20 December

Jesus' presence in us

Luke 1:26-38 

This day, Jesus is conceived in Mary's womb.  How remarkable it is that in God's power and majesty, he succumbs to the will of a human being to be mother of His son.  Now He asks us, "Will you take in Jesus?"

In the first reading, I came to know that Ahaz treats himself as an evil king.  But in spite of that, still God gives him an assuring prophecy, "A woman shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him "Immanuel" meaning, "God-with-us."  Despites' Ahaz' sins, the Lord still bless Judah by which he is king.

Let us talk about Presence.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that there are many ways that Jesus is present in his Church:   "in his word, in his Church's prayer, "where two or three are gathered in my name,"199 in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned,199 in the sacraments of which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "he is present . . . most especially in the Eucharistic species".  (CCC 1373)

It describes the Eucharist as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend. In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. (Council of Trent)" (CCC 1374)

With these profound definitions of Christ's presence in the Eucharist, how can we still afford to miss the divine reality?  If Jesus is totally present in each member of the Church, surely, the reign of God is already within us.

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