A common practice of Jesus that we find in the New Testament is that of Jesus eating and drinking at meals. Some commentators even jokingly note that Jesus ate his way through the Gospel! Joking aside, much of what we hear from him comes during the context of meals. Meals are a central element in the Gospel. During meals (as opposed to merely eating), conversation occurs and relationships are expanded and deepened. You get to know a person better and what’s going on in their lives. They get to know what is going on in yours. You have an opportunity to discuss issues of importance. “Breaking bread,” as the phrase goes, is a time of sharing and the opening up of ourselves to others. It is a time of truly being present.
It seems that many a family has lost the sense of regular family meals and spending quality time together. True, there are times such as during Thanksgiving and Christmas when this does happen, however, given the various activities in which both parents and children are involved in now days, it is challenge to have regular times just to sit together to share a family meal.
Some years ago, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University issued a report showing that teens who eat dinner with their families five to seven times per week are far less likely to use and abuse alcohol and drugs than those who do not have regular meals together. It stated, “With the recent rise in the number of Americans age 12 and older who are using drugs, it is more important than ever to sit down to dinner and engage your children in conversation about their lives, their friends, what is happening at school – just talk.” When families sit down for a period of time to share a meal, conversation happens. Those at the meal share what is going on in their lives and talk about any of a number of issues. If they don’t or won’t talk, it is quite noticeable and very well may indicate something wrong is going on.
Jesus certainly used such opportunities both to observe what was going on in the life of individuals with whom he was sharing a meal. He used the time to teach his friends about what truly was of value in life. At the end of his public ministry, he used context of a Passover meal to make a connection to the reason why he came, i.e., to offer himself for our sins. This was at his Last Supper. (It is why the Mass is, not only a sacred meal, but a sacred sacrifice.)
I believe that meals can be opportunities (especially family meals) to be an extension of the Sunday Eucharist. To have a meal involves preparation and time. A meal needs to be readied. It just doesn’t happen. Those who share the table need to be willing to spend quality time with each other. Those at the meal need to be engaged with the others at the table as the meal is shared. A meal involves more than just fueling up. Time is one of the reasons why it is difficult for many families today actually to have regular meals. There are just too many distractions and activities pulling members of households in different directions.
In the Sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus shares his last meal with his disciples. He had already shared many with them during the time of his public ministry. He declares to them four times that his flesh is real food and that his blood is real drink. It must have been a startling declaration. It was a proclamation, as well as an invitation, to have faith that he was from God and, in fact, he was the Word of God become flesh. He associated his Last Supper with the sacrifice of the Paschal lambs which were eaten in a cultic context following their slaughter. Thus, his Last Supper involved a direct connection with his crucifixion. Those who eat and drink worthily of his Body and Blood share in his passion, death and resurrection.
To receive Holy Communion is more than an action of physically eating the Host and drinking the Precious Blood. It is to take the whole Christ into ourselves. When we consume food, we generally think of it being assimilated into our bodies. It is different when we eat and drink of Christ’s Body and Blood. It is we who are assimilated into Christ. In other words, who Christ is by nature, we become through grace, i.e. full participants as members of the Body of Christ. It would be my guess that few of us regularly consider what the invitation to share the Eucharist actually does to us when we are open to the grace of the sacrament. We become deified.
The notion of deification has been affirmed from the earliest of times and is a phrase used during the Preparation of Gifts at each Mass: “May we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” St. Irenaeus used the phrase, “…if the Word has been made man, it is so that men may be made gods.” In the fourth century, St. Athanasius repeats St. Irenaeus almost word for word, and in the fifth century St. Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons [and daughters] “by participation”). Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St. Maximus the Confessor, for whom the doctrine is related to the Incarnation. St. Symeon at the end of the tenth century wrote, “He who is God by nature converses with those whom he has made gods by grace, as a friend converses with his friends, face to face. . .” It is not that we become God, but that we are divinized as members of Christ’s Body.
At Mass, we not only adore Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar but are invited to become as Christ. God has spoken his Word and the Word became flesh among us. As Christ is transformed sacramentally from the simple elements of bread and wine, we who receive these simple elements sacramentally are being transformed into the likeness of Christ and are then sent forth to be as Christ in our world.
So, the next time a meal opportunity arises, it would be good to remember that each of us, in some way, is to be as Christ to and for each other. This certainly is the case when the meal we share is the Mass.
Please help us continue
