5) JESUS GIVES US

THE EUCHARIST

What were the great Masses you were at?

We all eat.

We all need food to survive.

We all need to enjoy meals together to thrive.

It’s not good to eat alone.

We long for union.

We need communion.

We need to sit down together at the family table.

We all need signs of peace.

We need to be held.

Babies die if they are not held and hugged.

Marriages die if there isn’t love.

People become strange if they are not in relationships.

As the first book of the Bible, Genesis, puts it, “It’s not good to be alone.”

Hell is cold.

Hunger is hell.

We starve to death, if we don’t eat.

It’s heaven, when we enjoy a good meal together.

It’s hell, when we are stuck at a table with someone we don’t like.

When we don’t like each other, we don’t like to eat with each other.

Weddings have separate tables.

Marriages that are breaking up have separate beds.

Okay, sometimes it’s because the other snores – or is on a different time schedule – or one wants the window open and the other wants it close. Not everyone likes it hot.

When we celebrate, we celebrate with food. We can’t picture a picnic, a tailgate party, a 50th anniversary, a funeral, without food.

We can’t picture a wedding without the wedding cake and the best man making a toast holding a glass of champagne.

The Israelites celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread and the 4 glasses of wine.

Jesus celebrated his last free night with his disciples at a meal. He said some great things at his Last Supper. “Love one another.” “Wash each other’s feet.” “Greater love than this no one has than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

At that meal he took bread and wine and said, “This is my body. I am giving it to you. Take and eat.” “This is my blood. I am pouring it out for you. Take and drink.”

And we have been doing this in memory of him ever since.