How to experience the Eucharist with the Bible in Your hand

Introduction: Gate of Promise
There was only half an hour left before the Mass began. It was to take place in a small church, right next to the retreat centre. A formation weekend of several combined formation communities was starting there that day and the Eucharist was the first item on the agenda. A space under the choir was set aside for the musical teams. And since they were assembled from all the participating communities, so the sound system was quite a challenge. Several specialists from the communities switched the microphones on and off, moved the speakers, compared the voice coming from different places in the church. After the microphones, it was time to check the instrument amplifiers. Once the specialists were satisfied with the sound level setting of the whole set, the vocalists were asked. After all, everyone's voice was different: one naturally sings louder, the other quieter; the timbre of everyone's voice is similarly different. So there was a lot of work to do, but when the entrance song sounded, everything worked perfectly. The song of praise took the hearts of us all to heaven itself. The problem came after this first song was over.

The microphone at the altar was not working.... A quick check of the switch on the microphone itself did not help. Then a check of the cables and of the switches: still the same. Finally someone went to the sacristy, where they worked energetically for a while: at last the sound flowed from the speakers and all was well. But the problem came back: when it the time came for the liturgy of the Word, the microphone at the pulpit would not work. The whole procedure was repeated. This time it took a little longer... And when the microphones had already started to obediently transmit the voice of the lector, a problem of a different kind arose. The person assigned to read was probably quite surprised by the complicated text of St Paul in front of him, as it was not easy for us to understand anything. Then, afterwards, the leaders explained to me: "because he is nervous...". To my question,: "and why don't singers singing worship songs get nervous in the same way? Could it be because they had rehearsals?" Silence fell...

How to explain this sequence of events? In the midst of a community dedicated to prayer and evangelisation, in the presence of so many technical and musical specialists, so much effort was put in, everything had been thought about – with the exception of the Bible and the Altar. And yet the Bible and the Altar Sacrifice are at the heart of the Eucharist! Why was it easier to feel the need for diligence in sung worship than in liturgy?

Perhaps because we perceive worship as something 'ours', something that we actually do together, while the Eucharist – although in theory the most important – is something to be 'celebrated' by a priest, and the laity are left to wait until they can, at the appropriate moment, 'take communion' as at last an intelligible and part of the liturgy? And then, of course, to sing adoration at the end of the Mass, perfectly prepared and co-ordinated...

And since I personally witnessed this event (and several similar ones in other places), hence the idea of this text. So that the phrase "the Eucharist is the summit and the font of the Church's life" would not just be a piece of theory taken from the Church's Tradition, but becomes a reality in our Christian experience.

a. The Bible – the Book of promises
Scripture is full of promises to individuals, to the Chosen People, to all humanity. The first promise appears as early as the third chapter of Scripture and immediately sets the dynamic of the entire narrative of the Bible right up to the Gospels and even to the book of Revelation: in the beginning "God said to the serpent, 'I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring: he shall crush your head, and you shall crush his heel'" (Genesis 3:15). And at the end – in the last sentences of the Bible – we read: "He who testifies to this says: 'Indeed, I am coming soon'" (Rev 22:20). And between that first biblical promise and this final one, there are promises to Abraham and David, to Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah... There are also promises to entire families and even to the entire people of Israel. Even in the Old Testament there are already promises for all the nations of the world! For us!

Living according to God's promise has been rejected by many people in recent centuries as "opium for the people"[1]. Whole generations have found the promises of the supernatural world unnecessary. Immediately, however, in its place, quite worldly ideologies emerged as 'opium for the intellectuals'[2]. Ideologies came, that were erroneous, sometimes insane, sometimes outright criminal.

This happened because man by his nature is a creature open to promise. An infant is a promise to its parents. "Who will this child be?" (Luke 1:66). The quoted question arises not only at the birth of John the Baptist, but at every birth. "What will grow out of him?" "What will become of us?", "What does it all lead to", "What is the point of it all?" – these are the basic questions awaiting answers concerning the future – and therefore waiting for the promises...

The answer to these questions comes from God, for He is the God of promises. Faith in the promises is a fundamental principle of spiritual life in the Bible: "[Abraham] did not show hesitation or unbelief about God's promise, but strengthened himself in faith. By this he gave glory to God and was convinced that He was also able to fulfil what He had promised" (Romans 4:20-21).

To be a Christian is to adopt this way of life: according to the promises. This is why the example of the patriarch Abraham stands at the beginning of the great adventure of the Old Testament. "He it is who is the father of us all – as it is written: I have made thee the father of many nations", and the "promise given to him has remained intact for all offspring who have the faith of Abraham" (cf. Rom 4:16-17). And at the beginning of an even greater New Testament adventure stands the example of Mary: "Blessed are you who have believed that the words spoken to you from the Lord will be fulfilled" (Lk 1:45).

What is the basic promise of the Bible? Its secret was revealed to Moses. Moses once asked God His name (and therefore God's essence, as far as it would be possible for man to understand). In reply he heard: "I am ‘Who is’. Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: 'Who is', he has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14).

The name 'I am' means: 'I am with you always: in exile, in captivity, I am always to your aid... All the rest of the Bible is the fulfilment of this one promise. It was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ: "The Son of God, Christ Jesus, the one whom I preached to you: as many as the promises of God are, they are all 'yes' in him" (2 Corinthians 1:19-20). In Jesus, all the promises are ultimately fulfilled. The Apostles are witnesses to this. In order for us to share in the experience of the Apostles we have been given specific promises. There are four of them. Four great promises of God to the disciples of Jesus, four pillars of our spiritual life...

The vaults of ancient Gothic churches often depicted the vault of heaven. This effect was achieved by giving them a dark blue colour, and they were usually dotted with a large number of stars. Anyone entering such an interior, as soon as they looked up, could feel like Abraham: "God instructed Abram to come out of his tent and said: 'Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to do so'; then He added: 'So numerous shall your offspring be'." Abram believed, and the Lord reckoned it to him as a merit" (Genesis 15:5-6). As the patriarch of Israel once did, so the Christian believer would enter the space of prayer by first going out "in front of his tent", thus leaving daily affairs, activities, and worries, if only for a moment. In return, he received more: he would enter the world of promise. Abraham, however, was not a dreamer, but "was convinced that God was also able to fulfil what he had promised" (Rom 4:21).

In our time, such church vaults have ceased to be understandable. They have begun to be perceived as outdated decorations. As a result, many of them were painted over, usually quite simply in white. A similar fate also befell neo-Gothic interiors. The layer of uniform paint, however, covered much more than just the medieval frescoes. It covered up the liturgical imagery common to all believers since the beginning of Christianity, right from biblical times, from the New Testament. People have begun to value only what can be seen with ordinary human eyes.

Today is the time to renew the liturgical sense of the Church by returning to the sources. Let it be in accordance with the authentic texts of the Second Vatican Council, as they were once written down precisely during the Council. And above all, in accordance with the very source of the liturgy, which is ultimately the Bible. Only in this way can the rhythm of the liturgy of the Mass, marked by the fourfold invocation "The Lord be with you!" be understood. I invite you to walk along the trail of the fourfold promise given at the beginning of the Christian journey by Jesus himself, first to the Apostles, then to their disciples, and finally to us, the heirs of the apostolic faith.

b. Four biggest promises
Yes, the whole of Scripture is a Book of promises, from the beginning of the first biblical book to the last words of the final book, Revelation. But for obvious reasons, the most important promises for us remain those made by Jesus Christ personally. A list of our Saviour’s promises awaits us now, each fulfilled in the consecutive part of the Mass.

The first promise
Jesus states: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). This is an amazing assurance! It is so great that if Jesus had only promised us His spiritual presence among us in the gathered community of believing Christians – that would have been enough for us.... But He did not stop there, He promised us more!

The second promise
"My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it" (Lk 8:21). This is downright stunning! We can have Jesus in our midst no longer just as a congregation of many individual people: we can become a family, His family. The family of Jesus! If Jesus had promised us first his spiritual presence in the gathered community and then transformed us into his family, that would already be absolutely enough for us and we would certainly not expect anything more than that.... But He promised more!

The third promise
Jesus is not only with us. He wants to sacrifice Himself for us and be in us, however unexpected that may sound. But it is this: "He who eats my Body and drinks my Blood has eternal life" – "he abides in me, and I abide in him" (John 6:54.56). God's indwelling in us is a great gift: "My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and abide with him" (John 14:23). If Jesus had stopped at this gift of dwelling in us – at the moment of Communion – it would surely have completely satisfied all our expectations. But He did not stop even at this third promise.

The fourth promise
Jesus takes us further and announces: "Behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world" (Matthew 28:19-20). Every possible day: today and tomorrow, and until the end of our lives, and with each new generation of disciples, "until the end of the world".

c. Promises have conditions ...
We have been reminded of the four great promises of God. They require faith: 'If anyone is thirsty and believes in me – let him come to me and drink' (John 7:37). But they also require certain other conditions to be met. Faith must become an active faith, not just a theoretical one. "Faith, if it were not joined with works, is dead in itself" (James 2:17).

- The condition of the first promise? "If you gather together in My name, then I will be among you".
- And the second promise? "If you listen to the Word and fulfil it...".
- And the third? "If ye shall eat the Body and drink Blood ..."
- A certain, albeit somewhat hidden, condition is also implied in the last promise. Combining the various Bible verses into one, it could be expressed as follows: "If you take the Holy Spirit and open your hearts to share in My power in heaven and on earth – then you will receive the mission: 'Go'" (cf. Mt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).

Why is it important to remember these conditions? Let us answer this question by a comparison. Imagine that a boy from your neighbourhood, the son of your friends, meets you and says:

"For my birthday I got a wonderful present from my parents: they gave me an invitation in an envelope for this coming Sunday. There is to be a training session in the stadium with the winner from the last Olympics – in athletics! In the envelope I found a bus ticket to the capital city, and a second ticket – to the stadium. To this was attached a ticket – if I won, the famous athlete would visit us at home! And we will get souvenirs signed by the Olympian! Well, and you'll be able to join the permanent training list under his direction."
So you ask the boy:
"So, you're taking this bus tomorrow?"
And he says:
"No, why, I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying at home... Tomorrow I'm going to study the ticket texts, it's such a great gift! I am going to read them and meditate on their content at home".

