Fr. Richard OMOLADE

The Gospel of John chapter 6 is devoted to the discourse on the Bread of Life that Jesus promised to give believers in Him. The Bread of Life is another name of the Holy Eucharist. In that discourse, Jesus was vehement in declaring that the Bread he would give is His flesh and the drink is His blood. It is a remarkable statement at that time as it is today, just as it has never ceased to be controversial.

How can Jesus give us his flesh to eat? But He meant what He said and said what He meant. He would not water down this truth and true believers in Jesus have embraced this from that moment till now. When Christians celebrate the Holy Eucharist, they celebrate God’s love for humanity that made Him come down among us.  The word took flesh and lived among us. In the Eucharist, the Lord of all life chose to give us Himself as our food and unite us to him.

At the Last Super, Christ took bread and gave thanks, that is how we came about the expression Eucharist, and broke it among his apostles and told them, “This is my body|, the same with the wine, He said “This is my blood.” Catholics have always professed their belief that the Holy Communion is not just something representing Christ, but the true body and blood of Jesus. Here lies the difference between Catholics and Christians of other denominations.

Catholics celebrate Mass and do not attend a service, because they know that at Mass, heaven is joined to earth, and we encounter God in a very vivid and special way.  In this encounter, human beings embrace the God of life who pours Himself into them and we eat the bread of angels, and our life is nourished. The Holy Eucharist has nourished many souls since the start of the Church. When the sick receive the Body of Christ, He pours Himself into them and they are healed, when the dying are fed with it, it is called Viaticum, that is, food for the journey. Yes, dying souls need that spiritual nourishment that strengthens them for the journey to eternal life. It is called Holy Communion because the one who gives Himself to us is indeed holy and if we partake of Him as we should, we also become like Him, holy. It is Eucharist because, how do we come about this great mystery if it has not been given to us by God. Since we have received the Body of Christ as a gift, the right attitude is one of appreciation, hence we give thanks, just as Christ Himself gave thanks when He first took bread and blessed it.

The Mass then is the greatest act of thanksgiving. We give thanks to God, for giving Himself to us. We give thanks for the gift of life and for being found worthy to be fed with the bread of life, a food that the angels would love to caress daily and are not opportune to do some. Mere mortals that we are, before God in Holy Communion, we revere this great sacrament, we revere Him who is hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. This belief is unique to the Catholic Church since the other Christian bodies that celebrate communion service assert that the Communion is essentially symbolic, by which they mean that the bread represents Christ and is not ontologically Christ. But the Catholic Church says following the invocation of the Holy Spirit on the species of bread and wine, what we call transubstantiation takes place. In other words, while we see what looks, feels and taste like bread, it is no longer bread, it has changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. This is a great mystery, and we profess with St. Thomas Aquinas, that where our senses are defective, faith should take over, so that we can behold Jesus as He really is in the Holy Eucharist.

The Holy Eucharist is the gift per excellence, to be received with love and treasured for all eternity. No wonder, the Holy Eucharist is also reserved in a special tabernacle in Catholic Churches and Chapels.  To remind Catholics of the abiding presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle, a special red light is hung close to the Tabernacle, a powerful indicator that Jesus is present in the Holy species and is reserved in that Church. It is also a veritable Catholic tradition to genuflect on entering a Church where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. The genuflection is a way of paying homage to the Lord in the Tabernacle.

The Church is also blessed with soul lifting hymns that saints have left us. These songs help to direct our attention to the immensity of God’s love. The language of love is song and through our songs we raise up to heaven our gratitude and celebrate our faith with love and devotion. Since it is God that satisfies the hungry heart with gifts of finest wheat, and the food of angel, it is indeed fitting to cry out with faith O bone Jesu, exaudi me, ne permittas me separari a te. Yes, O good Jesus, hear me, never permit me to be separated from Thee.