Jesus’ Eucharistic Charity Part II
The charity of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is the medicine to help us truly love as God loves and to truly forgive as God forgives. So often we want revenge on those who harm us or hold onto bitterness as if we are the only ones in the world who have suffered. What is impossible for us is made possible by Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. St. Peter Julian Eymard reveals how Jesus’ Eucharistic Charity leads to meekness, especially towards one’s enemies:
What shall we say of the Eucharistic charity of Jesus? How may we fittingly express His kindness in receiving everybody; His affability in coming down to the level of all, the weak and the ignorant; His patience in listening to what everyone has to say, to the account of all our miseries; His goodness in Communion, in which He gives Himself to all according to their condition and comes into them with joy, provided He finds in them the life of grace, a little devotion, a few good desires, and at least a bit of respect, giving to each one the amount of grace he can carry and leaving peace and love as the price of His stay with us?
What patient and merciful meekness towards those who forget Him! He waits for them. He prays for those who despise and offend Him; He makes no complaint against them, nor does He threaten them. He does not punish on the spot those who outrage Him sacrilegiously, but by His meekness and kindness He tries to lead them to repentance. The Eucharist is the triumph of the charity of Jesus Christ.1
Jesus’ teachings are demanding and countercultural. But whoever said that reaching Heaven would be easy? Choosing hell, on the other hand, requires little effort. When Jesus told His followers to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44), many probably responded like they did with His teaching on the Holy Eucharist: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:61). But there is hope, for what God commands us to do, He supplies the grace. And even more important, what God commands us to do, He Himself does. Jesus is the only preacher who perfectly lived out what He preached and who still lives out what He preaches in the Holy Eucharist! So yes, Jesus’ saying about loving one’s enemies is hard, but with the Holy Eucharist, the impossible becomes possible. Because of the Holy Eucharist, we can truly love God, our neighbor, and even our enemies. Hence our Lord’s Eucharistic charity is the clearest way we can live a godly life. The Holy Eucharist is the virtuous road to eternity.
How amazing is it that Jesus “does not punish on the spot those who outrage Him sacrilegiously, but by His meekness and kindness He tries to lead them to repentance”? Jesus seeks to win over His enemies by love and not revenge. What an example to follow!
