This essay was originally published in the July 2024 issue of Catechetical Review, Vol. 10, no. 3.
We Catholics can be so (rightfully!) focused on explaining how the Eucharist is Jesus himself that we might not spend time ourselves, or with those whom we love, considering the ramifications of receiving this divine gift. What does receiving the Eucharist mean for us? Is it for our personal spiritual welfare alone?
While we may take great consolation in this deep and real union with our Savior, the Gospel of John makes it clear that this is not the only benefit God has in mind. After the disciples in the upper room had been given the first Eucharist at the Last Supper, Jesus gives an extraordinary image for what he had just done for them. He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). We will, of course, note the natural union that exists between a vine and its branches: they form one living organism. This image certainly would have deepened this understanding for the disciples, allowing them to see how they are able now to live in union with Jesus, even as he is taken from them. But we also notice here our Lord’s emphasis on fruitfulness: “[My Father] takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit” (Jn 15:2). This demanding reality of the need for fruitfulness cannot be ignored when reading the texts.
Receiving the Eucharist, then, is meant to change us. Entering into communion with Jesus himself is meant to make us increasingly like him—to see how he sees, to think how he thinks, and to love how he loves. Our love for the Father, by virtue of our communion with the Son, is meant to become more like the Son’s. And our love for our fellow human beings is meant to become more like his love for them. This change is not optional; it is indeed normative Catholicism. It is God’s intent for each person who receives the Eucharist.
Sherry Weddell raises a key question along these lines for us 21st-century Catholics:
In recent decades, there has been little or no serious discussion at the parish level about how an individual receiving the sacraments can prepare his or her heart, soul, and life to do so fruitfully. Nor do we dream about the amazing things God would do in our midst if the lives of our people were characterized by great spiritual fruitfulness. A Church that understands itself as possessing the “fullness of the means of grace” must yearn for the fullness of the manifestation of that grace.1
In the Church today, considering our cultural circumstances, we have to begin to speak more concertedly about how to prepare well for the sacramental encounter, as well as how to cooperate with sacramental grace so that we might live a spiritually fruitful life. As the Church in the United States moves into the final and ongoing stage of Eucharistic Revival—focused on living Eucharistic Mission—now is the opportune time for this discussion.
There are two primary Eucharistic principles we will consider here: (1) receiving the Eucharist empowers us to live supernaturally; and (2) being in union with Jesus in the Eucharist imparts new responsibilities for how we live, especially in our relationships.
Every sacramental encounter empowers us to live a fruitful Christian life. Something is new in us, something extraordinary is given to us, when any sacrament is received. Let us consider some examples of what happens within us in several sacraments.
Through the waters of Baptism, there are several truly life-altering effects. All sin is forgiven, original and personal. The baptized person enters a new relationship with God, becoming an adopted child of the Father (cf. CCC, nos. 1263–65). The Sacrament of Reconciliation restores us to God’s grace and “intimate friendship” (CCC, no. 1468). The grace of the Anointing of the Sick brings a new union with Christ’s Passion, giving divine strength, peace, and courage for our own suffering. When approaching death, this sacrament fortifies us for the final struggle (CCC, nos. 1521–23). For those who marry sacramentally, Jesus himself enters their relationship in a new way, and his presence gives husband and wife new capacities for fidelity, forgiveness, and love. Indeed, the Catechism tells us that the sacramentally married couple can love one another supernaturally. They need not rely only upon their own natural capacities for love, but, because Christ has given himself to them and is present in their marriage, they can draw upon an infinite wellspring of grace. They can now love and forgive in ways that far exceed the usual capacities of us limited and deeply flawed human beings (CCC, nos. 1642).2
What are the effects of receiving the Eucharist, we might ask? Paragraphs 1391–1401 of the Catechism are worth a close reading. The primary fruit, of course, is an intimate union with Christ. The life of grace is preserved, increased, and renewed. Our union with the Church is made more substantial. And sacramentally receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the one born in poverty in Bethlehem deeply commits us to the poor. And so, to receive Jesus in the Eucharist is no small thing. Each of us receives new or deepened capacities that we could not generate by our own ingenuity or willpower.
The point here is this: our heavenly Father gives us what he gives us in the sacraments so that we might become spiritually fruitful. He intends that sacramental grace has a profound effect on how we see, think, and live. Yet, the sacraments are not magic, and this kind of change, of course, is not automatic. It is to our great good to know about these effects and to freely cooperate with sacramental grace. We must intelligently lean into the life and mission that God makes possible through our living a sacramental life. This is especially true in our regular reception of the Eucharist.
Receiving any sacrament places an urgent responsibility on us. This is most deeply the case when entering Eucharistic communion with Jesus. The responsibility is to live aligned with the one with whom we are put into union. To enter communion with Jesus and then to tragically live in a way that is opposed to the one in whom we dwell brings enormous dissonance to our souls and to our relationship with God. It also erodes belief in the Eucharist for others who can see this dissonance. When a person is a public figure, the confusion and spiritual damage is exacerbated. We might remember St. Paul’s caution here: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor 11:27–29). There is no question that taking up this call to live in coherence with our Eucharistic Lord is enormously challenging for all of us. Yet, grace is given with the challenge, and this is the territory upon which saints have been made.
One 20th-century sacramental theologian points out something critically important here. He describes how receiving a sacrament means we are willing “an implied oath” and taking upon ourselves a “moral obligation for the future.”3 In other words, to receive a sacrament means we are intending to live in a way that follows the way of Christ. We may not live up to this promise, but having the firm intention to take steps forward is important. This kind of freely willed cooperation, empowered by grace, makes greatness possible in the Christian life. Indeed, to enter union with Jesus requires that we desire to live a new life deeply rooted in him. St. Leo the Great put this principal element of the Christian life into memorable words:
Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God.4
Partaking in the Eucharistic banquet brings us into a profound communion with our Lord. Pope Benedict XVI once compared the spiritual power of this union to the generative power of nuclear fission. Receiving the Eucharist brings into our very selves a catalyst within the spiritual order, one who means to bring about radical change, a real conformity of how we see and think and love to how Jesus sees, thinks, and loves. The Eucharist both gives us new capacities for this and charges us with the responsibility to step into this new life in Christ.
In Part II of this essay, which we will publish next week, Dr. Pauley will focus on the evidence behind these challenging truths and how the saints provide a model for us on our Eucharistic Mission.
1. Sherry A. Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, rev. ed. (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2022), 97, emphasis original.
2. There are many more effects listed than these for these sacraments. The relevant sections in the Catechism of the Catholic Church are invaluable reading.
3. Cyprian Vagaggini, OSB, Theological Dimensions of the Liturgy (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1976), 71.
4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1691, quoting St. Leo the Great, Sermo 21 in nat. Dom., 3: PL 54, 192C.
5. Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, no. 11.
