Holy Thursday 2008

As a priest over a number of years I have often been called to give Holy Communion to children for the first time. I have often been struck by the great efforts that people go to make it as perfect as it can be. Many weeks and months are spent in preparing the children. Parents present the children in the smartest dress possible. They are cleaned to an inch of their life. Family and friends come, sometimes from the greatest of distances, to be with them. All of this effort is expended because it expresses the importance that we attach to the Eucharist. Christ our Saviour promised to be present in the bread and the cup filled with wine to nourish our souls. Is it not right that we should welcome Christ our Lord in the most fitting way that we can on our First Communion day and in anticipation of the many communions that we will have in the rest of our lives.

As a priest over a number of years I have also been called on to give Holy Communion to people for the last time. I have often been struck by these occasions and how moving they can be. A final reception of Holy Communion, often their whole lives have been marked with deep faithfulness to Holy Communion, they have never missed a Sunday Mass and often times they have received Holy Communion every day of their lives. Even when things have not gone right for them, and maybe they have strayed a bit, this final communion means everything for them: forgiveness, peace, the hope of heaven (did not Our Lord forgive the repentant thief; did not he teach the great sermon on the mount; did he not tell the great parable of the prodigal son.) Often it can be the most moving of occasions – everything that you have ever been taught about the presence of Christ in your head, you know in your heart. Christ is truly present body, blood, soul and divinity in that place.

As a priest over a number of years I have also often been surprised by situations that I have found myself in with the Eucharist. One Friday night, I had a feeling that I ought to go and see a parishioner who had been sick, she had moved to her daughters and after finding the place, found her in bed comfortable and at rest, I was able to give her communion and suddenly within half hour she had passed away. It was as if God had meant you to be there at that moment, that you had been an instrument in his hand, a channel of his grace, it was as if he was using your life for his own purpose. It was as if God meant me to be there. To give one last grace to this person. To help this person on their way. To show one last sign of God’s love to this person before they left this world.

How often this experience has been repeated in my life, that God has meant me to be there with this sacrament of the Eucharist. How often I have noticed it gives to people who are afraid, courage. How often it gives peace to people who are troubled. How often it gives answers to people who are filled with questions. How often it gives comfort to people who are alone. I have come to realise that this Sacrament satisfies the deepest hunger of the human heart. The thing that I have noticed in the person who receives this sacrament with a pure heart is that the love of God grows within them. They cannot help knowing about the love of God and they cannot help wanting to love God in return.

The Eucharist is a mystery of grace when you think of it. That God who is so mighty could deign to be in this bread and wine. That God could make of something so small something that is mighty. That he could wish his great act of salvation on the cross be present in this mystery. That he could offer this to a small child on his/her first holy communion day and assurance that he would always be with them. That he could offer his grace in the last moments of a person’s life. That he could wish to be present in the most unexpected moments of a person’s life for their comfort and strength. It is a mystery of grace that is woven and interweaved into our lives. Through this mystery God’s grace is present in our life, right to the very end.

Doesn’t it always remind us of how much God loves us. That he loves us so much that he could wish to give us this great gift to remind us that he is always with us and will always love us until the end of time.

In the Upper Room when he sat down with his apostles, the Lord took bread and the cup fill with wine and said this is my body and this is my blood. So often the apostles must have wondered what he meant. But on the following day his body would be broken and his blood out poured. This bread and wine would become his body and blood in the Mass. People could touch his broken body, could touch the sacrifice of Calvary, could experience the grace of forgiveness and redemption.

As we come here this evening is there not in all of our hearts a desire to receive this sacrament more worthily. Do we not wish we were more attentive? Do we not wish we were more appreciative, more grateful? Do we not wish that we didn’t take it all for granted? That our hearts weren’t so cold? That we could have deeper reverence? That we hadn’t made so many poor communions? That we hadn’t come forward with sin in our hearts? We hadn’t come forward with so many other thoughts crowding us out. Is there not in our hearts a desire to approach the Eucharist with more reverence and more real worship. Not thinking so much what we can get but a desire to love and please God.

You cannot but be moved at this great gift. In the smallness of the Eucharist is the greatness of God’s love. Has not God placed a desire in our heart when we are loved to love in return. And how much greater is this desire when we know we are loved by God, do we not simply want to love in return.

For me who is a priest I know that my life is bound up with the Eucharist. As the apostles celebrated the Last Supper in the upper room they were given in a share in the priesthood by the washing of feet. So my life has been given a share in his priestly life, and it is bound is bound to the Eucharist where I am asked to be priest to act for God before men and to represent God to man. As I stand at the altar I can see for myself all that is being promised, a life of grace for all who receive this sacrament.

What a privilege it is to approach the altar and act in person Christi. Through my voice, through my actions, the Eucharist becomes the body and blood of Christ. What an amazing thing it is to see your life used as an instrument in the hands of the Lord for his work and his plan. What a privilege it is to be a priest: to act for God before men, to represent men to God. top Comment on this Homily