The Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Trinity Part II

E. Eucharist Union (continued)

2. Communion Gives Us the Whole and Glorified Christ

In the Eucharist we receive Christ, His Body and Blood, His Soul and His Divinity; we receive the whole Christ in His glorified Body. That is to say, the Sacrifice of the Mass as a sacrament contains the complete mystery of Christ, not just His sacrificial death but also His Resurrection and Ascension, as the prayers after the consecration so clearly indicate. Each of these mysteries is, therefore, received in the Eucharist and plants within the soul the seeds of glory and the promise of our own resurrection and ascension to glory before the Father.

In the Blessed Sacrament the entire salvific will and love of our Savior is made actually present to us for our salvation. "Having loved His own, who were in the World, He loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1). Everything that Christ did and said for us in his Passion and Resurrection are actually present in our heart. His grace and glory are at our disposition to sanctify us. The efficacy of Holy Communion is potentially infinite; de facto, it is delimited by the limitations of our spiritual disposition. St. Thérèse found her consolation, her heaven on earth, in the Eucharist:

3. Communion Perfects our Union with the Three Divine Persons

Jesus, whose body we receive in the Eucharist, is the Word of the Father. He is never outside of the Father, for He and the Father are one (cf. Jn 10:30). Hence, Christ never comes to us alone: "I am in the Father and the Father in Me" (Jn 14:10). It is not only in seeing Jesus that we see the Father (Jn 14:9), but union with Christ brings us immediately into union with the Father: "If a man loves Me,...My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (Jn 14:23). Similarly, our love for Christ will also allow a new effusion of the Holy Spirit into our hearts: "If you love Me,...I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth.... you will know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you" (Jn 14:15-16. 17b).

The mystery is even stronger. The Theological Historical Commission for the Jubilee 2000 concludes:

The final aim of the Incarnation, beside the glorification of the Father, consists in communicating the Spirit to men: "Christ redeemed us from the curse...so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit" (Gal 3:13a. 14b).

This reflects the statement of St. Athanasius: "The Word assumed flesh so that we might receive the Holy Spirit; God has become the bearer of flesh so that man could become the bearer of the Spirit." Simon the New Theologian extends the thought to the whole mystery of Christ, declaring: "This was the final aim and purpose of the work of our salvation accomplished by Christ: that believers might receive the Holy Spirit."

All of this must be predicated of the Holy Eucharist. While it is true that the Eucharist contains substantially the entire good of the Church, Christ, nonetheless, instituted the Eucharist first so that He could offer Himself to us substantially. Further, once we are united to Him and one with Him, we might offer ourselves to the Father. This mutual gift reflects the substantial union and embrace of the Father and Son which spirates the Holy Spirit. Hence, the Holy Eucharist was given to us so that we might receive the Holy Spirit. And it is the same Spirit who makes the Eucharist possible. In this regard, the Fathers of the Church are in universal agreement: "The one who sanctifies, consecrates, transforms and makes Christ present is the Holy Spirit." This is said with respect to the Eucharist, but inasmuch as the Eucharist is the heart of the spiritual life, the statement applies to the whole of the spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is the one who sanctifies, consecrates, and transforms the soul more and more into Christ for the glory of the Father.

St. Catherine of Siena expresses this entire mystery in a little effusive prayer:

This leads us to the conclusion, that while the Eucharist is the greatest of sacraments, it leads to something even greater: to eternal life, by which we share in the very life and loving exchanges of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. That is the ultimate Communion, of which the Eucharist is a Viaticum for the journey upon earth! Likewise, Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism notes that the Blessed Trinity is itself the highest exemplar and source of the unity in the Church. Hence, the Eucharist is the sacramental sign and instrument to lead us into the full sharing in the life of the Trinity.

Thérèse expresses the idea in one of the strophes of a communion hymn, "Vivre d’amour," which she composed during Forty Hours adoration before the Blessed Sacrament:

At her Confirmation she experienced profoundly, though delicately, the coming of the Holy Spirit. She says:

Ah! how joyous my soul was; like the Apostles, I was awaiting with delight the visit of the Holy Spirit.... I was rejoicing at the thought soon to be a perfect Christian and especially to have eternally upon my forehead the mysterious Cross which the Bishop makes while administering the sacrament... Finally the happy moment arrived; I did not experience a violent wind at the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit, but rather that gentle breeze whose murmuring the Prophet Elias heard on Mount Horeb... And that day I received the strength to suffer, for soon thereafter the martyrdom of my soul would begin.

