Hunger, Fullness and The Eucharist
Hunger is such a natural instinct we hardly give it a thought. Being hungry can mean anticipating, craving, longing, yearning, desiring, aspiring and hoping. There is always room for more.
Being full, on the other hand, can mean feeling uncomfortable, bloated, lethargic, drowsy, listless, heavy, passive, slothful and slow. There is no room for more.
When it comes to sharing in the body and blood of Christ, I wonder, are we hungry or full? This was a question implied in a letter written by Pope St. John Paul II in 1980 on the “Mystery and Worship of the Most Holy Eucharist.” The Pope was concerned that unlike decades past, everyone was now going to communion (emphasis added). He didn’t say this was a bad thing. He was merely trying to stimulate our awareness of what we do when we share in Christ’s body and blood by saying, “If our eucharist is authentic, it must make us grow in the awareness of the dignity of each person.”
That awareness of the dignity of all human beings begins with ourselves. Are we aware of our own dignity? Are we aware of how God sees us? Are we aware of how much God hungers for us? God anticipates, craves, longs and yearns for us. The Eucharist is an expression of God’s love which seeks to be one with us. When we partake in the sacred meal, God becomes ever more a part of us and we ever more a part of God. The Eucharist is a reminder that we are “oned” with God, as the great mystic Julian of Norwich put it.
The Eucharist is also a reminder that we are united to the community of believers, an understanding that was highlighted in a famous sermon to the newly initiated by St. Augustine.
“So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful: ‘You are the body of Christ, member for member.’ (1 Cor. 12.27) If you, therefore, are Christ's body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord's table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying ‘Amen’ to what you are: your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. When you hear ‘The body of Christ’, you reply ‘Amen.’ Be a member of Christ's body, then, so that your ‘Amen’ may ring true!
May we who so casually and freely approach the table of the Lord realize what it means to say “Amen,” what it means to grow in the awareness of the dignity of each person, that our “Amen” may ring true!