Such behaviour on the part of the boy would be so strange – and perhaps bizarre – as to be rather unlikely. But don't we Christians sometimes act quite similarly? Believing the Scriptures, reading them, finding wonderful promises in them – we are content to read and ponder them. We may even be able to share these promises with others: "How wonderful these announcements are, how extraordinary these promises!" But are we able to "get on the spiritual bus" and "go to the spiritual stadium" to reach out for their fulfilment?

Each of us is like the disciple who was given an envelope with tickets as a gift. After all, from our Father in heaven we have received a Book of the Word containing promises, with those four of them, the most important ones. They are arranged in steps, like the stairs leading us upwards. After climbing the first one, we think to ourselves: 'If God had only this one promise for us, it would already be enough for us'. But then it turns out that God is "always greater" (semper maior) and that He has another, an even greater promise. And then another and yet another again... And they are all up for grabs on the morning next Sunday! But rest assured, let us take it one step at a time, without anticipating the course of events...

Four promises inviting us to ascend the steps of God's Presence higher and higher. Promises that it is essential to know about, it is essential to read about them, to meditate on these promises, to ponder them and to keep them in one's memory and in one's heart. But not only that. It is also necessary to reach out for them. It is necessary to do so exactly as the Scripture teaches us: by gathering in the name of Jesus, listening to His Word, adoring the Lamb with the angels, eating from His altar, going into all the world with His mission. Listening, reading, reflecting – and at the same time doing. This is the very condition for the fulfilment of these promises. "Faith without works is unfruitful" – which is why, in Abraham's case, "faith worked together with his works and through works he was made perfect" (James 2:20.22).

Have we heard of Eucharistic miracles happening from time to time here and there? Have we heard how many pilgrimages from far away go to these places? And what would we say about the fourfold miracle of the presence of Jesus that awaits us in our parish church? And not in the far future – no, this coming Sunday! The fourfold Eucharistic miracle of His being with us, being in us and sending us out on mission. This is, after all, why the priest repeats the liturgical formula "The Lord be with you" four times during each Mass! We will need to dwell on this formula. It may turn out to contain... everything!

d. Where to look for rescue in a liturgical crisis?
And the liturgical crisis? And the falling number of people going to church for Mass? Is it still worth talking about the Eucharist? Do we still have a chance to renew the liturgy? Isn't the crisis in the Church like a mighty Goliath that no one can win against? Yes, it is the same adversary of whom we read in the Bible: "Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, stepped out of the array of the Philistines ... and cried out to David: 'Only come near to me, and I will give your body to the birds of the air and the wild beasts'" (1 Sm 17:23.44).

Do we stand a chance of winning this battle? Well, let us read in the Scriptures.... A desperate David first tried solutions borrowed from the secular world. He even borrowed Saul's armour! "Saul dressed David in his armour: he put a helmet of bronze on his head and girded him with armour". Nothing came of it; it was even worse than before. "David declared to Saul: ‘I cannot move in this, for I have not become skilled in it.’ And David took it off " (v. 38-39). The young shepherd David felt... exactly like the people of the Church today, when they try everything suggested by the fashion and the modern spirit. They put on the armour of this secular world, other people's armour – and it doesn't help. They even put altars in the middle of the churches, they even changed the musical instruments, they even put electronic screens – and it did not help much... Other people's armour will not help. Such an armour has to be put away (or in any case not trusted too much). And then one must do as David did:

"He took his staff in his hand, chose for himself five smooth stones from the stream, put them in his shepherd's bag ... and with his sling in his hand he turned towards the Philistine ... Whereupon David said: ‘You go upon me with sword and spear and curved knife, and I go upon thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast insulted. Let all those assembled know that it is not with sword or spear that the Lord saves – for this is the war of the Lord’" (1 Sm 17:40-47).

Let us give God a chance today: let us take off the wrong armour of this world's mentality, of an ungodly fashion, and let us bend down into God's stream of the Holy Spirit. Let us find our spiritual stones there. Four of these Stones are the four liturgical promises mentioned above, following the fourfold proclamation during the Mass: "The Lord be with you".

And the fifth stone? Let it be your personal promise, given to you as a special gift from God, just for you: with it you will receive just what you need to understand the liturgy. Thus armed, we will set out for the great spiritual battle of our time: "You go at me with sword, spear and curved knife, but I go at you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have insulted".

The Sanctuary of the Four Great Promises

1. The first promise: 'The Lord be with you' – 'There I am in their midst'
Have we ever asked ourselves why we begin the liturgy of the Eucharist with the not-so-obvious formula sounding: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"? And why, immediately afterwards, does the priest pronounce the equally not-so-clear words: "The Lord be with you"? The 'Lord' mentioned here is – we guess – our Lord, Jesus Christ. But why in some new way should he now 'be' here? And on top of that in some special way 'with us? There is only one way to understand this, and that is to start with a principle familiar to us: to be a Christian is to live in the world of God's promises. And one of them is: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

a. The descent of God's presence
In 2017, Dan Almeter published the book ‘Unity’[3]. Thirty years earlier, Dan had co-founded the ecumenical community Alleluia, which found its place of life, prayer, and mission in the southern US city of Augusta, Georgia. The cover of this small booklet depicts a young woman in a wedding dress: she is standing in front of a dilapidated staircase that beckons her to start climbing it upwards. The piled-up staircase seems to fade into distant clouds permeated by the light of a mysterious Presence: a harbinger of the promise of a touch of Glory. This is complemented by the subtitle of the volume ‘Unity’: ‘As in heaven, so on earth’. This is the eternal dream of human religions: to find such a kind of meditation, such a method of asceticism, such secret rites, in order to ascend at last to the mystical realm of the Deity. And finally, to get rid of being limited by weaknesses, sins and death come true…

And what if, instead of indifferently waiting for us on His distant heights, God Himself wished to descend down to us? If He were the one to descend the steps into our ordinary everyday life? If what the creators of the world's religions dreamt in vain and what all the great teachers of humanity aspired to had actually happened?

b. The power of gathering
There is Someone who has affirmed: God’s wandering the other way, and so God coming to us, is quite a real scenario. There is Someone who has promised: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). And we know it well that there are those who, gathering together, confess in the first words of the Eucharistic liturgy: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". After this confession it is clear: we have fulfilled the condition for the fulfilment of the promise. It is for this reason that the solemn formula resounds for the first time in the liturgy: "The Lord be with you" – Latin Dominus vobiscum.

These are not words of some wish with an uncertain outcome. They are words of the certainty of faith: Jesus has promised, a condition is fulfilled, and so 'He is here'. His presence in the Holy Spirit is to be so tangible, as we read in St Paul: "When the whole Church is gathered together, when all are prophesying, and a Gentile or a simple man comes in, having fallen on his face, he will worship God, declaring that truly God is among you" (1 Corinthians 14:23-24).

In so many countries, there is a deepening crisis of participation in the Sunday Mass liturgy. Many say: "I don't like going to church, people disturb me – I pray alone, in the woods... I have more peace there". Well, praying alone in the forest is certainly very useful. But not instead of Mass, but in addition to it. Why? Because the promise is tied not to the trees in the forest, but to the people in the church who make up the prayerful assembly:

"Let us hold steadfastly to the hope we profess, for trustworthy is He who gave the promise. Let us care for one another to encourage one another in love and in good works. Let us not forsake our meetings together, as has become the custom of some, but let us encourage one another, and the more clearly you see the day approaching" (Heb 10:23-25).

Let us remember: the greatest adventure of the first weeks of the Church of Jesus Christ began with a promise to the gathering community: "when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive his power, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Note: it will come upon you, you will receive, you will be. The Apostles understood this very well, for they fulfilled the condition of the promise:

"They went into the upper room and abode in it [...]: They were all abiding in unison [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] in prayer together with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brethren" (Acts 1:13-14).

The promise of Pentecost was realised precisely because:
"when the day of Pentecost finally came, they were all together [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] in the same place" (Acts 2:1).

Note: In our biblical and liturgical study we have just looked into the biblical book of Acts for the first time! Is this important? Arch-important. Here is why...

c. We learn from the most important textbook
Regardless of what is sometimes referred to as the 'synodal process' in many circles and in numerous countries, let us now try to stick methodically only to Pope Francis' foundational catechesis opening the whole endeavour (dated 18 September 2021). This initial catechesis of Francis contained quotations and references to as many as twelve different books of the Bible, but one of these books was present in a special way: I am talking about the eight quotations from the Acts of the Apostles. How to explain this? Let us look for the answer in the papal catechesis:

"We are talking about the synodal Church.... but following what is contained in the first and most important 'textbook' of ecclesiology, which is the book of Acts"[4].

The Pope not only made such a demand, but was the first to personally follow it. A few figures for an idea of the extent to which Francis' message is saturated with the biblical book of Acts. In the not too long text of his catechesis, he repeated the title of this book six times; eight times he quoted directly from the Acts of the Apostles; in addition, he extensively discussed passages from the four chapters of Acts: Acts 1, Acts 6, Acts 10, Acts 15.

So we return to the textbook from which we have already taken our first lesson. We can title it 'Acts 2' (from: Chapter two). And the message of this lesson? To await the fulfilment of the promise, one must abide unanimously in the community. 'Unanimously' does not mean identical in everything. It simply means that the same faith and the same confidence in the promise is shared by all. It appears that the teaching of the lesson under our conventional title 'Acts 2' is continued with noteworthy consistency in this foundational textbook for the Church.

Reassured by the experience of the first Pentecost (together they abided in prayer in the Upper Room – together they lived to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit), the Apostles built their whole style of Christian life on it:

- "They continued daily in unison [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] in" (Acts 2:46).
- "They lifted up their voice in unison [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] to God and said, 'Almighty Creator of heaven and earth'" (Acts 4:24).
- "Many signs and wonders happened by the hands of the apostles among the people: they held all together [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] in the porch of Solomon" (Acts 5:12).
- "The crowds listened with attention and concentration [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] to the words of Philip, because they saw the signs that he was doing" (Acts 8:6).
- "We resolved unanimously [ὁμοθυμαδὸν] to choose [Jude and Silas] and to send together with our dear ones: Barnabas and Paul" (Acts 15:25).

The meaning of the formula 'unanimously' (in Greek homothymadon – ὁμοθυμαδὸν] is supremely well explained in a dictionary of biblical terms:

"Homothymadon is a combination of two words meaning 'to rush together' and 'in accordance'. The imagery is almost musical; many notes ring out, which, although different, harmonise in pitch and tone. Just as the instruments of a great concert come together under the direction of a master, so the Holy Spirit brings the lives of the members of Christ's church together"[5].

