How the Eucharist Transforms Us for Christ’s Mission

How the Eucharist Transforms Us for Christ’s Mission

Verses for reference: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44

The 1st Book of Kings tells the familiar story of Elijah and the widow in Zarephath.  What is fascinating to me about this account is not that Elijah asks the widow for food even though he knows it is all she has (Elijah obviously knows what God is going to do). It is that the widow is willing to do it, knowing she and her son have nothing left.  But the story is meant to be a reminder that if we cooperate with God, nothing is ever impossible.

I remember that back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, we had a number of predictions that we were all going to starve to death in the next few decades.

People sounded a lot like the Israelites did while wandering in the desert, or like the widow Elijah encounters in Sidon, we are all going to die.

Here are some of the erroneous predictions:

Paul Ehrlich wrote in a 1969 essay titled “Eco-Catastrophe!:” “Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born,” “By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.”

The Los Angeles Times, always a reliable source of information, reported in 1967: “Already too late: Dire famine forecast by 1975” 

Redlands Daily Facts said this in 1970: “America subject to water rationing by 1974 and food rationing by 1980.”

But just like in the first reading, the prediction did not come to pass. There is enough food in our world today to feed every person in need of food.

This is not to deny that there are areas of the world in which people are starving.  But it is not a question of having enough food, but rather of distribution.  Sometimes there is no network to distribute the food, and sometimes it is a political problem where the people in power keep the food from being distributed (or there are even cases where the food is seized and sold for weapons).

Here is another quote; this one is from Matthew Kelly in “Rediscovering Catholicism” from 2012: “Every single day the Catholic Church feeds, houses, and clothes more people, takes care of more sick people, visits more prisoners, and educates more people than any other institution on the face of the earth could ever hope to . . . The Catholic education system alone saves American taxpayers eighteen billion dollars a year . . . This year (2012), Catholic Charities will provide 2.2 million free meals to the hungry and the needy of Chicago.  We don’t ask them if they are Catholic – we just ask them if they are hungry”

The Catholic Church has been active around the world to assist in getting food to the people most in need of it. Organizations such as Cross Catholic Outreach, Caritas, Catholic Charities and others work tirelessly to help with this. We are called to be the hands of Jesus, to reach out to those in need.

And we do. As I said, every day the Catholic Church feeds, clothes, houses and heals more people than any other group of individuals on the face of the planet. It is our job to keep this up.

But there is another aspect of this idea that God will always provide what we need if we cooperate with His mission. The Church sees the stories of food being multiplied to provide for all as a reminder that we are, more importantly, fed spiritually in the Eucharist. The letter to the Hebrews, chapter 9, points out that Jesus, our high priest, offered himself once and for all. Every Mass we celebrate is a participation in that one Sacrifice. The only thing which changes in this sacrifice is our ability to participate by making our own sacrifice. St. Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.” We know that there is nothing lacking in Christ’s suffering, but Jesus allows us to unite our suffering to His for the salvation of the world.  We are to offer ourselves to the mission of the Church.

I believe this is the point of the Gospel account of the widow offering all she had rather than the contribution of the scribes who gave little but acted as if it was a lot. Like the poor widow, we are called to offer our lives.  Jesus offered himself for the salvation of the world, and he asks us, by our small contribution, to cooperate with him in this mission.

The way we do this is by receiving the Eucharist worthily and allowing it to change us. To change our way of living in the world from one concerned with material things to focusing on the mission of Christ and His Church.  To contribute by offering ourselves in service to others. The Church calls us to think of this in terms of time, talent and treasure. We give of our time to help one another, we offer our talents, perhaps as musicians, lectors, catechists or ushers, and we offer our treasure because, sadly, nothing in this world happens without money. But the most important aspect of this is trusting that our efforts will not only be beneficial to those we reach out to help, but also that God will provide what we need when we need it.

The Scriptures call us to examine whether or not we are willing to sacrifice for the salvation of the world. That is Christ’s mission in the world, and we are asked to work in this mission. The Church has thrived for some 2000-odd years. 

And we are the Church. 

Jesus, I Trust in You!