Eucharist and Peace/Justice

In our modern context we are conscious of the different levels at which injustices, inequalities and divisive forces exist among us; we read of them constantly in each day's news and so celebrating Eucharist as the gathering of all of God's beloved children must be a very challenging event for us. The political scenario of any country in today's world is rife with injustice, the rich exploiting the poor, the very systems of government set up to ensure that the rich continue to get richer at the expense of the under-privileged - all of this presents a very difficult yet challenging backdrop for a fruitful celebration of Eucharist.

If Jesus came to take away the sin of the world, then as we celebrate Eucharist we need to be keenly conscious of the presence of sin and division in our surroundings and much more within our own hearts and lives. Our very coming together for Eucharist says that we want to leave behind our sinful ways, that we will not place self at the center of our lives, but be always ready to break of ourselves for the sake of our brothers and sisters, especially the disadvantaged. The effect of sin is division not only of mankind from God, but also of one human being from another. Adam turned against Eve and blamed her as the cause of their downfall.

When Jesus through his dying-rising took away the sin of the world, he struck at the very roots of this division, so that all peoples could come together and live in harmony. The other then is no more seen as an enemy, a rival, a threat, a stranger or foreigner, but as a brother - different undoubtedly, but yet loved and cherished equally by the Father of us all. The measure in which we can live together in peace and harmony is the extent to which God's reign has come among us.

Jesus our Peace

Further, Jesus is our Covenant with the Father and while each of us makes that covenant personally through our own personal 'yes', the consequence of our covenant with God is that we become brothers and sisters to one another. We cannot all be true children of God and not be brothers and sisters to one another at the same time. Now as children of the same Father we cannot afford to have the attitude of Cain who asked: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' So, we live in peace with one another and foster good in each person around us. Their growth and happiness is our happiness too.

This ideal of peace and harmony in the Christian community is portrayed beautifully in the early Church where we are told: "The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had, as everything they owned was held in common. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power and they were all given great respect. None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any members who might be in need" (Acts 4:32-35). While we are today still miles away from having attained this ideal, yet that is the direction in which the Eucharist takes us.

Positive Peace Measures

Again, believing that each baptized Christian is Christ, a part of the mystical Body of Christ, he respects each person as he would respect Christ himself. This attitude cuts off all desire to take unjust advantage of the other, to exploit the other or to use the other for one's own gain. Not that this transformation happens or can happen all at once, yet each celebration of the Eucharist brings to the fore this tendency in all of us, inviting us to truly break of this sinful self within us. The Spirit of Jesus dwelling within us first of all points out to us the areas in which we are in complicity with Sin. Often what happens is that we have been so accustomed to un-Christ-like ways that we don't even notice what is wrong with our behaviour. And so, the Spirit first of all draws our attention to these areas. At the same time he sows within our hearts the desire for a change, drawing us to work on this change step by step. We begin to understand the roots of our slavery to the ways of the world, to consumerism that makes us crave for more and more, often even at the expense of others around us. The Spirit further gives us the strength to uproot these evil tendencies in ourselves and walk along the path of justice and peace. Gradually we come to the point of having not just the absence of craving for these material things, but also a readiness to be despoiled of them, even unjustly. As long as we are close to Jesus, we don't mind the loss of all things: 'let them take it all' we are able to say with Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 19:25-30).

Eucharist, our Peace-building Bread

All that we have said about sharing bread can be applied equally to sharing of forgiveness and other aspects of our lives. We pray that the forgiveness we ourselves ask for and receive, we will share (at the very same moment) with anyone who is in need of our forgiveness, even if he does not ask for it. Again, we cannot really forgive another without accepting him back into the circle of our friendship and love. Christian forgiveness is not a matter of merely saying 'forget about it - it does not matter.' It demands a breaching of the gap effected by sin.

We must remember that when we do all this in and with Christ, share our bread, extend our forgiveness to others, we actually give glory to God and bring about his kingdom. With this kingdom among us, we shall all live in peace and harmony.

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