TENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - C

TENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (1 Kings 17:17-24; Gal 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17) Theme: Let Us Get Up and Keep Walking In Life With Hope Reflection: God is the Father of All - We are entering into the tenth Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. The readings of today invite us to take courage and to get up and walk ahead in life. The words that Jesus has directed to the dead young boy are: “Young man, I say to you, rise!” (Lk 7:14). The same compassionate and life-giving words are reaching to us today: “You, my children, who are spiritually lost and dead, rise up and keep living.” In fact, Jesus words are of kindness and mercy. He does not will that anyone one of his sheep loose the way and remain passive and dead in life. He calls us to life. He calls us to hope. He calls us to the courage of facing the life. - Indeed, Jesus has come to give us life and life in abundance (John 10:10). There is no other person in whom the fullness of life exists expect in Jesus because he is the life (John 14:06). His entrance into the world and his mission for the world is centered upon pouring out his life for the life of the humanity. His entire life and mission are the novelty of God’s love. He reveals God’s love of being with and for the humanity. It is the entire humanity that he embraces and synthesizes in himself. He has not come just for one group of people, Israel, although he is born and brought up in its place and culture. He has to start his human process from somewhere and he has preferred it to be from the chosen people of God. It is because the God’s design of salvation has to be a continuation in history and the promise of God is to take its realization. But soon the small camp of his birth, life and work will become universal embracing the entire world without barriers. Love has no limits and confines. His presence and his mission touches every sphere of human life. - This God’s love to reach out to everyone, be it the chosen one or the stranger, is revealed from the beginning of Jesus’ entry into the world. The novelty of Good News of Salvation consists in this: God love all, touches all, embraces all and brings all into his arms. Soon in his ministry Jesus unveils this truth: God is the Father of all. Specially Luke is very particular in this aspect. The entire Gospel of Luke reveals that God takes the side of poor, small, humble and the rejected of the society and shows them his mercy and kindness. This is the general context of the Gospel passage we have listened today. Jesus raises the dead young man of the widow at Nain (Luke 7:11-17). Prior to this we can find another healing that Jesus extends to the Centurion’s servant (Luke 7:1-10). Initiating from here Jesus goes out to meet and to be with the flock that is outside the chosen sheep-fold. He is sent to all those who are in need of divine touch. He proclaims until now the salvation to all by preaching about the kingdom of God and doing miracles. Now he cross the borders of the Israel. He embraces also the others. For him there is no difference between the own and the pagan. - With this Jesus starts revealing the unconditional love of the Father to everyone who is found in difficulty and depression. In fact, he throws the invitation to all: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Math 11:28). His invitation includes all: physically over-loaded with the slavery and unjust labor, psychologically burdened with the mental agony of doubts and confusion, socially dejected with the deprivation of common goods, and finally spiritually blinded with the struggle between passion of the world and faith of the religion. He answers everyone and he heals every heart because he has taken the human face because of love which feels one with the pain and suffering of humanity. Readings Human Face of God – He Moves in Compassion - Jesus rises up the widow’s son in the village of Nain. The calling of the dead young man to life is not a miracle automatically accomplished by Jesus because he is divinely capable. It is a dynamic miracle which contains the dramatic action of Jesus. The dramatic action of Jesus is this: he is moved with the compassion. He feels for the widow who is in deep depression of the lost of her son. His feeling is elevated to the level of compassion. What is the meaning of compassion? Literally, compassion means “passion with” – suffering with. Its significance is not only physical and mental but contextual and situational. It is not just a movement of the eye to cry-with. It is not just an extension of the hand to help the needy. It is more than that. It is the beating of the heart for the person. As such, it means assuming the pain of the other, to be identified with the other in the condition and it is a participation in the feeling of the other. - It is with such compassion that Jesus is moved with he saw the woman cry. The Gospel narrates it well: “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep’.” (Luke 7:13). The miracle of Jesus is initiated and accompanied by the compassion. This feeling of Jesus for her makes him to enter into the dramatic action for her. First of he feels himself one with her. He takes her pain as his. He participates in the cry of her. Finally, he rises her son from death. Jesus never wants that someone cry. He does not permit that the tears to tear the person apart. - God is human also. In Jesus he becomes human. He assumes the human nature. He takes upon himself, thus, the entire existential condition of man. Like a man, he begins to eat, drink, sleep and rest in his body. Like a man, he begins to think, respond and grow in knowledge of the mind. Like a man, he also begins to have faith, trust, respect and love for God and for neighbors in his spirit. As man is