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Eating
as We Wait
June
22, 2003 Homily
Fr. George Smiga
Mark
14:12-16, 22-26
The Eucharist
is not simply about what we have. It is also about what we
are waiting for. Jesus makes this very clear in today's Gospel
because on the eve of his passion and death, even as he tells
his disciples, "Eat my body, drink my blood," he
also points to what he is waiting for. He says: "I will
never again drink from the fruit of the vine until that day
when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God." Therefore,
this Eucharistic meal is not only a meal that we celebrate
today, but a meal that points to a future hope; to the establishment
of God's Kingdom. There we will share in the full blessings
of God with Christ. This meal, then, is not simply about what
we have, but what we are waiting for.
What we
have is the real presence of Christ. You and I as Catholic
Christians believe that when we receive the bread and wine
of the Eucharist, we receive the real presence of Christ,
body and blood, soul and divinity. This is a wonderful gift
and a wonderful mystery. It is one that we share in every
weekend. But, even as we consume what we have, this meal still
points to what we are waiting for. Even as we eat, we are
longing for the establishment of God's Kingdom, when all evil
will be destroyed and when we will share in the fullness of
God's promises. It is obvious how much our world still needs
God's Kingdom to be established. For we live in a world that
is characterized by hatred, injustice, violence, by sickness
and greed and death. These realities in our midst tells us
that all that God has promised us has not yet come to pass,
that the Kingdom is not yet here.
But the
power of the Eucharist is that what we already have gives
us reason to hope in what we are waiting for. Because we have
the real presence of Christ, we have reason to hope that what
we are waiting for is not an illusion, that God's promises
are trustworthy. This is very important, because when we look
at what is wrong with our world and with ourselves, it is
easy to lose hope. So the real presence of Christ in our midst,
is our reason to believe that God will, in fact, establish
the Kingdom.
Therefore,
the Eucharist is not simply about the food we have today,
no matter how wonderful that food is. It's about the hunger
which we trust will be satisfied in the future. Therefore,
as we come to the Eucharist, we need to bring our hunger and
the hunger of our world. As we together, sing the Eucharistic
Prayer and approach this altar, we must remember what we are
hungering for: for a world, in which the weak are not oppressed
and the poor are not abandoned; for a world in which every
human being is treated with dignity and where those who have
power do not abuse it. As we come forward and open our hands
to receive the bread of the Eucharist, we must remember what
we are waiting for: for the ability to forgive, for the strength
to speak the truth, for the courage to overcome our addictions.
As we raise the Eucharistic cup to our lips and drink the
wine, we must remember what we have been promised: how change
is possible, how true love can be found, how we can become
a people more generous, more patient, more joyful.
Are these
high hopes? Yes, they are. But these are hopes that flow from
what we already have. Because we already possess the real
presence of Christ, we have reason than to wait for the rest.
Because Christ is risen and Christ is present in the Eucharist,
we can be a people that dare to pray, "Thy Kingdom come,"
and believe that it will.
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