RUTTER: For love of mysteries

Who doesn’t love a good mystery?

From Miss Marple (Agatha Christie) and Father Brown (GK Chesterton) to Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), we are captivated by the twists and turns of the puzzles they solve.

Theirs is the challenge to follow the trail and uncover the evidence that leads to finding perpetrators and setting the world right again.

A good mystery captures our imagination, drawing us into the story as we test our abilities to uncover the facts.

Oh, and how gratified we feel when all the pieces fall into place and the truth is revealed!

There is still one great mystery that we as Christians can’t wrap around our heads, much less solve: the mystery of Christ’s presence in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

Leonardo Boff describes it as “... a sacrament that makes visible, communicates, and effects in reality what it signifies.”

He adds: “The Eucharistic bread not only makes visible the daily meal at the human table but also makes present, communicates, and realizes the bread of heaven, Jesus Christ, in the midst of the community of faith.” (1975, Sacraments of Life: Life of the Sacraments, p 71)

In other words, Boff posits, receipt of the Sacrament of Eucharist goes beyond what we partake in church to what we do at home. Breaking bread with the family at the dinner table places Jesus at the center of our gathering.

Many are more comfortable seeing the Eucharist as a symbol, a promise from Jesus that he always remains with us.

That’s understandable. The reality of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit present in the Eucharist is an overwhelming concept.

It takes recognition that the mystery is not one we humans can solve but must accept on faith alone.

Catholics, a core belief of our faith is holding as truth Jesus’s words that “For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:55-56).

In this passage, known as the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus traces this mystery back to God feeding manna to the exiles on their 40-year journey from Egypt to Israel.

Miraculously, he multiplies the seven loaves of bread and five fishes to feed the crowd of 5,000 gathered for the Passover Feast.

Just like our mysteries today, there were villains in Jesus’s time who, seeing his miracles, wanted only to retaliate, lest he gain power and unseat them. They plotted to kill him and thought themselves successful in doing so.

With his death on the cross, they — for three short days — congratulated themselves on getting rid of the growing problem that he posed.

Little did they expect Jesus would rise from the dead and command an army of disciples who would bear witness to the world.

Little did they believe in the miracle of resurrection.

Followers of Christ, we’ll get the answer to the Eucharistic and resurrection mysteries when we get to heaven.

For now, it is enough to be fed and filled with the Holy Spirit!

And so I pray: Dear Lord, dissolve my doubts and fear, replacing them with confidence and trust that you are ever-present and guiding me. Help us to love one another as you love us.