Take, eat…

Many have said that God only loves Christ, and loves Christ perfectly and eternally and forever, because “you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God” (1 Corinthians 3:23). That is what assures you objectively of God’s love absolutely and forever. You are the Body of Christ not by reason of any moral behaviour on your part, but because you are a creature of the one Creator. Your DNA is divine. In Eucharist we just keep eating the Mystery until we get it—until we get who we are—and the transformation happens. It cannot happen merely on a head level, so Jesus does not say “think about it” or “define it” or even “look at it” but he says “Eat it!” Truths like this you can only know on a cellular and holistic level.

It’s marvellous to me that when I hand people the consecrated bread at Mass, I don’t say Spirit of Christ, I say Body of Christ. We offer the Presence to their body, and they take it inside of their body, which is the way presence happens. You cannot live in the present or be present with your mind. It happens on a body level when you are fully attentive and offering no resistance to the moment.

Richard Rohr, from a talk, The Gospel of Mark