This past Saturday night, the church throughout the world, began the celebration Advent 2005. For the first time in many years, Advent is four full weeks this year. It is a particular time each year to focus on the presence of the Lord, the presence not only at Christmas, the presence of the Lord at the end of the world, but also the presence of the Lord here and now especially in the Eucharist.

St. Charles Borromeo, that great 16th century bishop of Milano, once wrote about Advent: "This holy season teaches us that Christ's coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ." There is no greater presence, no greater joy for us, than the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharist is our Advent Joy.

It is the presence of Love itself. For "no one has greater love than this, [than] to lay down one's life for one's friends." Jn 15:13 His whole life was a revelation of love, "the love of Christ which surpasses [all] knowledge." Eph 3:19  His entire life gave meaning to the word love and it continues to do precisely that.

What inexhaustible love!  It was a love born at Bethlehem in the humblest of circumstances.  It was a love fulfilled at Jerusalem on the cross and resurrection.  It is a saving love that lasts forever--a love anticipated from all times--a love which we adore in the Blessed Sacrament on the altar. It is a love that makes its home in us every time we eat His body and drink His blood, each one of us baptized into His body.

In these days of Advent, I suggest this year that you ponder in your prayer, precisely in the midst of all the helter scelter of Christmas preparation, the mystery of love born in our midst-- in a manger.  He was born to die.  The wood of the manger would in 32 short years mysteriously become the wood of the cross, a mystery commemorated each and every time we eat His body and drink His blood.  Bethlehem can only be seen in the context of Jerusalem in much the same way that the Eucharist can only be understood in the context of the Upper Room and Calvary itself. 

For a list of similarities, listen to the words of Caryll Houselander in her book "Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross." (Pages 75-80)

From all time, from time eternal, Jesus  knew He would be born in Bethlehem to die and rise at Jerusalem--all out of love.  He knew from all times that He wished to leave us a memorial of His passion and death--again out of love for you and me.  That, after all, was His vocation, a vocation given by the Father, His Father and our Father, a vocation to save us. 

The Eucharist is primarily about that "memorial"--an action achieved once in the past but one that perdures as an eternal offering in heaven--an action pre-enacted at the Last Supper and re-enacted sacramentally each time we celebrate the Eucharist. "The Eucharist mentions the Last Supper and alludes to it and quotes from it and in one sense it repeats what happened at it, but the terminus of the Eucharist is the redemptive action of Christ."  Eucharistic Presence, Sokolowski, 93

St. Luke's text  of the institution of that "memorial"--the Eucharist--gives us a novel and unique insight into the mystery of the Eucharist.  We see therein the Eucharistic heart of Jesus, His deep abiding love for us, precisely as He came to table with the apostles and as His death was imminent. It is that love, the love of the heart of Jesus, that I wish to underscore in this Advent meditation.

In Luke's Gospel, it is written: "When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles.  He said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.' Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, 'Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.' And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.'" Lk22:14-20 (Emphasis added.)

I want to underscore that one line unique to St. Luke's institution narrative-- "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." Oh how it reveals to us what was in the heart of Jesus--His love and joy.  The accent is on His personal desire to inaugurate the Eucharist.  In the semitic mindset, this expression involves the whole person.  Christ feels the desire for this eucharistic meal. He had anticipated this meal, this final meal with His disciples from all eternity.

This is the key to the entire text-- His deep desire to eat this meal and precisely before He suffered--the key to His entire life.  "The 'earnest desire' for the Eucharist is above all the desire for a gift which contains the gift of the passion and which is destined to be multiplied indefinitely for our benefit so as to make the mystery of the death and resurrection part of our lives." Eucharistic Heart, Galot 41.  This last meal before His death was meant to celebrate His love and show it forth.  "By means of the Eucharist he was going to ensure that the meal was not a farewell, but the beginning of innumerable meals where his disciples would find again their closeness to him.  He was going to institute a source of perpetual communion in which what had been achieved by the resurrection, after the separation of death, would take on a sacramental form and in this way would be forever renewed." Galot 43

It was His last joy before He suffered--this eager desire to share this meal, to institute a new and eternal covenant with them.  This sense of joy, this sense of love for His disciples, tells us of the joy in His heart, the very essence of His being, His whole reason for being--for His dying and rising--a love confirmed and fulfilled on the wood of the cross, a love born in the wood of a cradle in Bethlehem.  For Jesus, love is not simply a feeling or emotion.  In Him, love takes on flesh.  It is His very Person. 

