The seal of God’s covenant: the Eucharist

Posted: 03.13.09

Popular opinion is that many are leaving the Church, no longer wish to support it and do not desire to become part of it. My own experience is that such is far from the reality. In fact, my experience is that most Catholics are more than supportive of their Church in so many ways. They realize that the Church is Christ’s. He has promised to remain with it as his presence in this world through the sacraments and especially in the Eucharist.

At the very beginning of Lent, we celebrated the rite of election and the call to continuing conversion at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola. At this rite, I was presented with and accepted catechumens – those who are to be initiated into the Church through the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. I was also presented with and accepted candidates who are already baptized and will be received into full communion with the Church at the Easter Vigil. I know that my positive experience at this joyful celebration was the same as many other bishops around the country. Those who have chosen to become part of the Catholic Church are as large in number as ever! When some might suggest that fewer would want to be associated with the Church, experience does not support this conclusion.

Those who are to enter the Church understand the importance of the life of the Church, which is to be their new family. Their enthusiasm and joy in preparing to become members and looking forward to becoming a full part of it are so evident and contagious. This is also true for their sponsors, catechists and all those preparing them on their journey. All of them realize the Church is the embodiment of God’s life among us. Their desire to participate in the Eucharist as the summit of the Church’s life speaks loudly.

The Church is God’s covenant with his people. A covenant is a two-way relationship that people enter which is irrevocable. Our society does not fully appreciate the essence of a covenant, as it has little experience with one. We are a litigious society more familiar with a contract. A contract is not a relationship, but an agreement. In this agreement, both parties set up the conditions by which the contract will be binding. If one of the conditions is not followed, the contract can be broken and a legal remedy can be sought to obtain even more than what was agreed to in the contract. A covenant has no conditions attached to it and joins the partners not in an agreement, but in a living relationship. Marriage is one of the best examples of a covenant. However, we are all too aware of how our society views marriage more as a contract than a covenant.

God has entered into a covenant with us through his Church which is sealed by the Eucharist. While that covenant is of God’s free initiative, it is still a relationship between God and us. We, too often, treat that covenant as a contract and many times try to break with it. We can be unfaithful to God, unresponsive to his love and, sometimes, just plain hurtful to him. However, God never breaks his covenant with us. No matter what we do, God will not only remain faithful to us, but also loving and forgiving. While some members of the Church may show themselves unfaithful toward that covenant, God will never abandon it. He has chosen to remain with the Church and to use it, with all of its human weaknesses, as the extension of himself in time and space. Through this Church, God sanctifies us, teaches us, loves us, saves us, is present to us and invites us to enter into a real relationship with him. That is why so many love the Church and want to join it. The Church belongs to God and he will always be with it.

The sign of God’s faithfulness to the covenant he has established with us was his giving that which is closest to him – his own Son. Christ became one of us and sacrificed his life so that we might have life. Not only did Christ give his life, but he also promised to continue to give his life to us in the Eucharist through which he would remain with us in the Church. At the Last Supper, Christ established this covenant using his words with which we are so familiar in the consecration of the Mass: “Take this all of you and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.” By his own words, Christ gave us the Church to which he would be faithful no matter what. The Eucharist is the seal of God’s covenant.

It is no small wonder that so many came to St. Ignatius Cathedral to be enrolled in the rite of election and the call to continuing conversion this Lent. They came to be part of a family to which God is always present and faithful. They came so that they will be able to participate most fully in that family through the Eucharist in which Christ gives himself to us as our food. They came because they believe that the Church, by God’s design, is the place where meaning can be found in life and where God will always be present. Those of us present at that ceremony were strengthened by our enthusiastic catechumens and candidates, and have had our own faith in the Church and the Eucharist once again renewed.

I want to thank profoundly all those who attended the rite of election and the call to continuing conversion. The catechumens, candidates, their sponsors, families, and the members of our parishes from all over our diocese are living signs of God’s covenant with us. We have great people, priests, deacons and religious in our diocesan family. They speak well of God’s faithful covenant. Our wonderful Church in the Diocese of Palm Beach is fully alive. Who would not want to be part of it? As we prepare to renew our own baptismal promises this year, let us enthusiastically renew our faith in the Church, God’s covenant with us. Let us look forward to welcoming new members to our family who so much desire to be part of us and to share the Eucharist with us, the seal of God’s covenant.

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