The Eucharist defines what the church is! Church is communion, [communion is from
Latin cum+unio, signifying common responsibility, intimate union, participation, interrelationship etc.]. Christ’s command at the Last Supper, ‘do this in memory of me’
signifies his desire to be in communion with us, remain in us and we remain in him.
Faith in Christ and sharing the body and blood of Christ, make the same Christ present
in all who participate in Eucharist. This makes the church Catholic or universal. From
the table of Eucharist/communion we are sent forth to the table of the world for
communion of friendship, for giving and loving as Christ did. At the Last Supper Jesus
said: ‘wash each others feet’. Feet is to stand, to walk and that is to appreciate one’s
life as gift. Washing each others feet is to help others to flourish their lives, be
companions on the journey with the suffering, to become a shelter, healer, food and
drink for the hungry and thirsty, justice for the injured, to be courage and hope for the
weak and vulnerable and to let the gospel shine through us! Who would we not let
come to the table of Christ? Jesus said, ‘I have come not for the healthy but for the
sick; the food I give you to make you well is my body and blood’.
We can speak of two dimensions of the Eucharist, like the cross: vertical and horizontal
dimensions. The vertical is Christ’s descending presence in human history, in the
Eucharist and beyond this world in eternity. The horizontal dimension of the Eucharist
is Christ’s ascending presence in and through us, unifying all in him. Communion is
one’s personal relationship and friendship with Christ but if that is only about me and
Christ, our reception of communion diminishes its purpose, richness and removes the
horizontal dimension of Eucharist. Paul warns the Corinthians their attitude towards
fellow Christians, division and discrimination in the church, in 1Corinthians 11, and
turning Eucharist into a food of discrimination in the church. Christ’s sacrifice, his act of
self-giving is made present in the Eucharist. The many crushed wheat and grapes that
are transformed to become body and blood of Christ represent us and that make all
one in Christ-as Paul says in Galatians 3:28: ‘there is no Jew, Greek, Gentile, male or
female-all are one in Christ’. Our act of self-giving softens our hardness of heart and
removes prejudices and all malice. Sharing in Christ’s body and blood is sharing/
communion in Christ’s act of forgiving, reconciling and loving.
Eucharist is called the pasch or passover of Christ, which is the movement of Christ in
us and in all that exists. In the bible, ‘to exist’ means to be present, to belong, be at
one’s disposal and to possess. When we say bread and wine are real presence of
Christ, it means Christ truly exists in the consecrated bread and wine. Our communion
is then being possessed by Christ, belonging to Christ. This makes us belonging to
each other and that we are at each other’s disposal-explains the commandment, ‘love
your neighbor as yourself’. When we love and respect all God’s creation, Christ is
moving in us and through us and uniting all in him with his presence.13th century
Dominican monk and theologian, Meister Eckhart wrote: ‘every single creature is full of
God. If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature-even a caterpillar, I would never
have to prepare a sermon-so full of God is every creature’. Our communion with Christ
is to hold everything in love in the heart to see God’s presence in every creature and
relate to the ugly and unjust as what need to be healed and made beautiful. There is a
saying; ‘when strife is inside, love goes outside; when love is inside, strife goes
outside’. Our communion with Christ is, inviting love to be inside us, which enables us
to work for unity and fellowship with all God’s creation.