3. Worthy is the Lamb
In the Book of Revelation, traditionally
accredited by the Church to the apostle and evangelist John, the seer presents to us in
prophecy and in vision the fulfillment of our salvation won by the Lamb. We are thus allowed
beforehand to glimpse the heavenly liturgy in which we one day hope to share. In one
scene of great energy and glory we read, "They (the angels, living creatures and elders)
were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: 'Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honour and glory and blessing.' Then
I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea,
everything in the universe cry out: 'To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing
and honour, glory and might forever and ever.' The four living creatures answered, 'Amen,'
and the elders fell down and worshipped." (Rv.5:11-14)
Wait though we must for the experience of
the vigorous joy of this eternal worship, the Church, nonetheless, in the
development of her eucharistic piety found ways by which we could
anticipate it already here below.
From ancient times the eucharist had been
reserved apart from Mass under the species of bread so that it could be brought
to the sick and particularly to they dying for whom it served as
viaticum, that is "food for the journey". This reservation of the
eucharist meant, then, that the Church had always in her midst
the Real Presence, the Blessed Sacrament, her Lord of Glory. How
could she fail to come and attend upon him with praise and
adoration?
Thus, progressively, in the Church's
devotional life there developed as a central orientation the honouring of the
eucharistic Lord in the tabernacles of her most majestic
cathedrals as well as in those of her humblest chapels. Visits to
the Blessed Sacarment, Benediction, Holy Thursday processions,
Forty Hours, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the "Body of
Christ"), lay and religious communities organized around
perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, all these attest to
the grace of the Holy Spirity shaping the heart of the Church
with a eucharist-centered love of her Lord. The King is in our
midst and awaits us with love; we may have audience at any time.
Sometimes we shall honour him with shared public devotions, at
other times alone, silently, heart speaking to heart.
"I will set my Dwelling among you and not
disdain you. Ever present in your midst, I will be your God and you will be my
people.... " (Lv. 26:11-12). The relentless love of Christ, his
"eager desire" to be with us, remains ardent even when his
disciples love grows lukewarm, even cold. In much of the
secularized West, reverence for and devotion to the Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament has waned in recent times. In neglected
tabernacles there seems realized again that emptying of himself
by Jesus, that humbling of himself of which the Apostle Paul
speaks: "Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he
humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a
cross." (Phil. 2:7-8) Yet even there, even when he is overlooked,
passed by, abandoned by however many, Christ remains with the
offer of his love. That offer will be close at hand until the day
God exalts him and every knee bends "of those in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confesses that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:9-11)
4. What is the Holy Eucharist
The Holy Eucharist is the sacramental
renewal, the making present under signs of bread and wine, of the sacrificial death
of Jesus, the Lamb of God, by whose blood we are delivered from
sin and death. The Holy Eucharist is the Supper of the Lamb, the
Holy Communion in which Jesus feeds us with his own eternal life
and gives us in our very flesh the first payment of everlasting
life. And the Holy Eucharist is the Blessed Sacrament, the Real
Presence of our Lord in the tabernacles on our altars where he,
though King of Glory, humbly and patiently awaits our adoration
and praise, where he awaits the intimate visits of those he has
called friends.
Surely, this gift is such that it prompts us
to borrow in joyful gratitude the words of moses to the chosen people of old:
"What great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the
Lord, our God, is to us.... (Dt. 4:7)
Fr. Jerome Esper, C.S.C.