Becoming the Body of Christ for Others

Wednesday, July 6th, 2022

Becoming the Body of Christ for Others

While they were eating, he took some bread, and after a blessing he broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Mark 14: 22

Jesus gave us a wonderful gift; he gave us the gift of himself in the Eucharist. But that gift only comes alive when we give it away, when we pay it forward, when we become Eucharist for each other and for our world.

Deacon Lex Ferrauiola

There is something so wonderful about sharing a meal with the people we love — the warmth, the laughter, the companionship. The dinner table can be community at its very best. It is communion, it is a gift. The Last Supper table was just such a gift. And Jesus was able to extend that table both vertically down through the ages, and horizontally to all people, in all cultures, in all countries of the world. He created the greatest communion and invited us all into one timeless moment. He gave us the gift of himself in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is an invitation to each of us from Jesus. It is his call to us to love and forgive each other as he loves and forgives us; to become a beacon of light and a conduit of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness for our troubled and hurting world. As we accept the Eucharist and say, ‘Amen’ we are really saying, ‘yes’ to that invitation and to the grace that goes along with it.

And little by little, day by day, that grace transforms us, and through us the world. It enables us to bring God’s peace and love and healing into all the circles of our lives: to our families and friends; to those we like and those we don’t like so much; to the workplace and the classroom; the highway and the byway; and everywhere in between.

The Second Vatican Council reminded us Catholics that whatever we do at Mass in our liturgy must “ritualize a lived reality.” The bread and wine becoming the real presence of Christ on the church altar only takes on meaning when that presence is subsequently made visible by us out in the world — especially to those most suffering and in need; to those who are unlovable and unwanted; to those who are unwelcome at anyone’s table. It is out there in the world that our Amen, our ‘yes’ to accepting the Body of Christ in Holy Communion, is transformed into a lived reality, and we become the Body of Christ for others.

A good friend of mine recently shared a profound quote from Saint Augustine:

You are the Body of Christ, and his members [his hands and feet, his eyes, his voice]. 

If, therefore, you are the Body of Christ and his members,

you are the mystery that has been placed on the Lord’s table.

and you are truly the mystery that you receive.

You reply, “Amen” to that which you yourself are.

And by replying, you consent. For you hear, “the Body of Christ,” and you reply, “Amen.”

Be a member of the Body of Christ so that your “Amen” may be true.

Be what you see and receive what you are. Augustine Sermon 272

We are members of the Body of Christ; but each one of us IS the Body of Christ. From that dinner table in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, Jesus calls us to be his hands and his feet, his eyes, and his voice for even the very least and the most unlikable or unforgivable of our brothers and sisters. He calls us to give life to our ‘yes’, our Amen at Communion time; and to make it a lived reality. He calls us to BECOME Eucharist for our world.

With love, Deacon Lex

deaconlex@nullgmail.com

Lex Ferrauiola is a husband, father, grandfather and a Catholic deacon serving as a pastoral minister and hospital chaplain within the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. His newest book, All Shall Be Well: Finding God Among the Pots and the Pans is available now.

$12.00 available at Amazon.com and through local booksellers (ISBN-13 979-8767368921)

 

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