What Do You See When You Look at the Eucharist?

“The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” (1 Cor 11:23-24 RSV-CE)

The current phase of the Eucharistic Revival in the U.S. began on June 12, 2023, the Feast of Corpus Christi, the body of Christ. As Catholics we believe that the consecrated host is the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when the priest holds up that host or when you look at the sacred host in the monstrance at adoration, what do you see?

I’ll tell you what I see. I see our blessed Lord, his risen and glorified body. In my mind’s eye I have the image of Jesus in the upper room, the doors locked for fear of the Jews and the Apostles and disciples gathered together. This time Thomas is there. Jesus shows Thomas his sacred wounds and tells him to put his fingers in the holes and his hand in his side (Jn 20:26-27, RSV-CE). Like Thomas I am in awe, and on my knees, I say, “My Lord and my God!”

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est

Every celebration of the Eucharist, every adoration event, indeed every mass is an encounter with the risen Christ. If we don’t see that and know that, then we need to be reeducated. We need to reread Chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel. One of our goals is to become little Christs. One Protestant scholar criticized Catholics by saying that by believing the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, when we eat it, we would become Christ. While trying to deny Catholicism he was actually affirming it. This is exactly what Jesus intended. Jesus in his last supper discourse said exactly this, “that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us, ... that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me ...” (Jn 17:21-23, RSV-CE).