PRAYING “LA PAROLA DEL PADRE”
The Eucharist is life
Scripture reading (Jn 6:48–58)
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”
Confortian response
Parola del Padre 57, March–April 1922
“Love yearns for union and Jesus Christ experienced this powerful desire in his heart, as only a Man-God could, and he responded to it in a way that is beyond words. That which cannot be imagined by human or angelical minds, he imagined and carried out in his infinite love for humanity. He found the way, not only to remain with us for all time, but also the way to unite himself to us in the closest union we can imagine, and this is made effective through the Eucharist, in which he nourishes us with his flesh and quenches our thirst with his most precious blood”.
Personal reflection
Reflecting on the principle that our interior life is a mystery of life communicated and received, we can understand the central place of the Eucharist in our lives.
“Jesus commanded his ministers to strive to participate in his banquet and he announces the death of the soul if we refuse his invitation: ‘If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you’ (Jn 6:53). He said this to make us happy, aware as he was of the desires of our poor heart” (1966, pp. 335–337).
“The Eucharist is that most holy body which was sacrificed for us on the cross; it is that divine blood which was poured out until the very last drop for our redemption; it is that soul which is the most holy and perfect of souls, generated by the breath of God; it is the heart that has loved and suffered so much for us, the most noble, the greatest and most generous of hearts. It is the humanity and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who gives himself to us entirely. […].
It is the mystery par excellence of the Faith, the compendium of the wonders worked by God in favor of humanity. […] But it is also the mystery of love par excellence, which surpasses and sums up every other proof of God’s love for us”.
“The Eucharist is the center of universal attraction, upon which converge the thoughts and affections of those who believe […]” (G.M. Conforti, Letter to the clergy and the people, 5 February 1923).
Let us make our souls Eucharistic so that we may be born again in Christ, live by him, and receive from him what we need in the difficult journey of this passing life” (G. M. Conforti, Letter to the clergy and the people, 12 April 1922).
“Christ, who offers himself as a victim in the Eucharist, is the foundation of our communities and our apostolate. Consequently, our active and responsive participation in the daily Eucharist demands that we live the mystery of death and life that is enacted at the altar by dedicating ourselves completely to the service of others. The Lord’s Eucharistic presence invites us to adoration and intimate union with him” (C 46).