EUCHARIST AS "THANKSGIVING"
 A tribute to the late, Pope John Paul II

By Fr. John P. Grigus, OFM Conv

John the Evangelist identifies the place where the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish had occurred (cf. Jn 6:1-15) as one "where the Lord had given thanks" (Jn 6:24). This was the characteristic manner in which the disciples tended to recall the action of Jesus at table. This was especially true of the Lord’s Supper when he "took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, _Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." (Mt 26:27-28). To have become so deeply etched into their memory, this action of Jesus giving thanks must have been rooted in much more than following of a prescribed ritual. It must have proceeded from a very profound and personal awareness of the union he enjoyed with the Father as the source of all good, his included, which he was now revealing to his disciples ‘ so much so, that it was this characteristic way of Jesus giving thanks that would also allow the two disciples on the way to Emmaus to finally recognize the Risen Lord in the breaking of the bread (cf. Acts Lk 24:13-35).

This aspect of the Eucharist as a thanksgiving flowed into the Church’s own understanding of the inner nature of this Sacrament as is suggested by the literal translation of the Greek term, eucharistein. Consequently, through it the Church would now also see the eucharistic celebration as making present the action by which Jesus gave thanks and now unites to that act of thanksgiving its own depth of gratitude for the graces given to it and the whole human race. This act of thanksgiving, precisely because it is united to Jesus’ action of thanksgiving, now constitutes the perfect act of worship rendered to the Father by which we are saved. Consequently, as the Catechism states, the Eucharist is "the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit" (CC, 1325 ). That supreme act of thanksgiving was especially reflected in the moving experience of Jesus giving thanks on Holy Thursday for the suffering and death he would endure on Good Friday for it would offer the Eternal Son an opportunity to love the Father most perfectly and, at the same time, to love him with a human heart and so atone for our own debt of ingratitude and lack of love.

It is with this sense of thanksgiving that we should also come to every Eucharist. Indeed, if we have participated fully in the Eucharist and understood the grace it offers us, then the attitude of thanksgiving will permeate the whole of our lives. We will find ourselves becoming ever more aware and ever more grateful for all the good things God gives us every day, thereby allowing our whole life to become a symphony of praise and thanksgiving to our God. Then even the momentary trials and difficulties of life will not depress us for united with the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross reflected in every Eucharist, we will see them as so many opportunities to grow in greater love and holiness and therefore greater experience of the good to be grateful for.

As we ponder over the recent events which transpired through the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, we can’t help but be especially grateful to God for the watchfulness of Divine Providence over the Church and for Christ’s promise to remain with us forever. For twenty-six years Pope John Paul II ‘ through his unprecedented travels, the many homilies given and documents written, the personal love displayed in his role as Chief Shepherd not only of the Church but of the whole human race, and finally the joyful resignation with which he suffered his final agony ‘ has been for us a visible reflection of Christ’s own love for us poured out on the cross. It is also a reflection of the mystery contained within the celebration of every Eucharist and of the strength and grace God gives to all whose hearts are open, as the Holy Father’s heart has been, to discover the inner meaning of the Eucharist.

One of the principal reasons which Pope John Paul II had in writing his beautiful Apostolic Letter on the Eucharist, Ecclesia Eucharistiae, was to share with the whole Church his own personal amazement at this wonderful gift of the Father in his Son. There he recounts in a very personal way how "For over a half century, every day, beginning on 2 November 1946, when I celebrated my first Mass in the Crypt of Saint Leanard in Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, my eyes have gazed in recollection upon the host and the chalice, where time and space in some way merge and the drama of Golgotha is re-presented in a living way" (EE, 59). May we grow in our own amazement at the wonder of this gift by living out the legacy left us by Pope John Paul II.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of the Eucharist! Thank you for the gift of Pope John Paul II!

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Fr. Grigus is the Director of the Marytown Perpetual Adoration and Media Communications Ministries. He is also the Spiritual Director of the Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Adoration Association of the Archdiocese of Chicago (www.pjp2ea.org). He is also extensively involved in the ministry of Spiritual Direction and preaching.

This article was published in the Immaculata Magazine, July/August 2005