Ave Maria Meditations
Jesus makes himself truly present in the Eucharistic Mystery, which is renewed on every altar. His is a dynamic presence that takes hold of us to make us his, to liken us to him. He attracts us with the force of his love, bringing us out of ourselves to be united with him, making us one with him.
The Real Presence of Christ makes each one of us his “house” and all together we form his Church, the spiritual building of which Saint Peter speaks. “Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious”, the apostle writes, “and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pt 2:4-5).
The love of Christ is the love that “never ends” (1 Cor 13: 8), the spiritual energy that unites all who share in the same sacrifice and are nourished by the one Bread, broken for the world’s salvation … Thus, every time you approach the altar for the Eucharistic Celebration, may your soul be open to “forgiveness and fraternal reconciliation, ready to accept the apologies of those who have injured you and ready, in turn, to forgive others” …
The altar of the sacrifice becomes in a certain way the meeting point between heaven and earth; the center, we might say, of the One Church that is heavenly yet at the same time a pilgrim on this earth where, amidst the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, disciples of the Lord proclaim his passion and his death until he comes in glory (see Lumen Gentium, n. 8).
Indeed, every Eucharistic Celebration already anticipates Christ’s triumph over sin and over the world and in the mystery shows the radiance of the Church, “the spotless spouse of the spotless Lamb. It is she whom Christ loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.” (ibid., n. 6)
May the Spirit of the Risen Lord, who is the Spirit of Pentecost, open you to his horizons of hope and nourish within you a missionary impetus to the vast horizons of the new evangelization.
Pope Benedict XVI.
