Like you, I'm really hoping that the recently concluded National Eucharistic Congress isn't over and done with.
And the best way to perpetuate it is to remember it, but not just in our minds. We need to do it through the Mass.
In fact, remembering the sacrifice of Christ is what the Mass is all about.
After all, that's what Christ said at the very first celebration of the Eucharist – “Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).
We hear a variation of it every time we attend Mass in the Liturgy of the Eucharist (i.e. “Do this in memory of me.”).
But what does that really mean? Why did Christ ask us to "remember" him in this manner?
Well, “memory” (or “Remembrance”) in Greek is anamnesis, a word that literally means, “making present the past.”
In other words, the celebration of the Mass is a re-presentation of the once and for all sacrifice of Christ. (Note that it is a “re-presentation”, not a “re-sacrifice” as some misinformed Protestants think we believe.)
On one hand this “remembrance” is directed toward the Last Supper itself (which we re-present via the Mass).
But there’s another aspect. One that makes it even more personal.
Namely, our remembrance is directed toward what happened directly after the Last Supper. The crucifixion.
What Jesus did on the Cross was the culmination of the ritual, sacrificial meal he celebrated the night before. As he said, “This is my body, given up for you.” (Luke 22:19).
And today we continue to celebrate that sacrificial meal.
But as I said, this sacrifice isn't Christ's alone. It’s our sacrifice, too.
At every Mass we're supposed to offer ourselves along with Christ's sacrifice on the altar.
Remember what the priest says? “Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God…”
That said, sacrifice is not a word most of us like to dwell upon.
But we have to.
When Christ said “Do this in remembrance of me”, he wasn’t only referring to the ritual of the Eucharist we celebrate. He was saying, “Do what I do. Make yourself a sacrifice. Give yourself in life-giving love to everyone. Be like me!”
And the beautiful thing is that Christ doesn’t just tell us to make ourselves a sacrifice.
He actually empowers us to do so by giving himself sacrificially to us in the Eucharist.
He fills us with grace as we join ourselves to his sacrifice and receive the power to offer ourselves in sacrificial love both to God and others.
And that love with which he fills us is the key to our own sacrifice. Why? Because the more we grow in love for someone, the more we want to sacrifice ourselves for them.
In fact, there can no love without sacrifice.
So at the end of the day, as we continue to celebrate the Mass and make the Eucharist the center of our lives, we are empowered to give of ourselves more and more both to God and each other.
And that's the way we can not only perpetuate the momentum of the National Eucharistic Congress, but lovingly participate in the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his glory and the salvation of the world.
God bless!
Matthew
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