AT THE HEART OF THE EUCHARIST - COMMUNION
- Ernest Falardeau, SSS

Communion (koinonia) is at the very hear of the Eucharist. The word means union with and describes the bond of faith and love celebrated in Baptism and deepened in every liturgy and encounter with the risen Lord in this sacrament.

New Testament Description
The New Testament is replete with texts describing the communion of the disciples of Jesus with their Lord and through Jesus with God, (Father, Son and Spirit) and with other Christians, who together with their head form the body of Christ.

John's first letter makes the point quite clearly:
We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1:3)

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians (see also Ephesians 4:4-7) develops the point in the metaphor of the body of Christ.

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing (koinonia) in the blood of Christ. The bread that we break is it not a sharing (koinonia) in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (10:16-17)

John 17:20-23 speaks of the unity of the followers of Jesus. He prays that they may be one as Father and Son are one, 'so that the world may believe that you sent me.' The importance of this unity 'for the world' cannot be exaggerated.

To believe in Jesus Christ and to accept his saving grace is to be in communion with him. This communion is with the Father and also with the members of the body of Christ. The Eucharist is the goal of this communion and it is also its source. (cf. SC, 10).

Eymard's Insight
During his long Retreat in Rome, 1865 Peter Julian Eymard was given a valuable insight into the nature and importance of communion with Christ in the Eucharist. He understood that it was at the heart of Eucharistic spirituality. The celebration of the Eucharist is centred on the Father to whom we offer praise and thanksgiving for his glory and majesty and for his goodness to us in his gift of Jesus Christ.

The reception of the Eucharist as Sacrament focuses on God's gift of life and grace which we receive from the Father through the Son. The gift of the Spirit is poured into our hearts so that we can begin to respond to God's love with the very love of God which is the Spirit. Eucharistic contemplation is the deepening of this communion which is received in the sacrament and celebrated in the liturgy.

Eucharistic Contemplation
One can easily mistake eucharistic contemplation for the 'Holy Hour'. Both are inter-related, but they are not the same. The holy hour is prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. It can be vocal or mental prayer. It can also be, however imperfectly, eucharistic contemplation.

Contemplation is the effort to go beyond words and concepts to a loving attention to God the Father and to Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist, in one's soul and in the universe.

In conversations with Buddhist monks I have come to realize that there is something similar in Zen Buddhist contemplation and Christian contemplation. Thomas Merton makes the same observation. Buddhist prayer seeks to go beyond the 'phenomenon' of earthly existence to the 'absolute' which is God. In Eucharistic contemplation, one begins to probe beyond oneself, one's prayer and indeed the Eucharistic species, to discover Jesus Christ and the Trinity.

Teresa of Avila maintained that the humanity of Christ was a distinct help to Christian contemplation. Basil Pennington believes that the Eucharist can be a great help to centering prayer. Thus eucharistic contemplation in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament can begin to introduce us to the kind of contemplation which becomes a way of life.

At the heart of this contemplation is the communion with Christ that develops through the celebration and reception of the Eucharist.

A Way of Life
The Rule of Life of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament states the principle that eucharistic contemplation can begin to initiate a way of life:

Following in the footsteps of Fr. Eymard, our mission is to respond to the mission of the human family with the riches of God's love manifested in the Eucharist. Drawing life from the bread given for the life of the world, we proclaim in the thanksgiving prayer the Passover of Christ, and we welcome the Lord Jesus in his eucharistic presence by a prolonged prayer of adoration and contemplation. Formed by the sacrament of the New Covenant, which frees us from the domination of sin, we commit ourselves to building the body of Christ … so that the Eucharist may be celebrated in truth, that the faithful may grow in their communion with the Lord … that they may commit themselves to the renewal of their Christian communities and collaborate in liberating individuals and society from the forces of evil. (4)

Eucharistic contemplation, then, is a way of seeing all reality in the light of the paschal mystery and the love of God reflected in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a 'ransom for many' Mk 10:45).

This contemplation must eventually lead to a life that is authentically eucharistic, i.e. which is patterned after the life of Jesus Christ who loved to the end and gives himself always in the Eucharist.

Social Implications
Celebrating, receiving and contemplating the Eucharist must ultimately lead to living a eucharistic life. The preferential option of Jesus for the poor and the marginalized of his time (Fr. Eymard's work among the rag-pickers of Paris also comes to mind) suggests that Christ-like concern for the poor should characterize every Christian who lives by the Bread of Life.

We cannot ignore the needs of those around us. We are the Body of Christ. The marginalized in our society, the 'cry of the poor', must be heard because we are all members of Christ. If any of these members suffer, to quote St. Paul, all of us suffer.

Jesus was not content with praying or preaching the Kingdom. He fed the hungry, preached salvation to the poor, healed the sick and raised the dead. The Kingdom became visible through his activity in the world of his time. The Christian can do no less than imitate the Master and seek to be an instrument of God's Kingdom and peace.

The gospel 'takes on flesh' as we contemplate it in the light of the Eucharist and in the presence of the risen Lord amongst us. The Gospel always challenges our actions and our lives. In a world in which action is supreme, we need to affirm that contemplation is necessary. Without it action turns to activism and loses its direction. At the heart of action which flows from the Eucharist is the celebration and contemplation of the mystery of God's love reflected in the paschal mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus the communion we experience and share challenges and compels us to work for a better world, a world evangelized by the faith of Christians and the example of Jesus Christ, who came to serve and to lay down his life for all.

The Gospel challenges us to work for the unity of all Christians. Evangelizing the world and convincing it that the Father sent Jesus for its salvation cannot be fully achieved without visible unity among the followers of Jesus. Nor can the world be saved from its selfishness and sin without this communion among the members of the Body of Christ.

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