an integration of body, mind and soul, so also Jesus enters fully in these aspects. He experiences as man experiences all the facet of life: joy, sorrow, cry, pain, suffering and finally death. He is fully human, as he is fully divine. It is in his fully human nature that Jesus not only becomes man but also becomes a concrete example for man’s living. Entering into the world, Jesus feels for many situations and is put under many temptations but never deviated the right path of true humanity. Whereas, man fluctuated and often carried away from his true human nature by the sickness, tribulation and the suffering. Man has not learnt to accept his human nature which is prone to various changes in the world because of the outside passions and of the inside struggles. In this context, it is Jesus who is truly human, becomes a ever living example for the transcendence of man. - Jesus has conquered the entire fragility of human nature with his passion, death and resurrection. He has risen from the dead. He is ascended into heaven. He sends his Spirit to be with the man. With his Spirit present in the world, Jesus touches every human heart, penetrates deep into his being, and calls him back to life. His words are clear: Get Up and Walk. Falling is human but getting up is divine. Each human being carries within him the elements of divine nature because basically he is a spirit, a spirit that gets up and keep going ahead and a spirit that transcends towards the higher standards of life. Indeed, Jesus’ invitation to man to get up and walk is important, particularly, in this age of rapid growth. why? In the age of philosophy, science and technology, there is a tremendous change and unimaginable development. Man grows day by day. He learns to reason out and analyze the situations. He learns to prolong and sustain life by the scientific researches. He learns to make the life easy with the technological instruments. It is a good and positive side. But it is not enough because there is another shade for this rapid growth of the man’s capacity. And it can be answered only by Jesus. Conclusion Trust In Jesus – He Will Wake Us Up - The world is undergoing tremendous and unreachable changes. It is the fruit of the brain of man. His capability is at peaks. If he wills he can achieve anything. This is the positive side of human potentiality. But the unfortunate reality exists side by side. The another side of the coin is this: his movement is proving to be only horizontal. In his horizontal movement man gives importance to himself. He wants to be the master of his life. He wants to command the entire creation as though he is the creator. Someone may ask: but what is the wrong in it as long as man is such a capable being in the world? There is nothing wrong as long as he grows in knowledge, science and technology. But the problem is that he completely neglects the vertical movement. Let us keep aside, for time being, the aspect of faith and religion. Even his own human nature and its values are at stake with these rapid changes. He has no time to feed his spirit which is the dynamic element of his entire human life. - Without the spirit, life becomes just biological and mechanical. Man is moving towards this: he becomes either animal which looks only for the needs of the body or he becomes a machine which lacks the breath. If he neglects, one day he may realize and turn back. If he consciously reject the spiritual sphere what could be his future. He lack the true spirit and therefore he is not able to accept the true human nature. He becomes so strong and powerful in the external growths. He strives every second for the luxurious and comfortable life. He wants to avoid the slightest situation that troubles him. It is true that he learnt to grow and keeps himself living. But when he is confronted with the hunger, difficulty, trouble, incomprehension, sickness and suffering, he is deeply confused. He has no way out. He becomes either reluctant and defensive or loses completely his control of life. Why? Because he learnt to grow but he did not leant to live. What is living? Confronting the situations that come on the way with the courage of the human spirit. When man lack such spirit he lack the possibility of true living. This is the present condition of the man in the world. - The world that is surrounded by the realities of pain, sorrow and death. Every human nature is prone to these changes. It is normal. Man becomes depressed in front of these difficulties because he did not learn the truth of life and accept its challenges. He tends to forget or neglect that human life is comprised of the mixture of emotions and changes are part of it. Though he remembers and knows that these are part of his human condition, he has not learnt to accept. Knowing and accepting belong to the sphere of the Spirit. When man lack it, he actually dies. In this context, the words of Jesus bring consolation and courage to the human heart. It is in Jesus that the mysteries of pain and death are revealed and illuminated ultimately. Jesus balances the both: the pain and the glory of life. He knows what is glory and pain. Above all, be it glory or be it cross, he accepts them in humility and obedience. He knows and accepts because he is always accompanied by the Holy Spirit. With the power of the Spirit he carries within himself the fullness of human nature with its both transcendence and fragility. Thus he becomes the ultimate example for man. The latter can learn from him how to accept life and balance it with the Christian spirit. Modern man is lacking this spirit because he is utterly controlled by the passions of the body and mind alone. It is the faith in Christ Jesus that brings him back to the true life. Having the power of calling man to the possibility of receiving life he says: Do Not Be Discouraged! Get Up and Keep Walking Ahead in Life.

