Mystical Supper

I have been stressing the importance of understanding that what we do in in the Eucharistic Liturgy is to make Christ truly present in our lives in the present as He was to His disciples in the past. One of the things that can truly help us do this is to begin to truly see that the actions of Christ, His life, death and resurrection, are truly a new PASSOVER for us. That is, His actions in the past call us to embrace in the presence that, just like the Jews of old, He has lead us to freedom from captivity to real ignorance about the meaning and purpose of life. His life, death and resurrection has shown us the real meaning and purpose of this earthly existence. We have been given human life here on earth in  order to grow in our awareness of    several different things, namely that  (1) human life is immortal because it is a sharing in God’s own life-force and that we humans are immortal; (2) earthly life is given to us so that we might grow as “spiritual” beings, learning how to love unconditionally; (3) earthly life is designed to present us with the challenges and also the necessary opportunities to grow in the “likeness” of Jesus, Who is the human manifestation of God; (4) neither the past or the future are real and that we can only know the present, the time that is allotted to us to truly encounter God; and (5) when we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, Christ is truly present to us if only we open our heart and minds to His presence. A

For all this to happen, of course, we must allow ourselves to think in the fashion. We cannot just let the words and the actions of the Liturgy be “ritualistic” things that we watch and observe but, rather, things that we desire to express what we feel and believe.

I know that this is a challenge and that my exhortations seem, at times, to make no sense to many. I, like you, must, when I come to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, purposely express my intention to make the words and actions of the Liturgy my words and actions to are designed to worship my God. They are words and actions that are similar to those of Jesus and the members of the early Church. They are actions and words that, if I allow them, to place me in the presence of our Triune God and offer Him thanks for the gift of life. This reminds me that I must be thankful for my life!