God's Promise of Fidelity

06-06-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

As our world faces so much turmoil and change, it is now more important than ever to remember who God is, who we are and where we are going. It is easy to get distracted and lose focus, especially when we are being pulled in so many directions. We can not only lose sight of God but one another. Maintaining our well developed and mature relationships with God and one another is essential to continuing to live, healthy, happy, and focused lives. In a message to young people, Pope Benedict XVI said, “the happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist.” What is true for those who are younger is even truer for those who are older. Regardless of how the particulars of life change over time, human beings are still hard-wired to seek the fullness of life and happiness. How we embark on this journey and what we choose along the way will indicate whether we meet success.

There is so much brokenness and pain in our world. Many people are lost, feeling lonely, anxious, marginalized, victimized, isolated, oppressed, and abused. Every time we receive the Body of Christ, we have an opportunity to become what we eat. The power and presence of Christ in the Eucharist becomes present in us and effects change in ourselves and in the lives of those we meet. We are given the grace to become temples of justice and peace, carrying God’s sacred Presence within us wherever we go. Our faith community is ignited with the fire of God’s love and stands out as a beacon of hope in a world that is lost. This is the only way we can discover peace-filled resolutions to violence and create innovative solutions to what is fueling its need in the first place. True happiness, for the young and old alike, becomes an obtainable goal.

St. John Maria Vianney says it so well. “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, he would have given it to us.” Only the Eucharist has the ability to connect, sustain, strengthen, and properly orient us, not only on the road of this life but the road to life eternal. Knowing this, when life gets challenging, unsettling, and difficult, we can rely on and cling to this gift we have in the Real Presence of Christ. This actual encounter with God celebrates God’s unconditional love for us and grounds us to the truth of who we are in a way nothing else is able to do. Because through the Eucharist we really do become the Body of Christ, we are also bonded together in a most perfect way to one another as that Body. Nourished, united, and strengthened by the Eucharist, let us individually and collectively, bring this wonderful gift to all we meet, especially the poor with whom we have a special connection.