It was not only thoughts that united in this original, apostolic gathering of believers:

"All those who believed stayed together and had everything in common. They sold possessions and goods and distributed them to each according to need" (Acts 2:44-46).

The power of prayer was manifested – as promised in Matthew 18:20 – none other than in the gathered community of "two or three". This may even have been the case quite literally, when in two – "Peter and John entered the temple to pray at nine o'clock" and it was under such circumstances that "all the people saw [the lame man] walking and praising God" (Acts 3:1.9). Of course, on other occasions the congregation may have been more numerous than just two or three:

"After praying, the place where they were gathered trembled; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the word of God boldly" (Acts 4:31).

Let us already note that the gathering of the disciples created the opportunity to reach out for another promise: "On the first day after the Sabbath ... we gathered to break bread" (Acts 20:7). But we will say more and more deeply about this a little later...

And now let us note that all these biblical truths about the power of the community of believers gathering in the name of the Lord were brought together in the memorable words of the Second Vatican Council:

"Christ is present when the Church prays and sings psalms, for He Himself has promised: 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them' (Mt 18:20)" (Constitution on the Liturgy, 7).

2. The second promise: 'The Lord be with you' – 'Behold my mother and my brothers'
The second time the liturgical 'Lord with you' is heard at Mass is just before the reading of the Gospel passage. Contrary to appearances, this is not a repetition of something that had already happened before anyway: rather, it is a resonance of that original proclamation and at the same time an amplification of it. The second 'The Lord be with you' means that Jesus Christ is now in a new way and acting with new power. For our Lord Jesus Christ is with us through the Word. This is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: "Christ is present in his word, for when Scripture is read in the Church, he himself speaks" (Constitution on the Liturgy, 7). It is a reminder after centuries of the fundamental and apostolic teaching of the Church:

- "Hold fast the Word of Life, that I may be proud in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain and have not toiled in vain" (Phil 2:16).

- "[This we declare to you] which was from the beginning,
what we have heard of the Word of Life,
what we have seen with our own eyes,
what we have looked at and touched with our hands " (1 John 1:1).

a. Mother, brothers, and sisters
We have already learned that the gathering of Christians, and especially the gathering of Christians regularly and faithfully, is a great gift sealed by the promise of the Presence: "There I will be in their midst". But now another gift awaits us: 'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and fulfil it' (Luke 8:21). This is more than simply staying together as believers. More than experiencing the joy of seeing each other again. It is an invitation to reach out for the gift of something much greater.

We have a habit in the Church of using the term 'brothers and sisters'. The most obvious example are religious communities with their religious brothers and religious sisters. But the same custom also once became widespread on pilgrimages on foot to the Marian shrine in Częstochowa in Poland. It is also often found in communities of the Neocatechumenal Way or in groups of the Renewal in the Holy Spirit. In this context it is customary for 'brother' to mean 'someone from our community'. It can even mean someone whom we do not know personally: "many brothers gathered at the World Youth Day vigil" means then: "there were many members of our movement there". The same applies to the phrase 'sisters'.

When we use these words "brothers" and "sisters" – does it simply mean that we like each other, we are friendly to each other and we are good to each together? No, there is a much bigger secret hidden here.

Brothers? Sisters? Siblings?
Here it is time for a brief introductory remark. The Greek word 'ἀδελφός' (adelphos) means 'brother'. In the plural, 'ἀδελφοί' (adelphoi) means 'brothers'. This is true, but not all of it. The same word can also mean 'siblings' and thus include both brothers and sisters. For people speaking Greek two thousand years ago, this was so much easier to grasp because – unlike in our language – the words 'brother', 'sister' and 'sibling' are very similar there, almost identical: adelphos, adelphe, adelphoi. Hence the easy connotation that the plural adelphoi conceptually unites both brothers and sisters, thus simply 'siblings'. In our time, so sensitive to emphasising the essential equality of the two sexes, it is important to remember this.

When we read about 'brothers' (or ‘brethren’) in the New Testament, the reference is always to Christians. This is a biblical custom, present in our 'first and most basic textbook on the doctrine of the Church', the Acts of the Apostles:

- "[Saul] was staying in Jerusalem. He also spoke and dealt with the Hellenists, who tried to put him to death. But the brethren heard of this, escorted him to Caesarea and sent him to Tarsus" (Acts 9:28-29).

- "We arrived at Puteoli. There we met the brothers and stayed seven days at their request. This is how we came to Rome. The brethren there, having heard of us, went out to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Hosts" (Acts 28:13-14).

This familial expression does not just spring from the positive emotions and joy of a community meeting. Rather, it is a statement of a certain spiritual fact, namely the certainty of the fulfilment of another promise: Do they listen to the Word? Do they fulfil it? So they are "mother and brothers" of Jesus, they have been transformed into His family. To listen to the Word and to fulfil it is nothing less than to do the will of God. And yet Jesus "looking at those sitting around Him said: "Behold my mother and my brothers. For he who does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother" (Mark 3:34-35). We are reminded of this always during the first part of the Mass, namely the liturgy of the Word. After the first readings from the Bible, we always hear "This is the word of God" (which is, after all, supposed to mean quite simply that God has spoken to us); after the Gospel, this changes to the formula "This is the word of the Lord" (by analogy, the Lord himself, Jesus Christ, has just spoken to us).

b. Faith does not come from nowhere
What is the transforming power of God's Word and where does it come from? All too often we use the terms "believer" and "non-believer" as if they were some kind of permanent trait of a person, present in him or her from birth and unchangeable. Someone was born into a Catholic family and never left the Church? Well, then he is probably a Catholic, he is a "believer". And yet God tells us through the Bible clearly: "Faith is born of hearing" (Romans 10:10). But not from hearing anything, however pious it may be! The Apostle Paul, the author of these words, adds immediately to dispel any doubt: "But that which is heard is the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17).

The proper Catholic attitude towards Sacred Scripture is reflected in the words of the Church Fathers and eminent teachers of the Christian faith, from antiquity onwards (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2653-2654):

"There is only one God, and we know Him not from elsewhere but from Scripture [...] it is not right to follow one's own desires and one's own understanding, nor to misrepresent what comes from God, but to understand His teaching as He has willed it to be given in Scripture". (St Hippolytus, third century; this passage even found its way into the book of the Liturgy of the Hours, for Advent).

"For if, as the Apostle Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, then he who does not know the Scriptures does not know the power of God or his love: ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ" (St Jerome, fourth century; this passage is also part of the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours).

The New Testament guides us in forming a biblical spiritual sensibility in the Church:

"All Scripture [is] inspired by God and useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for education in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16).

On the pulpit of Legnica Cathedral in Poland, the words of a Psalm are inscribed: "Your statutes have become songs to me in the place of my pilgrimage" (Ps 119:54). What does this mean? That God's words are not some abstract carriers of theological content (perhaps: useful for filling up academic textbooks), but uplifting songs that accompany the pilgrimage throughout life and show Christians the way.

This is why the Church – before ordaining deacons or presbyters – always makes sure that candidates for the clerical state will draw on the source of faith, which is the Word of Christ. If they were not ready to do so, their faith would dry up and they would cease to be fit for ministry. In the liturgy of ordination to these ministries in the Church, this takes the form of the question: "Are you willing to faithfully celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours?" One could render the content of this question with the words: "Do you want your faith to grow and be strengthened from hearing the Word of Christ?" Or, on the contrary, does your plan for life include the unrealistic assumption that faith comes from... actually, we don’t know from where... probably from thin air....

c. Sanctifying your time with the Word of the Bible
The most important way to pray regularly with the word of God is through the Liturgy of the Hours. Those who want "the word of Christ to dwell in them" and desire to "fill themselves [continually] with the Spirit" can find two recommendations in the Bible on how to achieve this (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2641):

"Fill yourselves with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms and hymns and Spirit-filled songs" (Eph 5:18-19).

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you in [all its] richness: with all wisdom teach and exhort one another, with psalms, with hymns, with songs full of the Spirit" (Col 3:16).

In the history of Christianity, these recommendations have been implemented in the form of an anthology of various passages from the Bible, especially the psalms, which is called the breviary or the Liturgy of the Hours.

Such prayer should take place in community ('speak to one another'). Those praying are thus to:

- "speak to one another with psalms" (the breviary consists for the most part of the biblical Book of Psalms; see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2585-2589);
- "speak with hymns" (every breviary prayer begins with such a hymn);
- "and spirit-filled hymns" (the hymns in the breviary are taken from the Old or New Testament).

Lectio divina (Latin literally 'sacred reading', 'divine reading') is biblical personal prayer, consisting in reading selected passages from the word of God and listening to God speaking in this way (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2708). Such reading is not merely familiarising oneself with the content of the biblical message. It is always accompanied by an experience of the power of the Word: "Lord, just say the Word and my soul will be healed". The Word has the power to heal.

Both of these modalities (Liturgy of the Hours, lectio divina) are an extension of the fundamental contact with the life-giving Word, namely in the liturgy of the Word of Mass. This has been the case from the very beginning of Christianity, with the formula: ‘one man reads, the rest listen’. Let us look at the beginning of the book of Revelation:

"Blessed is he who reads, and they who hear the words of the Prophecy,
and keep what is written therein,
for the moment is near" (Rev 1:3).

Note two characteristics of this instruction: firstly, one reads and many listen; secondly, the striking resemblance to the formula in the Gospel: "he hears the Word and fulfils (guards) it".

We find a similar testimony at the end of the book of Revelation (and thus at the summary of the whole Bible):

"I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book:
if anyone adds anything to them,
God shall add to him the plagues written in this book.
And if any man subtract whatsoever from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his share of the tree of life" (Rev 22:18-19).

d. The supreme law of faith
It is possible to have the liturgy of the Mass without a sermon. But it is not possible to have it without the reading from the Word of the Bible. Why? In our time, the Second Vatican Council authoritatively states, without leaving a shadow of a doubt: "The Church has always considered and regards the Scriptures of God, in accordance with Sacred Tradition, as the supreme law of her faith" (Dei verbum, 21).

