The Greatest Gift

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Holy Thursday

This is the day when we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist in a special way and on this day I offer the following reflection:

I have often written how all the religions and cultures of the world have their special Wisdom Teachers, and that, to a great extent, all these wisdom teachers say basically the same things but in different languages and with different symbols. This common spiritual teaching is called Perennial Wisdom.

Nonetheless, among all the wisdom teachers of the world, there is only One who has claimed to be God: Jesus Christ, the son of God, who proclaimed himself to be the great I AM. The Jewish religious leaders of the day were completely scandalized by this audacious claim and convicted him of blasphemy and demanded that He be put to death, this man who claimed to be God.

AND THEN HE PROVED IT by being raised from the dead, and these events will play themselves out in our liturgies over the next few days, culminating in the great celebration of Easter: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

BUT THAT WASN’T ENOUGH. Before he was betrayed and delivered into the hands of those who would kill him, Jesus left us what many consider to be the greatest gift of all: He left us the Eucharist. And once again, this gift makes Christianity to be unique among all the world’s religions. We worship a person who is both human and divine and who left us with an everlasting gift that makes it possible for Him to be physically present with us every single day; not only that, but WE CONSUME him as often as we receive communion at our liturgies.

In honor of the gift of the Eucharist, I offer you this sublime passage by Saint Ambrose of Milan (c. 334-397):

He is the bread of life. Whoever eats life cannot die . . . Go to him and take your fill, for he is the bread of life. Go to him and drink, for he is the spring. God to him and be enlightened, for he is the light. Go to him and become free, for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom . . . ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35).  Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Psalm 118. (In Clément, p. 108)

God bless you this day and always!