While they were eating,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them, and said,
"Take it; this is my body."
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.
He said to them,
"This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for many.
One of the earliest and most significant of the early Church Fathers, those seminal writers who hold a pivotal role in the development of the Christian theological tradition, was Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius lived in the 2nd century and tradition has it that he was a disciple of St. John the beloved disciple. In other words, he heard the Good News from one of the original apostles of the Lord!
The bulk of our knowledge of Ignatius comes from the inspiring letters of encouragement that he wrote to the early Christian communities en route to his eventual martyrdom in Rome. These letters form the eventual foundation for what we refer to as ‘ecclesiology’ or our theology of what it means to be ‘Church.’ He speaks eloquently of the role of the Bishop as the ‘icon’ or image of Christ the Good Shepherd, gently and courageously guiding the ‘flock of Christ’ with the Good News. However, it is in his letter to the early Christians at Ephesus that he coins a phrase about the Eucharist that has been pivotal in my understanding of this central mystery of our faith. He writes that the Eucharist is: the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but which causes that we should live forever in Jesus Christ.
I am reminded of this beautiful quote as we gather and reflect on the centrality of the Eucharist on this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Undoubtedly, the central Sacrament of our Church wherein the ‘body and blood, soul and divinity’ of the living Christ is really and truly present under the sacramental signs of bread and wine, continue to be the life-blood of the Body of Christ in this and every age until the Lord comes again in Glory.
I am touched by St. Ignatius’ insistence on the healing and renewing dimension of this wondrous Sacrament. This beautifully parallels with the image of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, when he speaks of the Church as the ‘field hospital’ for Christians in need of constant healing, renewal and conversion. For the very ‘medicine’ that sustains and heals our weak and so often broken lives is the Eucharistic food.
With this in mind, it is a sad reality that in our present moment there are some among us who hold the office of Bishop in our Country who seek to continually bar some from the Eucharistic Table. While our Church rightly teaches that we bring to this moment of ‘Holy Communion’ our best selves, yet, the Eucharist has never been a ‘reward’ for the perfect but always ‘medicine’ for the weak, the sick and broken who humbly know their daily need for the Lord of mercy and unconditional love. In the end, the Eucharist is not a weapon to be wielded by the hyper-orthodox but rather a healing balm for the broken, the sick of heart and those who live on the margins because of our lack of love and mercy! No wonder then that before we approach the Holy Table, we pray “Lord, I am not worthy…”
As we give thanks this day for ‘so great a gift,’ may self-righteous judgmentalism give way to a humility as we pray with both saints and sinners down through the ages:
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”