Meet and Experience God in the Eucharist

by asiel · April 15, 2016

From Dominic Sam, Port Elizabeth – Father Ralph de Hahn (March 23) asks the question, “Are we unknowingly posing obstacles which cancel the powerful action of the Blessed Eucharist within us?” Maybe we are.

Unlike St Paul’s image of the body and its members (1 Corinthians 12), St John’s image of the vine emphasises how inherent Jesus is with the question: “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). Do we truly love Jesus?

And in Revelation Jesus says: “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. I will enter and dine with anyone who hears my voice and opens the door” (Revelation 3:20). Do we open the door?

The followers of Jesus survived after he died because love of Jesus was looked on as an ongoing element. We need to experience a personal God as “friend, companion, or parent”. We should praise him and acknowledge that he is:

The Bread of Life
The Only Truth
The Good Shepherd
The Lamb of God
The Great I AM

In addition to the Church providing doctrine and pastoral care, liturgy and sacraments, and a supportive sense of belonging to a caring community, people need to be brought into some personal contact with Jesus.

And how important is Eucharistic devotion? We live in lonely times. Modern people have more solitude in their lives than in the past. With the virtual end of the extended family, with the modern preference for privacy, people spend much less time interacting in a personal way with one another. It should not surprise one if the mysterious and personal presence of Christ has a profound human appeal.

As regards faith and belief in the real presence, if the code of a whole life can be found in the minute details of the DNA molecule, we should not be completely surprised that the Eternal Son of God could leave us with such a powerful and real memorial of his time spent on earth as Son of Man, a being of flesh and blood.