Love for the Eucharist
The gift of the Eucharist is the gift per excellence, the greatest gift that God could give to humanity. It is a mystery of God’s love that He comes to us hidden under the form of bread and wine to stay with us always. In St John’s Gospel we read that before announcing the Eucharist Jesus did two prodigious actions: the multiplication of the bread and fishes and He also walked on water. In this way, Jesus showed His Divine Omnipotence that allowed Him to dominate the natural law and the elements. Also, in Cana, He had transformed water into wine demonstrating that He is the Master of all elements. He who had multiplied bread and wine, had walked on water and had transformed water into wine, can also transform the bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.
The last supper – Leonardo da Vinci
‘On the night he was betrayed…’(1 Cor 11:23) ‘having loved those who were his in the world, loved them to the end’ (Jn 13:1). Christ instituted the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist as the memorial of His passion and death; it is not simply the evocation but the ‘sacramental re-presentation’ of His sacrifice. It is the ‘sacrifice of the Cross perpetuated down the ages…’ (Ecclesia de Eucharistia No 11) that embraces all time. When the Eucharist is celebrated we go out of place and time and we find ourselves at the foot of the cross taking part in the sacrifice of Christ and drawing on the fruits of Redemption. This is the great mystery of love and mercy: Mysterium Fidei. Human reason alone can not comprehend it and so Jesus wanted to prepare humanity to welcome Him in His Body and Blood. We ask Mary, woman of the Eucharist, who believed the words of the angel at the annunciation and replied with her unconditional and faithful fiat to help us to always believe in the mystery of the Eucharist, contemplating it with her eyes of faith and love.