Words of Eternal Life

One trap we must avoid with regard to the Eucharist is to make of it a purely catechetical tool - using it mainly and sometimes even exclusively to instruct the assembly. This appears most clearly when the Celebrant announces at the very start of the Eucharist: 'The theme of today's Eucharist is …' What he means generally, is that the readings possibly contain this particular theme and he wishes to highlight it in that celebration. It is important to note that there is only one theme for every Eucharist and that is the dying-rising of Jesus to which we are called to unite our own dying-rising. To present the Eucharist and particularly the liturgy of the Word as a mere catechetical tool by assigning other themes means that we have misunderstood the inner dynamics of this section of the Eucharist altogether; we have not yet discovered how the Word (readings) fits into the whole scheme of the Eucharist and its celebration!

Covenant Making at Sinai

The reference here is to the manner in which Yahweh delivered his people from Pharaoh and his army who chased after the Hebrews when they were cornered on the banks of the Reed Sea. Finding themselves trapped on every side, the Hebrews could do little more than cry out in despair. Realizing their perilous plight they grumbled against Moses for having brought them out of Egypt. At that critical juncture, according to the Yahwist version (J) God asked the people to just be still (in practice this amounted to an order that they go to sleep!) - because, he Yahweh was their God and he would do the fighting for them (Ex 14:13-14). In obedience to God's word, the people lay still all through the night and the next morning as the horizon brightened, all that the terrified Hebrews saw were the dead bodies of the Egyptians dotting the length and breadth of the Reed Sea banks (Ex 14:31). Exactly how and when they had been killed, no one knew or could possibly know, as it all happened at night. Yet the astonished Israelites were absolutely sure of one thing viz., that it was the Lord, the mighty One of Israel, who had done this astounding deed. On realizing this, all they could do was to "put their faith in Yahweh and in his servant, Moses!"

The key point to be noticed here is that Israel did nothing, not even lift a finger, that whole night while God alone decimated the mighty Egyptian army leaving not a single one alive. Such a powerful act of 'saving' could convey only one specific message: the depth of Yahweh's love for his people and his utter fidelity to his promise to lead them to freedom, no matter what. This was such an unexpected and unprecedented occurrence that Israel could never forget it all through their chequered history. Before eliciting their consent to 'belong to him' in covenant, Yahweh reminded them of this highpoint in their desert journey - not the only one, but certainly the most important one!

The phrase 'carried you as on eagles wings' refers to the mother eagle's way of training its young one to fly. When a fledgling eaglet weighing from 5-8 kgs is ready for flying, the mother eagle herself pushes it out of the nest built on a very high mountain cliff overlooking a deep abyss. Not yet strong enough to fly, the eaglet hurtles through the air at breakneck speed and if it did hit the ground in those circumstances, it would meet with sure death - but seconds before it can meet its tragic end, the mother eagle swoops down and picks it up on its outstretched wings. Then, soaring again to a very great height with its precious cargo, the mother eagle repeats the performance and this ritual goes on several times until the young one gains sufficient strength and confidence and is able to fly on its own.

This instinctive parental pedagogy picked up from ornithology becomes an apt and picturesque instrument to convey God's minute care of his people all through their desert journey. During this journey it was God himself who put them into various difficult situations, (like the mother eagle pushing its young one out of the nest) and even though Israel might have felt that each of these crises was enough to exterminate the entire race, yet God saved them on every single occasion. The finesse and fidelity of God's caring is brought out poignantly in Deut 8:4 'the clothes on your back did not wear out, your feet did not swell, all these forty years!' The Israelites went through innumerable difficulties, undoubtedly, yet they suffered not the slightest harm on any given occasion.

After singling out these two major events, thus reminding the people of his consistent protective guidance, Yahweh then goes on to ask them: "Now, therefore, if you will obey my commandments and ordinances, you of all the people on the earth, shall be My special possession" (segullah = a prized possession that is extremely dear to the person, and he will not let go of it for anything in the world!). Evidently, the answer to this question would depend on the extent to which the people perceived Yahweh as being 'for them', reliable, trustworthy and so on. So, one could say that the purpose of the narration recalling God's protection is simply to create this kind of an awareness and trust in them - and that is also the purpose of the liturgy of the Word in the Eucharist! It is meant not so much to teach as to remind us of God's marvelous deeds done on our behalf demonstrating his faithful love. And God is the same, yesterday, today and forever! Unfortunately, most people do not attend to this aspect of the Word, but rather try to derive out of it some principle or teaching on which to work at improving oneself, especially in terms of a moral response (good/bad; right/wrong). We forget that the Word (Bible) is God's love letter to us, his chosen and beloved people! The approach generally is rather intellectual while it should really be more on the emotional level.

