The Estuary of Theology 15

The Most Holy Eucharist (1)

The Son, who fulfils the will of the Father making it into the word, is the true helper of the Father. So, God created man as his helper with the image of the Son to give the inseparable bond between the Father and the Son to the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the man. It was because God intended one day to impart the oneness of the Triune God to the relationship between the Holy Spirit, man and neighbour. Genuine likeness to God means the state in which the bond between the Father and the Son is given between the Holy Spirit and each individual, so that man has become similar to the form of God, and in which “the Holy Spirit, man and neighbour” have become completely one body as in the image of the Triune God (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 4). Thus, the process by which man achieves these two states was in God’s plan from the beginning.

God is the only God in whom the free minds of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit connected by the knowledge of God desire to become one body perfectly and simultaneously always fulfil the desire. God created all things in the universe and human beings by the series of God’s movement in which the will of the Father is made into the words and acts by the Son and reaches the recognition of the Holy Spirit who sees the result to be good (cf. Genesis 1:3-31). God needs nothing because he is one and omnipotent. So, he neither thinks nor judges nor memorizes. On the other hand, a man performs the series of the movements, in which he fulfils his will by his words and acts and recognizes what was fulfilled, by himself through his knowledge of good and evil. His knowledge of good and evil gets connected with the memory of the five-sense data, namely sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, and he thinks with the knowledge he got, confirms what he judged and reaches the recognition (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 4).

Jesus said, “[Y]ou may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (John 10:38). Christians can understand the fact that “the Father is in me and I am in the Father” as knowledge because Jesus says “know” and “understand” here. It means the Father and the Son share each other’s knowledge, namely the knowledge of God, completely. And as he said, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20), Christians can know that it was the plan of God to welcome Christians into the knowledge of God and to share it with them in “that day,” namely the day the Holy Spirit comes down.

Moreover, as Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14-15), the word which the Holy Spirit takes and declares to Christians is “mine,” that is, the plan of God. Christians must receive the plan of God which the Holy Spirit declares and reach the recognition of having received it.

God gave people the commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), which means, “You shall have no other plan before my plan.” Then, God saw to it that people use all the senses, namely sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell so that they can catch the plan of God; that is, he placed the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden. As God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (Genesis 3:22), the fruit of the tree of life was the fruit by which one lives for ever. As Jesus said, “[H]e who eats this bread will live for ever” (John 6:58), it was God’s plan that people eat the fruit of the tree of life.

The first man and woman have already received the plan of God into their memory of hearing by the words of God. Then, they were to receive it also into their memory of sight, touch, taste and smell by eating the fruits of the tree of life first. However, we know that they did not eat the fruits of the tree of life in the midst of the garden from the fact that the woman answered the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’” (Genesis 3:2-3), while the actual command of God was: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Then they ate the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without eating the fruit of the tree of life and were driven away from the garden of Eden. In this situation, making all the people who are the descendants of the two eat the fruits of the tree of life and making them receive the plan of God by all of their senses, namely sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, was added as the plan of salvation to the plan of God.

When Jesus came to the world, people could hear, see, touch and smell Jesus Christ. However, he, a man as well as God, could not make people eat himself. So, he made it possible that people eat him by instituting the Eucharist. When the Apostles took and ate the Holy Eucharist at the table of the last supper of Jesus, they have become the first people who received the plan of God by all their five senses. In this way, they have made the fact that they had received the plan of God into recognition. Nevertheless, to know the plan of God, that is, to know the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (cf. The Act of Apostles 8:12), they had to wait for the Holy Spirit about whom Jesus 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). They successfully began proclaiming the Gospel after Pentecost (cf. The Acts of the Apostles 2:14-36).

Jesus instituted the priesthood of the New Testament as well as the Holy Eucharist so that the plan of God continues by the Holy Spirit, the real representative of Jesus. This was for the purpose that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit, of whom Jesus said, “The Father will send in my name”, with the following word of Jesus being fulfilled: “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name” (John 16:23). When the priest says Jesus’ word of the institution of the Eucharist spoken by Jesus at the table of the Last Supper and raises his body and the cup of his blood, the Holy Spirit makes the word of Jesus which is coming out from the mouth of the priest into the living Word and acts on the memory of the priest who hear the word. At the same time, this living Word sanctifies also sight and hearing of the Christians who are present at the scene. The purpose of the Holy Spirit acting on the memory of the priest at that time is that when this priest says the word of asking the heavenly Father, “It may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,” at the Mass which he celebrates next, the living Word of Jesus of instituting the Eucharist may be born from the memory of the priest and his request may be realized.

Then, when the voice of the priest says the word of Jesus, “Do this in remembrance of me” (cf. Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:23-24), this Word brings about the scene of the Eucharistic institution into the Mass again by the Holy Spirit. The table of the last supper of Jesus, which was in the upper room in Jerusalem, is drawn to the “now” in which the Mass is being celebrated (cf. Revelation 21:1-27), and the Last Supper of Jesus is reproduced with the new members. Then, the priest, who says the word of Jesus as well as listens to the voice itself simultaneously, is transfigured into one of the Apostles who were with Jesus at the table of his last supper. It is because Revelation writes, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:14). “The holy city, new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2) signifies the table of the last supper of Jesus. The “wall” surrounding it signifies priests who celebrate the Mass, and the twelve names of the twelve Apostles are carved on the “foundation,” on which they stand.

