7. Do This in Remembrance of Me

This time I would like to discuss why Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” (cf. Luke 22:19), when he instituted the Eucharist, and make the discussion a supplementary explanation of the fact that the Eucharist is eternal life. The reason why Jesus talked about the bread of life in such a patient way in Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John* is because Jesus’ word of instituting the Eucharist was not a metaphor but God’s reality. Jesus well knew how difficult it was for people to literally accept the word he spoke that he would give them his body to eat. And he said, “Do you take offense at this?” (John 6:61), knowing the disciples murmured at this. Even now many Christians take offence at this and leave themselves ignorant of the fact that the Eucharist is eternal life. When Jesus asked, “Will you also go away?” (John 6:67), Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). What can we do in order for all Christians to say this answer towards the Eucharist?

* “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48-51), “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.” (John 6:53-58)

As I wrote in Issue 4, the move of God, which begins with the mind of the Father moving and becoming his will, is a series of acts in which the will of the Father is fulfilled by the will of the Son becoming the word and deed, and which is completed with the recognition given by the will of the Holy Spirit. God is one God who acts essentially by three persons. Jesus, the second person, fulfils the will of the Father but does not make the fulfilment a recognition of God for himself. Therefore, he said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26) The phrase “in my name” in this word has a particular meaning. The Holy Spirit is sent “in my name” so that the will of the Holy Spirit may make Jesus’ spirit appear being combined with Jesus’ words fulfilled on earth and give people the recognition of what Jesus fulfilled according to each one’s adequate timing and teach them all things. As there appeared tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of those who knew Jesus on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:3), and as Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20), the Holy Spirit makes Jesus’ spirit present in people and teaches all things. This is the one aspect of the twofold spirituality of the Holy Spirit.

People commemorate happenings in the past to remember them. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” when he instituted the Eucharist, because the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance all that Jesus said. As it is written that on the day of Pentecost “suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2), the Holy Spirit brought the space of the table of Jesus’ last supper to the place where the disciples had gathered together as one. The Holy Spirit did this to make the disciples remember every happening on the day of institution of the Eucharist and to continue the formation of them and the works of salvation by the Eucharist. This is another aspect of the spirituality of the Holy Spirit.

The presence of Jesus, who is God incarnate, was the foundation of the formation of the disciples and the works of salvation. God planned to sustain this foundation by the Eucharist after the Ascension of Jesus. Therefore, the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus was so important that it could be said to be the second mystery of the Incarnation. So, Jesus said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15) He instructed the two of the disciples to prepare for this passover saying, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the householder, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” (Mark 14:13-15, Luke 22:10-12) If we consider that “a man carrying a jar of water” represents the Holy Spirit, and “the householder” the Father, we can understand that the place where the institution of the Eucharist took place was an extraordinary space where the all members of the triune Godhead gathered.

When a priest, in the space brought about by the Holy Spirit, responding to Jesus’ recommendation,* asks the Father in the name of Jesus saying, “[S]o that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the Eucharist is born by the works of the Holy Spirit. And when the priest says Jesus’ word of the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus’ spirit, which was made present by the Holy Spirit, enters the activity of the priest and tells the living word of Jesus through his mouth. Then it leaves Jesus’ word in the memory of the priest, who is himself a listener too, and makes him one of the Apostles at the last supper so that when he prays asking the Father in heaven again at another Mass, the Eucharist will be born again by the living word of Jesus that comes from his memory and by the works of the Holy Spirit. In this way, Jesus’ body and blood are born continually, and God stays with us concretely to the close of the age.

* “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24)

As Jesus, when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4), Christians do not live as those who have eternal life, namely those who are divine, simply by eating the Eucharist. They need to live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” to live as those who are divine. However, only Jesus, who is God, can truly fulfil this word quoted from Deuteronomy because he says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34) To live "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” means to “do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work,” which was for Jesus the bread to live given by the Father, namely the true food.

So, Jesus said, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” (John 6:27) The fact that the Father has set his seal on “the Son of man” means that the Father has acknowledged the name of Jesus, who called himself the Son of man, as the name of the one who has eternal life, that is, the name of God. This is because the Holy Spirit, who brings about the recognition of God, was to be sent in the name of Jesus and present as Jesus’ spirit. Jesus’ spirit, which is present by the Holy Spirit, can enter the activity of a man, and through the man, carry out and fulfil “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” On the other hand, the man who carried Jesus’ spirit as his own burden experiences the work of salvation accomplished by Jesus’ spirit. To share this experience with the Holy Spirit is indeed the food “which the Son of man will give to you.” God’s presence in the Eucharist gives the direct formation to Christians who stay before the Eucharist patiently by Jesus’ yoke and his burden (cf. Matthew 11:29-30) so that the Holy Spirit can really bring about this situation, which can be called the third mystery of the Incarnation that glorifies Jesus (cf. John 16:14).

To be continued.

Dec. 2019 in Hiroshima

Maria K