Understanding the Eucharist

EUCHARIST

CHRIST FOR OTHERS

Participating in the Eucharist and being nourished by the Body and Blood of the Lord makes a claim on us.

As Christ offered Himself to God his Father, so we too are called to follow his example of self-offering to give life to others.

Christ Has No Body
By St Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

Born in Spain, Teresa entered a Carmelite convent when she was eighteen, and later earned a reputation as a mystic, reformer, and writer who experienced divine visions. She founded a convent, and wrote the book ‘The Way of Perfection’ for her nuns. Other important books by her include her Autobiography and ‘The Interior Castle’.

St Teresa adequately sums up for us what it means to be ‘Christ for others…’ in her well known poem.

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

In a sense she also captures what Jesus expects of his followers in the Parable of the Last Judgment in St Matthew’s Gospel. “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

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