 13, 2004. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30, 6PM. Genesis 14: 18-20. I Corinthians 11: 23-26. Luke 9: 11b- 1/
This past week we paused as a nation to remember President Ronald Reagan. We listened to his words and looked at countless pictures and film clips. Those of us who are old enough to remember his years as president recalled events and feelings in our own lives. No matter where we stand on political issues, we took time this week to remember who we are as Americans. In rituals of many kinds we celebrated our love for these United States and our heritage as American people.
Remembering our heritage and our dreams is always a good thing. The ancient Hebrews remembered their passage through the Red Sea to freedom in the annual Passover celebration. Jesus also celebrated the Passover with his disciples on the night before he died for us. He took bread into his hands and said, “This is my Body which will be given up for you.” He took the cup and said, “This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.” Then Jesus spoke the powerful words that gave birth to the Eucharist. “Do this in memory of me.” Jesus said, “Remember me. When you remember me, celebrate, offer and receive my Body and Blood. When you remember me, celebrate the Eucharist. Do this in memory of me.”
Jesus did not command anyone to write the New Testament. Thank God that the Holy Spirit inspired the earliest followers of Jesus to write down his teachings in the Word of God we called the New Testament. Jesus did command us to celebrate the Eucharist very directly and at a very important moment in his life, the night before he died for us. From very earliest times the Church has gathered to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday. Anyone who knows early Church history knows this well. The first followers of Jesus saw celebrating the Eucharist as being faithful to the Lord’s command. Powerful things happened when the Church was faithful to what the Jesus commanded. All the ancient Christian Churches, whether they are Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or another ancient apostolic Church, have the celebration of the Eucharist at the very center of Church life. Scripture never stood alone in the early Church. The Scriptures lead to the Eucharist and the Eucharist makes us participants in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This week when we remembered President Reagan we were remembering a man who in fact left us many years ago through a disease called Alzheimer’s. President Reagan’s daughter Patti said, “In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, the eyes have a weariness, a veil of fear. I used to see my father's eyes simultaneously plead and hold firm. Slowly, sometimes over months, sometimes over years, the eyes stop pleading … A resignation, an acceptance of distance, strangeness, a life far from home. You know the look when you see it. And the only mercy is that the fear seems to have subsided."
Ten years ago Ronald Reagan said his personal good bye to the American people. He said, “I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease… I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright new dawn ahead.”
Remembering Ronald Reagan is much different from remembering Jesus in the Eucharist. As we watched the funeral of Ronald Reagan he was no longer with us. We were in fact remembering a much younger man at the prime of his life. When we remember Ronald Reagan all we have is memories, no matter how powerful those memories may be.
When we remember Jesus in the Euchiarsit something very different is happening. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist Jesus is truly and dynamically present. We not only remember that Jesus died for us, but the sacrifice of Jesus is present to us right here and now. While some Christian churches believe that the Eucharist is only a way of remembering Jesus, the ancient and apostolic Churches believe much more. In the Eucharist a past event becomes present now and we do much more than remember Jesus – we participate in his sacrifice and in his offering of himself to God, right now. In the Eucharist the passage of time disappears. The one sacrifice of Calvary is powerfully present in our midst today. We believe that the sacrifice of Jesus is present now, active now, and saving us now as we celebrate the Eucharist.
When we celebrate the Eucharist the living, Risen Christ is present in our midst right now. The Eucharist makes a living person present, the Risen Christ. It does far more than remember a person who died centuries ago. Jesus is present to us in the Eucharist as a living person with the power to completely change our lives and our world. Far from remembering a dead person in the Eucharist, we truly encounter the Risen Christ. When we are nourished by the real presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord , we meet Jesus face to face, mind to mind and heart to heart in so dynamic a way that his living and powerful person transforms our lives. The Eucharist is more than memories. It is the real presence of the living Christ.
In today’s second reading St. Paul repeats what all early Christians knew. Jesus gave them his Body and Blood on the night before he died and commanded us to celebrate the wonderful gift of the Eucharist in his memory. Paul says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” For the powerful gift of the living presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in our midst we give God thanks and praise.