Today,
we again contemplate the Word of God with the help of Evangelist
John. In these final days of Easter we feel an especial uneasiness to
make God's Word ours and be able to understand it. The very
uneasiness shared by the first disciples. Which is profoundly
expressed in Jesus' words —«A little while and you will
see me no more; and then a little while, and you will see me»
(Jn 16:16). These words concentrate our tension and concern
about our faith and our research of God in our daily life.
We, Christians of the
21st century, feel the same urge than those of the 1st century. We
also want to see Jesus, to experiment his presence amidst us, to
reinforce the virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is why we feel
sad if we think He is not among us, or if we may not feel and detect
his presence, or hear and listen to his words. But this sadness
becomes deep joy when we experiment his definite presence among us.
As
His Holiness John Paul II reminded us in his last encyclical letter
Ecclesia de Eucharistia, this presence is concrete
—specifically— in the Eucharist: «The Church draws
her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a
daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery
of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the
constant fulfillment of the promise: ‘I am with you always, to
the close of the age’ (Mt 28:20) (...). 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)».
Let us turn to God and
beg for a deep faith, a constant uneasiness to quench our thirst in
the Eucharist Source, while listening to and understanding God's
Word; by eating and satiating our spiritual hunger with the Body of
Christ. Let the Holy Spirit fill out with light our research of God.