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Eucharistic Amazement
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The United States Bishops have invited us to reflect, over the next three years, on the great Mystery of the Eucharist. Thus, I would ask all our parishes, missions and institutions to enter even more fully into the joy and spirit of this time and to deepen our amazement, love and devotion to our Eucharistic Lord.
These years will afford us the opportunity to reflect on what it means that our Lord not only washed the feet of his disciples, but also at the last supper took bread, broke and gave it to his disciples saying, “take and eat, this is my body”, and in like manner took the cup blessed, and said “take and drink, this is my blood. Do this in memory of me”.
For nearly two thousand years, every Sunday, in fact, every day, we have fulfilled this command of the Lord to “do this in memory of me”, which we ought never to take for granted. Thus, to deepen our understanding of all that the Church believes about the Eucharist, we are asked to make every effort to appreciate, reverence, and adore our hidden Lord, truly present in the Bread of Life, and to live lives consistent with this Eucharistic amazement.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, and seated at the right hand of the Father, is the same Lord who is truly present to each of us. This mystery of His abiding presence evokes in us great awe and wonder. Saint Pope John Paul II has said, “the Eucharist is a priceless treasure…not only by celebration, but also by praying before this Mystery, outside of Mass, we are able to make contact with the very wellspring of grace”. (Encyclical on the Eucharist - Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 2003)
We may ask ourselves if we are worthy of such a profound communion with the God of love, especially since we are so far from living in a way consistent with this love. We know that our union with God requires that we also fulfill all that he asks of us. For this reason, Saint Paul roundly criticizes the early Christian community of Corinth for not fully respecting and appreciating the Mystery of the Eucharist. As he said, many partook of the bread and the cup unworthily, not discerning what it was that they partook (1Cor. 11:29). His criticism concerned the sins they may have committed and, their faithfulness to living Christ’s way. This criticism is as valid today as it was then. We too must continuously examine ourselves, and do so carefully, so as to receive our Lord as worthily as possible.
Whenever I celebrate the Washing of the Feet and the Eucharist together on Holy Thursday, I am filled with both amazement and trembling, and I pray, Lord make me worthy of so great a love! The Evangelist John believed that the bread we break is truly the body of Christ, and the cup we share is truly his blood poured out. There is no question of his faith in the Eucharist. But, like St Paul, the Evangelist John may have wanted to teach us something quite important by his personal account of the Last Supper, namely that our celebration of the Eucharist must be intrinsically bound to a life of humble and loving service much like that of our Lord Jesus. In other words, our life must be like that of Jesus, a life for others. (Jn. 6: 14,26).
These next three years, as we reflect more and more on the Holy Eucharist, I make the following requests of the faithful - clergy, religious and laity - of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, to increase our respect and appreciation of the Mystery of unity and charity that we celebrate at each Liturgy, and which we reserve in the tabernacles of each of our churches:
- Prepare ourselves properly for the celebration of the Eucharist, including a deep reflection on the readings, preparation of the music, observance of the one hour fast before receiving Holy Communion, proper thanksgiving afterwards, the appropriate dignity due the Liturgy of the Word and Eucharist, and careful observance of the ritual itself, abiding by the canonical and liturgical norms of the Church;
- Examine our consciences before receiving Communion, taking full advantage of the ordinary ways that we can live in closer union with Christ, i.e., confession, spiritual reading, spiritual direction, retreats, daily rosary, scripture readings, and other devotions of the Church;
- Discern the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist, as all Catholic and Orthodox Christians have done over the ages; and live this reverence appropriately with respect for our Lord’s abiding presence with us;
- Pray and work for Church unity, especially praying that the Holy Father, and his Petrine ministry, may bring all Christians closer to one Eucharistic sharing;
- Spend some quiet time, outside of the Divine Liturgy, visiting and adoring the Lord, hidden and present there, wherever the Eucharist is reserved;
- Every parish, mission and institution in the Eparchy is to foster Eucharistic Adoration at least once a month for vocations, and for the needs of the Church and the world, and properly prepare for and celebrate the nine-day Christmas Novena with renewed reverence and respect for the Eucharistic Lord present with us at the altar; and
- Honor our family, see our work as an extension of the Eucharistic call to service, see our sufferings and anxieties as a participation in the sufferings of Christ, and live moral and ethical lives consistent with the teachings of the Church and the Eucharist we share.
Beloved brothers and sisters, if we can accomplish these small steps, then we will have entered more deeply into the spirit of this Eucharist amazement. Let us not forget the amazing first Eucharist, after our Lord was raised from the dead. He visited two disciples on their way to Emmaus. His teaching amazed them, and moved them to deeper faith, especially helping them understand the predicted suffering of the Messiah. When they urged him to stay on, he did, and when he sat with them at table, they recognized him in the “breaking of the bread” (Luke 24).
As Christians we have a privileged place at God’s table. We are blessed and privileged to be there for the “breaking of the bread”, his true body, and even though we are all too familiar with the many problems of the world, we also live the joy of the abiding presence of our Lord Jesus, who is the answer to whatever ails this world.
In this time of Eucharistic Revival, let us ask the help of the Virgin Mary, whose “womb received Him like good earth a grain of wheat” (Maronite Hymn before the Offertory) and whose heart embraced Him, from the moment of his conception in her womb, and let us honor the saints, who over the years, have taught us how to adore and reverence Christ in the Mystery of the Eucharist. May our Lord increase our Eucharistic amazement as he did the Emmaus disciples, who discovered him in the “breaking of bread”, and may God deem us to be a worthy temple for His own indwelling.
+ Bishop Gregory John Mansour
Feast of the Holy Cross, 2022