The Eucharist - this year's theme

On the Friday morning of our meeting we heard the theme of the year, Emmaus on the Eucharist (4.9.2014). I'm sure there will also be an opportunity to hear it at our meeting in Welwyn in April. It was introduced by Antonio Borges, a focolarino from the Azores (islands in the middle of the Atlantic which belong to Portugal). The theme was very simple and based on Chiara's experiences. Emmaus explained that she didn't want to give a theological exposition of the eucharist, as she is not a theologian, and she is mindful of the different churches present in the Movement. Instead, she traced what Jesus in the Eucharist (JE) meant to Chiara throughout her life, and the role of the Eucharist in the life of the Movement. Emmaus said that by the end of this year she hoped that we would have discovered what a treasure JE is for each one of us. Re-reading my notes was to meditate again on this mystery. Here are some of them:

• The Eucharist makes us one with ourselves and with God. It transforms us into other little Jesus's, into God. It is the tool of unity and of mutual love. 
• The Eucharist: Mystery of Communion - "Love wants to know more in order to grow in love, in order to know at least a little of who you are". It is the sacrament that brings about unity. We focus not on the sacrament itself so much as its effects when seen from the perspective of unity. 
• The Eucharist makes us one. It has two parts, and ascetic part and a mystical part. Mutual love is the ascetic aspect, what we do. Unity is the mystical part, what God does. 
• The Eucharist transforms us into Jesus, "Divinises us in soul and body; makes us into God". [I have to admit to being nervous when I first heard this phrase, but it was repeated, as claiming that we are transformed into God via the Eucharist was enough to be put to death if you were a woman in the Middle Ages in certain parts of Europe. It was a heresy known as 'quietism', claiming mystical union with God - for which Marguerite Porete was executed in Paris in 1310]. 
• Chiara as a young child was taken to visit the blessed sacrament by nuns. She would remain fixed on Jesus in the monstrance, praying, 'put your light and warmth inside me'. 
• As a student of philosophy, Chiara would take her books to the cathedral in Trent and sit in a corner in front of Jesus in the tabernacle in order to study. 
• When asked before her consecration to God, whether she was afraid of being alone, she responded that she would never be alone while there was Jesus in the Eucharist. 
• When preparing for her talks in the Messiah Hall in Trent, Chiara would go in front of JE and repeat, 'You are everything, I am nothing'. 
• When the first focolarine undertook their travels around Italy they would look out of the train windows to see the many churches and chapels. Chiara likened Jesus in all these tabernacles to a knight, accompanying them on their journeys. 
• In the period of scrutiny by the Church, when it looked as if the Movement might be dissolved, Chiara would go to JE, who would remind her that He was the head of the Church. 
• On her visit to the Holy Land Chiara was very struck and moved by visiting the places Jesus had walked, the stones he had seen and touched. She was very aware of the 'spirit of place' and the presence of Jesus that still seemed so physical and tangible there. She was entranced and would have liked to stay and meditate in that land. Chiara remembered that Jesus is still present all over the world in the Eucharist. It was this thought that enabled her to return home. It is the same for us. We can encounter the same Jesus wherever we are. 
• Chiara likened JE to the stars in the sky - He populates the earth with his presence. It is His way of remaining on earth. 
• Jesus in the mass is a hidden suffering - we can unite all our suffering, our poverty in His, and like him pour out our suffering for humanity. 
• Jesus in the Eucharist was the hidden driving force of Chiara's life, and of those who follow her. Unity can only be fully lived through the Eucharist. As we draw closer to God we draw closer to one another. Only JE can accomplish Jesus's prayer, "May they all be one". 
• When people are attracted to the Movement they spontaneously start receiving the Eucharist. No one has to suggest it to them. It is like a baby who seeks its mother's milk - we are drawn to Jesus in the Eucharist in the heart of the Church. 
• By making himself bread, Jesus found a way to enter everyone. 
• There is a link between Jesus in the Eucharist and mutual love (Matt. 5:23-4, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift".)
• Jesus in the Eucharist is completely there for all people on earth. He shows no preferences or discrimination. When we receive Him we open ourselves to universal brotherhood. [This seems prophetic rather than fully realised. If you are polygamous, divorced, gay, remarried, trans, Protestant, not baptised...  you might not be so welcome, but maybe we will get there one day].   
• When we say our Thanksgiving after communion, the prayer for unity, it is already in progress, already accomplished in Jesus. 
• The Eucharist leads to the resurrection of the flesh. John 56-8: those who eat Jesus's flesh will live in him and have eternal life. 
• The Eucharist divinises the earth. It redeems us and makes us into God, and in turn our bodies make nature into God. [This turned out to be the main sticking point for the non-Catholics' present - just a tad too material]. 
• In the Incarnation all human nature converges in Jesus's flesh via the Eucharist. [This puts the Church and clergy firmly at the heart of creation - another difficult idea for some].
• Chiara in addressing JE said, to paraphrase, 'You make us one with you so that we can be with you wherever you are'. We journey from the Trinity to the Trinity, through the mystery of life, death and suffering. [I find this vision very congenial, a really broad view of human life extending beyond our life on earth, both before and after this incarnation.]