Emmanuel
communion, Pope Francis draws on the multiplication of the loaves and
the importance of solidarity to fight world hunger. He proclaims, “Jesus,
this evening too, gives himself to us in the Eucharist, shares in our journey,
indeed he makes himself food, the true food that sustains us.”15 The food
that is Christ should call one to consistent service for the kingdom of God.
The connection between multiplying food as a community and Christ
becoming food that sustains a community should not be dismissed. In
accepting this food, the Eucharist, the human heart is transformed into
one that seeks to serve, just as Christ served when he fed the people.
Pope Francis has stated, “The Eucharist is the sacrament of communion that
brings us out of individualism” to solidarity with all humanity.
Conclusion
When Pope Francis met with students from Jesuit schools from Albania
and Italy on June 7, 2013, he answered questions about the faith and
his own life. In the final question, a young man asked the pope how
young people can live with poverty in the world. Pope Francis replied
that poverty demands that people show hope. Citing a letter by Pedro
Arrupe, he stated that Father Arrupe taught him that it is impossible to
talk about poverty without an experience of the poor. The pope then
declares, “Poverty is the flesh of the poor Jesus in this hungry child, in the
sick person, in the unjust social structures.”16 The hope, though, is in the
flesh of the suffering Jesus, the Eucharist. Arrupe’s eucharistic experiences
were a testimony to the power of the Eucharist over injustice, suffering,
and world hunger, and after a year as pope, Francis’ pontificate has
resembled this insight from his former superior general as he is guided
by Christ and sustained by the Eucharist on the same mission of service.
Notes
1
Pope Francis was formerly known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Father Arrupe began
serving as superior general in 1965 and held that post until his death in 1983. Bergoglio
entered the Jesuit novitiate on March 11, 1958, taking his first vows in 1960.
2
Ronald Modras, Ignatian Humanism: A Dynamic Spirituality for the 21st Century
(Chicago: Loyola Press, 2004), 249.
3
Pedro Arrupe, SJ, “The Eucharist and Youth,” in Other Apostolates Today, ed. Jerome
Aixala, SJ (Saint Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1981), 290.
4
Pedro Arrupe, SJ, One Jesuit’s Spiritual Journey: Autobiographical Conversations with
Claude Dietsch, SJ. trans. Ruth Bradley (Saint Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1986),
34.
5
ibid.
296