Posting on Behalf of Judy

Christ makes us an offer

I used to think of the Mass as the celebration that made Jesus present so you could receive him in Communion.  I thought that the important part began with the Offertory.  The penitential rite, the readings, homily, and creed were sort of an introduction; they were important, but one was not late for Mass if one arrived in time for the Offertory.   That is what I learned in grammar school.

My understanding has grown since then.  I understand that the prayers and readings follow the pattern of Jewish rituals, and that the Word of God speaks to us through the scripture readings.  The homily follows early Christian practice, when the person who was able to read the Hebrew scriptures and letters received from community leaders would read and then comment on them (Cooke and Macy 96).  I also learned this week that for many Protestant Churches, the readings and the sermon are considered the most important part of the service, because that is where religious instruction is chiefly given.  That is why they only occasionally celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Now I understand the Mass as the celebration that makes the Last Supper present and active in the Christian community.  In it, through the ministry of the priest, Christ changes bread and wine into his Body and Blood.  God offers his Son to us to be our food.  If we welcome it with faith and an open heart – like the deer that longs for streams of water (Ps 42:2)  – we enter into communion with Christ, sharing his life, and vice versa. 

Schillebeeckx speaks of Christ’s presence in the host as an offer. 

The presence becomes reciprocal – that is to say, presence in the full and completive human sense – only in the acceptance of this offered presence, and in that way it becomes the presence of Christ in our hearts, which is the very purpose of the eucharist (J 248).

Christ shares with us the desires and longings of his heart, and as our relationship deepens, our greatest joy is to live as Jesus lived, participating in his mission to make his Father known and loved. 

All of my reading and reflection on the Eucharist since I began the LIM program have deepened my joy and love of the Mass, as well as my joy in sharing the love of God each week with the women in the prison - as well as everywhere in my life.