Waiting for the Coming of the Lord
What important has God to tell us as we prepare to receive Holy Communion? Immediately after praying our Father, the priest asks God with the words: “Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
A wonderful prayer that the power of love that we will receive in the Eucharist will destroy all powers of darkness that reside in us. It is worth realizing that the evil we experience when it shows its gloomy face emerging from within us is not only the bad deeds that we commit. We are much more caught up in this dark mystery than we think. What the words of the Liturgy describe as "confusion" signifies a multitude of tangled intentions, good and bad; a whole mix of wisdom and stupidity, chastity and selfishness, present in our conduct. And we cannot distill and clarify this poisonous mixture ourselves. Even the deepest examination of conscience is only the flash of a match, blinking in the hand of a lost man in a vast forest engulfed at night. In the light of this flame, we can only see one of the millions of tangled roots on which we have tripped.
It is because we are such unfortunate sinners that we ask Jesus for His salvation. We only expect from him complete freedom and inner peace. In communion we receive Jesus as our Savior. And each Eucharist brings us closer to the Lord's meeting in His glory, when, coming at the end of time, He will give us complete freedom and undying light.
Each Eucharist embraces the past, presently alive for us, encounter our present with the Lord, and the future - the eternal joy in God, towards which we are heading. The priest prays with the words: " [...] we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ..." As we prepare for the altar meal in our parish church, we are preparing for another Feast. The one who will remain forever in the Father's House. There we will return from our journey through this world, free from sin, all doubts, uncertainties, confusion, to celebrate the love of our God forever.
Waiting for the coming of the Lord with which "this world will pass away" does not mean passivity. To prepare for the coming of the Kingdom, we are to make our present more divine and more human. Even today, we are not prisoners of this world, we are not confined within the limits of time, when we participate in eternity through the liturgy. However, this does not mean Manichean distance from what is the earthly. The Church is not a sect of the enlightened, who turn with contempt from contemporary people, matters and problems. Gifted with love at the feast of the Body and Blood, we are called to love incarnate in the present, into this world, to become accustomed to the eternal fire in which everything that is not love will burn. Hence, Paul exhorts the Thessalonians who are tempted to give in to passivity in the face of the soon coming Lord's Day: “and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.” (cf. 1 Thess 3:12-13) “I encourage you […]and to aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your (own) hands, as we instructed you, that you may conduct yourselves properly toward outsiders […] and not depend on anyone.” (cf. 1 Thess 4: 11-12).
The world in the New Testament has two meanings: all earthly and human reality loved by God, and the "world" of human heart's opposition to God and His truth. Longing for a new heaven and a new earth, we have to commit ourselves to this world as willed and loved by God, and at the same time be "free from sin and safe from all confusion." For only by being saints can we be useful to this land as its salt - full of flavor.
The gift of peace
Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you; look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. Who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
The peace of the Lord be with you always.
And with your spirit.
Let us offer each other the sign of peace.
Modern psychology has helped us to clarify one of the most important sources of neurosispoisoning our lives. It is the fear of rejection. If parents do not show their child enough love, acceptance, selflessness, they can make him feel anxious that he does not deserve their love. If a son or daughter hears the words: "If you are not polite, mommy will not love you," he may feel more and more threatened, thinking: "I am not able to win the love of my parents."
Such people sometimes have to wait many years to meet someone who will love them so much and selflessly that will break the spasm of fear and a feeling of failure in the fight for the love they desire.
Just before the Holy Communion, the Liturgy introduces us to prayer for peace. Then the priest communicates the peace of Jesus with the words: "May the peace of the Lord be with you always" and asks for the mutual giving of the received gift of peace through some gesture.
The possibility of accepting the Body of Jesus Christ is entering into the vastness of God's selflessness. He gives all of himself to each of us, and by no means does not demand perfect impeccability in return. He dedicates himself to the weak, expecting only that they would not try to hide and excuse this weakness, but confess it before him. This greatest proof of love, which does not limit itself according to merit, can fill our hearts with deep peace. It can free us from the fear of rejection.
This gift is to be shared by all who surround the altar. We show one another a brotherly love that pleases one another before wants to change him. This is how true unity begins: when we become free from fear of mutual judgment and condemnation.
In the face of the greatest love, we can experience a soothing peace that we share with each other.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george