Dynamic Discipleship - Reflection for Evening Prayer - Monday of the 26th Week of Ordinary Time (1 Thessalonians 2:11-13)

Our reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians, along with a couple of the verses prior to those cited in the reading, in a way encapsulate our missions as baptized disciples.  The words of Saint Paul represent a challenge we are called to meet in our daily lives.

Through the ministry of Paul and Silas, the Thessalonians were moved to turn from their idols.  They were moved to truly worship and serve the living and true God.  Our lives as baptized Christians ideally have a lot of similarities to that of Paul and Silas.  We are called to engage a world that is full of idols and other distractions that often prevent true worship.  Idols and distractions that often act as a sort of spiritual contraception in the blossoming of spiritual fruit in our lives and in the lives of those we are called to serve.

Let's strive to embrace our mission as Christians similar to how Paul and Silas embraced them, and look to Paul and Silas for encouragement and hope from their experiences.  

Paul and Silas preached for free and worked professional jobs to pay their expenses.  Similarly, most of us do not have paid positions within the Church.  We work our secular jobs to pay our expenses, support our families, and support the Church. Let us always strive to be an active part of the world, influencing it with the values of Christ, but never fall for the ways of the world.

Paul and Silas practiced what they preached.  They led by example with conduct that was upright, just, and irreproachable.  Similarly, we are called to lead by the same example.  Let us always strive to be a visible example of what it means to truly love, worship, and serve the Lord.

Paul and Silas related to the Thessalonians as a father relates to their children.  Similarly, let's strive to be a source of spiritual nourishment to those God puts in our lives…guiding and teaching them in matters of faith, morals, and spirituality as a father may guide and teach their children.  Let's strive to always be loving and accepting of others where they are, but at the same time always encouraging them to be more than they are.  Let's strive to always present objective truth with respect and condor.

Remember always the words of Saint Catherine of Siena, "If you are what you were meant to be, you will set the world on fire."

If we can follow the example of Paul and Silas with self-sacrifice, holiness, and a sense of community, we can truly be an instrument of the Holy Spirit to move hearts, facilitate conversions, and renew the Church.  We will set the world on fire.

Clear and Present

Paragraph 1391 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes the Lord saying, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”  In fact, I believe in John 6, the Lord says this four times in six verses.  In another one of those six verses, the Lord specifically declares that “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink”.  

I have always been fascinated about how Zwingli and other Protestant reformers could come to the symbolic conclusions they taught when Jesus was so very clear about the reality of His flesh and blood.

Equally fascinating is how the Evangelicals and Fundamentalists that claim to follow only the Bible would reject the positions of the real presence of Jesus when the Bible clearly says that His flesh is true food (in fact; the King James version goes a step further by saying His flesh is meat indeed) and His blood is true drink.

St. Alphonsus said, “The devil has always attempted, by means of heretics, to deprive the world of the Mass.”  I have no doubt Satan is well aware that “receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus.”  Satan certainly tempts non-Catholics into believing the symbolic teachings of many non-Catholic faith traditions and persuades them to reject the truth of the substantial presence of Jesus in the Eucharist as taught by the Catholic Church for nearly 2,000 years.

Ultimately, Jesus prayed that we “may all be one”.  Per the Divine plan, that oneness that Jesus prayed for can really only come to fruition through, with, and in Him via the Eucharist.  Our evangelization efforts should be Eucharist focused with the goal to bring those not in full communion with Christ to “the fullness of the means of salvation” and “full sacramental life” Christ established.

Jesus Christ is substantially present in the Eucharist.   Let's stand firm to Him.

Passover and the Eucharist

 I find the continuity between the Jewish Passover and the Eucharist to be fascinating.  

The Jewish Passover meal includes unleavened bread, wine, and an unblemished lamb.  Participating in the Jewish Passover meal recalls freedom from slavery in Egypt, and was a necessary component of being part of the Hebrew community.

Similarly, the Eucharist includes unleavened bread (at least in the Latin Rite), wine, and an unblemished Lamb, namely Jesus Christ.  Participating in the Eucharist recalls freedom from slavery to sin.   A Catholic must receive the Eucharist at least once a year (generally during the Easter season) to continue to be in a state of grace; i.e., part of the Catholic community.

The Jewish Passover meal includes four cups of wine: the cup of sanctification, the cup of proclamation, the cup of blessing, and the cup of praise.  When Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His Apostles in the upper room on Holy Thursday, He only drank the first three cups.  After drinking the cup of blessing, He and the Apostles sang a hymn of Hallel and left to go to the Mount of Olives without drinking the final cup (Matthew 26:26-30).  Jesus didn't drink the fourth and final cup of the Passover meal until He was given wine to drink on the cross (Matthew 27:48).  This fourth cup is also known as the Hallel Cup and  the Cup of Consummation.  We mystically drink from this fourth Passover cup at every Mass.

Thus, the Mass is a direct participation in the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary, a fulfillment of the Jewish Passover that God directed all generations to celebrate at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, and an anticipation of the eternal Passover in the Kingdom of God as described throughout the book of Revelation.

The Eucharist truly is the source and the summit of the Christian faith.