Life’s Source and Summit

Editor’s note: As stated in the November 2009 General Assembly’s working draft on the Miles Jesu charism, a very important element of our spirituality is devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, especially through Eucharistic adoration.

The Church has received the Eucharist from Christ her Lord not as one gift—however precious—among so many others, but as the gift par excellence, for it is the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work. Nor does it remain confined to the past, since all that Christ is—all that he did and suffered for all men—participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1085)

As a Miles Jesu Vinculum member — a widow raising nine children — once remarked, “When i go to Mass in the morning, i know that whatever happens for the rest of the day, i have already done the best thing i could possibly do.” She was expressing in her own words a very important teaching of the Church, repeated at Vatican II: that the Eucharistic Sacrifice (Mass) is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11)

From our earliest days Miles Jesu has, like so many other communities and movements, placed great emphasis on devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. In addition to daily Mass, with a most enthusiastic encouragement to receive daily Communion, our domus members begin and end each day in our community chapels with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. In order to start the day with Mass, preceded by an hour of meditation before the Eucharistic Lord, it’s necessary to get up rather early. Depending on the local customs dictating morning Mass times, it usually means that by about 6:00 am local time in most of our communities, everyone is up, dressed, and on their knees in the chapel. The holy hour culminating in Mass is the perfect way to start each day: a fitting priority, and a fitting preparation for whatever may come as the day progresses. And the evening prayers before the Blessed Sacrament is the perfect end to even the most imperfect day.

He in us is present, we in him abide

The absolute highest act of worship is to participate at Mass. “The Mass makes present the sacrifice of the cross; it does not add to that sacrifice nor does it multiply it. What is repeated is its memorial celebration, its commemorative representation, which makes Christ’s one, definitive redemptive sacrifice always present in time.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 12)

Remember that when you receive communion, the Real Presence of Jesus—body, blood, soul, and divinity—are just as authentically present in us (though in a different way) as he was really present for nine months in Mary’s womb. She was the first tabernacle; for a few minutes after each communion, we too are tabernacles. The Church assures us that Jesus’ true, physical presence endures as long as the communion host retains its accidents. This means about 15 minutes from the time of its consumption when we receive communion. It is probably just as well that, with all our best intentions and deepest faith, we will never truly grasp this mystery. We would probably be afraid to approach communion if we did. But here God uses our limitations to draw us to himself in the most sublime way. During that short quarter hour after receiving communion, let’s make sure we put this special audience with the Lord to the best use we can. Instead of rushing to be the first to escape the parking lot gridlock, we can stay behind and have a talk with our Best Friend. Present in us is the baby from the Christmas cards, the quiet working man from the carpenter’s shop, the patient and gentle teacher, the loving friend, the miracle worker, the suffering servant, and the gloriously risen master of the universe. We can approach him in whatever way seems most suitable and talk to him about the things friends do. The big problems, the small problems, the worries, the joys, the longings. And, very important, we can also listen to him. We need to remember, as is pointed out in the Old Testament, God’s voice is not to be heard in roaring wind, earthquake, or fire but in the quiet whisper of a gentle breeze (cf. 1 Kings 19). As he comes to us in seemingly a small wafer of bread, so he also communes in our hearts in a quiet voice.

And even once the day’s Mass with its thanksgiving time is over, Jesus remains physically present in the tabernacle, continually available like the truest of friends that he is, to receive us if we will only come into the church or chapel to visit with him.

Thou who died to save us livest as our light

In Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the last encyclical letter he ever wrote, Pope John Paul II said, “By the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the Church was born and set out upon the pathways of the world, yet a decisive moment in her taking shape was certainly the institution of the Eucharist in the Upper Room. Her foundation and wellspring is the whole Triduum Paschale [Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection], but this is as it were gathered up, foreshadowed and ‘concentrated’ forever in the gift of the Eucharist. In this gift Jesus Christ entrusted to his Church the perennial making present of the paschal mystery. With it he brought about a mysterious ‘oneness in time’ between that Triduum and the passage of the centuries.[…] This sacrifice is so decisive for the salvation of the human race that Jesus Christ offered it and returned to the Father only after he had left us a means of sharing in it as if we had been present there. What more could Jesus have done for us? Truly, in the Eucharist, he shows us a love which goes ‘to the end;’ a love which knows no measure.” (EdE, 5, 10)

Hail this sacred union, heaven on earth begun

“In the Eucharist, everything speaks of confident waiting ‘in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.’ Those who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life: they already possess it on earth, as the first-fruits of a future fullness which will embrace man in his totality. For in the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of the world: ‘He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day’ (Jn 6:54). This pledge of the future resurrection comes from the fact that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection. With the Eucharist we digest, as it were, the ‘secret’ of the resurrection. For this reason Saint Ignatius of Antioch rightly defined the Eucharistic Bread as ‘a medicine of immortality, an antidote to death.’

“The eschatological tension kindled by the Eucharist expresses and reinforces our communion with the Church in heaven. It is not by chance that the Eastern Anaphoras and the Latin Eucharistic Prayers honor Mary, the ever-Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God, the angels, the holy apostles, the glorious martyrs and all the saints. This is an aspect of the Eucharist which merits greater attention: in celebrating the sacrifice of the Lamb, we are united to the heavenly ‘liturgy’ and become part of that great multitude which cries out: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!’ (Rev 7:10). The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth. It is a glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem which pierces the clouds of our history and lights up our journey.” (EdE 18,19)

Members of his body joined, we in him are one

The Eucharist is the pinnacle of union: union with God and union with others.

The first fruit of Eucharistic worship is that it gives us, weak and limited human beings that we are, a means to give God a fitting kind of worship. Secondly, it helps us in our individual call to strive towards Him. And, third, authentic Eucharistic worship overflows into our actions and makes us better apostles of the one we worship.

“A significant consequence of the eschatological tension inherent in the Eucharist is also the fact that it spurs us on our journey through history and plants a seed of living hope in our daily commitment to the work before us. Certainly the Christian vision leads to the expectation of ‘new heavens’ and ‘a new earth’ (Rev 21:1), but this increases, rather than lessens, our sense of responsibility for the world today…

“It is in this world that Christian hope must shine forth! For this reason too, the Lord wished to remain with us in the Eucharist, making his presence in meal and sacrifice the promise of a humanity renewed by his love. Significantly, in their account of the Last Supper, the Synoptics recount the institution of the Eucharist, while the Gospel of John relates, as a way of bringing out its profound meaning, the account of the ‘washing of the feet,’ in which Jesus appears as the teacher of communion and of service.” (EdE 20)

If you want to spend time in private prayer before the Blessed Sacrament but don’t have the words you’d like to have, consider borrowing some from the eucharistic hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas. Whether you repeat them in reflective prose or sing them (many of them are simple and familiar melodies), you will find them a beautiful means of praising God. Known as the ‘Angelic Doctor’ because of his incomparable gifts as a theologian, St. Thomas combined his extraordinary brain with a pure and warm heart. He lived at the time when Eucharistic exposition was just coming into practice and at the request of the Holy Father he wrote hymns for use at these liturgies. They include “Humbly We Adore Thee” (which is quoted in the subheadings of this article), “Sing My Tongue/Down in Adoration Falling” (especially for use at the beginning and end of exposition), and “O Sacrum Convivium” which in a few simple lines recalls all the theology of Eucharistic worship, and makes a fitting end to these thoughts on the source and summit of our Christian life:

“O sacred banquet! in which Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory to us is given. Alleluia.”

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