The Sacrament of Sharing

Today’s readings on this Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord are all about sharing, and so are perfect readings as we reflect on and celebrate the Eucharist—the sacrament of sharing par excellence.

The first reading comes from a rather strange chapter in the book of Genesis that talks about the “War of the Kings.” In this chapter we are told about how a number of kings—all with strange names like Chedolaomer, Tidal, Shemedber, and Bera—made war on one another and in the process captured Lot, the kinsman of Abram (soon become Abraham). When Abram heard this he gathered his fighting men (they just seem to appear!), pursued the kings, and brought back Lot from their clutches, along with a lot of spoils. It’s at this point that another shadowy figure emerges—Melchizedek, the king of Salem—and shares with Abram and his men some bread and wine. Abram, in gratitude perhaps, in turn shares with Melchizedek “one tenth of everything.” A strange story, but Christians have always interpreted it in the light of the priesthood of Christ and the Eucharistic sharing of bread and wine. Melchizedek shares, and Abram shares in turn—a sign of things to come.

Then we read from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, where Paul shares with the Corinthian community what had been handed on to him: that the Lord Jesus, on the night before he himself was handed over, took bread and wine and shared it with his disciples. This sharing of bread and wine was a sign to them of his coming death, the death by which he shared his very self for the life of the world. Jesus commanded his disciples to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of him—for the bread and wine were his body and blood: his very self. When they did this they proclaimed this saving death to the world, sharing the good news of salvation, embodying it in their own sharing with one another and with those whom they met in their daily lives.

Between the second reading and the gospel we recite or sing the long, lyrical, and theologically rich poem of Thomas Aquinas, the “Lauda Sion.” It extols the Eucharist, the gift of God’s sharing and generosity to women and men that continues to overflow and cannot be exhausted. As one verse puts it:

Thousands are, as one, receivers

One, as thousands of believers,

Eats of him who cannot waste.

Eucharist is pure sharing. It is a sacrament of the sharing that is God as such. It is a sacrament of God’s generosity to us. This aspect of the Eucharist is illustrated beautifully in the gospel reading—the story from Luke’s gospel about the feeding of the huge crowd that had followed Jesus in to the wilderness. This is the story of the pure abundance and generosity of God, and has always been interpreted in terms of the Eucharist. The text tells us how Jesus blessed and broke the bread, then gave it to his disciples to share with the crowds—the same words that we use in the Eucharistic prayer to introduce the Words of Institution of the Eucharist: “This is my body;” This is my blood.”

In a famous phrase, St. Augustine said that when we receive the Eucharist we become what we have received. What this points to is that, if Eucharist is Jesus sharing his life with us, so we need to share that life with others. Eucharist, in other words, is never about ourselves. It is always a commitment to become what we have received. Eucharist is the sacrament of sharing. Jesus shares his body and blood with us. We share our body and blood with our world.