(The Nationalist, 11 August 2006)
There was a character in the bible called Elijah, and it says of him that, on one occasion, he had stopped eating, was angry with everyone, was lonely and tired. The result? Depression. Sometimes, we’re a bit like him, and our pilgrimage through life becomes weary. The journey to God sometimes seems like an uphill climb, like the last part of Croagh Patrick, where you take one step forward and slide most of the step back. Elijah said, ‘Lord, I have had enough. Take my life’. I know what you mean, Elijah. We need something, or someone, to sustain us. Does faith offer anything?
The heart of the Christian faith is not a church, a theology, a moral teaching, or a sacramental system, but a person. God sent us a person, not “the Christian message”. God sent Jesus, a person like ourselves, to be a guide and companion on the way, our go-between with God. But Jesus is no longer with us as he was in Palestine two millennia ago. So he gave us a gift to sustain us – the Eucharist, which is not a thing, even the most holy thing, but an event, an occasion, a celebration, a union, a relationship with Jesus himself. Jesus is God’s gift of himself, God’s self-giving. God is love, and the nature of love is to give of itself. Jesus is God’s love made personal, embodied in human form.
The Eucharist is the sacred sign of God’s presence among us; when we make communion, we enter into God and God into us. The words “Holy Communion” mean “a holy union with” – with whom? – with God. It creates a mutual indwelling. In it, God gives himself to us and asks us to give ourselves to him, to commit ourselves to God with heart, mind and soul.
Communion is meant to be a sacred occasion, a blest event, and therefore to be approached with faith and reverence. It is the task of every person present to create a sense of the sacred around the event, so that a person who makes Communion will be able to leave with a sense of having been in the presence of God. Communion is the living presence of God within us. The effectiveness of any sacrament depends on the dispositions of those receiving it. A sacrament received with faith and reverence deepens and strengthens the life of faith; otherwise, it may have little effect.
The Eucharist is not only a sign of unity with God, but a source, too. It brings about what is signifies. It is God’s greatest gift to us. Let us treasure it, and it will sustain us as we make our journey to God.
For those in a hurry: ‘An incessant “progress”, never ending in contentment, means a condemnation of all people to a state of irremediable misery’. (Ananda Coomaraswamy)