The Church Fathers took this very seriously. One of the earliest Fathers, Cyril of Jerusalem, taught this way about the origin of the teaching of the Church's Magisterium, such as the so-called 'Creeds' promulgated at the Councils:

"This synthesis of the faith has not been arranged according to human opinions, but from the whole of Sacred Scripture what is most important has been selected in order to give in its entirety one teaching of the faith. Just as a mustard seed contains many branches in a tiny seed, so does the synthesis of faith encapsulate in a few words the whole knowledge of true piety contained in the Old and New Testaments"[6].

With even greater force, the same Church Father formulated it in another catechesis:

"In knowing and professing the faith, accept and preserve only what the Church now communicates to you and confirms in the whole of Sacred Scripture [...] This faith I recommend you to accept as a viaticum for life. Apart from it, accept nothing else".

This great Patriarch of Jerusalem further added:

"Even if I myself, having changed my mind, should begin to say something different from what I am teaching you today; even if an adversary angel 'transformed into an angel of light' should wish to mislead you; 'If even we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a Gospel different from that which you – now – have received, let him be accursed'."[7]

Why is this so? It is obvious: the Church family was originally created not as a human project, for example as an initiative united by some idea of social or educational transformation. It was formed around the Word and by the power of the Word: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and fulfil it" (Lk 8:21). The Church purifies and improves herself by giving ear first to the voice of the Word of Life and only then to the sounds of this world. This is how the Family of Jesus is formed, strengthened, and grows.

And here we are in for another surprise. However great a gift it is to find oneself in the gathered Church of God listening to the Word and thus receiving the gift of inclusion in the Family of Jesus himself, there is something more. Is this possible? Let the gateway introducing us to this 'more' be a certain text from centuries ago.

Here is an extract from Pope Pius X's apostolic constitution Divino Afflatu of 1911. This constitution quotes a much older, 17th century text by another pope, Urban VIII:

"The Psalms, a collection of which is found in the Scriptures, had a special place in the Sacred Liturgy itself and the Divine Office. From them originates the psalmody, which our predecessor Urban VIII calls the daughter of the hymnody, which is sung 'continually before the throne of God and of the Lamb' (ante sedem Dei et Agni)"[8].

Our praying together on earth would then ... echo some more excellent choir than ours? Our singing of psalms (psalmodia) would be a shadow of some even more splendid singing (hymnodia) coming from on high? Is this possible? Perhaps the family of Jesus is greater than we expected? In seeking an answer to this question, we will now recall yet another of Jesus' great promises.

3. The third promise: 'The Lord be with you' – '"He will have eternal life"

3.1 “He will have eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day”
It is now after the liturgy of the Word. The sermon is over, the words 'I believe in one God' have resounded, it is even after the prayer of the faithful. The priest has moved from the pulpit to the altar, the altar servers have helped to prepare the gifts, the familiar Preface is about to begin and suddenly – for the third time! – the words "The Lord be with you" sound in the Eucharist. Again: this is not a repetition! It is an amplifying resonance. It is an announcement of the presence of the same One, but in a new way. So let us fully experience the dialogue that begins the Eucharistic liturgy of the Sacrifice:

- 'The Lord be with you
- And with your spirit'
- 'Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to the Lord'.
- Let us give thanks to the Lord our God'.
'It is right to give Him thanks and praise!

a. Look up? Why?
Not long ago, in the autumn, I was in Budapest. Our group had a special privilege: we were led to the monumental Hungarian Parliament building. We gathered in front of the gates, where our papers were scrupulously controlled and we were checked to see if we were on the special list. And then we were ushered inside.

To begin with, just outside the entrance door, in the vestibule, the guide briefly told us about Hungary's rich history, full of historical surprises. Then he described the history of the parliament building in a little more detail. Standing in the corridor, just beyond the threshold, we saw how stunning in its beauty this building is, full of gold ornaments, stone carved details and stained glass windows in the Gothic style.

As we listened to everything, the guide announced in a solemn voice: "now enough of just listening, the time has come to see with your own eyes the most important sign in the whole story just told to you". We moved in procession behind him, up the magnificent staircase, higher and higher. And suddenly, from behind the pillars, a display case appeared, radiant in the falling light from above. We caught a glimpse of the insignia of the kings of Hungary, together with the crown of Saint Stephen. The whole group stopped in silent awe at such a magnificent, thousand-year-old historical memento. We were equally amazed by the care with which the signs of a nation's identity are preserved here.

If we magnify this experience a hundred times, we have only a foretaste and a faint foreshadowing of what the experience of the Mass is to be for us, which also has its stages. First the gathering of the people, then the hearing of the Word, and finally the transition from words to action: "Do this in remembrance of Me".

Let us repeat it: at the first, at the very beginning of Mass, the invocation 'The Lord be with you' invited us to look around us to make sure that we were indeed gathered in 'two or three' in His name. And if so, we are assured of the fulfilment of the promise: "There I will be in their midst". The second time, just before the reading from the Gospel, the exhortation 'The Lord be with you' prompted us to turn our ears to hear the Word. Because again, we wanted to enter the space of the promise being fulfilled: 'These are my Mother and my brothers', 'These are my brother and my sister'.

The same exhortation sounds for the third time. But now it invites us to a different attitude: our gazes are to go... upwards. It is a bit strange, let us admit it. After all, we see the altar already prepared, we notice the liturgical chalice, there is already a vessel with wine and another one with pieces of bread standing next to it. According to the post-conciliar custom, the altar is exposed in such a way that everyone can see it from anywhere in the church and observe the liturgical gestures closely. We would therefore expect rather an exhortation: "Turn your hearts towards the altar!".

And indeed, the decoration of church interiors sometimes hints at just such a direction for the hearts of the gathered faithful. At the end of 2024, I had the opportunity to attend the consecration of the then newly renovated St Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. A major rebuilding of the church has meant that all those attending the liturgy now sit in a large circle around the centre of the church. Overhead, the immensity of the cathedral's dome rises: perfect white without any ornamentation, if one does not count the delicately outlined, barely visible geometric shapes that, in similar but not identical constellations, gradually disappear into the spaces heading towards the top of the vault. The call "Lift up your hearts" was rather ineffective under such conditions: an abstract ideal rather than familial surroundings rose above us.

In the middle of the circle of seated liturgical participants, there was an altar. The hemisphere of white above our heads had the stone hemisphere of the altar exactly below it, this time obviously much smaller than the spaces above. Again: it was easier to associate the altar with abstract ideas expressed by perfect geometry than with something as historically concrete as an 'altar' or as tangible as a 'table'. In such a setting, one would expect all the more the exhortation: "Towards the centre let us direct our hearts!". Since everything in the temple has been prepared in such a way that no temptation can draw our gaze away from the altar's geometric centre, this would be logical. Gaze at the altar! But no, even at the consecration of the Berlin cathedral the liturgical acclamation sounded the traditional: "Erhebet die Herzen!", thus in German: "Lift up Your hearts – upwards!".

Why? Are we not distracting ourselves from what is most essential by directing our intentions 'upwards'? Away from the centre of the Mass? From the Eucharistic Sacrifice and Feast? And yet: since the beginning of Christianity, in all possible liturgical rites and in all languages, whether in Latin or Greek; whether in Arabic or Old Slavonic, there is always and invariably at this point exactly this call: direct your attention 'upwards'.

This is not intuitively obvious. Let us be clear: it is strange. But at the same time: it is imperative to understand it. Otherwise, the Gospel warning will be fulfilled on us: it is possible to look at the mystery of the Kingdom and see nothing special! One can see in the church on Sunday morning someone moving from the pulpit to the altar, one can see the altar servers carrying some gilded vessels, the priest pretending to wash his hands in some microscopic amount of water... and so on.... and so on... What is so special about this?

"That they may look with their eyes and not see,
That they may hear with their ears, and not understand" (Mark 4:12).

And yet, what for us is a little-understood exhortation to 'Lift up Your hearts' and the difficult question of why exactly 'upward' we should direct it, this is what has been obvious to all Christians from the very beginning of Church history, in all generations, peoples and languages. This is the great mystery of the liturgy as seen 'from above'. If we do not possess this skill, we will concentrate on moving the altar from the wall to the centre of the church (for greater 'visibility' of the liturgy), on lengthening or shortening the chains of the incense vessel, on the bells of the altar servers – but we will not feel the essence of the Eucharistic Sacrifice!

If one knows what the "great mystery of faith" is – then celebrating "with one's back to the people" (as in the chapel of the Marian shrine in Czestochowa) will not bother him; if one does not know, then celebrating "with one's front to the people" (as in the basilica of the same shrine) will not help him. In a word, we will be in the situation once described by St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582):

"They always tell us only what we in prayer can and should do,
but of the miraculous and supernatural actions of the Lord in the soul we seldom hear"[9].

b. Seen from above
To begin by looking up: this is how the Apostles taught us to look at the liturgy. The priest we see at the altar in our church today is important, but not the most important. While the Mass is going on in our parish church, at the very moment when our priest is saying the words of the Missal and making the gestures prescribed there, at the same time someone infinitely more important is celebrating the liturgy. And he is celebrating it precisely 'upstairs'. "The answer to the question, ‘Where is Christ now?’ was answered in early Christianity: that He has ascended to heaven, where He sits at the right hand of the Father and, as eternal Priest or High Priest (hiereus, archiereus), and there He intercedes for men" . And this is the core of our faith, this is the most important thing! If one stands at the altar in St. Hyacinth’s Church in Legnica in Poland and looks straight up, one sees above one's head, on the vault, a large bas-relief depicting the Lamb of the Book of Revelation: "And I saw between the throne with the four Living Beings and the circle of the Elders a Lamb standing as if slain" (Rev 5:6). The neo-Gothic church in Legnica is about 120 years old and perfectly reflects the sense of a liturgy seen 'from the bottom up' and at the same time 'from the top down'. This is the most essential sense of the victorious Christian message and kerygma of the Good News, the Gospel:

"The crux is this: as High Priest we have Him,
who is seated in the heavens at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty,
as executor of the liturgy [λειτουργός] in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle,
which the Lord has set up, not men" (Heb 8:1-2).

This is not the theory of learned theologians! It is the teaching of the Bible, and therefore also the everyday practice of believing Christians – called to lift their hearts up at this moment in the Mass: 'Lift up your hearts!'. This phrase can be found in all liturgies written down from the third century onwards. Here are examples:

- Coptic Church: 'Let us raise our hearts'.
- Lebanese Maronite Church, Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles: "Let us raise our thoughts, mind and heart".
- Syrian Church: "Above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father, there let our thoughts, mind and heart be in this hour..."
- Nestorian Church: 'Above the lofty heights, where the poignant trepidation of the place of glory...where the noise of the wings of the cherubim, where the blissful voices of the seraphim praise, there let your mind dwell – constantly and without interruption...".