Then, when Christians take and eat the Holy Eucharist which was distributed, they recognize that they have received the plan of God. This recognition is eternal life. If eternal life is in the Holy Eucharist, which is lost when we eat it, Christians need to eat it every day as we need to eat food every day for nurturing our mortal bodies. So, Jesus taught the Christians to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

As it is written in the Gospel of Luke, “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:30-31), the same recognitional experience as the disciples who were travelling to Emmaus had is reproduced in people who receive the Holy Eucharist as it was. Christians need to attend the Mass every day to encounter Risen Christ. And now, Christians are neighbours who proclaim the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ to each other being taught by the Holy Spirit, who is God, as Jesus said: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God’” (John 6:45). In this way, the following word of Jesus is made real: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). Jesus had perfectly prepared everything necessary for Christians.

The Gospel of Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus, when he gave the Apostles the Holy Eucharist, said, “Take and eat.” This is exactly the manner of Christians when they receive the Holy Eucharist. They can see the Holy Eucharist distributed by the priest, touch it by taking it by their hands with full consciousness, smell it moving their faces close to it and eat it. This accords with the word of Jesus: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39).

Jesus left the Holy Eucharist for Christians. The look of risen Jesus, who answered, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29) to Thomas, who said, “My Lord and my God!” was put upon people who later receive the Holy Eucharist in the Mass. Christians, when receiving the Holy Eucharist, learn the blessedness of people who have not seen and yet believe. The five senses of the Christians who already listened to the Gospel reach the recognition that they have received the plan of God when they take and eat the Holy Eucharist. The word, “Do not be faithless, but believing” (John 20:27), encourages Christians to accept this reality as it is. The Mass is completed when people receive the plan of God with their all senses, namely hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste. The “my church” (cf. Matthew 16:18) is built upon this completion as a community. Therefore, Jesus instituted the Eucharist in the evening before he had created the “my church” with the blood and water which came out from his side.

The scene in which Jesus multiplies loaves is connected to the scene of the Institution. We can see there is already the current which makes the Institution practised only by Jesus and Apostles develop into the Mass. The current is that Jesus “looked up to heaven,” “blessed,” “broke the loaves,” “gave them to the disciples,” and “the disciples gave them to the crowds” and “the crowds all ate and were satisfied” (cf. Matthew 14:19-20, 15:36-37, Mark 6:41-42, 8:6-8, Luke 9:16-17).

In this current, the description that Jesus “gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Matthew 14:19) appears five times in the three Synoptic Gospels in different expression (cf. Matthew 15:36, Mark 6:41, 8:6, Luke 9:16). This fact has significant meaning because the disciples in these scenes were already called Apostles by Jesus. It was before Jesus multiplied the loaves that he called them Apostles according to the three Synoptic Gospels (cf. Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:14-19, Luke 6:13). The disciples who received the loaves from Jesus and distributed them were the Apostles.

The Gospel of John writes that Jesus tested Philip, one of his disciples, in the scene of his multiplication of loaves (cf. John 6:5-6) and also writes that one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, stated his opinion to Jesus (cf. John 6:8-9) to make it clear that the disciples who were close to Jesus at that time were the Apostles. Moreover, John’s Gospel put the scene of Jesus’ confrontation with the crowds who had eaten the loaves and been satisfied following the scene of the multiplication of loaves. After the interaction in this scene, many of his disciples drew back, and it was only the Apostles who stayed with Jesus. From these descriptions, we can understand that The Evangelists wrote the scene of the multiplication of loaves in the Gospel keeping the Eucharistic Institution in mind, and it was written for the sake of priests who hand down the Eucharistic Institution, make it develop into the Mass and distribute the Holy Eucharist to the Christians so that they can eat it.  

A Christian priest is the collaborator of the Holy Spirit and has the vocation of getting the bread of life in the sweat of his face (cf. Genesis 3:19) and of distributing it to each of the Christians so that they can eat it. The Lord’s Prayer, the only prayer Jesus taught us, reflects this desire of Jesus. Priests must distribute the Holy Eucharist handed by Jesus in season and out of season to the Christians who pray every day, “Give us this day our daily bread” “Give us this day our daily bread.” Christians must be formed so that they may steer their life towards the Mass every day knowing the desire of Jesus who instituted the Eucharist. Christians who receive the Holy Eucharist become the decisive sign of God’s presence with us in the world. God is passionately waiting for Christians coming to him seeking the Holy Eucharist.

Jesus, for the Holy Spirit, the true representative of him, who was to come later, trained the Apostles choosing them out of his disciples, instituted the Eucharist and himself gave the Holy Eucharist to them to eat first so that they may hand down the role of the Apostles of producing the Holy Eucharist by the Holy Spirit (cf. The Act of the Apostles 1:15-26). Also, it was for the day when they will distribute the Holy Eucharist to the Christians. Therefore, Jesus earnestly talked about the bread of life beforehand to the crowds in front of the Apostles. John the Evangelist wrote down this word of Jesus so that all Christians could know and catch the desire of Jesus who instituted the Holy Eucharist. Priests come from the Christians. All who believe in Christ must do their best to search the way by which all Christians can take and eat the Holy Eucharist every day. It is because the word of Jesus who talks about the bread of life has already overtaken the foretelling of God in Genesis: “You shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

“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).

To be continued.

Jun. 2020 in Hiroshima

Maria K