"Day-dawn gilds the heavens;
The air re-echoes with our hymns
The world is triumphant and glad,
And hell howls with fear and rage.
A bright angel cries out:
'Away with mourning, tears and grief!
The Conqueror of death is risen!'" (Easter Lauds)
When Christ rose from the dead, He vanquished the power of death and opened the path to heaven for humankind, a path closed by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Christians rejoice that we have the hope of heaven before us, that by His death and Resurrection we will one day be born into eternal life.
Until then, we experience a glimpse of eternal life with every Eucharist we worthily receive. Every Mass is a celebration of Easter; every Eucharist is a foretaste of our own Resurrection in Christ.
Today, with so many people concerned with the question of life after death, often seeking false teachings through quasi-religions and self-help gurus, the Church alone speaks the true words of eternal life and the true promise of Easter. It may be said that all Christianity is the answer to such a question, that the promise of resurrection is inherent in all of the Gospel messages. The Eucharist, however, is the center of that promise. It is the "Paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us," states the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1323). It is "…the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life" (1325). "…by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all" (1326).
The Eucharist, "the Source and Summit of our faith," proclaims and offers the Resurrection of the flesh in a way so sublime only faith dares to hope in it. The certainty of our personal resurrection is contained in every Paschal celebration.
At an Episcopal Synod on the Eucharist at the Vatican in 2005, the Bishops declared it is the responsibility of the Catholic Church to proclaim the Resurrection that comes to us through the Eucharist. "St. Paul writes that eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ worthily is the pledge, principle and seed of the resurrection of our flesh," said the bishops. "The mission of the Church is to proclaim the resurrection of the flesh; everything else becomes less and will never be the Gospel."
St. Paul states that we have the source of eternal life already living inside our bodies, given to us by the One who has eternal life within Himself. "The one who raised Christ from the dead will make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you." (Romans 8:8-11). Even though our bodies are affected by sin, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us marks us with Jesus' promise that our bodies will be resurrected on the last day.
The early Church fathers understood that the Eucharist prepares our bodies for the final resurrection. St. Irenaeus made this clear when he defended the Church against the Gnostic heresy in the late second century, which denied the salvation of the physical body. "How then can they say that the flesh cannot receive the gift of God which is eternal life? This flesh is fed by the body and blood of the Lord and becomes His member," wrote Irenaeus. "For if the flesh cannot be saved, then the Lord did not redeem us by His blood and the cup of the Eucharist is not a sharing in His blood nor is the bread which we break a sharing in His body."
Thanks to the Eucharist we are preparing our bodies as well as our souls for the final resurrection, the final Easter. The Eucharist is the "pledge of our glorious resurrection and eternal happiness according to the promise of Christ, who said 'He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up on the last day" (Council of Trent).
In the last rites, Holy Eucharist is actually referred to as "food for the journey" home. That which has fed us throughout our lives becomes our final earthly meal designed by God to sustain us as we pass into life eternal. The body shares in the effect of Holy Communion by its physical contact with the Eucharist species, the living Flesh of Christ, and acquires the promise of future resurrection.
On Holy Thursday tabernacles around the world were emptied of the Real Presence of Christ. Like the apostles after the crucifixion, we were without Jesus and craved to once again behold Him and to receive Him in the intimacy of the Eucharist. If the tomb had never been emptied, the tabernacle would never be inhabited by the same Christ in His fullness. How much greater our joy at Easter to welcome Him with open hearts and minds.
This Easter season, seek the Resurrected Christ at the altar where He emerges from the tabernacle just as He emerged from the tomb: in loving and eternal triumph.
