Volume 19, Issue 11-12

The time spent in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is a special time, if you really realise in whose company you are. It is not only that we are in the presence of Jesus, but we are in the presence of Him who loves us so much that He is there inviting us to share His life with Him. It is what He intended to do when He said during the Passover meal He celebrated with the apostles the evening He was betrayed: “This is my Body and this is my Blood: do this as a memorial of Me.”

Jesus does not only invite us to His table, but He shares Himself with us at that table. He wanted us to be with Him.

He said “This is my Body, this is my Blood” because He wished Himself to be with us. When we answer ‘Amen’, when we receive Him, we should do that so as to confirm that we are aware of what is happening – that we are being together with Him.

Long ago, St Augustine drew the same conclusion. He wrote a text that is repeated in the official Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997):

“If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your Sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your Sacrament that you receive. To that which you are you respond ‘Amen’ (‘yes, it is true’) and by responding to it, you assent to it. For you hear the words ‘the Body of Christ’ and respond ‘Amen’. Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be true.” (1396).

Being a member of His body and sharing His Spirit means also sharing in His mission. It is a privilege to be with Him. His presence in our lives is our strength, our help and our comfort in our service to the mission He left us here on earth.

As pilgrims on a spiritual journey to World Youth Day 2008 (WYD08), we are already saying ‘yes’ to Him and the mission He is calling us towards through the WYD08 theme, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8), is God’s calling for us to come closer to Him, and then manifest our faith and become evangelists of His love in our own lives.

Let us remember that each time we look upon Him in the Blessed Sacrament, He raises us up into deeper union with Himself and with His merciful and redeeming love for the whole world. A love, that brought Him to the Cross, where He overcame it, victoriously rising from death.

It should bring us closer to the day when all things are made new, and “every knee will bend and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord”.

In the Blessed Sacrament the reign of God’s love is already in our midst. His presence is the guarantee of His promise: “Now I am making the whole of creation new” (Rev 21:5).