Today, we celebrate one of the most beautiful and significant events in Christian history. It is on this day that Jesus established two Sacraments in one celebration – the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Priesthood. The Eucharist contains the whole spiritual treasure of the Church, sustaining us in our relationship with Jesus Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas instructs us that all the sacraments and the ministries of the Church not only derive from the Holy Eucharist but also lead us to it. Since our Lord himself is truly and substantially present in it, we should approach this Sacrament with awe and reverence.
There is an inherent interconnectedness between these two Sacraments, as one does not exist without the other. The establishment of the Holy Eucharist by Jesus guarantees us the food for our spiritual journey on earth. But the Priesthood assures us that this food will be distributed through the Church without interruption. The faithful who are the members of the Mystical Body of Christ must take diligent care in protecting the Priesthood so that the Holy Eucharist as well as other Sacraments must be administered in the Church without interruption. The priest represents sacramentally Jesus Christ who, through his paschal mystery, has become the Eucharist for us. According to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, the ordained priest “acting in the person of Christ, brings about the Eucharistic sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people” (LG, 10). The priest is pre-eminently the servant of Christ in the Eucharist. The priest’s all embracing vocation and endless joy is to preside and guide and teach the faithful by representing Christ.
The Eucharist which we celebrate on a daily basis “is the source and summit of the Christian life” (LG–11) which gives us the strength to carry out our Christian duties. It is through our active participation in this Sacrament we find our joy and peace. Our Lord, Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist, is our life and the life of the Church. Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, writes that the whole Church “draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by him, she is fed and by him, she is enlightened” (EE 6).
During the Last Supper, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke; then the next day he broke his own body on the cross. Breaking is painful, but it is life-giving – he gave us life by giving up his life. If we experience that we have a broken life, so painful that nobody understands and sees it, there is a greater possibility that we can be identified with Jesus crucified. The challenge and mystery of the cross are experienced and revealed in our painful, broken moments of life. The contradiction many see in the cross of Christ is the strength of a believer. Thus, the presence of Christ in the broken bread is the central element of every Eucharistic celebration. Christ is present, here, at this present moment of our lives, because he is broken and is being distributed to us. Christ is present with us today because we are broken. He is present now because of our needs. Now we experience that the sacrament of the altar is a gift and mystery, the Eucharist is a gift and mystery, the priesthood is a gift and mystery, and the vocation to be a Christian is a gift and mystery – all flow from the heart of Christ during the Last Supper. We receive the gift, and we try to understand the meaning of this mystery in our day-to-day life, and all by leading a Eucharist-centered Christian life.
Rev. Dr. Mathew Charthakuzhiyil