Easter and the Eucharist
Jesus endured the cross to redeem us, and he shares his life with us through the Eucharist. To gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the Eucharist we can follow the sometimes miraculous lives of the Saints.
St. Anthony of Padua had a great zeal for the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. In Rimini a man named Bononillo openly mocked people who believed that Jesus was truly present in bread and wine. Bononillo was as stubborn as a mule.
St. Anthony challenged the wealthy merchant. "If the mule you ride adores the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, will you believe in the truth of the Blessed Sacrament?" Bononillo agreed but insisted they would starve his mule for three days.
St. Anthony fasted for three days, and Bononillo in turn told everyone in the town that the mule would think nothing of the Eucharist and ravenously eat the pile of hay.
Bononillo brought his mule and placed the hay under the mule's nose. St. Anthony stood a distance away with the Holy Eucharist. Defying all odds, the mule turned his head and walking over to Saint Anthony, bent his front legs and knelt in adoration.
Bononillo immediately knelt down and professed his belief in the truth of the Real Presence. (Aletia.org).
St John Vianney once engaged two protestant ministers in a discussion about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The saint asked, "Do you believe that a piece of bread can detach itself and go, of its accord, to rest on the tongue of someone who approaches to receive it?”
“No, bread couldn’t do that," replied one of them.
He paused for a minute, closed his eyes, then began: "I am not saying that this happened somewhere else, I am saying that it happened to me. At the moment this man approached to receive communion, the holy host left my fingers, when I was still a good distance from him, and went of its own accord to rest on this man's tongue."
The two pastors agreed that such a holy man could only have told them the truth.
Christian denominations vary in their beliefs about the real presence. Each interpretation brings out a unique aspect of the Eucharist, from a profound mystery of faith to a symbolic act of remembrance. In the Eucharist we are invited into a deeper communion with the Lord and with each other, transcending our differences and celebrating the unity and diversity of our faith. (from CrossTalk).
What was the central message of Easter? On Holy Thursday Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and instructed them to serve others as he served them. He also gave them his body and blood in the breaking of bread and sharing of wine. This unbloody sacrifice was to be continued for the salvation of all the world.
Jesus was explicit in what is involved in this sacramental act: “Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day” (John 6:53-54).
We see that first community of Christians in Acts takes their commission seriously, shares their possessions and goods with the needy and meets faithfully in the breaking of the bread (Acts 2:45-46). They were giving flesh to the words of Christ to bring the Good News to all the world, to invite conversion and repentance, bringing about salvation.
The challenge to our Christian world today is to experience the same fervour that moved those early Christians.
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