Text of the Eucharistic adoration of June 18, 2017

Corpus Domini

Zion, praise the Savior

your guide, your shepherd,

with hymns and songs.

Be daring as you can:

he surmounts any praise,

there is no worthy song.

Bread alive, giving life:

this is theme for your song,

reason of praise.

Really it was donated

To the twelve gathered

in fraternal and sacred supper.

Full and resonant praise,

noble and serene joy

may flow from the spirit.

This is the solemn feast

when we celebrate

the first sacred supper.

It is the banquet of the new King,

new Easter, new law;

and the ancient comes to end.

Yields to the new the ancient rite,

reality disperses the shadow:

light, no more darkness.

Christ leaves in his memory

what he did at supper:

we renew it.

Obedient to his command,

we consecrate bread and wine,

host of salvation.

Certainty it is for us Christians:

it turns bread into flesh,

blood turns into wine.

You do not see, do not understand,

but faith confirms,

beyond nature.

It is a sign what appears:

hides in mystery

a sublime reality.

Flesh You eat, blood you drink:

but the whole Christ remains

in each species.

Those who eat it do not break it,

neither separate nor divide:

intact they receive it.

Be one, be thousand,

they also receive it:

it is never consumed.

Go the good ones, go the wicked;

but different is their fate:

life or death it causes.

Life to the good ones, death to the wicked:

in the same communion

very different is the outcome!

When you break the sacrament,

do not be afraid, but remember:

Christ is so much in every part,

as much as in the whole.

Only the sign is divided,

the substance is not touched;

nothing has diminished

of his person.

Here is the angels’ bread,

pilgrims’ bread,

real children's bread:

not to be thrown to dogs.

With symbols it is announced,

in Isaac given to death,

in the Easter lamb,

in the fathers’ manna.

Good Shepherd, true bread,

Jesus, have mercy on us;

feed and defend us,

bring us to eternal goods

in the land of the living.

You who everything knows and can,

who nourishes us on earth,

lead your heirs

to the table of heaven,

in the joy of your saints.

Amen.

Alleluia

Do this in memory of me

From the Gospel according to Luke

When the hour had come, He and the twelve apostles with Him sat down. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And He took the cup and gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then He took the bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In like manner, He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you.” (Lk 22: 14-20)

The Eucharist, which Jesus clenched in his hands during the Last Supper, is His very own Body that will be soon sacrificed on the Cross and is the same Body we receive during the H. Mass. It is Jesus’ great gift during the last hour, at the time of His last farewell. And as each gift carries with it the sign of the donor, so when someone gives us a gift, it also reveals his taste, his preference, his heart. The same thing happens to God, in fact the Eucharist proclaims the humility of God. The Lord could have made himself present in a spectacular and flashy way, and instead God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, are hiding for our salvation under the simple appearance of bread.

In fact, "Jesus who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But He emptied Himself, taking upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the form of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:6-8)

Likewise, while a gift is an end in itself, the donation calls to some responsibilities for those who receive it. God is giving himself with his life that is love; Jesus broke for us, is breaking for us, and asks us to break for others. It is exactly this "breaking bread" that has become the sign of recognition of Christ and us Christians. We, by feeding on that same love, are transformed, become capable of being "broken" by those around us.

The Bishop and Marisa have "broken" themselves, have given their lives for others.

They were ready to die for Jesus, for the Mother of the Eucharist, and for the conversion of souls. Where did they find the strength to do all this? In the Eucharist, in the power of love of the risen Lord, who still today breaks the bread with us and repeats: "do this in remembrance of me".

Jesus, what a great mystery is for us Your presence in the "fragile Bread"! He gave us a Eucharistic command: "do this in remembrance of me"! Your Eucharistic Love calls us to You, Source of Life, source of Love and in the silence of tabernacles of all the churches scattered all over the world, is whispering to the heart of man: "Come to me, all you who are fatigued and oppressed, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall rest your souls; because my yoke is sweet and my load is light" (Mt 11:28-30).

And they recognized him while breaking bread

From the Gospel according to Luke

When they drew near the village where they were traveling, and He seemed to be going farther. But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us. For it is nearly evening and the day is far spent.” So He went in to stay with them.As He sat at supper with them, He took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the way and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" (Lk 24:28-32)

The passage we have read are drawn from the evangelical episode of the disciples of Emmaus, which several exegetes regarded as a catechesis masterpiece. It is a story that Luke dedicates to his community, but also to all of us, to teach us how and when we can meet the Lord, even without seeing Him with our eyes.

The experience of the two disciples of Emmaus is born of the dismay and disappointment. In fact, they hoped that Jesus would free Israel from the yoke of foreign domination. They had not yet understood that the true mission of the Messiah was to free man from sin, so they believed that with the death on the cross it was all over and that Jesus had totally failed. They did not think of the Resurrection and did not realize that Jesus saved us with his Sacrifice on the Cross. But, when breaking bread, there is a complete reversal "their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him" (Lk 24:31). This is precisely the most expressive gesture Jesus did at the last supper, a sign of an entire life offered and donated for love. After explaining the Scripture along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Jesus seals his Word with the Bread that is His Body: this is His supreme gift. This gift produces the divine effect: the eyes of the disciples, which were first closed, opened. Now their heart is switched on, but Jesus disappears from their sight because now He is within them, He has not disappeared, He has entered into their soul.

Jesus, you are here in the Eucharist where we can meet and recognize You as our Savior. Only here are You alive and effective for our conversion and renewal. We, like the disciples of Emmaus, were once sad in the journey of life, bewildered and enveloped by the darkness... But You showed yourself, we have met you thanks, first of all, to the encounter with the Bishop of the Eucharist and the Victim of the Eucharist.

Mons. Claudio Gatti was for us the "Sweet Christ on Earth"; he taught us to love You and to feed of You, "Living bread descended from Heaven, which gives life." Also our heart was burning strongly when we listened to catechesis and homilies of Your beloved priest and, as many times the Mother of the Eucharist said: "He made a poem out of every line; there is no priest in the world speaking like he does" (From the letter of God, November 17, 2002). We still have a long way to go as individual, family and community, so as the disciples of Emmaus we implore You: "Stay here with us!" Without You we can do nothing.