Actually, one need not worry too much about the behavioural or response part of the Word, for once we are deeply convinced of God's love for us, the response will automatically follow and that kind of response coming straight from the heart, loaded with positive feelings, would evidently be the best. For, if God gives us himself and that too totally and with absolute fidelity, how could we settle for something that is less than total in our response to his all-encompassing love?

Listening with the Heart

For this, we would need to know how to pick up these qualities of God found in the text or story, since they are expressed not explicitly, but camouflaged as it were, in an event or happening. Thus when we read: 'Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard about it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind"' (Mk 3:19-21) - what we could look for there is: why does Jesus act in this way, neglecting his own health and personal needs? Isn't it that he considers my (our) needs to be more important than his own? Would it be wrong if we concluded from this that God is madly in love with us, because we see similar attitudes and actions in people who are caught up in love? People who are deeply in love behave very strangely indeed! No sooner we discern God's tremendous love for us in this strange approach of Jesus it would not be difficult to respond to him with equal generosity.

Eucharistic Attitudes

Further, what generally happens with most of us when we enter into conversation or dialogue with others is that while the other speaks, our own minds are busy working out an appropriate and convincing refutation or answer to their message. This usually leads to two parallel monologues, with neither party really listening to the other. A little deeper reflection would reveal that we often do this because of our insecurity; we somehow convince ourselves that the other is not really sharing something positive and appreciative, or even something neutral and noncommittal, but is actually attacking us and so we busy ourselves preparing an appropriate defense. Consequently, when we consistently search for God's love and fidelity in the Scripture narratives, we would drop our defenses while listening. We thus cultivate the art of listening deeply to the other person, while also training ourselves to be more secure within, more emotionally strong. This would further lead to our believing more deeply in the goodness of people in general; we come to believe that not all of them are out to 'get us' or attack us!

With a deeper and better ability to listen as part of our human equipment, undoubtedly the quality of our relationships would also improve, starting in the family itself, and moving on to the place of work and even further out enveloping all our relationships. What a difference this would make to everyone around! Besides, since our sharpened skills of listening deepen our faith with each Eucharist we celebrate, the way we handle life's difficult situations would also be radically different and better. For one thing, the amount of self-centredness we experience would be far less. Our inner security and emotional balance will greatly improve too. We will experience a greater inner peace and tranquility. Further, we will gradually acquire one of the most treasured qualities one could have here on earth: contentment. Ps. 131 expresses this quality most graphically when it says: "O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother…."

Besides, through better listening, we would find it easier to catch the feelings expressed in every communication and further to share our own feelings when communicating with others. It is said that when we share ideas and theories, we do not really reveal much about ourselves since those ideas could have been taken from someone else. Ideas are never exclusive and personal, but are rather common property, as it were! What is most uniquely our own and personal is our feelings and when these are expressed and correctly understood, there is a deep bonding that takes place between the two persons sharing. This approach would enable us to discover the true inner self of those we deal with and especially those people we cherish in a special way. As a result of the Eucharist we celebrate, we would find this happening between God and us too: we discover more and more of the unbelievable aspects of his love for us. All this results in better, healthier and smoother relationships with all people we deal with; and further this will result in the formation of better communities of people. Our living of the Covenant then would become more real and meaningful.

While enabling us to discover the strengths of others around us, listening would also put us in touch with our own strengths and weaknesses, resulting in a better self-acceptance. This would promote a healthy give-and-take attitude when dealing with others. Because we do not cut ourselves off from others in an arrogant "I can manage by myself" kind of arrogant approach, nor with an 'I am not worthy' false kind of humility, we would learn the art of networking with the strengths of others while offering them our own. Our relationships would be more adult-adult rather than parent-child or child-child! No man is an island and should we choose to isolate ourselves from others, we would be the first to lose from such an attitude.

Summing up the Eucharistic attitudes emanating from the Proclamation of the Word, we have:

1. A selfless openness when listening to others - seeking to understand first before seeking to be understood
2. A greater inner emotional security and better self-acceptance
3. A stronger bonding with others and with God, better and healthier relationships
4. The virtue of contentment
5. A search for and a discovery of the inner qualities of God and others
6. Developing a healthy dependence on God and others
7. Collaborating with others in a positive manner; mature adult-adult relationships

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