Our brief "Lift up Your hearts" turns out to be overly restrained anyway, compared to the Nestorian hum of the wings of the cherubim and the blissful voice of the seraphim! But nothing beats the invocation proclaimed at this point in the liturgy of the Eucharist in the Armenian Church (in Armenia). There we find a truly astonishing key to understanding this intriguing mystery: "Door! The door! With all wisdom – let us raise our thoughts in worship to God". What is this door? Let us find out. Preferably at the source, of course, which is the Scriptures:

"Behold, a door opened in heaven,
and a voice, the first that I heard,
as if a trumpet speaking with me, said:
'Come up here, and this I will show you, what then must happen'.
I experienced an immediate rapture:
And behold, there stood a throne in heaven, and on the throne [someone] sat” (Rev 4:1).

The key to understanding the Catholic liturgy, then, is the book of Revelation. Yes, the same book that evokes quite different associations... Who among us has not heard of 'apocalyptic scenes' during a flood or an earthquake? Who has not read about the 'Apocalypse' during wartime conflicts? And here it turns out that ancient Christians had different associations: ‘apocalyptic scenes’ are rather scenes from the liturgy, and the Apocalypse is rather a description of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, only that this one is celebrated in heaven... One must 'ascend to heaven' with one's mind and heart, one must stand before the throne of God; in a word: "Lift up Your hearts!".

By looking up the Bible begins and by looking up it ends. It begins with the story of Abraham: "look up into the heavens, Abraham, and count the stars, if you are able to do so" (Rom 4:16-17). And yet his story is also our story: 'The promise remains intact for all offspring, ... for the one who has the faith of Abraham. He it is who is the father of us all – as it is written: I have made you a father of many nations" (Romans 4:16-17). Anyone entering a Gothic or neo-Gothic church in the past was greeted there by a vault painted dark blue decorated with numerous stars. In Ravenna, in the famous sixth-century Basilica of St Apollo, Byzantine apocalyptic mosaics depict the Lamb against a sky dotted with stars. Everyone thus felt invited to the Abrahamic gesture: 'look up to the heavens and remember the promises given to you (and count them, if you can manage it)'. In the past decades in many countries, most of these vaults have been painted over with a uniform white or beige paint. Has the biblical imagination of the Church sometimes been painted over along with them?

With ‘looking up’, the Bible also ends: "Behold, a door opened in heaven, and a voice said: 'Enter here'" (Rev 4:1-2). This is the eternal teaching of the Church, affirmed not so long ago at the Second Vatican Council. Many think that the Council was mainly interested in moving the altar away from the back wall of the church. Well, no, it was definitely more interested in topics like this, for example:

"The earthly liturgy gives us a foretaste of participation in the heavenly liturgy celebrated in the holy city, Jerusalem, to which we make our pilgrimage, where Christ sits at the right hand of God as the servant of the temple and the true tabernacle. In the earthly liturgy with all the hosts of heavenly spirits we sing a hymn of praise to the Lord" (Constitution on the Liturgy, 8).

In the parish of Roppen in Austria (Diocese of Insbruck), there is a beautiful parish church, which in 1910 was decorated from the floor to the top of the vaults with many paintings depicting scenes from the Apocalypse. The gaze of parishioners attending the liturgy found ranks of angels, groups of saints and heavenly choirs on all sides. As part of the 'renewal of the liturgy' in 1964, everything was painted white; painted over along with the memory of the sources of Catholic liturgy derived from the biblical book of Revelation. But in a surprising way the memory returned! In 1994, the entire interior of the parish church was restored to its original appearance: it once again looks as it did in the years of its former glory, with all the iconic wealth taken from the Bible illustrating the last book of Scripture.

The apocalyptic consciousness of the liturgy has returned, as in the good old days of the Church Fathers, when St Benedict quoted a biblical verse in his Rule: "In the presence of the angels I will sing a psalm to the Lord" (Ps 138:1), and when St Ambrose wrote of the soul's aspiration "towards that assembly in heaven (concilia superna)" which is "reserved only for the saints", where the Church "can sing praises to God", which, "as we learn from the prophetic utterance (Rev 15:3-4)", is sung "by the heavenly choirs of the masters of the harp (Rev 14:2)".

c. Sacrifice, Feast or Memorial?
Liturgy seen from above, from God's perspective and from the point of view of the already saved (and the angelic choirs accompanying them) looks different. It is easier to understand its full richness not allowing hasty 'either-or' solutions: 'either the liturgy is the Christ’s Sacrifice, or it is the Feast to which he invites us'; 'either the liturgy is the sacrament of the true Sacrifice of the Son of God, or it is the Memorial of his Cross'. The perspective of the victorious and risen Christ makes us understand that all these aspects are needed simultaneously! The simplistic mentality of this world (either-or) is transformed into a biblical multi-coloured fullness (both this and that).

- Sacrifice? Of course, after all, we clearly read about it in Scripture. Before Jesus offered himself on the Cross, he first did so in the Paschal celebration: "This is my Blood of the Covenant, which will be poured out for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28). In the Upper Room, Jesus made the decision to offer himself, he sacrificed himself.

- The Feast? That's obvious, after all, this is how the offering of the Sacrifice was completed as far back as in the time of Moses: "Take and eat, ...Drink of it all" (Mt 26:27-28).For those familiar with the Bible, the matter is obvious: since it is a sacrificial feast, if there were no Sacrifice, there would be nothing to eat; and if there were no Feast, the Sacrifice would not be completed.

- A Memorial? Certainly. After all, "this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22: 19). But note, with a necessary clarification: our remembrance of Christ's Cross, while important, is not the most important. It is, after all, surpassed by the fact that God himself recalls at the moment of the liturgy the power of the Cross of his Son. Well, the word anamnesis [ἀνάμνησις] is used here in the Gospel. It is indeed a 'souvenir', but rather not in our modern sense: an object reminding me of some past travels. No, it is an expression from the liturgical dictionary of the Old Testament:

"At your burnt offerings and feasts you shall blow the trumpets; they shall be a memorial [ἀνάμνησις] of you before the Lord. I am the LORD your God'" (Num 10:10).

The sacrifices of the people were a 'remembrance' before God, it was God who 'remembered’ his covenant whenever a suitable sacrifice was offered in the temple. We learn the same from the Old Testament book of Leviticus: "You shall put some pure incense – this shall be a memorial [ἀνάμνησις] of bread, a burnt offering to the Lord" (Leviticus 24:7). The 'memorial' [ἀνάμνησις] of the Lord's Supper is the moment when God 'recalls his promises'. And it is in this sense that the Eucharist is a 'memorial' to God: God recalls the power of the New Covenant. "Do this in remembrance of me [ἀνάμνησις]" thus means: "At your liturgy do the same as I did at the Last Supper, and My Father will then recall the power of the Cross of Me, His Son".

Sacrifice, Feast, Memorial: all three aspects can be seen clearly in the remarkable passage in the Letter to the Hebrews, which emphasises the Sacrifice ('sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus'), the Feast ('solemn assembly') and the Memorial ('the covenant in the Blood of Jesus speaks more powerfully than the blood of Abel'):

"You have acceded to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable number of angels, to a solemn assembly, to the Church of the firstborn who are enshrined in the heavens, to the God who judges all, to the spirits of righteous people who have already reached their goal, to the Mediator of the New Testament, Jesus, to the sprinkling of the blood that speaks more powerfully than [the blood of] Abel" (Heb 12:22-24).

d. Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
The Didache or 'Teaching of the Twelve Apostles' is the title of a small booklet written 1,900 years ago. It was therefore written during the lifetime of those Christians who perfectly remembered the Apostles and learned the faith from them. The text is short, only a dozen pages long, but it conveys an extremely powerful message. With what simplicity the first generations of Christians experienced the Sunday Eucharist – this is clearly seen in the description contained therein:

- "On the Lord's day, Sunday, gather together to break bread and offer thanksgiving,
and confess your sins, that your offering may be pure.
For these are the words of the Lord:
‘In every place and at every time they shall offer me a clean offering,
for I am a great king, says the Lord,
and my name is awe-inspiring among the nations’ (Ml 1:11)" (Didache XIV,1).

- "As for the Eucharist, offer thanksgiving in this way – first at the chalice:
‘Thank You, Our Father, for the holy vine of David, Your servant,
Which You have revealed to us through Jesus, Your servant.
To Thee be the glory for ever!’

Then in the breaking of bread:
‘We thank Thee, our Father, for life and for knowledge,
Which you have revealed to us through Jesus, your servant.
To Thee be the glory for ever!’

As this broken bread, scattered over the mountains, was gathered into one,
so may Thy Church scattered to the uttermost parts of the earth
Be gathered in one in your kingdom" (Didache IX,1-5)

- "And when you have satiated yourselves, give thanks in this way:
‘I thank Thee, Holy Father, For Thy holy Name,
Which by Thy will hath dwelt in our hearts,
And for knowledge, and faith, and immortality‘.

‘Thou, almighty Lord, [...] hast given food and drink to men,
so that they may give thanks to Thee.
And to us You have given in Your graciousness spiritual food and drink,
and eternal life through Jesus, your servant. [...]
He who is holy, let him come up, He who is not, let him do penance!" (Didache X,1n).

3.2 The third promise: 'The Lord be with you'- "He will remain in Me"

a. The liturgy, its image, and its shadow
We are still with the invocation "The Lord be with you" proclaimed for the third time in the liturgy of the Eucharist, just before the Preface and therefore by the Eucharistic Prayer itself. The richness of this invocation is hidden in the turning of our thoughts, our hearts, our attention – upwards: "Lift up your hearts!" Ever since the New Testament was written, Christians have learned to experience the Eucharist by looking at it, as it were, 'from above', from on high: "as high priest we have Him who is seated in the heavens at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty, as executor of the liturgy in the sanctuary" (Heb 8:1-2). It is there that the liturgy is celebrated in its fullest sense; without constant remembrance of it, the depth of experiencing the liturgy here on earth in our churches will falter. Origen, the great theologian of Christian antiquity, put it this way: the heavenly liturgy is the Sacrifice of Christ brought to heaven by the Risen One; our liturgy is its image; and the Old Testament rites were only a shadow. Let us use an example: we get to know someone fully by seeing him or her when he or she comes up to us and greets us; we also gain some familiarity by having a picture of him or her, such as a photograph. By contrast, the shadow of a person on the wall, although helpful, is a much weaker source of getting to know a person.

