Q. How does Jesus, received in Communion, become a source of healing for living and dead members of the family tree?
A. In two ways: among the living, and between the dead and living.
First, by the unifying (corporate healing) effects of his Eucharistic physical body among living members of his mystical body: "Is not the bread we break a participation in the Body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we [the living] who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf" (I Cor 10:16-17). In early Church assemblies, one loaf was broken and shared, symbolizing the unity of the Body of Christ, the Church, nourished by himself, the one Bread of life (cf. John 6:33-58).
Second, by his living body dying symbolically and "proclaimed" as such by our Communion (I Cor 11:26), he becomes the link between ourselves and our deceased relatives. "Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living" (Rom. 14:9).
We "see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps 27:13), that is, among our living relatives, by his releasing us from the bondages derived from our dead relatives, as Aaron stopped the transmission of the plague (that had killed 14,700 people), by standing between the contaminated dead and the living. The trans-generational bondage transmitted from the dead ancestors to us, the living, is broken by Jesus' stance, as the plague was broken by Aaron's stance between the two (Num 16:48).
Reprinted with permission from Witness Ministries, a lay apostolate dedicated to renewing appreciation for the Mass as the greatest gift which God has given to His beloved spouse, the Church. Their mission is to show how, in the Eucharistic Liturgy, Jesus renews and transforms us–and the world–in His life and love. Their published titles include:
· My Daily Eucharist
· My Daily Eucharist II
· The Mass
· Eucharist God Among Us
· Feast of Faith
· Dying to Live
Witness Ministries
705 S Windsor Ct
Lake Forest, Illinois, 60045
Tel: (847) 735-0556
Tel: (847) 735-0911
