From the beginning, God has desired to be with His people, to be close to us, in communion with us. However, because of sin, humanity has distanced itself from God's presence—a point made in the Genesis account of the Fall. Immediately after that first sin in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve “hid themselves from
the presence of the LORD God” (Gen. 3:8). The rest of salvation history can be seen as God's plan of restoring His presence among His people, of reestablishing full covenant communion.
We can see God's presence among humanity gradually becoming more intimate throughout the Old Testament. From the distant voice of God speaking to Noah, to the call of Moses through the burning bush, to the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night guiding the Israelites in the desert, to the awesome glory cloud of God's presence filling the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem, God's presence becomes progressively more intimate throughout salvation history. His closeness to man reaches a climax in the New Testament, in the first chapter of Matthew's Gospel in which Jesus is identified as “Emmanu-el (which means, God with us)” (Mt. 1:23). Jesus, who is the Word of God made flesh, is the fullness of God dwelling among humanity. God is truly with His people again.
Jesus consistently transformed the lives of people who drew near to His presence with faith. For example, a woman suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years reached out and touched just the fringe of His garment in the midst of a large crowd. In an instant, she was cured because she came near to Jesus in faith. He told her, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Mt. 9:22). Similarly, two blind men approached Jesus and cried out, “‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you’” (Mt. 9:27-30). On another occasion, some people brought a paralytic to Jesus who, upon seeing their faith, cured the man and forgave His sins (Mt. 9:2-8).
That same Jesus who walked the streets of Palestine—curing the sick, converting the sinners, healing the brokenhearted, and working miracles in peoples' lives—is really present today in the Eucharist at every Mass and in every tabernacle around the world. And He wants to perform great works in our lives. But we have to draw near. And we have to believe.
In a modern secularized culture hungering for religion, searching for God, and longing for the love only Christ can give, this gift of God's very presence in the Eucharist must be proclaimed! At every Mass, we have the opportunity to meet Jesus in this unique way. In Holy Communion, the God of the universe enters us in the most intimate way possible. In those moments after receiving the Eucharist, we have the most profound union with our God, our Creator, dwelling in us. Let us not allow those precious moments to pass by without ardently speaking to Our Lord, bringing to Him our petitions, our thanks, our joys and sorrows, and our heart's deepest desires.
Christ really can work miracles in our lives. He continues to convert
sinners, heal the brokenhearted, and call us to follow Him ever more closely. Whether helping us overcome weaknesses and recurring sins or healing personal wounds and sufferings, Christ wants to transform us with His very life, most particularly in the Eucharist. Here He strengthens our souls for this pilgrimage on earth and conforms us to Himself. Indeed, these are the great miracles that
Jesus works in ordinary lives all the time.
And we must not forget that His presence in the Eucharist continues while reserved in the tabernacle. There in the parish church, in the tabernacle next to the flickering red candle, He lovingly waits for us to visit Him, adore Him, and bring our lives to Him.11 Therefore, in the Eucharist—not only at Mass, but also in the tabernacle—Jesus wants to do great works in our lives. But we have to draw near, and we have to believe. There in the Eucharist, Jesus stands before us today just as He stood before the two blind men 2,000 years ago, saying, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Mt. 9:28).
Edward P. Sri received his master's degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville and his licentiate and doctorate degrees in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He is author of several books and articles on Scripture and apologetics, including
Mystery of the Kingdom, a Bible study on the Gospel of Luke, and Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary's Queenship (Emmaus Road).
1 ^See G. Grisez and R. Shaw, “Has the sacrament become just a symbolic reminder?” Our
Sunday Visitor (August 28, 1994), 5.
2 ^The following example is adapted from N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 198-99.
3 ^From the Mishnah (Pesahim, X, 5), translated by Herbert Danby (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1933), 151. The text goes on to read: “[F]or it is written [Ex. 13:8], And thou shalt tell thy son in that day saying, It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.” This understanding of memorial is also seen in the modern Haggadah for the Passover ritual: “It was not only our ancestors whom he delivered, but when he delivered them he delivered us with them, because it was not one enemy alone who rose up against us to crush us. The Holy One—blessed be he—rescues us from their hand” T. Maertens, A Feast in Honor of Yahweh (Notre Dame: Fides Publishers, 1965), 109.
4 ^This poem, called the “Poem of the Four Nights,” is found in the targum Neophyti, an
Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible used for synagogue worship. See Neophyti I, vol. 2 (Madrid-Barcelona, 1970), 312-13, quoted in Lucien Deiss, It's the Lord's Supper (London: Collins, 1975), 35.
5 ^See 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Mt. 26:26-29; Mk. 14:22-25; Lk. 22:17-20.
6 ^Alternative translation provided in footnote q of the RSVCE.
7 ^Saint Leo the Great, Sermo 63, as translated in Matthias Scheeben, The Mysteries of
Christianity (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1964), 486-87, emphasis added.
8 ^Sermo 272, as quoted in Catechism, no. 1396.
9 ^See note 5, supra.
10 ^For further discussion, see Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Feast of Faith (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 33-60.
11 ^“The Church and the world have a great need of eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us
in this sacrament of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world. May our adoration never cease” Pope John Paul II, The Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist Dominicae Cenae, Vatican Translation (1980), no. 3.