Where did this teaching come from? Firstly, because "the blood of Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself to God as an immaculate sacrifice" (Heb 9:14), was personally brought by Him, after the Resurrection, before the throne of God as an offering: Christ "by his own blood entered once for all into the Holy Place" (Heb 9:12). And it is by the power of His blood that He "entered heaven itself, to make intercession for us now before the face of God" (Heb 9:24). And this is the heavenly liturgy described in the book of Revelation.

Our earthly liturgy is a sacramental image of it: "Whenever you eat this bread or drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (Cor 11:26). And the image can be fully understood only with the original in mind.

The temple rites of the Old Testament, on the other hand, were only "a shadow of the goods to come" (Heb 10:1) and therefore they passed away.

All this sounds like an incredibly difficult argument for doctors of theology and professors of liturgy. But not so long ago, when the First Eucharistic Prayer (then called the Roman Canon) was the only one in use, everyone present at Mass heard the names of the patriarch Abraham and Melchisedek, King of Salem, mentioned during this prayer every time. Our task today is to understand why this was the case...

b. Holy, Holy, Holy ...
In many charismatic communities, there is a very useful habit of repeating in songs and prayers phrases such as: "honour and glory to the Lamb", "let us exalt God's throne", "angels in heaven and men on earth". So many of these texts make direct reference to scenes from the book of Revelation (often supported by 'heavenly' passages from the Letter to the Hebrews). Let us take as an example a certain rather popular charismatic worship song:

"I enter the Holy of Holies
I enter through the blood of the Lamb
I enter to worship You only
I enter to honour ‘I am’
Lord I worship You
For Your name is Holy, Holy Lord".

Although this song was usually sung during the evening prayer meetings of our communities, it can serve excellently as an introduction to a deeper understanding of our Catholic Eucharistic Prayer, especially the Preface, with its central part: "... together with the choirs of Angels and Saints with one voice let us sing: Holy, Holy, Holy...".

At the beginning of the Book of Revelation, we find a scene in which the author experiences the hardships of exile on the island of Patmos. This is the punishment inflicted by the Roman state for his faith: "I, John, your brother and fellow traveller in tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 1:9). The first stage of God's consolation is the revelation of the risen Jesus in his glory: "I saw someone like the Son of Man", "His eyes like flames of fire", and "His voice like the voice of many waters", "His appearance – like the sun when it shines in its power" (cf. Rev 1:13-16). Jesus is giving then His instruction to the ecclesial communities of the early Church (in the cities around Ephesus). The third stage, however, will be of most interest to us – here is the voice of the Risen One calling from the heights of heavenly glory: "come up here!" (Rev 4:1).

It turns out that the visible life of God's Church on earth is only a fragment. Both the difficulties suffered from the persecutors of the Church and the prayerful gatherings "down here" only become comprehensible when believers become aware of the intercessions received from "those above". Then they will understand that they are only a humble part of the great gathering around the Throne of the Majesty of God, for "we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God" (Heb 4:14). "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace" (Heb 4:16). This is especially true of the liturgy of the Eucharist, which becomes clearer if we wholeheartedly embrace the call "Lift up your hearts" as an echo of the phrase from the book of Revelation "Enter here, the door of heaven is open". And especially if we understand the invitation "together with the choirs of Angels and Saints let us sing with one voice" quite literally: to unite our singing on earth with the voices of the chants sounding in the glory of heaven. Is this possible? And actually, how do we know all this?

- ‘I enter the Holy of Holies’: the Temple
Every Christian may be filled with power at the communal prayer of the Eucharist because it is part of his spirituality to hear the invitation: "come up here" (Rev 4:1). This does not consist in exalting one's own inner feelings, but in awareness: through the gate of faith we have entered the Holy of Holies. As in Jerusalem of old, where the Most Holy Place was reserved only for the high priest (and even that only once a year), so now those whom Jesus "has made a kingdom-priests unto God and unto his Father" (Rev 1:6) enter, as priests of the new cult, to worship "the Father in Spirit and in Truth", for "such worshippers the Father wants to have" (cf. John 4:23).

The Holy Place of the Saints is no longer in an earthly building, even the grandest, such as Jerusalem of old. Here is our High Priest, Jesus, "seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty as a servant of the temple and of the true tabernacle" (Heb 8:1-2). And it is there that the praying Christian is to "ascend" and "experience the rapture" (Rev 4:2). Heaven and earth come together when the Church of Christ lifts up her prayers, both these flowing "from below" and those coming down "from above".

- ‘I enter through the blood of the Lamb’: Sacrifice
Every Christian is aware that the Eucharistic adoration contained in the Preface of the Mass begins by passing through the gate of faith: 'The Lord [is] indeed with us!" And this is a specifically Christian faith: we believe in the salvation for sinners merited on the cross by Jesus Christ. This is what John understood during his vision of the heavenly ‘mega prayer meeting’: "And I saw between the throne with the four 'Living Beings' and the circle of 'Elders' a Lamb standing as if slain" (Rev 5:6). The image of the Lamb bleeding, yet with the triumphant banner of victory over death adorns a great number of old Catholic churches, especially Baroque and neo-Gothic ones. After all, "we have, brethren, the assurance that we shall enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus" (Heb 10:19).

"They sing a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the book and open its seals, for you were slain, and you have purchased to God with your blood [people] from every tribe, tongue, people and nation, and you have made them to our God a kingdom and priests, and they shall reign on the earth’." (Rev 5:9-10).

- ‘I enter to worship You only’: The feast
The singing of praises on earth is combined with the singing together with heavenly beings. It is the singing of the twenty-four presbyters (that is, from the Greek, 'Elders'), the four mysterious living beings, and finally, of all creation in heaven:

"And behold, there was a throne standing in heaven, and on the throne [someone] sat";
"Around the throne – twenty-four thrones ,
and on the thrones twenty-four sitting 'Elders’,
clothed in white robes, and on their heads golden wreaths".
"The four 'Living Beings' – and they each have six wings
- around and within are full of eyes, and they have no rest, speaking day and night:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
Who was, and Who is, and Who cometh" (Rev 4:2.4. 8).

This is part of the largely forgotten today, yet formerly very much alive, Catholic Tradition of the Church's participation in the liturgy of heaven. This is still taught, as we remember, by the Second Vatican Council: “The earthly liturgy gives us, as it were, a foretaste of participation in the heavenly liturgy” (Constitution on Liturgy, 8). The Tradition of post-Tridentine times taught that: "[The] prayerful voice of the Church is the daughter of hymns, sung unceasingly before the throne of God and of the Lamb". The Church Fathers, such as St Ambrose in the 4th century, taught that: "we aspire towards the assembly in heaven, where the soul can sing praises to God, where heavenly musicians also sing". It is there, Ambrose added, that "the soul can see Thy feasts, O Jesus, during which, amid joyful shouts, they lead the bride to Thee, from earth to heaven".

The feast? Yes, this old word is taken from biblical resources: "Blessed are those who are called to the feast of the marriage of the Lamb" (Rev 19:19). In our more recent language, it means as much as 'invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb'. A phrase that has found its way into the liturgy, not coincidentally, just before Holy Communion, when we hear: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world: Blessed are those who are called to the banquet of the Lamb". By partaking of Communion we find ourselves at the Feast, i.e. the Banquet, of the Lamb. This is possible because we were already present at the Sacrifice of the Lamb. And both are possible because we have heard the call, "Lift up your hearts!". And we have responded by faith to this echo of the biblical call from above: "Get up here, through the door above!"

- ‘I enter to honour ‘I am’, Lord I worship You’: Glory
In the popular reception, the biblical book of Revelation is the quintessential proclamation of horror and terrifying events. The film Apocalypse Now (1979), a contemporary adaptation of J. Conrad's work The Heart of Darkness (1899), takes its title precisely to foreshadow the scenes of destruction and cruel chaos of the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, in the atmosphere of the Eucharist, the associations run in a completely different direction: the entering into the glory of the blessed heavenly beings who, standing before the throne of God, exalt His name and His works.

"And the twenty-four Elders fall down before the One seated on the throne
And they worship the Living One for ever and ever,
And they cast their wreaths before the throne, saying:
‘Worthy art thou, O Lord, and our God,
receive glory and honour and power’" (Rev 4:10-11).

Importantly: when we sing 'Holy, Holy...' we are assured that we are singing it together with the inhabitants of heaven. Why'? Because they "having no rest, say day and night, Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God almighty, Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come" (Rev 4:8). This is why, in all the rites of the Christian liturgy of all ages, languages and nations – the people sing this very hymn dating back to the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is 6:3). After all, we are singing the same text that is simultaneously sung in heaven! Whenever we start it, it is already on in heaven.

Worship is an unselfish, radically non-egoistic prayer. Man forgets himself, even his own important needs, in order to turn towards God: "Worthy are you, O Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created" (Rev 4:11). This is not only a 'communal' prayer, it is truly cosmic, yet not in the sense of the impersonal unity of the universe, but in the sense of the union of all rational beings created by God:

"And every creature that is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, I heard them say: ‘To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, blessing and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ And the four 'Living Beings' said: ‘Amen.’ And the 'Elders' fell down and worshipped" (Rev 5:13-14).

"You have made them a kingdom and priests unto our God, and they shall reign on the earth. And I saw, and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and of the 'Living Beings', and of the 'Elders', and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘The Lamb slain is worthy to take power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing’." (Rev 5:10-12).

We come to a very important point: a prayer modelled on the apocalyptic vision of the heavenly liturgy opens up completely new perspectives for understanding the so-called 'cult of the saints' (which is perhaps not the best name, by the way). Many elements of the Eucharistic liturgy direct our prayerful thoughts towards them. In truth, such an element already appears at the beginning of the Mass, when, confessing our faults, we say:
"I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned through my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sister, to pray for me to the Lord our God".

We confess (confess) our sins to other people according to the biblical principle; and also according to the Bible we ask them to pray for us. After all, we remember:
"Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. For the prayer of a righteous man has great power" (James 5:16).