4. Holy Communion Forms Us in the Likeness of the Trinity

Now the question is as follows: What does the Blessed Trinity do in us? Clearly, the Persons of the Trinity are not inactive. Our soul becomes a wonderful sanctuary wherein the life of the Most Holy Trinity accomplishes itself in its eternal form. The Father is continually begetting, speaking the Eternal Word, giving birth to His only Begotten Son; the Father and the Son are continually breathing forth the Holy Spirit in an incomprehensible embrace or kiss of love.

All that God is in His infinite majesty takes place in the Soul, and the soul is in a real contact with this life of the Trinity by grace and the Eucharist, only it is hidden beneath the veil of faith. The life of the Trinity is imprinted into the soul. The Father says to the soul in the Son: "You are My Son; this day I have begotten you.... You are My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Ps 2:7; Lk 3:22). The sacramental character of Christ, the sacramental share in His priesthood, is ‘renewed’ in the soul. The Father and the Son give themselves in Love, spirating the Holy Spirit in charity even more into our hearts by whom we cry, "Abba, Father," thus "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom 8:15-16; cf. Gal 4:6).

When we one day enter into the Beatific Vision and see God face to face, we will understand how much we are in God and God has been in us in the mystery of sanctifying grace and the Eucharist. Our Lord links this participation in the Eucharist in a special way by explaining: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me"(Jn 6:58). This is because the sanctifying mission of the Son in the Flesh (Eucharist) and of the Spirit as the Sanctifier stand in a strict relationship to their eternal processions from the Father. We could say that the missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit are like "sacraments" of their personal procession and eternal life. They are "outward commissions" instituted by the Father to give grace.

If anyone is serious about his will to grow spiritually, he has to make good this boast by the way in which he longs for and lives Eucharistic union, for every other means of spiritual growth either flows from the Eucharist or is ordered to its reception.

5. Communion Associates Us with the Activity of the Blessed Trinity

The purpose of the Eucharist is not fulfilled by simply making us Sons of God, but we are also called to share in the wonderful exchanges of the Blessed Trinity. With Christ, in Him and through Him, we love the Father as Christ does; we offer the Father an infinitely worthy love because Christ’s love is ours. We are not at a loss because of our personal poverty in receiving and loving Christ because the Father gives us His own personal love in the Holy Spirit: We can love Christ with the Father’s own love. Christ assures us of this truth when He tells us: "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you" (Jn 15:9) and "Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12, 13:34). Accordingly, we are to love one another with the very kind of love with which the Father loves the Son. Now should we love God with anything less?

Hence, the oneness that Christ intercedes for us from the Father is not one simply of being, but also of knowing and loving, wherein our true happiness and perfection consist: "Father, I pray for them also...that they may be one is us,...that they may behold my glory! ... I have made known to them your name, in order that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them" (Jn 17:20, 21, 24, 26).

Similarly, when the Holy Spirit is given to us to "teach us all things" (Jn 14:26), our Lord is referring to "all that [He] has heard from the Father," which He makes known to us on the basis of this divine friendship and union (Jn 15:15). Already with respect to Abraham, our Lord declared, "Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" (Gen 18:17). If God has already espoused us by faith according to the prophet Hosea, through whom the Lord says, "I will espouse you to me in faith; and you shall know that I am God" (Hos 2:20), then what must be the communication our Lord intends when He consummates this spousal union in the Blessed Sacrament? Holy Communion is surely a spousal union and more; are we not daily invited in the liturgy with the words of the Angel from the Apocalypse: "Blessed are they who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb!" (Rev 19:9)?

St. Paul explains to us what kind of knowledge our Lord intends to share with His friends: "the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.... We have received the Spirit that is from God so that we may know the things that have been given us by God" (1 Cor 2:10.12b). What are these things? Those things that "‘Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor which has entered the heart of man, the things that God prepares for those who love Him.’ God has revealed these things to us through His Spirit’" (1 Cor 2:9-10a; cf. Is 64:4).

This is what St. Paul understands when he claims that "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16). After all, "If anyone cleaves to the Lord, he is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor 6:17).