CORPUS DOMINI - Year C

CORPUS DOMINI: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – Year C (Gen 14:18-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Luke 9:11b-17) Theme: CORPUS DOMINI calls us to be the Loving Sacrifice to the World Reflection: We are called to be filled with the mystery of God - We have completed the Liturgical Time of Easter with the Ascension and with the Pentecost. We are supposed to re-start and continue with the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. Though in the weekly Calendar we already started the Ordinary Time, Sundays we still celebrate the feasts of the Lord. In ordering the Calendar this way, the Church intends that we have to participate fully in the mystery of the Lord so that with the vigor of God’s presence we can continue our year. - Participation in the mysteries of Christian faith and the mystery of God is the only motive. The mystery of God is revealed and unveiled to the utmost level in the Paschal event of Jesus and in the sending of the Holy Spirit. We celebrated the paschal time and now it is time to celebrate the mysteries of God before we enter into the ordinary time of the year. Thus, we have the Solemnity of the Trinity in the last Sunday, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ today, and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the next. - With the celebration of these feasts we enter into the mystery of God so that we are transformed into testimonies of his presence to the world. Last Sunday, in the Feast of the Trinity, we have celebrated the abyss of love of God, One and Three. Today we are celebrating the Feast of Corpus Domini, as we often call it, in which we remember that the same abyss of love of God is manifested as something very near to us and as something very close to us. Love of God is made itself present to us. In other words, God made himself a person near to us and a presence amidst us. He has come so close to us so much so he offered himself to us as our food and drink. Old Covenant is perfected in the New Covenant - Today’s antiphon of the mass expresses the Lords providence: “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with the honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (Ps 81:16). We are nourished with the finest wheat and our thirst is quenched with the honey from the rock. The verse from the Psalm reveals the truth how God has taken the side of his people in their exodus. The people of Israel had suffered a lot because of the hunger and thirst and they invoked the Lord even to the extent of testing him. Lord, who is always attentive to the prayers of his people, had fed them: he fed his people with the finest of the food – Manna in the desert and with the tastiest drink – Water from the rock. - God, who has provided their physical nourishment to his people, has willed to fill them also with the spiritual nourishment of his Word. For this He has made an alliance (a covenant) with them. His covenant with his people was marked by the blood. This is narrated by today’s first reading: Moses takes the blood, sprinkles it first on the altar and then reads out the commandments of the covenant and when people have given their consent “their amen” to what is read, he sprinkles the blood also on them so that they become part of the covenant (Ex 14:6-8). This order of the alliance, (sprinkling of blood first on the altar, and only finally on the people), shows that it is God himself who takes the initiative to call people to himself, otherwise, by themselves people cannot climb to God because of their infidelity. He wills to be present among his people and he invites people to be open to this presence. - With the sprinkling of the blood the alliance was established between God and his people. Jesus too repeats the same order. First, he reveals Gods loving will to live among his people. Secondly, he invites his disciples to participate in that love by keeping his commandments. And finally, he establishes the new and eternal covenant between God and people by offering his own blood and by instituting the Eucharist. - The covenant Jesus establishes is new and eternal because it supersedes all the sacrifices of the Old Testament and transforms them into perfect sacrifice. The blood of the goat and rams of the Old Testament sacrifices is replaced by the “very blood” of Jesus himself. No more a third element of sacrifice but he himself becomes the victim for the covenant. This makes the New Testament alliance of God in Christ as an everlasting and perfect covenant. This is the mystery we are called to participate in so that we are filled with his presence and with his power to become his carriers of his love. Memorial of the Paschal Mystery – The Fruit of Redemption - The opening prayer of today’s celebration has twofold character: what Christ has left for us – the memorial, and what we receive from it – the benefits. The opening prayer of the mass goes this way: “Lord Jesus Christ, who has left to us the memorial of the Paschal mystery in the admirable sacrament of Eucharist, grant that we adore with the living faith, the mystery of your Body and your Blood, so that we feel within ourselves the benefits of the redemption.” The first part of the prayer reveals the mystery that Jesus has left with us his presence as the memorial celebration and the second part of the prayer is the invocation of faith so that we participate in the fruits of salvation. We reflect for a while on these two aspects of the prayer. - First – the memorial celebration of the paschal mystery: The Eucharist we celebrate