Added to this is the fact that many days during the liturgical year are memories or solemnities of saints. So, very often we hear in church that "today is the feast of Saint Francis", or Saint Hedwig, or so many other saints. But after all, the strongest emphasis of their commemoration is that moment in the many prefaces of the Mass when we are called in the Preface to “sing together with the choirs of angels and saints”.

c. 'Together with the choirs of angels and saints...'.
The expression 'cult of the saints' has long been poorly understood in ecclesiastical discourse. Although in theological textbooks it is accompanied by explanations using ornate Latin words (cultus dulia, cultus latriae...), it easily clashes with the phrase " worship in Spirit and Truth" given to God (John 4:23), and then the whole thing becomes straightforwardly incomprehensible. However, the reality behind the phrase itself is quite simply biblical, which is much better revealed when we take an apocalyptic perspective of Eucharistic spirituality: 'seen from above'.

Perhaps the increasingly common term 'intercessors' will be helpful. This word can refer to the brothers praying with us (when they are currently present here and now in a prayer meeting). It can also refer to a prayer team interceding with God on geographically distant matters (for example, praying for a blessing during some political elections). In the book of Revelation, as we are about to see, ‘to intercede’ may describe a company of both angels and those believers who have already passed into God's eternity, taking care for us.

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had. And with a loud voice they cried out thus: ‘Wherefore, O holy and true Lord, wilt thou not judge and inflict punishment for our blood upon those who dwell upon the earth?’ And a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a short while longer" (Rev 6:9-11).

Since they were slain "for the word of God", this clearly refers to the disciples of Jesus; and if "for the testimony" – then surely they are those who boldly professed their faith and suffered the consequences in the face of the persecution of the Church. They are martyrs. The revealed book shows them present in the heavenly temple. As we can see, it was not only the Risen Christ who entered it, but also the martyrs. Yes, they were killed (only their souls are present there for the time being), but they are alive. What is particularly important for us – they are interested in earthly matters and cry out to God himself to intervene. They are interested in us. “Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). And this is happening right now, at this very moment. The apocalyptic intercession of the inhabitants of heaven also includes angels:

"Another angel came, and stood by the altar, having a golden vessel for embers, and to him were given many incense, to give them as a sacrifice as the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar which is before the throne" (Rev 8:3).

The saints? Yes, but beware: the modern reader of the Bible must be on guard against confusing terms! The 'saints' mentioned here are Christians living, for the time being, the most earthly temporal life. This is the usual use of the word 'saints' throughout the New Testament. Their prayers for us are reinforced, as it were, by further heavenly 'intercessors' – angels whose participation in God's relationship with his people is even 'bilateral'. The angels take our prayers and send them on, toward God.

"And the smoke of incense rose up, as the prayers of the saints, from the hand of the angel before God. And the angel took a vessel for embers, and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it down to the earth, and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake" (Rev 8:4-5).

d. God is not a loner
It is not possible to prayerfully accede in faith to God as the Absolute Alone. Why? If we answer this question in the light of the New Testament, the reason is simple. God is never alone; He is always surrounded by 'His own'. And there are very many of them:

"You, on the other hand, have proceeded to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable number of angels, to a solemn assembly, to the Church of the firstborn who are enshrined in the heavens, to the God who judges all, to the spirits of the righteous who have already reached their destination, to the Mediator of the New Testament, Jesus, to the sprinkling of the blood that speaks more powerfully than [the blood of] Abel" (Heb 12:22-24).

God in the Trinity is surrounded by saints not because of some specific ecclesiastical Catholic or Orthodox Tradition, or because of the iconography prevalent in some Christian cultural backgrounds. It is simply a biblically revealed fact:

"Then I saw: and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation and all tribes, peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb" (Rev 7:9).

God is already surrounded by martyrs who worship Him in Spirit and Truth (cf. John 4:23), and intercessors who do not forget their brothers: "They are those who come out of great tribulation and have rinsed their garments and in the blood of the Lamb have whitened them. Therefore they are before the throne of God and in His temple they worship Him day and night" (Rev 7:14-15). We are mobilised by their spiritual cheering. Do we remember the verse: "We, having such a multitude of witnesses around us, having laid aside every weight, [and above all] the sin which easily deceives us, ought to run with perseverance the race appointed for us" (Heb 12:1)?

The martyrs seemed to this first generation of Christians to be obvious candidates to be heirs to Jesus' promise: "I am going to prepare a place for you" (John 14,2). But they were not the only candidates. After all, "a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a wreath of twelve stars" (Rev 12:1). Who she is, is explained further on: “she gave birth to a Son, a Man, who shall feed all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was taken to God and to His throne” (Rev 12,5). Every Christian is spiritually related to her and united in spiritual warfare: "The dragon has gone to begin the battle against the rest of her offspring, against those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 12,17).

In the prayerful invocation of the worship hymn 'I enter the Holy of Holies', then, this includes more than just the community we can encompass with our eyes around us. There is more of us. As Elisha once said to his servant: "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more numerous" (2 Kings 6:16). What happened next? “Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (v. 17). This event foreshadows what the Vatican Council calls “active participation” or “to take part actively” (participatio actuosa) in the liturgy (Constitution on liturgy, 21). To be aware of spiritual realities and beings, even if our eyes cannot yet perceive them. “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you […] the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:17-18).

Yes, God is not a loner. He is a lover of life and desires to surround himself with his living creatures. Even at the resurrection of Christ, as soon as the opportunity arose, immediately to the great victory of the crucified Jesus, God added new candidates to the glory of heaven:

"And behold, the veil of the tabernacle was torn in two from the top to the bottom; the earth trembled and the rocks began to crack. The tombs opened and many bodies of the Saints who had died arose. And having come out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the Holy City and appeared to many" (Matthew 27:51-53).

*** *** ***

However important the worshipful gathering around the throne of the Most High and the Lamb would have been, and however wonderful the hymns of praise sung, there is something even greater. That ultimate fulfilment of the promise: "The Gathering of the Lamb has come, and His Spouse has adorned herself" is the announcement: "blessed are those who are called to the feast of the Mating of the Lamb!" (Rev 19:7.9). These very words are repeated in every Mass.

It is then, after all, that the twofold promise comes to pass: although I am not worthy of it, Jesus will indeed "come under my roof". He is not only with us. He bore the Sacrifice on the Cross, He carried it to the Father in heaven, as the Lamb He offers Himself right now for us, because He longs to be in Us. This is what the words mean: "He who eats My Body and drinks My Blood remains in Me and I in him" (John 6:56). This is how the announcement from St John's Gospel will be fulfilled: "My Father will love him, and we will come to him and abide with him" (John 14:23).

4. The fourth promise: 'The Lord be with you' – ‘Go, You are sent’

a. You are sent
These are the last moments of the liturgy. Gradually, our thoughts start to run outside the church gates; after all, we will be out in a minute, let us just let the priest and altar boys return to the sacristy and the last Sunday hymn will sound. And then suddenly, unexpectedly – the liturgical phrase sounds once more: "The Lord be with you!". Why? Why? After all, we are about to leave! Would it not have been more appropriate to proclaim 'The Lord was with you'. 'He was' when His first disciples gathered, then listened to the Word and later when their hearts ascended all the way to heaven. ‘He was’ when we were invited to look down on the liturgy from above, together with the choirs of angels and saints, and then to actively take part in it together with the inhabitants of heavenly glory... Perhaps enough is enough? ‘He was’ with us in all those moments. But they are gone!

But no, it is proclaimed to us not so much "The Lord was with you", but rather "The Lord is with you". And evidently the same Lord now wishes to leave the church with us and go – also together with us – into the everyday reality of our lives.

How do we know this? Because, after all, we have the fourth promise. Yet another one of the great promises: "Behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). All the days? If so, all means all. Not just in church on Sunday until noon, but also at our busy Monday, and at school on Tuesday, the same goes for troublesome Wednesday, and for the Thursdays, in our problems on Friday, and also in the Saturday rest (if we can manage to get some, finally..) – in all those days, too: 'The Lord be with you'. All the days. And not only all days of a week, but also of the month, year – of our whole life; and of the future generations, too…

The Lord is with us – for us. And what about us? We are supposed to be in the everyday world for Him. The word "Mass" comes from the Latin word Missa. People used to be sent off after the liturgy with the words Ite, missa est (literally "Go, [the Church] has been sent"). The word Missa is related to the word 'missio', which is the root of the word 'mission'. The liturgy does not simply end. At its final moments, those gathered are sent out to bring the fruits of the Eucharist to the world, to proclaim the Gospel.

b. Preach the 'Gospel' – which is actually what?
This question is by no means trivial: what is the Gospel about? When Jesus began his ministry, the people remembered well his first speeches and what he was preaching then:

"Jesus began to teach and to say: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’." (Mt 4:17).

And so we encounter this expression: The Kingdom. So many people in Israel were waiting for the restoration of the Davidic kingdom, so many were waiting for the new kingdom of the victorious Messiah. The Good News of Jesus was that the kingdom was approaching. It is near! It is coming soon! "Jesus went around all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues there, preaching the gospel of the kingdom" (Matthew 4:23).

No wonder, then, that when the disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1), there was no lack of exhortation: "In your prayer say: ‘Your kingdom come’" (11:2). One of Jesus' great promises to the Church was made to the Apostle Peter: "to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19).

The kingdom was indeed proving so close that Jesus could say that many were already entering the kingdom: "Publicans and harlots are entering the kingdom of heaven before you" (Matthew 21:31).

The kingdom is so important that the Lord Jesus explicitly called it the essence of the Good News itself: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the earth..." (Mt 24:14). After all, there is no news without content. And that content turns out to be the Kingdom of God…

c. Kingdom? Where and when?
It is hardly surprising, then, that after Jesus' Resurrection, the somewhat confused Apostles began to ask: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" (Acts 1:6). This is perfectly understandable: they had heard so much about the approaching Kingdom of God, they were about to pray "Thy Kingdom come", they recalled so many parables about the Kingdom – so it was only natural that they wanted to make sure: since Christ is alive, has risen from the dead, will the kingdom of Israel now be restored – and in greater glory than under King David?

