Mass, Communion are sources of strength, papal preacher says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Going to Mass and receiving Communion are signs of putting one's trust in God and understanding he is the one who gives the courage and strength to live life to the fullest no matter how little one has, the preacher of the papal household told members of the Roman Curia.

"When we gather to celebrate the Lord's Supper," the sign of the Eucharist is what makes visible that the Lord is "in us and we in him," Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini said March 13 during his eighth Lenten meditation offered for the Curia.

"Like two lovers embracing each other, looking into each other's eyes, saying words of trust and love to each other -- this is what happens when we celebrate the Eucharist," he said. And if this is true for people of faith, then "what else do we need to start living again?"

The Capuchin friar was leading the Lenten retreat for cardinals and senior officials of the Roman Curia in the Vatican audience hall March 9-14. Pope Francis has been following the morning and evening meditations by video from his room in Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for double pneumonia and other respiratory infections since mid-February.

Reflecting on the retreat's theme, "The Hope of Eternal Life," Father Pasolini looked at the faithful's responsibility to live life to the fullest, that is, to strive for eternal life in heaven and to be signs of that promise here on earth.

"The greatest happiness, that is, eternal life, is something we must aspire to already be living in this world," he said, with "God as the guide and companion of our steps."

"It is not a matter of depriving ourselves of something, or even worse, of depriving life of some of its fundamental aspects as even we Christians have perhaps sometimes been tempted to do, excessively demonizing aspects such as the body, affectivity, sexuality, freedom, intelligence, all the gifts that we have a duty to cultivate and live, according to God's truth," Father Pasolini said.

"The Gospel's proposal of eternal life is simply an invitation to intensely live every situation in which we find ourselves, precisely because knowing we are eternal, we should be less afraid of making mistakes, of risking our lives, because without a little risk nothing has meaning," he said.

Jesus presents eternal life as having a different attitude and approach to one's finite life on earth, the Capuchin friar said. It is "the courage to leave everything one has," to let go of possessions and ties to have "both hands free" to welcome him and help others in turn.

The story of Jesus multiplying a few loaves and fishes to feed the crowds reflects this shift in attitude, the preacher said.

The miracle is not that God is able to create abundance out of nothing, he said. It is to show people they have to stop looking at the little they have and their limitations as an impediment.

Jesus' miracle is a kind of "protest against this fatalistic attitude," he said, and encourages people to have faith and not wait for someone or something bigger or better to fix or change things, but to take the first step by giving generously what little one has.

Jesus' sign of the loaves also deepens the meaning of the gift of the Eucharist, he said. Jesus said he is "the living bread that came down from heaven" and "whoever eats this bread will live forever."

That means, Father Pasolini said, "if we do not eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood, we do not have life inside of us," which is why the church has always said that "not going to Mass is a grave sin, it is a mortal sin."

"This is correct theologically," he said, however, it should be explained better rather than being used to frighten or threaten people.

The faithful go to Mass "to feed on the body of Christ" not because of a rule or moral duty, "but to continue to honor life as something eternal, that is, to live like Christ" because they understand "that God is saying to them, 'Look! You can multiply bread too.'"

"You, too, can have God's life. You must chew it, assimilate it and then live it. This is the great responsibility before the Eucharist," he said. The question is not whether one must go to Mass or not, but will the faithful "assimilate what we do in that gesture, transform the rite into life" and serve and sacrifice themselves for others?

Also, everyone must be invited to the table, he said. As St. Paul admonished the early Christian communities, "Either there is real fellowship among you or the symbol of the Eucharist is profaned."

Whoever shares in the Body of Christ will live by him, Father Pasolini said. This "is not the promise of some kind of fast track with privileges, to live in this world a little easier. It is the opposite."

It is being called and empowered to "take the road of love that is the cross. Knowing that everything we live will be for Christ, with Christ and in Christ and, therefore, what happened to him by grace will also happen to us."

"Perhaps it is our expectation of the Eucharist that makes it difficult for us to become the sign of eternal life in the world," he said.

"God loves us, God considers us members of his body, his beloved children," he said. The Eucharist is "a mysterious gesture of communion between us and God" and is a "sign capable of extinguishing forever the hunger present in us."