Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of December 5, 2007

7th Day of the Novena for December 8

You are aware that I talk without being influenced by the number of people present or who is present; I can talk when there are just ten people and be silent when there are fifty of them, what matters is that I am listening, like you, to our Lord speaking, even if He does so in different ways and with different people. Today I offer you a consideration that you will surely find in the presentation of the next books collecting the letters of God. For you, to well memorize the concepts, I suggest you imagine a citadel in front of you and built on a square base. The church has walls to defend from enemies attacks and at each junction point of the sides where usually there is a tower, there is also an army general giving instructions on how to defend against attacks. Ideally, the citadel I want to talk about, which I call "the Eucharist", has also four sides namely: the word and grace of God, the sacraments and the saints that were generated by the Church; those points of connection joining the sides are in the plan of God: the Mother of the Eucharist, St. Joseph, Guardian of the Eucharist, the Bishop of the Eucharist and the victim of the Eucharist. The One who holds everything together and prevents the enemy from entering into this Eucharistic town is Jesus the Eucharist. This is an image I wanted to offer you so that you may understand how the people, serving as connecting point and who are subordinate to Christ, all have a role that is linked in a special way to the Eucharist. The Eucharist, as I have said many times, is everything and includes everything, as evidenced by the title "Mother of the Eucharist". This title allows us to understand that in this reality are present both the Trinity and the other mystery of our faith: the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ; Christ the Eucharist is present, but also Christ the Word, the Savior, the Messiah, the Friend, and Christ the Son of God. The Eucharist was made manifest as a reminder that these multiple realities are present, and to this work was also associated St. Joseph we call "Keeper of the Eucharist". Someone, and I mean those who call themselves theologians but probably do not really understand things, may turn up their nose at this title, stating that St. Joseph died before Redemption. You might reply by saying that Mary was redeemed even before Christ was born and died. In God's eyes it makes no difference whatsoever; consider also that if the Eucharist is Jesus, true God and true Man, He is present in the Eucharist in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, so if Joseph has worked on the role of custodian for Jesus, he will work in the same role regarding Jesus the Eucharist. Now it is clear the importance of Our Lady who, over time, generated the humankind, the person of Christ, the keeper of the Eucharist, and thereafter, when God saw that the inhabitants of this Eucharist city began to be at the mercy of discouragement, rose two people, a bishop and a victim, to whom He gave the task to play a role for the benefit of mankind so that they could be enlightened more and more, nourished and comforted by the Eucharist. Enjoy, ponder and hold tight on this image because, through it, I have presented to everyone in a simple and understandable way what the Church is, who Christ is, who Mary is and who St. Joseph is. It is useless to speak in a complicated way because those who hear would not be able to understand what is being said. Remember the great teaching that one of the greatest popes of the Church gave us, John Paul I, who reigned just thirty-three days: "I fly low because the high clouds do not bring rain and if I could make myself understood even by a few people I would be happy because when, at times, certain characters talk, one hardly understands the Our father they say at the beginning of their intervention".