every time in the Church is not a repetition of the sacrifice that is offered by Jesus on the cross. It is neither a simple repetition nor a simple acknowledgment. It is not even a mere recalling to our mind what Christ has done. It is more than that. Recalling has the presupposition of forgetting. Instead, it is a memory. It is a memory in which mind is always aware of what has already happened, thus eliminating the element of forgetting of it even for a single moment. Memory is something which remains always and in all times. It is the constant living of what has already happened as if it still takes place right now. It is a commemoration of what has been already accomplished once and for all. It is the same sacrifice of Jesus once fulfilled is now continued in his remembrance: “Do this in memory of me” is the command of Jesus on which the daily Eucharist is celebrated. The mystery is already fulfilled once and for all since Jesus has done it once and for all as the Letter to the Hebrews keeps it evident: “He entered into the sanctuary, once for all, not with the mediation of the blood of rams and goats but in the virtue of his own blood, to obtain in this manner the eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12). It cannot be repeated because it is not the blood the animals that was shed and which can often repeated but it was his own blood that was poured out. He knows that we cannot repeat it that’s the reason why he asked us to do it “in his memory”. Therefore, the Eucharist is the memorial celebration of the paschal mystery. - Second – the benefits of redemption: what was left with us by Jesus is the celebration of the Eucharist. We have to celebrate it with the living faith. The prayer helps us to learn to adore the body and blood of Christ. Adoring signifies both “admiration” and “mission”. Admiration of what has been presented to us should lead us to living of it as the part of our Christian mission. The fruits of the celebration do not come to us just with the admiration but with the vocation of it. We both profess our faith and testify it with our life. Both should go hand in hand or one should lead to the other: wonder of the mystery and living of the mystery or wonder leading to the living. - What are the benefits it fetches for us: first of all, by the celebration of the Eucharist, we become the real Eucharist; we become the mystery of love; we become like the one whom we receive in it: alter Christus – another Christ. Secondly, we participate in the promises of its nutrition. Jesus enumerates the fruit of the receiving of his body and blood. In his discourse about the “Living Bread” in St. John’s Gospel, sixth chapter (54-57), Jesus assures what will be the fruit of eating his body and drinking of his blood. He describes the four fruits: the one who eats his body and drinks his blood 1) has eternal life, 2) he will be raised up on the last day, 3) he lives in Jesus and Jesus lives in him and finally 4) he lives for him whom he receives. Jesus willed that he wants to be with them and in them in the form of their spiritual nutriment. For this he wills to make himself Eucharist in which he gives his body and pours out his blood. He calls his disciples to take part in this eternal meal. But at the end of the discourse we see many people walking away from him because they did not comprehend him well. They discussed and disputed among themselves with the questions: how can he give his flesh and blood? And how can we eat his flood and drink his blood? They did not want God to be with and within them. They did not imagine that God can present himself so closely to the people: to be with them and for them. They walked out because their intelligence could not reach God’s will of making alliance with his people in the Eucharist. Thus, the fruit of redemption is this: that our memorial celebration transforms us to be the living and visible Eucharistic presence in the world. Eucharist forms Christian and Christian forms the Eucharist - Eucharist is the fountain of Christian life: there is no Christian life without the celebration of the Eucharist. The true Christian takes his foundation and his force from it as if otherwise he has no breath for his life. This is true and the testimony for this is evident from the beginning of Christian faith and life: o The First Christian Communities gathered to “break the bread” – to celebrate Eucharist – for they knew that it is the only source which keeps them united and makes them a community (Acts 2:43-47 and 4:32-37). o The earlier martyrs testified it: “Without the Sunday’s celebration of the Eucharist we cannot live” was the testimony of the martyrs of Abitene. A martyr and a saint Felix believed that it is Eucharist which makes the Christian and Christian who makes the Eucharist. St. Leo the Great wrote that our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ transforms us into the one whom we receive. o Even in our times the Eucharist has the same unconditional and unchanging effect on the lives of the Christians. It forms the Church because it is only because of this celebration that all gather together. It is the life of the Christian community. It is for this reason, Vatican II exclaims Eucharist as the fountain and peak of all the sacraments. - We participate in the mystery of Eucharist: How blessed we are for we are given the possibility of embracing the Eucharistic presence of Jesus. When we participate in the Holy Mass, when we queue up for the communion reception, we touch Jesus by our hand, we taste him with our tongue, we receive him with our faith and