We come to that part of the Mass where we are invited to partake of the Divine Banquet, at which we consume not bread and wine but Jesus Christ Himself, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. We have been engaged in Eucharistic Revival in our country for a year now. It will continue into the Parish Year, which begins on the Feast of Corpus Christi. This revival is tremendously important in the life of the Church because so many members of the Church have ceased to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist or have little or no appreciation for the gift of Jesus Himself in the Sacrament of the Altar. Many have stopped coming to Mass. Others have had their faith weakened in the One, Who this Sacrament truly is—the Lord Jesus Himself!
This is not, in large part, the fault of those who have ceased to believe or are confused. They suffer from the effects of a culture that dismisses and can often be hostile to religious faith in general and the Catholic Faith in particular. We must do something about that. We must proclaim the truth about the Eucharistic Presence of Christ in charity and with conviction.
We must remember that it is not to a concert that we are invited. It is not to an empty ritual that we come. Rather, it is to the very Supper of the Lamb that we approach, rejoicing. The Lord Jesus offered Himself on the Cross for our salvation. That very Sacrifice of the Cross is made present on the altar at every Mass. At the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate the fruit that brought death. The Cross of Jesus is the Tree of Life. The fruit that hung upon it is His own Body and Blood. When we eat of this Fruit of the Tree that is the Cross, it gives us eternal life, it communicates His love to us, and it unites us to Him in a most intimate way, while, at the same time, binding us all together in His Mystical Body, the Church.
Let’s take a look at what the Sacred Liturgy of the Church says about receiving Holy Communion. During the Communion Rite at Mass, the priest takes the Sacred Host and breaks it, placing a small particle of the Host in the chalice containing the Precious Blood, saying,
May this mingling of the Body and Blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ
bring eternal life to us who receive it.
This placing of the consecrated Host, the Body of Christ, into His Precious Blood in the chalice shows that, at Our Lord’s Resurrection, His Blood was reunited to His Body. This teaches us that the Resurrection was not simply a spiritualized rising. It was an actual and true bodily Resurrection of the Lord in His glorified Body. That same glorified Body of the Lord is present on the altar. It is the Paschal Lamb Himself, who calls us to His Banquet.
As a matter of fact, the next prayer we pray is the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. We profess our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus, who is the Paschal Lamb. He offered Himself as the perfect Holocaust in remission for our sins, He, the Lamb whose wounds heal us from all that afflicts us, and whose Blood washes us clean from all sin. Three times we call upon Him, “Lamb of God,” begging in the first two invocations for His mercy, and in the last for His peace. His mercy flows forth from His side, pierced through for love of us. His peace comes from His Heart, from which love, exceeding all hope, is poured out upon. This is the Lamb who was slain and now lives forever.
The priest then bows his head and prays his own silent prayer in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. In this prayer, the priest begs to be made worthy to receive the Lord Jesus and petitions the Savior for protection in mind and body.
When this prayer is finished, the priest genuflects. He takes the Sacred Host in hand, holding it above the paten or chalice, and says,
Behold the Lamb of God,
behold him who takes away the sins of the world.
Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.
The priest, who stands in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) proclaims the truth of the Presence of the Lord Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament in the midst of the Church. It is the Lord! He lives in our midst!
All gathered before the altar confess
Lord, I am not worthy
that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word
and my soul shall be healed.
We come before the Lord Jesus Christ truly present and we can only confess our unworthiness. We know we cannot presume that He should come under the roof of our body and soul. And yet, we rejoice because we hear Him say the word. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me” (Rev 3:20).
The Lamb of God Himself knocks at the door of our hearts because He desires to come in and share with us the Banquet of His Body and Blood. Yes, we are unworthy, but He is merciful. He loves us, forgives us and heals us. Let us confess our sins and then come to the Banquet!
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh