Cosmic Eucharist (3)

Transformation - The power to change the whole, communion and intimacy

Transformation and Eucharist

In essence, the Eucharist is a celebration of Transformation. It enables us to tune in to the transforming power of Jesus. It invites us to be part of the Jesus movement to bring about a universal reign of peace and justice for all, Jesus folded into his last meal with the women and men who were his disciples, his dream for the enhancement of life. He symbolized it by washing their feet. The transforming power of the Eucharist is released in the gratuitous service of the neighbour.

Interrelatedness - the power of care, how the Universe responds to the other

Interrelatedness and Eucharist

Interrelatedness is at the heart of Eucharist. The bread itself is the union of many grains - the fruit of the earth - the work of many human hands. Bread is the symbol of all that sustains us. It reminds us that we are of the Earth, that we belong here, that we are part of an Earth community. The breaking and sharing of the bread is a concrete expression of our membership of the community of life that has given us the bread. Bread is more than the work of human hands. It is a gift of the Earth itself.

Until recently, we were content to define that community of life as the human community. Without the assistance of the whole community of life there would be no bread and no wine to celebrate Eucharist. The grains of wheat carry in their genes the memory of all those life species that made the evolution of wheat possible. The wine is not only the fruit of the vine. In its genes are the forgotten contributions of a vast web of ancient ancestors. The fermentation of the grape Juice was made possibly by the activity of bacterial life. When we celebrate Eucharist, the whole web of life is participating in celebration.

Teilhard de Chardin identified the Cosmic Christ with the ultimate destiny of the Universe itself.

In the Mass of the World, Teilhard stresses the interrelatedness of all things. He understood the Eucharist to be a cosmic reality, one that incorporated the whole of the Universe. The Eucharist was for Teilhard the celebration of Cosmic Communion and an anticipation of the ultimate Omega Point.

"Do you therefore, speaking through my lips pronounce over this earthly travail your twofold efficacious word: the word without which all that our wisdom and our experience have built up must totter and crumble - the word through which all our most far reaching speculations and our encounter with the Universe are coming together in to unity. Over every living thing which is to spring up, to grow, to flower, to ripen during this day say again the words: "This is my Blood."

Radiance - the power of magnificence, how the Universe communicates

Invitations to the Banquet

Over the centuries, the understanding of Eucharist has been unduly spiritualized. We are programmed to think of it in terms of the heavenly banquet food for the soul, the bread of heaven. One of the 'Scandalous' innovations of Jesus was to invite to the table of celebration those who were excluded by the religious and cultural norms of the time. If the Cosmic Christ is representative of all of creation, then a celebration of the Cosmic Eucharist must be a place of hospitality for all. We need to work out the implications of this new understanding.

Reaching Out

The Eucharist as an object of private adoration does not capture the essence of what the historical Jesus was proclaiming. The Eucharist as the sacrament of Divine. Radiance needs to radiate beyond the quiet seclusion of a Church sanctuary. Divine radiance penetrates everywhere and everything.

What does it mean to say that the Eucharist is sacrament of Divine Radiance? It means that Eucharist impels us to reach out to all, and to be sensitive to Divine Radiance whereever it glows. The Eucharist invites us to become the living bread. We are the bread - we are the Body of Christ - we can reverberate with Divine Radiance. The Eucharist invites us to become Divine Radiance in our world, to allow Divine Presence to reverberate out from us.