finally we embrace him with our heart. This is the blessedness we are endowed with through our profession of Christian faith. We practically and really Touch, Taste, Feel and Embrace Jesus the Lord. This is the mystery. Still we become part of the mystery because he hold it tight in our heart. One the one hand, it is the will of Jesus to be with us and it was his desire from the beginning; it is for this he had assumed our human nature so that he can touch us (even wash our feet) and he can make himself our food and drink (even to become our body and blood). On the other hand, we are happy to receive the call of Jesus to participate in this mystery; unlike the hearers who went away failing to understand Jesus’ words (John 6:60-71), we have comprehended well his words and professed our faith like that of Peter “Lord, you have words of eternal life” (6:68) and finally become participants of the mystery of Eucharist. - Our preparation should be adequate: In order that our participation is worthy enough of the efficacy of the mystery we need to prepare ourselves well. There are many questions we have to ask ourselves before entering into the Church for the Holy Mass: where am I going? Am I really ready to receive him? Did I really prepare myself? How is my attitude towards receiving the Holy Communion? Am I worthy and well prepared? The preparation would be adequate for the reception of the mystery only when we are able to give answers for these questions. Our preparation should be sincere and authentic because it is not a joke or a game to receive the Lord himself into ourselves. It needs high attention and spiritual purification. We may receive the communion without good adequate preparation but what happens is: the communion becomes only a white host. It will not have any effect in our life just because we have not embraced it with worthy manner. Let us be alert and let us keep watching well our attitude and our presence around the altar. What we receive in the Eucharist should not go into misuse. We cannot give the bread from table to the dogs under it, Jesus warns. His warning is very applicable if we receive the “bread of life” with inadequate behavior. - Mystery is Open to us but the question is: Are we open to the mystery in the same manner? Let us celebrate the feast but let not the feast just a celebration but A Witness of Mystery of Eucharistic Love of Jesus. Our words must become actions. Our coming into the church must become our reaching out to other. On the entrance door of one of the Churches it is written: “Let us enter into the Church to love God and let us go away from the Church to love our neighbors”. Thus, it is we who have to become the “true Eucharist” and it is we who have to become “the real and visible presence of Jesus” in the Church and in the World.

CORPUS DOMINI: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – Year C (Gen 14:18-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Luke 9:11b-17) Theme: CORPUS DOMINI calls us to be the Loving Sacrifice to the World Reflection: We are called to be filled with the mystery of God - We have completed the Liturgical Time of Easter with the Ascension and with the Pentecost. We are supposed to re-start and continue with the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. Though in the weekly Calendar we already started the Ordinary Time, Sundays we still celebrate the feasts of the Lord. In ordering the Calendar this way, the Church intends that we have to participate fully in the mystery of the Lord so that with the vigor of God’s presence we can continue our year. - Participation in the mysteries of Christian faith and the mystery of God is the only motive. The mystery of God is revealed and unveiled to the utmost level in the Paschal event of Jesus and in the sending of the Holy Spirit. We celebrated the paschal time and now it is time to celebrate the mysteries of God before we enter into the ordinary time of the year. Thus, we have the Solemnity of the Trinity in the last Sunday, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ today, and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the next. - With the celebration of these feasts we enter into the mystery of God so that we are transformed into testimonies of his presence to the world. Last Sunday, in the Feast of the Trinity, we have celebrated the abyss of love of God, One and Three. Today we are celebrating the Feast of Corpus Domini, as we often call it, in which we remember that the same abyss of love of God is manifested as something very near to us and as something very close to us. Love of God is made itself present to us. In other words, God made himself a person near to us and a presence amidst us. He has come so close to us so much so he offered himself to us as our food and drink. Old Covenant is perfected in the New Covenant - Today’s antiphon of the mass expresses the Lords providence: “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with the honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (Ps 81:16). We are nourished with the finest wheat and our thirst is quenched with the honey from the rock. The verse from the Psalm reveals the truth how God has taken the side of his people in their exodus. The people of Israel had suffered a lot because of the hunger and thirst and they invoked the Lord even to the extent of testing him. Lord, who is always attentive to the prayers of his people, had fed them: he fed his people with the finest of the food – Manna in the desert and with the tastiest drink – Water from the rock. - God, who has provided their physical