Sunday Reflection – – 28 January – The Memorial of St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor angelicus (Angelic Doctor) and Doctor communis (Common Doctor)
Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa OFM – Preacher to the Papal Household – “This is My Body”
The Eucharist is the Father’s gift to the world. The mystery contained in the words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16) is made present in every Mass. In the priest who offers us the body and blood of Christ at the moment of Communion, we can see, with the eyes of faith, the Father in person, who comes to give us “the bread of heaven, the true bread” and says: “Take, this is the body of my Only Begotten Son, which I have given for you.”
Not only does the Father give us the Eucharist, He also gives Himself in the Eucharist because there is only one indivisible divine nature, in receiving the divinity of the Son, we also receive the Father. “Whoever sees me sees the Father,” also means “whoever receives me, receives the Father.”
One day (it was the Saturday of the Second Week of Lent) after listening to the Gospel passage of the parable of the Prodigal Son, I understood clearly that Communion offered me, there and then, the incredible opportunity of receiving the Father’s forgiving embrace – and not only mentally!
Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa OFM – Preacher to the Papal Household – “This is My Body” (out of interest, this entire book is a series of lectures to the Holy Father and his household, who was St John Paul at the time, (during the Year of the Eucharist 2004-2005) on St Thomas Aquinas, Adore Te Devote.
AnaStpaul 