Archbishop Leonard P. Blair
At Easter we proclaim that Jesus Christ — in his human body, and not as a ghost, phantom or spirit — is risen and alive. All salvation, every redemptive grace, now comes into the world through his glorified body. He is crucified “in the flesh” and risen “in the flesh.” Hence the supreme importance of Mary, from whom the Son of God took human flesh and became man.
In Baptism we become members of Christ’s body, and in the Eucharist we physically eat his body and drink his blood. The fact that these are spiritual realities does not mean that our physical bodies are excluded, any more than Christ’s physical body is excluded from his being seated at the right hand of the Father for all eternity. Sacraments are a pledge of our own bodily resurrection and the transformation of all created reality at the end of time. This is why the Church these days deplores some of the new ways of eradicating the human body after death instead of allowing for preservation of the “remains” in some form.
Eucharistic “realism” is powerfully conveyed not only in our Lord’s words at the Last Supper, “This is my Body” … “This is my Blood,” but also in the Gospel of John when Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.” (Jn 6:54-55)
It is also our faith that the consecrated bread and wine remain the Body and Blood of Christ as long as they last. Reserved in the tabernacle, the consecrated hosts, which are no longer bread but Christ’s body, are worthy of adoration. That is why we genuflect or bow before the tabernacle and show reverence in Church. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “In his Eucharistic presence [Christ] remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, and he remains under signs that express and communicate his love.” (#1380)
The followings words of Saint Teresa of Calcutta come to mind: “When we look at the crucifix we see how much Jesus loved us, in the past tense; but when we look at the tabernacle, we see how much Jesus loves us, present tense.” Or, as one of St. John Vianney’s parishioners once said about visiting the Blessed Sacrament in church: “I look at him and he looks at me.” The Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist is as simple and profound as that.
Prompted in part by surveys which suggest that many Catholics in our country do not understand or profess Catholic teaching on Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, the Bishops of the United States have initiated a multi-year “Eucharistic revival.” The goal is “to renew the church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist” and “to inspire a movement of Catholics across the United States who are healed, converted, formed, and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist and then sent out on mission ‘for the life of the world’.”
During this second year of the Revival, every parish in the country is being invited to undertake a profound renewal centered on the celebration of the Eucharist, a personal encounter with Jesus through Eucharistic adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, catechetical formation on the Eucharist, and out-reach to our non-practicing brothers and sisters, accompanying those in spiritual, moral and material need.
This year will also be one of preparation for the Year of Mission (June 2024 – June 2025), which will be include the first-ever National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The Archdiocese of Hartford has been chosen to be the point of departure of the Pilgrimage next year for the whole eastern seaboard. Thousands of souls can be drawn along the way as “Jesus comes to meet them” as the pilgrimage heads toward its destination, the 10th National Eucharistic Congress” in Indianapolis, July 17 to 21, 2024.
Please join me in working and praying for a successful outcome, and give some thought to participating personally in the effort that is being made, including the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.