We should not be discouraged, should such intimate communications not yet have rejoiced our heart in any great measure. Our task is to grow in faith and longing, for as these increase, it will be given to us to savor of the incomprehensible love of Christ which exceeds all knowledge (cf. Eph 3:19). In this way, the prophet Daniel was rewarded with the knowledge of the Incarnation not for his virtue but for his great longing, even as St. Gabriel explained to him: "From the beginning of your prayers the word came forth: and I am come to show it to you, because you are a man of desires!" (Dan 9:23).

Even when we are worthy, our Lord often does not shower the soul with consolations. St. Thérèse encouraged her cousin Marie in a letter: "Do not be pained at failing to feel any consolation in your communions; it’s a trial that ought to be supported with love. Do not lose any of the thorns that you find each day; with one of them you can save a soul!

Moreover, the Little Flower herself, more often than not, did not enjoy particular consolations after communion. She explained her thanksgiving after communion to Sr. Genevieve in this childlike manner:

She found this most natural; after all, she had received Him not to be entertained by Him, but in order to love and console Him! She appreciated pure faith more than consolations, for we glorify God more when we cling to Him in the obscurity of faith and love than when He consoles us. This is why she preferred to have no consolations in this life, as she was more interested in giving in love than in palpably enjoying the benefactions of God.

F. The Permanence of the Eucharistic Communion

1. Christ Remains in Us

In the Last Supper parable about the Vine and the Branches, Christ calls us to permanent union with Himself (cf. Jn 15). St. John clearly records this as a commentary on the mystery and efficacy of the Eucharist, whose institution he does not narrate in the Last Supper account like the other evangelists do. This is because he already presented the Mystery of the Eucharist–in contradistinction to its institution–in chapter six in conjunction with the multiplication of the loaves. There, our Lord contrasts the manna in the desert, whose consumption did not preserve the Israelites from death, with the true bread of the Father, come down from Heaven, namely, His flesh which gives eternal life to those who eat it! He already states that the reception of the Eucharist establishes a permanent union with Him for those who receive it: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me" (Jn 6:57-58).

In the same manner, before Holy Communion, the celebrant at Mass begs Jesus:

Further, Fr. Bernadot writes in his little book, The Eucharist and the Trinity: "The permanence of the Eucharistic union is both possible and real. Even when the sacred species are consumed, the communicant may remain closely united to the sacred humanity of Jesus," for Christ continues to dwell in the soul, making it live in Him by His grace. Our union through communion with the humanity of Jesus is just as real, permanent, and efficacious as the union of the branch is with the vine. One same and common life animates the two of us. Even while this life flows in us, it continues to be the life-grace of Christ’s soul.

In her childlike way St. Thérèse wrote about her desire for a permanent union with Christ at her First Communion: "Indeed, I wish,...that the Little Jesus find Himself so well received in my heart, that He doesn’t even think about ascending to heaven any more." That was in 1884 when she was eleven years old. Shortly after, she reflects: "It was not to remain in the ciborium that He descends each day from heaven, but in order to find another heaven, which is infinitely more pleasing to Him than the first one, the heaven of our soul, created in His image, the living temple of the adorable Trinity."

In her poem, "Mon Chant d’Aujourd’hui," the Little Flower begs for the Indwelling and spiritual fecundity through His presence:

Finally, because she could not receive our Lord as often as she wished, she implored our Lord to remain in her heart permanently just as He did in the tabernacle. In fact, towards the end of her life (1896-1897), she reveals her conviction that Jesus did remain in her in a little prayer to St. Sebastian–written on a holy card where the saint is succoring St. Tarcisus:

O glorious soldier of Christ! you, who for the honor of the Lord of Hosts victoriously fought and carried off the martyr’s palm and crown, hear my secret: "Like the angelic Tarcisus I carry the Lord." I am only a child, and still I should fight in order to conserve the inestimable that is hidden in my soul... Often I ought to redden the arena of combat with my heart’s blood." 

2. Our Union with the Sacred Humanity in Virtue of His Merits and Love

Our Lord, St. Paul tells us, "always lives to make intercession for us" before the throne of God (Heb 7:25). In His sacred Humanity He is always present to us in love; His merits are constantly offered to us. He knows "when I sit down and when I rise up" (Ps 139:2); in short, He knows all our needs. We are constantly surrounded by His loving Providence, by His love and grace, to help and guide us.

