Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
FROM THE DESK OF FATHER JACOB LIVECCHI YOUR PRIEST IN RESIDENCE AT EPIPHANY OF THE LORD PARISH
Greetings all!
It is often easy to become overwhelmed by all of the terrible things that are going on in our world whether it’s political divides, economical hardship, natural disasters, or scandals within the Church. It seems like nothing provides refuge from all of the turmoil, there is divide and polarization in every part of our lives. Yet I am here to write to you about good news! There is a remedy for the constant disunity and it is the sacrament of unity: the Eucharist.
As we believe, the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, it is the living God who comes down under the form of bread and wine. Thus every Mass is an encounter with God. The Eucharist is not only an individual encounter with God but it is primarily a communal encounter with God. The Eucharist deepens our personal union with Christ and it calls us into communion with one another. The Eucharist is called the sacrament of unity because it unites us with God and it unites us with each other. The Eucharist is the true Body of Jesus Christ and when we consume it we are united to Jesus Christ, thus all of us become united together in Jesus Christ. Each member of the community becomes united together in Eucharist. St Paul says ” Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10: 17). Just as bread is made up of individual grains of wheat and is ground together to form one loaf of bread, each of us as individuals become united through the Eucharist to form one Body of Christ, the Church. The Didache which is the oldest Christian writing outside of the Bible states,” Just as this broken bread was first scattered on the mountains and, after being harvested, became one reality, so may your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom” The same image works with many grapes which have been pressed to form once cup of wine. This is why we have images of grapes and wheat throughout the Church to remind us of the unity that we share in the Eucharist. Even though we are different, we become united as one in the sacrifice of the Mass where we become one Body of Christ.
The Eucharist thus has two dimensions of unity: a vertical dimension in which we are united to God and a horizontal dimension in which we are united to each other. We are brought into communion with God and with one another. This unity is not an artificial agreement or sharing, but a real and deep connection of love with God and each other. Through the Eucharist, we become the Body of Christ in the world. When we receive the Eucharist we are united in the one love of Christ and one Catholic Faith. Eucharist comes with a responsibility to live in the unity of one love and one Catholic Faith. To receive the sacrament of unity and then act in a manner that is counter to this unity would be a grave act of disunity. St. John Paul II said, “The profound meaning of the Eucharist is thus denied when it is celebrated without taking into account the demands of charity and communion.” We can not receive the sacrament of unity and then afterward act in a way that hurts others or causes disunity. That would be hypocritical. Thus we must strive to live up to the unity that we enter into when we receive the Eucharist.
In this world which is so deprived of unity, in our culture which is seeking to tear each other apart, the Eucharist becomes our remedy. If we conform our lives to the unity within the Eucharist, we can heal divisions, and restore unity in families, communities, parish, and the world.
In Christ,
Father Jay