The Eucharist meal symbolizes the place of healing and recovery for humanity. It is the meal Jesus asked his followers to repeat until his return. It is the place of reflection, confession, restoration, healing and future hope.
“Like love, the Eucharist does not need to be fully understood or explained, it needs only to be touched. In the Eucharist, as in love, the main thing is that we are held.”
~Ronald Rhlheiser
The story in Mark 5 of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment provides a paradigm for this. That woman, we are told, had been suffering from internal bleeding for many years. During those years she had tried everything within her power to come to healing. Nothing had worked. All her efforts had served only to worsen her state and leave her fatigued and discouraged. Finally, with her own resources spent and all that was humanly possible exhausted, she decided she would sneak up and touch Jesus. As she touched Him, she felt power flow into her. She became whole.
True Communion is to touch and be touched by God. There is an embrace that far exceeds what can be explained biologically and psychologically. Power is transmitted through love that goes beyond rational understanding.
That is why after Jesus spent all His words, He left us the Eucharist. That is why after we have spent all our words, we should celebrate the Eucharist. When our words, decisions and actions are inadequate to relieve the aching in our hearts, we need the embrace of our God. This happens in Communion.
