May/June 2003 Carmelite Ponderings: Community and the Eucharist Sr. Rosmarie Cameron of the Eucharist, O.C.D.
That truth has a profound effect, when at the moment of the reception of the Eucharist, Christ draws the one who receives Him into Himself. Every time we approach this sacrament, even more than our taking Christ into our hearts, He holds us, with all that we are and possess. Father Raphael Kitz, O.C.D. once told us that, every time we say “Amen” before going to communion, we acknowledge with faith, and enter into, the “mystery of Christ.” Jesus comes to reveal His Person, to reveal His Father, and to carry us in the Love Who is His Spirit, to rest in the embrace of the Father.
The Third Eucharistic Prayer asks the Father: “Grant that we, who are nourished by His (Christ’s) Body and Blood, may be filled with His Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ.” While it is the second Person of the Trinity who gives himself at every Eucharistic Sacrifice, we find ourselves also in a profound communion with the whole Christ — with His Mystical Body. The branches of the Vine, “abide in Him and He in them.” Before the consecration, the priest prays, in the third Eucharistic Prayer: “From age to age you gather a people to yourself, so that from east to west, a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name…” The new Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us; “the Eucharist, by which, really sharing in the body of the Lord, …we are taken up into communion with Him and with one another.” Here communion and community become one reality. “Each of us receives Christ,” and “Christ receives each of us.” May every effort be made to receive the Eucharist often, for the need we have is great, and Love, Who calls us, is even greater. In humility and confidence we can join St. Teresa of Jesus in saying:
“O Eternal Father! — What treasure do we have that could buy Your Son? The sale of Him, we already know, was for thirty pieces of silver. But to buy Him, no price is sufficient. Since by sharing in our nature He has become one with us here below — and as Lord of His own will — He reminds the Father that because He belongs to Him the Father in turn can give Him to us. And so He says ‘our bread.' He doesn’t make any difference between Himself and us...”
![]() |
Home .
Our Guestbook .
Prayer Requests .
Ponderings
|