Rejoicing in the Grace of The Lord’s Supper

It is with joy that the church in Australia celebrates the remarkable opportunity to host the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Sydney in 2028.  

With preparations already underway for this global gathering, it will provide an extraordinary invitation to those near to and far from the church to encounter Christ’s presence anew in the Eucharist.  

As I observed first-hand earlier this year, at a National Eucharistic Congress held in the US, such a focus on the Eucharistic Lord can only bring fresh energy and vigour to the church, deepens the appreciation of Catholics young and old to the gift and implications of the Eucharist in their lives, and provides a compelling inspiration for the mission of evangelisation. 

As we celebrate this announcement, it is timely to remind ourselves of the connection between the ministry of Jesus, the Eucharist and the mission of the church. It is one way in which we can appreciate anew the great mystery of the Eucharist. I hope it might also be a first reflection in a series on the Eucharist and evangelisation as we journey toward the IEC in Sydney. 

When we attend to Scripture, we find that the Last Supper of Jesus embodies the arc of his life and ministry that precedes it. Over the three years of his public ministry, Jesus preaches and manifests the Kingdom of God, especially among the poor, the tax collectors and sinners, those for whom the reign of God’s love and abundant mercy is most in need. 

His feeding of the multitudes in which there is more food left over than people can consume, his healing of the sick and infirm, and his parables of the lost and then found, are all ways in which Jesus proclaims and makes present this kingdom—this reign of divine love for humanity which overcomes the spectre of death with the promise of new life, a kingdom which Jesus embodies.   

The Scriptures make clear that Jesus connects the Last Supper shared with his disciples to his impending death, a sacrifice which is to be Jesus’ final act of ministry and once-for-all offer of salvation for the whole of humanity. In this new and everlasting covenant of body and blood, Jesus anticipates and brings near the sacrifice of the cross as well as the victory of the Resurrection to his weary disciples.  

It is a “banquet of the reconciled” which is also to manifest an expectation of Jesus’ second coming and fulfilment of the kingdom: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). The Last Supper emerges as a bridge between what Jesus has done and what he is to do on the cross. On that Good Friday he will offer his whole life to God in sacrificial love and obedience to the Father’s plan, for the sake of all humanity. 

This Scriptural witness underscores that in the celebration of the Eucharist today the church does what Jesus asks of his disciples at the Last Supper. We partake in the bread and cup in memorial and proclamation of Jesus’ saving life and ministry, are drawn into encounter with Christ as the Risen One who has defeated death by death, and implore in trust, prayer and devotion that the redemptive activity of Jesus will be brought to completion. 

The eschatological nature of the Eucharist as a foretaste of God’s Kingdom, that absolute reign of God’s love and mercy, also makes apparent the need for the ongoing conversion of the church and the world so that it better expresses and lives according to the sacrificial love that Christ embodies and invites by the Eucharist. Jesus’ washing of the feet at the Last Supper and admonishment of the disciples who squabbled at that first table over who was “greater” remind us that the Eucharist comes with practical implications for those who receive it.  

As the Dominican theologian Fr Herbert McCabe OP noted with typical candour: “A church which celebrates the Eucharist while ignoring what we should nowadays call the ‘fundamental option for the poor’ is ‘eating and drinking judgement upon herself’… it is using the language of God to tell a lie.”  

The Eucharist as a divine gift bids us to “pour out” our lives in sacrificial love and mercy to all those in need, to be conformed to Christ as his disciples and to love and serve as he does. In this way, the Eucharist can truly become in our lives what it signifies in celebration.  

This is the great hope with which we welcome the opportunity to host and prepare for the IEC in 2028—the renewal of faith and discipleship to the Lord who commissions us to make disciples and, in the Eucharist, fulfils his promise for this project: “I am with you always until the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).