One of the best things about living in Tennessee is access to farm fresh food, but we really hit the jackpot in our new house which is just a mile and a half from a farm which sells its beef and pork right there on property every Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday I went there and they were selling ice cream from another local farmer which was out of this world—salted honey—yummmm. My husband said it was too rich for him, and I was like, um, that is exactly why it is delicious! This exchange got me thinking about all food we get straight from the farm. It’s just a little bit more rich, flavorful, and, of course, fresh. My next thought was this reminds me of the Eucharist, and I knew I had my next topic for Cooking Up Faith.
I am just coming off a weekend of celebrating my Goddaughter’s First Communion. It was a beautiful day. As I watched these young 8 year olds make their way up the aisle, I thought to myself, they have no idea how much their life is going to change because of the gift they are receiving today. To talk to Jesus in prayer is a great thing, but to receive Jesus in Holy Communion is a miraculous thing. You are taking a miracle—bread transformed into Jesus—and you are placing Jesus inside of you. He has made Himself so vulnerable as to be subject to your hands, the hands of a sinner. It conjures up images of His passion. The soldiers were not so gentle with Jesus; they ravaged His holy body. They acted like they didn’t know Him, the miracle worker, the one who drew crowds of thousands with his preaching.
What will you do with Him when you receive Him? Will you take Him in your hand and look at Him? Will you tell Him you love Him? Will you feel unworthy enough to hold Him, afraid to drop even a crumb of His body and have the priest place Jesus directly into your mouth? Will you feel the effects of the miraculous nourishment? His life is within you at that point, not symbolically, but literally. This is the richness of our Catholic faith—the Eucharist—receiving nourishment directly from the source, Jesus. Receiving His life within us makes everything “more.” Fill in the blank…more__________…more vibrant, more joyful, more redeemed, yes, even more sorrowful, more challenging, but always with more hope. Hope that there is always “more” awaiting us in heaven where there will be no more sorrow or suffering.
Mary knew this, because she was the first to receive our Lord in His physical form. Of course, for her it was His human form, growing Him in her womb, but just as His life was a gift to her in her womb, a gift that brought much joy, suffering and ultimately glory in her life, so He can do the same for you in the Eucharist. The more you receive Him each Sunday, or each day, the more His life grows within you. And just like how a mother and child’s DNA becomes intertwined during pregnancy and remains after pregnancy, so you can count on that Jesus is remaining in you long after each Mass. His hope is that you will give birth to Him in this life by sharing His life with others.
We recently began Eucharistic Adoration at our parish between our 9 am and 6 pm Masses. I have committed to an hour every Wednesday to sit in His presence. My favorite part of Eucharistic adoration is the gazing, both knowing He is gazing on me and I am gazing on Him. Again, I think of Mary gazing upon Jesus as an infant, a toddler, a child, a teenager, a young adult and finally in his thirties. She truly watched His life unfold; she brought Him to others. She gave Him to others—I imagine her passing Jesus to St. Joseph, to a shepherd, to Simeon. She asked Him to do things for others—such as the wedding feast at Cana. Imagine the look that passed between them when she tells Him they have no wine and He tells her it’s not His time. Is she pleading for them through her eyes? What does his gaze return? She allowed Him to give Himself for others. On the cross, the heartbreaking gazes—the beyond understanding sacrifices they bore, finding strength in the other’s gaze. Finally, she witnesses His ultimate glory. She gazes at Him, resurrected and what His gaze must have felt like to her. I imagine very powerful. But in heaven… Oh the joyful reunion, surpassing all understanding, Mary rejoicing in God’s magnificence and praising Him for allowing her to be His mother, bringing her to heaven, crowning her. I imagine their gazes must have communicated something like FINALLY! COMPLETE! AT LAST! Sigh! So.much.joy. That is what heaven is, and we get a little slice of it in the Eucharist—our union with Jesus.
Jesus is THE source of life. When I tell you the fresh-from-the-farm food is different, it doesn’t just taste different, it cooks different too. The things that have been processed into or out of grocery store meat just isn’t there, and as a result, you have an entirely different cooking experience. There is usually more natural fat on the meat which tenderizes and flavors it. And it looks different. I don’t even know how to describe this, but it does. Once it is cooked brand name bacon, looks totally different from farm bacon, and is so delicious. Bacon is still good either way, but it’s better from the farm.
When we go looking for Jesus through spiritual books, podcasts, videos and music, we can get a flavor of Him. Things might stir in our soul because of what we hear and think about; we might feel fed in a way, but NOTHING can compare to receiving Him at Mass, physically taking Him from the priest or Eucharistic minister and receiving Him into your body. Nothing can compare to sitting under His gaze and gazing upon Him. Your life looks different with the Eucharist. This is proven by our Lady as well as by the apostles and millions of other since them. Their lives were completely transformed so much so that they gave their lives to Him because they understood Him as THE Source of everlasting life.
Know that when you go to Mass, you are getting the freshest, richest, most life-giving experience of our faith, the Eucharist and Scripture. There is nothing processed or secondhand about it. His life in your hands, real, present, constant. When He is within you, be like Mary and take Him to others, share Him with others. Allow Him to transform your life into a beautiful glory of God. I have personally experienced this transformation through small steps like getting to daily Mass more often and Adoration. I have been able to experience more joy, stress less, be more forgiving, less fear and more patience. The more I experience the transformation, the more I want holy Communion.
When you receive Him next in Holy Communion, thank Him, tell Him you love Him. Gaze upon Him and let Him gaze upon you. Ask Mary to show you the many ways you can carry Him to others, keep Him close to you, and be an echo of His glory. There is nothing like food straight from THE Source.
Mary, thank you for being the mother of Jesus and in turn, a mother to me, the ultimate example of uniting yourself to Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for being the way, the truth and the life. Apart from you, I can do nothing.
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