The Eucharistic Celebration

LJB 12/2/11

Every Eucharistic Consecration is eternity stepping into time – just as the moment when Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit. It is the same Spirit we call upon in faith that transforms our gift of bread and wine into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. It was His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane that “we be one with Him and Father as He and the Father are one,” and this is the fulfillment of that prayer.
We are one with Him in our body through the power of the Holy Spirit just as Mary was at the moment of conception. Because she was sinless by grace, she only needed to receive Him once. We in our sinfulness must continue to receive Him so that we don’t reject the graces and the gifts God desires us to have that make us one and complete in Him. Just as the Jews celebrate with feasts the times when God was truly present to them, we celebrate the true presence of Jesus at each Eucharistic Feast.