Jesus corrected their question, but only in one part, that concerning when and how the promise would be fulfilled: "It is not your business to know the times and the moments" (Acts 1:5-7). But as to the fact itself – he actually confirmed the importance of the Kingdom... Perhaps it would be possible to render the meaning of Jesus' answer given to the Apostles in our modern terminology as follows:

"You are asking me about the kingdom? – the answer, you shall not hear it, you shall see it!"
"Do you ask when the kingdom will come? It will not come by itself – it is you who will be restoring it".
"You are asking me how is this possible? The answer is: power will come upon you from on high, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be My witnesses" (cf. Acts 1:8).

Not surprisingly, the last sentence of the Acts of the Apostles reminds us again of this great truth – what the Gospel is really about:

"For two whole years [the Apostle Paul] ... received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ completely freely, without hindrance" (Acts 28:30-31).

The Acts of the Apostles thus begins with a question about the kingdom and ends with the preaching of that kingdom. When will the kingdom of Israel be restored? Jesus answers not by word but by deed. God gives the answer first by a display of his power and only secondarily by an explanatory word of commentary. This divine action is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The successive unveilings of the baptism in the Spirit point to new stages in God's plan to restore the kingdom. Could it be, then, that the kingdom of God is simply the Church?

d. Embassy of the Kingdom
The Church is the Kingdom of God? Well, looking at the reality of the Church both today and in the past, over so many centuries... Alfred Loisy (1857-1940), who was disillusioned with Christianity, noted with irony: "Jesus announced the kingdom, and [instead] the Church came". A bit of a sad but also sober observation in this: looking at the Church’s history, isn't it sometimes more appropriate to conclude that the Church is a kind of caricature of the Kingdom?

The same phrase – "Jesus announced the Kingdom: and the Church has come!" – can, however, be uttered with biblical enthusiasm! The treasure of the Kingdom came in earthen vessels? It is true that the vessels are not very convincing; but the treasure is (2 Cor 4:7).

The Church is like an embassy of the Kingdom of God on earth – it includes (potentially) all people. This good news is one of the main elements of the book of Acts revealed through the successive revelations of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The climax of the Acts narrative comes when the Apostles realised the fullness of the promise of the Spirit, namely that the Holy Spirit is poured out both on the Jews and on the Samaritans, and on people from every other nation; that potentially every person on earth can become a recipient of the promise: "He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Mt 3:11). Such is the spread of the Kingdom, such is the expansion of its boundaries, such is the participation of the Apostles as missionaries of the Kingdom. This is all contained in the central, fifteenth chapter of Acts, where at last the Apostles understood God's answer to their original question: “When will you restore the Kingdom of Israel?”

"James took the floor and said: 'Listen to me, brothers!
Simon told how God had deigned to choose for himself a people from among the Gentiles.
The words of the Prophets agree with this, for it is written:
'Then I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David, which is in ruins.
I will rebuild its ruins and raise it up,
so that the rest of the people will seek the Lord and all the nations
over whom my name is invoked
- says the Lord who causes it" (Acts 15:13-18).

e. The kingdom of God is within you
“I will rebuild the tabernacle of David”, that is: “I will rebuild the Kingdom”. We too are like Jesus' listeners: "And they thought that the kingdom of God was about to come" (Lk 19:11). We too ask: – "Tell us, when will it come?" (Mark 13:4); – "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Jesus' answer is the same, yesterday, and today, the same also for ever (cf. Heb 13:8): "The kingdom of God is among [ἐντὸς] you".

The Greek word 'entos' [ἐντὸς] can mean 'within'. The Kingdom of God is thus 'within you', in the heart of every disciple of Jesus, hidden inside thoughts and invisible intentions. But the same word can mean 'between'. The kingdom is therefore 'among you', in the relationships between the disciples of Jesus, in the community of the Holy Spirit.

This is why the Lord Jesus tells his disciples: "The kingdom of God will not come perceptibly; and they will not say: 'Here it is' or: 'There'" (Lk 17:21). The kingdom, then, is not like other political entities that have their perceptible and permanent boundaries marked by boundary posts. No, "for behold, the kingdom of God is among you", and the boundary posts of that kingdom – are you! You are mobile boundary posts: as far as you reveal the Kingdom of God in your words, actions, and attitudes – so far will it reach. Do not say today that the Kingdom is 'here', because tomorrow you can carry it much further! After all, the boundaries of His reign are movable. As you move, so move the limits of the Kingdom. "When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive His power, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8).

It is time now to realise, where the most important manifestation of the Kingdom can be found…

f. The Chalice of the Kingdom
These are the words of Jesus recorded in St Luke's Gospel: "I earnestly desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffered" (Lk 22:15). Jesus' desire to experience an encounter with us always surpasses our desires to encounter him. Reading on, we find an unexpected promise in the same gospel. Or is it rather a foreshadowing and a prophecy? -

"No longer [this Passover] will I eat until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God....
Take [this cup] and divide among yourselves; for I say to you:
henceforth I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God come" (Luke 22:16-18).

As many times as we respond to Jesus' invitation to Mass, so many times is this announcement fulfilled. He himself confirms it: the Eucharist has already begun to fulfil the promise of the coming of the Kingdom. Its sacramental radiance falls to earth as many times as the disciples obey the Word: 'Do this in remembrance of me' (Lk 22:19). This means that the Kingdom has already come, that we are in it every time the priest solemnly proclaims the great fourfold message: "The Lord is with you!". The Eucharist is a time of fulfilled promises. It is the Father's fullest answer to prayer: "Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth". Jesus comes to drink with us from "this cup", since the Kingdom of God is coming.

The End
The Apostles must have been greatly amazed that Jesus took the place of the Lamb in this Passover feast. This amazement has remained forever in the living memory of the Church. "The thought of this generates in us feelings of great and grateful amazement", wrote St John Paul II (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 5). It would be good if, following the example of the Apostles and St John Paul, we were increasingly amazed by this gift.

The Eucharist creates the ideal conditions for a profound experience of the core of Christianity: "Here is the great mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again". The liturgical experience, like a font, spilling over into the daily life of the Church, stirs us anew to prayerful worship in community. We rightly expect, therefore, that new forms of prayer will continue to blossom in the life of the Church; that all the great promises of Jesus, all four will bear fruit.

Promise one, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20) will encourage small sharing groups, gathering for prayer of worship, for formation and discernment of the future.

Promise two: 'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and fulfil it' (Luke 8:19-21) is to encourage Bible circles, community sharing of the word, Bible study and reading the Word together.

Promise three: "He who eats My Body and drinks My Blood has eternal life: he abides in Me, and I abide in him" (John 6:54.56) will encourage adoring silence and interior meditation before our New Covenant Memorial – the Sacrament of the Body of Christ's sacrifice in the monstrance.

Promise Four: "Behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world" (Mt 28:19-20) will inspire so many works of the New Evangelisation: evangelising schools, kerygmatic preaching, Faith Renewal Seminars and invitations to the Catechumenal Way, together with street evangelism.

All these four great promises are the answer to our prayer: "Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth". They are all fulfilled in the Gospel. It is their knowledge that enables us to understand what is being referred to when we are read in church about the precious pearl and the treasure buried in the earth. Truly, the currents of the river flowing from the Eucharist cheer up the city of God.

*** ***

And the final conclusion? Here you will find one in form of a parable.

A woman heard good things about home-baked bread. She was told not only that it was healthier and more nutritious than shop-bought bread, but it was tastier and definitely stayed fresh longer. When she was finally given a homemade-bread baking-kit, she decided to go for it. When she unwrapped her new equipment, she found a manual detailing what was needed to bake the bread, when it was best to do it and even how long to wait for the bread to get this wonderful brown colour. But something unexpected happened. Even though she studied the manual for days on end, somehow she still didn't feel satisfied. It is true that the instructions were written in a good style and the whole thing was well illustrated with proper drawings, but she couldn't find the answer to the question: why am I still hungry?

Only a visit from a neighbour helped her. This one dropped by one day in the evening and advised: "You know what, studying the instructions is not enough. You have to bake the bread!".

Therefore, so many pages written on the Eucharist are not enough. Now you need to find out what time the Mass is on the following Sunday in your own parish. And you have to go there.

bishop Andrzej Siemieniewski
Mbarara
Yesu Ahuriire Spiritual Centre, Karama
Uganda
2025
Holy Year Jubilee

References

[1] Opium des Volkes – A slogan popularised by Karl Marx, fondly quoted by V. Lenin.
[2] Raymond Aron, L'opium des intellectuels (1955). People rejected the promises of religion as unjustifiable, and then gave themselves up to the promises of criminal and patently false ideologies: one of the important conclusions of the book: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956.
[3] Almeter, Dan, K. Unity: On Earth as in Heaven. New Life Publishing: Augusta (Ga) 2017.
[4] "Parliamo di Chiesa sinodale ... ma seguendo quello che possiamo considerare il primo e il più importante “manuale” di ecclesiologia, che è il libro degli Atti degli Apostoli" [F, 18 IX'21].
[5] https://www.blueletterbible.org [2005].
[6] Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses Illuminandorum, 5:12 [w:] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 186.
[7] Cyril of Jerusalem, CatechesesM 5, 12-13.
[8] Pius X, Divino Afflatu (1911). Cf. Urban VIII, Divinam Psalmodiam 1631, w: Breviarium Romanum, Antverpiae, apud viduam Balthasris MoretiM. DC. XCVIII (1698).
[9] „Siempre no se nos declara más de lo que podemos nosotras; y de cosas que obra el Señor en un alma declárase poco, digo sobrenatural”. St. Therese of Avila, The Interior Castle, I, 2:7.
Santa Teresa de Jesús Libro de las Moradas o Castillo Interior.

Important Sources

Francis, the pope, Desiderio desideravi, 2022
Francis, the pope, Evangelii gaudium, 2013
Hahn, Scott, The Lamb’s Supper. The Mass as Heaven on Earth, 1999
John Paul II, Christifideles laici, 1988
John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Church from the Eucharist), 2003
John Paul II, Mane nobiscum, Domine (Stay with us, Lord), 2004
John Paul II, Redemptoris missio, 1990
Ouellet Marc, card., Tornare allo spirito degli Atti degli Apostoli, OssRomano 2022
Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 1947
Pope Francis, Speech for the diocese of Rome (Sept 18, 2021)
Pope Francis, Synod opening homily (Oct 10, 2021)
Roman Missal, 2020
Synod of Bishops, Documento Preparatorio, (Sept 07, 2021 [01156-IT.01]
Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, 1965
Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963