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ePaper created 2015-02-27, 18:37:22 | version 1.33.01
25 Why did Christ want to give us this Eucharistic presence? The presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist was something He wished to give us in order to be close to us, and so that He could nourish us with his very Himself and remain within the ecclesial community. For this reason we are asked by Faith to be aware that when we are in the presence of the Eucharist we are in the presence of Christ. It is his very presence that gives all the other dimensions of Banquet, Memorial of the Passover, eschatological anticipation a meaning that is raised beyond the level of a pure symbolism. The Eucharist is the Mystery of the Presence, by which the promise of Jesus of remaining with us until the end of time is fulfilled in a supreme way. It is a consoling sign of the love, power and genius of our Divine Savior. He wished to enter into an intimate union with believers of every generation and wanted to do it in a way that would satisfy our human nature of incarnated spirits (composed of a body and a soul). “The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by Him she is fed and by Him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a ‘mystery of light.’ Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: ‘their eyes were opened and they recognized him’(Lk 24,31) (…). In reply to the request made by the disciples of Emmaus that Jesus would stay ‘with’ them, Jesus answered with an even greater gift: by the Sacrament of the Eucharist he found a way to remain ‘in’ them. To receive the Eucharist is to enter into deep communion with Jesus. ‘Remain in me and I in you’ (Jn 15,4)” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 6, 19). 106