There is absolutely no other way to understand the Eucharist, that which He so desired to institute at that meal, except in the context of His love--a body broken and blood poured out--all out of love. "Whenever we eat this bread and drink this wine, we proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." 1Cor ll:26 This loving sacrifice was the very  purpose of the whole mission given Him by His Father. 

But why did He desire to institute the Eucharist in a climate of love and joy?  It is precisely the answer to this question which reveals the very meaning of the eucharistic celebration.  Four aspects of the meal shed light on the joy that had to have been in Jesus' heart on that night before He died.

l.) The Joy of His Last Teaching

We find it in John's Gospel--chapters 14-17, referred to as the Last Supper discourses.  They were marked with dialogue between Jesus and His disciples.  They are the most substantial and beautiful teachings that have come to us from the Lord.  He spoke the eternal word at that meal.  Examples:  "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower." "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." "But now I am going to the one who sent me...But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go.  For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you." The Last Supper ended the doctrinal work of the Lord. It had to have brought joy to His heart--to teach them in the context of that intimate setting of the last supper, the give and take with that core group of His disciples.  Does not the priest teach us every time we gather for Eucharist after the example of Jesus at the Last Supper--the first Eucharist? 

2.) The Joy of Prayer at the Last Supper

St. Mark describes the end of the meal: "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." Mk 14:26 It ended with the singing of the Hallel.  At the end of the meal, Jesus had the joy of singing with His disciples.  Do we not sing, often joyfully, when we gather for Mass?  Is not the Mass the highest form of prayer? In His whole priestly prayer, which St. John recounts in the 17th chapter of his gospel, Jesus tried to ensure that His joy, the joy at finally completing His work, was shared with His disciples.  "But now I am coming to you.  I speak this in the world so that [you]may share my joy completely." Jn17:13 He desired to pray with and for them and us.  Do we not do that in the name of Jesus at every Mass?

3.) The Joy of Giving Himself as Food and Drink

Jesus wanted to leave, as a perpetual communion, His very life.  The Eucharist represents His deepest desire to be permanently available to them and each of us.

St.  Luke's account, which we just heard, is the most explicit formula of that which He chose to give us. I speak of His very body and blood, i.e.  in effect the fruits of His sacrificial offering.  "This is my body which is given for you." "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you." This is the new and definitive covenant between God and us, a covenant of love, enfleshed in the Person Jesus. These words  imply His clear and total commitment to the sacrifice of Calvary. 

The Last Supper is Calvary in a sacramental form. Jesus had to have been aware, at that moment, of the immense suffering and sacrifice which the institution of the eucharistic meal would cost Him and which He would experience a few hours later.  In the words of Father Galot: "In the soul of Jesus, this perspective of sacrifice did not mean sadness or melancholy.  It was not incompatible with a more fundamental joy, that which he experienced in his self-giving.  If he had not instituted the Eucharist in joy, he would have kept for himself something of what he wanted to give; he would have thought too much about the sufferings to come, that is to say, about himself, and not enough about those for whom he wished to obtain the fruits of his sufferings.  In Jesus there could be none of this kind of selfishness." Galot, 53.  The joy of self-giving is the ultimate gift of Jesus to us. 

4.) The Joy of Washing the Feet of His Disciples

St. John tells us that, during the Last Supper, Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of His disciples-- evidencing humble service, the joy and love of One who would later give His very self as food and drink.  He knew His hour had come.  The foot washing confirms He was committed to the redemptive sacrifice.  From then on, the Eucharist contained within itself the power of humble and joyful love that led to the washing of feet.  When we hear the words, the Mass is ended--Go live the Mass--we must never forget that the kind of Love which has transformed us is one of sacrificial service, a humble love willing to do the work of a servant in a spirit of joy.  "If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet." Jn13:14

In conclusion, in these four aspects taken together, and in light of Jesus' express eagerness and desire to share this Passover meal on the night before He died, we see the real joy of the eucharistic and loving heart of Jesus.  Each and every subsequent celebration should reflect that same love and joy. There was and is a joy to His self-giving.  In a few weeks, we will sing that beloved Christmas hymn, Joy to the World. Joy was born in a manger and that same Joy instituted a meal in the upper room.  That same Joy was nailed to a cross which became the tree of life.  The risen Christ is a Christ who gives Himself in joy and should be received in joy.  In the words of Father Galot, "in Eucharistic celebrations, this same joy should be manifested, both as a preparatory disposition, and as a fruit of the mystery." Galot, 54.  That Mystery, after all, is the Mystery of love, a Mystery born in the wood of a manger at Bethlehem 2000 years ago, a Mystery reborn on the wood of a cross--the Mystery of Love incarnate, the Mystery which lives forever in the Eucharist, our Advent joy.

Amen