Saturday, December 10, 2011

This week in youth ministry...

I was asked to speak on the Eucharist. Its an incredibly touchy, confusing, wonderful, and dear topic that is extremely close to my heart. The mystery of the Eucharist is completely profound. The church teaches that the Eucharist is the Source and the Summit of our faith. It is the Body, Blood, SOUL, and DIVINITY. We sometimes forget that the Eucharist isn't just his body but His entire being. We as Catholic are called to believe that in every bit of Host and every drop of the Wine is the entirety of Christ.
      The hardest part of the Eucharist I think for many of us to remember is that although it is visually a piece of bread and a cup of wine the particles have changed into the Body and Blood. We know this big word transubstantiation, which in basic terms means that during the consecrations of the bread and wine the elements of each is changed into the real Body and real Blood of Jesus.
But wait.  Where do we get this from?

 "14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken somebread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

Luke 22: 14-20
A.K.A He said straight up THIS IS MY BODY. Take this all of YOU and eat it! He said This is my body which will be GIVEN UP FOR YOU.
Lets backtrack real quick. This was the Last Supper. This was before he went to the garden. Before He begged the Lord's pardon, before Peter cut off the guards ear. Before Judas even finished the deed. It was before ALL OF IT. The Apostles didn't even know what was about to happen! This is crazy!

Jesus said to his best friends this is MY BODY. This is it. I'm giving it to you. Here it is, take it and eat it. I am giving you myself because I LOVE YOU. Loving someone is an act of giving of yourself, right? He said take this all of you and eat it. Take this all of you and drink it. Its for you because I love you. Here is this little piece of unleavened bread. This simply wine made from grapes. Here are two simple things that will create the greatest mystery of all time.

Jesus said take this bread. Take it, take this piece of bread. The smallest, least expensive piece of bread. Take it so that you can take me. He said because I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, TAKE THIS PIECE OF ME. He said I am going to humble myself down into something so simple so that all may take it. So that when someone receives this bread they are also receiving me. He humbled himself into something that could fit in our hands. Something that could enter our bodies so that he may have a more intimate relationship with our human self.

The Eucharist is one of the hardest things to understand. Even Jesus' own disciples had trouble.


John 6:51-58- “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whosoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, WILL HAVE eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeedHe that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.”

These were his friends. The one's around him, coming from all ends of the earth to hear him speak, to touch his cloak, and he gives them something that will last for eternity, and they don't want it? They are troubled. They see how uneasy it is. How unnerving it is. They are caught up in the logistics that they ignore what the Son of Man is actually saying. "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life." I don't know how much more straightforward you can get! 



But, read a bit further. Jesus does not stop those who do not wish to understand from leaving. He says "go". He turns to his disciples. His best friends. It says (John 6:60-68- )“Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?... From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

AKA His BFF's weren't sure either! But they knew that this was God. They knew that although it was hard to understand, it was worth trying. Jesus knows that its hard for us to understand the Eucharist. That's why it is called a mystery. But we are called to do just as the disciples did and say "To whom else shall we go?". We are called to say "uh, yeah I don't always understand the Eucharist, I don't always feel you here, but I know you are here, I know you are the true presence and I know you are the true God and what you say is the full truth so where else can i possibly go? Who else can I possibly turn too? 

Amen.

1 comment:

  1. Your talk was great! Golly I love the Holy Eucharist.. Let us pray that our teens will grow close to our Eucharistic Lord!

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