Being Present to Presence Wednesday, September 24, 2014
By Richard Rohr
All my life as a Catholic, I have believed that the Real Presence of Christ is in the Eucharist. Now I also recognize that the very concept of presence is inherently and necessarily relational. We Catholics can defend the doctrine of the Real Presence all we want (and I do), but if we don’t teach the children of God how to be present to Presence, there is no Real Presence for them! We spent much of our history arguing about the “how” and the “if” and who could do it (“transubstantiation” of the bread), instead of simply learning how to be present ourselves (“contemplation”). We made it into a magic to be believed instead of transformation to be experienced. We emphasized the priest as the “transformer” instead of the people as the transformed. (Yet even Canon Law always said that the Sacraments are “pro populo,” for the sake of the people—and not an end in themselves.)
The Eucharist is an encounter of the heart, knowing Presence through our available presence. In the Eucharist, we move beyond mere words and thinking with the rational mind and go to that place where we don’t talk about the Mystery anymore; we begin to chew on it. Jesus did not say, “Think about this more” or “stare at this;” he said, “Eat this!” It was to be an action.
We must move our knowing to the bodily, cellular, participative, unitive level. Then we keep eating and drinking the Mystery, until one day it dawns on us in an undefended moment, “My God, I really am what I eat!” Then we can henceforth trust and allow what has been true since the first moment of our existence: we are the very Body of Christ. We have dignity and power flowing through us in our very naked existence—and everybody else does too! This is enough to steer and empower your entire faith life.
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