St. Thérèse took up this love of Christ, which particularly in the Eucharist inspired her with a thirsting love; she wanted to win souls for Christ. In one poem she expresses her desires before the tabernacle where Jesus remains "in His prison of love."

3. Union with the Humanity of Christ through His Vivifying Action

Christ is even more intimately and profoundly present to us through His vivifying action. When Christ declares, "I am the Life" (Jn 14:6), this is true not only of His Divinity but also of His humanity. For the life of grace is given to each of us "according to the measure of Christ’s gift" (Eph 4:7). Indeed, Christ himself "is your life," according to Colossians 3:4. Or again, "He who eats Me, shall live because of Me" (Jn 6:58).

The intimacy of this union cannot be overestimated. Grace animates our soul even more perfectly and intimately than our soul animates our own body. The purpose of this grace is to bring us into personal, intimate union with God. Thus, Jesus exclaimed to Blessed Angela de Foligno: "I am closer to your soul than your soul is to itself."

G. Through the Eucharist, We are United to All the Members of Christ’s Mystical Body

The Decree on Ecumenism from Vatican II teaches that Christ instituted in the Church "the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist by which the unity of the Church is both signified and brought about." Lumen Gentium articulates the truth more fully:

Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with Him and with one another. "Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread" (1 Cor 10:17). In this way all of us are made members of His body (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), "but severally members one of another" (Rom 12:4).

That is to say, it is not possible to be joined to Christ the Head without being joined to all His members. Communion with Christ is communion with all the members of the Church: "After the resurrection and Pentecost, Christ exists only as a total Christ, head joined to his members."

In a like manner, St. Augustine explains the unity in the Body of Christ:

If you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle telling the faithful: "you are the body of Christ, member for member" (1 Cor 12:27). If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your holy mystery [sacramentum] that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your sacred mystery [sacramentum] that you receive. To that which you are, you respond "Amen" ["yes , it is true!"], and by responding to it, you assent to it. For you hear the words, "the Body of Christ" and you respond "Amen." Be then (truly) Body of Christ, so that your Amen may be true."

St. Thérèse, in all her simplicity, took this union with the Angels and Saints for granted and made use of it to improve her thanksgiving after communion. She explains:

I cannot say that I often received consolations during my thanksgiving [after holy Communion], indeed, it is perhaps the moment when I have the least. I find this most natural for I have offered myself to Jesus–not like someone who desires his visit for their own personal consolation, but rather to the contrary for the pleasure of Him who gives Himself to me. I picture my soul as an empty terrain and pray the Blessed Virgin to remove the debris which could keep it from being free. Then I implore her to erect a vast tent worthy of heaven and to decorate it with her own precious gifts. And then I invite all the Saints and Angels to come and perform a magnificent concert. It seems to me that when Jesus descends into my heart that He is content to find Himself so well received, and I too am content.

In her poem "La Rosée Divine," in which she celebrates the Divine Motherhood of Mary, she seeks to understand that in the Eucharist she also benefits from the Motherhood of Mary: 

III. Conclusion

We are, in this world, precisely to know, love, and serve God and our neighbor in this life so that we may be eternally happy with God in the next. Daily we ought to strive to deepen our union with Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no better means than the frequent and worthy reception of the Blessed Sacrament, a daily Vade Mecum. We don’t need great lights and consolations to achieve holiness but only the great faith and trust of a child that knows that it is loved and wants to love in return with all his heart. For this reason, Thérèse did not fear any sacrifice; rather, out of this love, she aspired to a life of sacrifice. As St. Thérèse said, her entire goal in life was to love and please Jesus and to make Him known and loved by others. This finds Eucharistic statement in the poem she wrote for her cousin’s entrance into the Carmel of Lisieux:

This calls for a greater and greater turning to the things of God and away from the world. This is only possible when we consciously cultivate love and make the sacrifices of time, detachment, and humility so that with St. John we can say: "He must increase, I must decrease" (Jn 3:30). Even Christ Himself shall do this to consummate His mission in the world. When He shall finally have overcome all things, recapitulating them all in Himself,–surely a victory of the Holy Eucharist–then He will submit Himself totally to the Father, so that God be all things in all (1 Cor 15:28).