Emmanuel
EUCHARIST: LIVING & EVANGELIZING
Insights on the Institution
of the Eucharist
by Niranjan Rodrigo
The Eucharist is spiritual food and drink for pilgrims and the medicine of immortality.
It brings forgiveness of sins and makes us worthy to sit at the table of divine
intimacy.
Father Niranjan
Rodrigo is
the pastor of
Saint Joan of
Arc Church,
Sloatsburg,
New York. He
previously taught
at Saint Joseph’s
Seminary in
Yonkers, New
York, and
received his
doctorate
from Fordham
University.
E
very
Sunday,
when we receive the body and blood of
Christ,
do we
experience something in ourselves that we cannot describe and
feel grateful to God and united with one another? Perhaps we may
not want to think deeper about the significance of what we receive.
Some of us may simply fulfill an obligation and leave. Or some may
slip in and out of church, giving the bare level of involvement and
response at Mass. Maybe some wonder, “Why bother going to Mass at
all if we can worship God anywhere?” And lastly, some people say: “I
don’t get anything out of it.”
Amid these different feelings and reactions, the celebration of
the Eucharist can become a more meaningful event if we grow in
understanding the history, theology, and spirituality behind it.
From the earliest days of Christianity, the followers of Christ have
brought their deepest needs and desires to the table of the Lord. They
believed they could unite their daily lives and struggles to the great
saving act of Jesus before the Father (Heb 7:25, 10:1-22). This is one of
the reasons why we pray for the dead at Mass. We place our departed
brothers and sisters before the God of mercy in the midst of reliving
the work of our redemption in the Eucharist. We bring everything we
are and have to the table of the Lord, confident that we will be heard.
The Eucharist has been the central act of worship of Christians, and
the center of their lives, since the time of the apostles. Apart from
the events of the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, no scene is
more enshrined in Christian memory than the Last Supper, the final
meal Jesus shared with his disciples. The core rituals of most Christian
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