A Guided Reflection on the Eucharist:
Based on Mat 28:16-20 (the voice of Matthew)
My name is Matthew. I remember how proud and humbled and
surprised I was after my life of being a tax collector, at being asked by Jesus
to follow Him knowing that I had been hated by the Jews and distrusted by the
Romans. IN a very short time I had found true happiness in the presence of
Jesus.
As one of the 12 of those who were closest to Jesus and who He called Apostles I
remember the excitement we felt when we entered Jerusalem and the people lined
the streets praising and cheering and waving palm branches. That following
Friday night we sat again with Him at the table for the Seder meal and broken
bread and shared the cup with Him as we had done so many times before, but that
night it was different.
I remember clearly that night when He looked directly at each of us deeply into
our eyes and said “Take this bread and eat it. This is my body which will be
given up for you.” Then He took the cup, shared it and said: “take and drink
this cup, this is my blood, the blood which will be shed for you and for many so
that sins may be forgiven. As often as you do this you do it in memory of me.”
I will never forget that meal. Jesus was telling us that this time we sat and
broke bread together that this meal was very special, very different from all
our previous meals. Yes it was our Seder meal in commemoration of the Passover
but that night I felt a burning inside, a feeling that Jesus was telling us to
do this even after He was no longer with us.
We all looked at each other and knew that we all felt the same message had been
given to each of us and understood the sacred covenant that He had given to us.
But then starting that night in the Garden of Gethsemane and ending on Friday
our dreams seemed to be crushed. All our hopes and dreams had been dashed
as He had been captured and crucified. We all went into hiding for fear that
the Jews and Romans would have us killed too. Honestly we didn’t know what to do
next and all of us just looked at each other in despair.
However that Sunday morning about two days later, a day always etched in my
memory, our lives would change forever. Word had come to us that his Tomb was
empty and He had arisen, then that He had appeared to some...Later He appeared
to us a couple of times in Jerusalem and He appeared again and Galilee and knew
our confusion about what to do. Even after we had experienced that incredible
gift of fire on that day we began preaching and speaking in foreign tongues.
This time He made it very clear for us: Jesus approached in silence and
said:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me: "Go, therefore, and
make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
I really didn’t understand what it meant that He would be
with us till the end of the age until I thought back to that last supper we
had had with Jesus in the upper room. He had said “do this in memory of me”
after he blessed the bread and said “this is my body” and raised the cup and
said “this is my blood”.
He wanted to tell us clearly that He would be with us forever in this meal, in
this bread and wine. Really with us, present for us, not in symbol and memory
only but for real each time we break and bless and offer these gifts to Him as
His first priests.
It has now been many years since Jesus returned to heaven and we all set out to
spread the good news to the world. My travels had taken me far and wide, but I
never felt alone. I never felt spiritually weak. I never felt unsure of
what my mission was. I had Jesus really present with me, each time I took break
bread and raised my cup of wine in remembrance of Him. Each time I did this I
knew He was present for me and for all those who received from my hands that,
which just like on that night before He died, is no longer just bread and no
longer just wine but truly Jesus Himself.
As I now look down now from heaven I am finally with Him in His kingdom as He
promised, after spending the rest of my earthly life spreading the good news of
Jesus, baptizing in His name and bringing his body and blood to many. It pleases
me to see so many Christians receiving Him in the Eucharist from those who my
fellow Apostles and I had placed my hands on to assist us as presbyters and who
are saying “Amen” to Jesus real physical presence in the Eucharist and in their
lives.
I now fully know what Jesus meant when He said: “I will be with you even until
the end of days”.
Deacon Andy Cirmo 03/29/10
St Elizabeth Seton, Naperville IL
www.worksofacatholicwriter.com