The receiving of Holy Communion in the Mass is a communion and participation in God’s love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Scriptures tell us that "God is love" (1 John 4:16) I have noted previously the magnificent passage in the Catechism which teaches us the implications of this:
"St. John goes even further when he affirms that ‘God is love’: God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange." (#221)
This "eternal exchange of love" between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is the Communion of Love which is the Holy Trinity. Our receiving Holy Communion in the Body and Blood of the Risen Christ is "to share in that exchange." The Catechism also teaches:
"The sacraments are ‘of the Church’ ...[they] manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons." (#1118)
This manifestation of God’s love in the Eucharist inspired St. Augustine to say about the Eucharist:
"O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!"
"O sacrament of devotion! O sign of unity! O bond of charity!"
The Greek word agape is used to name God’s love for us and this divine love shared among us for one another. It was translated into Latin by the word "caritas"
"It is not easy to translate [the Church] Latin's sense of caritas with just one word; it means ‘spiritual love’, or ‘love in action’, the love which is born from a profound respect of the other (or the Other)...and we obtain the English word charity from caritas." (Link)
Caritas is God’s kind of love, and its link with the English word "charity" reminds us that God has a profound love for those in need, especially the poor. God’s love is more than charity, but it also is not less than charity for the poor.
So, in Holy Communion, the Church teaches that "the Eucharist [in Communion] strengthens our charity [caritas]..." (Catechism #1394) The Church goes on to make (in my opinion) a remarkable connection between the poor and Holy Communion:
"The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren..." (Catechism #1397)
This teaching is restating what Jesus himself said about recognizing him in the poor and those in need and assisting him (See Matthew 25:31-46 HERE ). With this criteria will we be judged. But here the Church is also saying that if we neglect to recognize Christ in the poor and not help them, then we are not receiving the Body and Blood of Christ "in truth." I would interpret this to be about the objective and subjective dimensions of receiving Holy Communion. Objectively speaking, Christ is absolutely Real in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood regardless of any action or lack of it on our part. However, if our reception of Holy Communion doesn’t affect us—indeed, change us—to be more like Christ, then we have not truly received the full grace of the Sacrament in our lives. A person who is a devout Communicant and yet has a hard heart toward the poor is in a contradictory situation.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose mission was to serve the poorest of the poor, once said:
"Like Mary, let us be full of zeal to go in haste to give Jesus to others. She was full of grace when, at the Annunciation, she received Jesus. Like her, we too become full of grace every time we receive Holy Communion. It is the same Jesus whom she received and whom we receive at Mass. As soon as we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, let us go in haste to give Him to our sisters, to our poor, to the sick, to the dying, to the lepers, to the unwanted, and the unloved. By this we make Jesus present in the world today."
Next time you receive Holy Communion think how you are receiving the love of God as a gift which softens our hearts to be changed into his loving children and the result of that love is to make us more loving, especially for those in need and the poor.
Next time you receive Holy Communion think how you are receiving the love of God as a gift which softens our hearts to be changed into his loving children and the result of that love is to make us more loving, especially for those in need and the poor.
Next Week: The Communion Rite Part 7: Communion with Creation.