nourishment to his people, has willed to fill them also with the spiritual nourishment of his Word. For this He has made an alliance (a covenant) with them. His covenant with his people was marked by the blood. This is narrated by today’s first reading: Moses takes the blood, sprinkles it first on the altar and then reads out the commandments of the covenant and when people have given their consent “their amen” to what is read, he sprinkles the blood also on them so that they become part of the covenant (Ex 14:6-8). This order of the alliance, (sprinkling of blood first on the altar, and only finally on the people), shows that it is God himself who takes the initiative to call people to himself, otherwise, by themselves people cannot climb to God because of their infidelity. He wills to be present among his people and he invites people to be open to this presence. - With the sprinkling of the blood the alliance was established between God and his people. Jesus too repeats the same order. First, he reveals Gods loving will to live among his people. Secondly, he invites his disciples to participate in that love by keeping his commandments. And finally, he establishes the new and eternal covenant between God and people by offering his own blood and by instituting the Eucharist. - The covenant Jesus establishes is new and eternal because it supersedes all the sacrifices of the Old Testament and transforms them into perfect sacrifice. The blood of the goat and rams of the Old Testament sacrifices is replaced by the “very blood” of Jesus himself. No more a third element of sacrifice but he himself becomes the victim for the covenant. This makes the New Testament alliance of God in Christ as an everlasting and perfect covenant. This is the mystery we are called to participate in so that we are filled with his presence and with his power to become his carriers of his love. Memorial of the Paschal Mystery – The Fruit of Redemption - The opening prayer of today’s celebration has twofold character: what Christ has left for us – the memorial, and what we receive from it – the benefits. The opening prayer of the mass goes this way: “Lord Jesus Christ, who has left to us the memorial of the Paschal mystery in the admirable sacrament of Eucharist, grant that we adore with the living faith, the mystery of your Body and your Blood, so that we feel within ourselves the benefits of the redemption.” The first part of the prayer reveals the mystery that Jesus has left with us his presence as the memorial celebration and the second part of the prayer is the invocation of faith so that we participate in the fruits of salvation. We reflect for a while on these two aspects of the prayer. - First – the memorial celebration of the paschal mystery: The Eucharist we celebrate every time in the Church is not a repetition of the sacrifice that is offered by Jesus on the cross. It is neither a simple repetition nor a simple acknowledgment. It is not even a mere recalling to our mind what Christ has done. It is more than that. Recalling has the presupposition of forgetting. Instead, it is a memory. It is a memory in which mind is always aware of what has already happened, thus eliminating the element of forgetting of it even for a single moment. Memory is something which remains always and in all times. It is the constant living of what has already happened as if it still takes place right now. It is a commemoration of what has been already accomplished once and for all. It is the same sacrifice of Jesus once fulfilled is now continued in his remembrance: “Do this in memory of me” is the command of Jesus on which the daily Eucharist is celebrated. The mystery is already fulfilled once and for all since Jesus has done it once and for all as the Letter to the Hebrews keeps it evident: “He entered into the sanctuary, once for all, not with the mediation of the blood of rams and goats but in the virtue of his own blood, to obtain in this manner the eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12). It cannot be repeated because it is not the blood the animals that was shed and which can often repeated but it was his own blood that was poured out. He knows that we cannot repeat it that’s the reason why he asked us to do it “in his memory”. Therefore, the Eucharist is the memorial celebration of the paschal mystery. - Second – the benefits of redemption: what was left with us by Jesus is the celebration of the Eucharist. We have to celebrate it with the living faith. The prayer helps us to learn to adore the body and blood of Christ. Adoring signifies both “admiration” and “mission”. Admiration of what has been presented to us should lead us to living of it as the part of our Christian mission. The fruits of the celebration do not come to us just with the admiration but with the vocation of it. We both profess our faith and testify it with our life. Both should go hand in hand or one should lead to the other: wonder of the mystery and living of the mystery or wonder leading to the living. - What are the benefits it fetches for us: first of all, by the celebration of the Eucharist, we become the real Eucharist; we become the mystery of love; we become like the one whom we receive in it: alter Christus – another Christ. Secondly, we participate in the promises of its nutrition. Jesus enumerates the fruit of the receiving of his body and blood. In his discourse about the “Living Bread” in St. John’s Gospel, sixth chapter (54-57), Jesus assures what will be the fruit of eating his body and drinking of his blood. He describes the four fruits: the one who