We are custodians of a great mystery of love, mercy, and compassion. We carry the Eucharist with us, and we become eucharist for the world.

No one understands better this spiritual dimension of the eucharist than those who have truly experienced its transforming power. Being the “living tabernacles of God’s love” is nothing other than becoming the Christ-like gift of self that offers a shield to the powerless, hope to the hopeless, strength to the weary and weak, love to the abandoned, refuge to those hit by despair and victimized by the disasters of war and violence. It is all about bringing newness and renewal in the human perception of God’s presence in the eucharist. For this very reason, one remembers that though fragile and unworthy, we carry the divine in our humanity, the sacred gift of God in fragile vessels.

The Eucharist consists of forming and transforming consciences through love and self-emptying (kenosis). Catholics ought to be true imitators of Jesus Christ who lives within them. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And now the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) We are not hiding places of God’s grace but rather agents and vessels of God’s peace and love toward God, humanity, and creation.

The challenges of our time do not lie in practicing religion but in being authentic and sincere in one’s convictions and beliefs. Between doing and being, we as living tabernacles are left with the heavy duty and responsibility to bear and give witness to who we truly are in the eyes of the world and of God.

Let Us Pray:

God of love, we give you thanks for your Son’s gift of himself in the Eucharist and for your call to us to become his presence in our world. We ask you to enable us to be the vessels of your peace and love toward all. Amen.