Eucharist

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:35).

The Good Shepherd (Unknown)

I have been reflecting on the Eucharist.

The Saints have been in love with 4he Eucharist.  And it has sustained them.  Saint Catherine of Sienna miraculously lived on the Eucharist alone for many years prior to her death in the Middle Ages.  Bishop Van Thuan was a Catholic bishop imprisoned in Vietnam for almost a decade in solitary confinement.  After his release, and years later, he wrote of his distress not at the confinement, but at being denied access to the Blessed Eucharist.  One day he was allowed to send a letter to his friends.  In that letter he asked them to send him some medicine, which was actually altar wine.  The friends packaged the wine into a bottle and labelled it medicine.  Each night after his meal, the guards would pass the Bishop a few drops of this wine.  And so Bishop Van Thuan reserved a tiny morsel of bread and a few drops of wine and water in the palm of his hand and celebrated Holy Mass in his cell every night of his confinement…

The Bishop wrote…  “I never will be able to express my great joy.  Every day for many years I had the joy of celebrating Mass with three drops of wine and one of water in my palm. This was my altar, my cathedral. For me it was the true medicine of body and soul...  Each day in reciting the words of Consecration, I confirmed with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me through His Blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my life!”

Christ explained the importance of the Eucharist and Bishop Van Thuan understood it as the Bread of Life…

“So they said to him, ‘Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you?...Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness...’ Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:30-35).

And other Saints also knew the value of the Eucharist…  Saint Josemaria wrote, “When you approach the Tabernacle remember that he has been awaiting you for twenty centuries.”

And I remember those dark days during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Churches were closed and attendance at Holy Mass was restricted.  And I remember realising how important to me the Blessed Eucharist was, when for the first time in my life I was actively prevented form participating in the Blessed Sacrament…

And as I think about that today I pray for those who are still prevented from receiving the Blessed Eucharist – for It is the Bread of Life…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.