We must see Holy Communion as part of the Mass.

Wednesday, 7/13/16

If we come to Mass mainly to receive communion, we are not doing what Jesus meant for us to do. Or if we come only for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament we are not doing what Jesus wants of us. What we should always have in mind is our taking a full part in offering the Mass.

When Jesus presided at the Last Supper, he was leading the Apostles through a special table blessing known as the Brakah. That blessing always had the same three parts. At our Mass Jesus is here again, leading us through the same three parts of the Brakah.

At the Last Supper, for the first part of the Brakah Jesus asked the Apostles to join him in thanking God for his many favors. He does that again at the Mass with us.  

As the second part of the Brakah, Jesus called down God’s Spirit to unite the Apostles, and now he dos that with us at the Mass, to make us one, and to inspire us to speak to God.

The third part of the blessing at the Last Supper and at our Mass is known as the Pleasing Gift. Jesus makes the pleasing gift of his complete obedience to God. He asks us to join him as part of the Pleasing Gift. We comply by offering our complete obedience to God.

Jesus does not only want us to be mentally part of his Pleasing Gift. He wants us to be physically one with him. That is why he has us consume his Body and Blood in communion. We thus become one Pleasing Gift with him. The Greek for Pleasing Gift is Eu-charis.