A Reflection for Friday of the Third Week of Easter
Find today’s readings here.
“This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Over the past twenty-two years of my life, having attended Mass almost every week, I have surely heard the phrase “The mystery of faith” several hundreds of times. The priest proclaims it as a part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and I am embarrassed to admit that until last year, I had never given the phrase a second thought.
In my defense, there are a lot of moving parts in a Mass. There are responses and psalms, we sit and we stand, we listen and we sing. But on more occasions than I’m proud to admit, I have found myself breezing through the motions, waiting for the next response or song, looking for the next cue to stand up or kneel.
But during last year’s Lenten season, a fellow student changed my perspective on the marvelous reality of the Eucharist we witness every week.
During my junior year of college, the Catholic chaplain at my alma mater organized a Lenten devotional written entirely by students and alumni. Each day of Lent had its student reflection focused on the day's readings. The devotional was not unsimilar to the Scripture Reflections written by America staff every day.
In one of these entries, a peer reflected on his love of the line “The mystery of faith.” The Gospel, he wrote, seemed to provide purposely hazy imagery sometimes. He admitted that he was left with more questions than answers, and that at times he couldn’t identify what the “right” questions were at all. Yet the mysterious elements of our faith did not deter him. We proclaim it every week, he said. The mystery of faith. We believe in the Eucharist and therefore our faith––not despite but because of these mysteries.
His reflection completely reconstructed my understanding of our role as witnesses during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Jesus in today’s Gospel teaches us of the incredible sacrifice and unbelievable gift we receive every time we consume the true body and blood of Christ. Just like those who quarreled with Jesus, it can be difficult to fully wrap our heads around the idea that Jesus “give[s] us his Flesh to eat” at every communion. But this process, the transubstantiation we witness and proclaim every week, is the core mystery of our faith.