eats his body and drinks his blood 1) has eternal life, 2) he will be raised up on the last day, 3) he lives in Jesus and Jesus lives in him and finally 4) he lives for him whom he receives. Jesus willed that he wants to be with them and in them in the form of their spiritual nutriment. For this he wills to make himself Eucharist in which he gives his body and pours out his blood. He calls his disciples to take part in this eternal meal. But at the end of the discourse we see many people walking away from him because they did not comprehend him well. They discussed and disputed among themselves with the questions: how can he give his flesh and blood? And how can we eat his flood and drink his blood? They did not want God to be with and within them. They did not imagine that God can present himself so closely to the people: to be with them and for them. They walked out because their intelligence could not reach God’s will of making alliance with his people in the Eucharist. Thus, the fruit of redemption is this: that our memorial celebration transforms us to be the living and visible Eucharistic presence in the world. Eucharist forms Christian and Christian forms the Eucharist - Eucharist is the fountain of Christian life: there is no Christian life without the celebration of the Eucharist. The true Christian takes his foundation and his force from it as if otherwise he has no breath for his life. This is true and the testimony for this is evident from the beginning of Christian faith and life: o The First Christian Communities gathered to “break the bread” – to celebrate Eucharist – for they knew that it is the only source which keeps them united and makes them a community (Acts 2:43-47 and 4:32-37). o The earlier martyrs testified it: “Without the Sunday’s celebration of the Eucharist we cannot live” was the testimony of the martyrs of Abitene. A martyr and a saint Felix believed that it is Eucharist which makes the Christian and Christian who makes the Eucharist. St. Leo the Great wrote that our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ transforms us into the one whom we receive. o Even in our times the Eucharist has the same unconditional and unchanging effect on the lives of the Christians. It forms the Church because it is only because of this celebration that all gather together. It is the life of the Christian community. It is for this reason, Vatican II exclaims Eucharist as the fountain and peak of all the sacraments. - We participate in the mystery of Eucharist: How blessed we are for we are given the possibility of embracing the Eucharistic presence of Jesus. When we participate in the Holy Mass, when we queue up for the communion reception, we touch Jesus by our hand, we taste him with our tongue, we receive him with our faith and finally we embrace him with our heart. This is the blessedness we are endowed with through our profession of Christian faith. We practically and really Touch, Taste, Feel and Embrace Jesus the Lord. This is the mystery. Still we become part of the mystery because he hold it tight in our heart. One the one hand, it is the will of Jesus to be with us and it was his desire from the beginning; it is for this he had assumed our human nature so that he can touch us (even wash our feet) and he can make himself our food and drink (even to become our body and blood). On the other hand, we are happy to receive the call of Jesus to participate in this mystery; unlike the hearers who went away failing to understand Jesus’ words (John 6:60-71), we have comprehended well his words and professed our faith like that of Peter “Lord, you have words of eternal life” (6:68) and finally become participants of the mystery of Eucharist. - Our preparation should be adequate: In order that our participation is worthy enough of the efficacy of the mystery we need to prepare ourselves well. There are many questions we have to ask ourselves before entering into the Church for the Holy Mass: where am I going? Am I really ready to receive him? Did I really prepare myself? How is my attitude towards receiving the Holy Communion? Am I worthy and well prepared? The preparation would be adequate for the reception of the mystery only when we are able to give answers for these questions. Our preparation should be sincere and authentic because it is not a joke or a game to receive the Lord himself into ourselves. It needs high attention and spiritual purification. We may receive the communion without good adequate preparation but what happens is: the communion becomes only a white host. It will not have any effect in our life just because we have not embraced it with worthy manner. Let us be alert and let us keep watching well our attitude and our presence around the altar. What we receive in the Eucharist should not go into misuse. We cannot give the bread from table to the dogs under it, Jesus warns. His warning is very applicable if we receive the “bread of life” with inadequate behavior. - Mystery is Open to us but the question is: Are we open to the mystery in the same manner? Let us celebrate the feast but let not the feast just a celebration but A Witness of Mystery of Eucharistic Love of Jesus. Our words must become actions. Our coming into the church must become our reaching out to other. On the entrance door of one of the Churches it is written: “Let us enter into the Church to love God and let us go away from the Church to love our neighbors”. Thus, it is we who have to become the “true Eucharist” and it is we who have to become “the real and visible presence of Jesus” in the Church and in the World.