To will the good of the other
December 17th, 2023 – Communion Meditation
In our communion meditation today, we are going to reflect on love, the motivation for everything we do. We will start by reading some of the precious words of Jesus. In John 3:16-17, Jesus reveals who he is and why he came, to a Pharisee who was drawn to Jesus and sought him out under the cover of night. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” In John 15:12-13, Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
The sacrament of communion is an invitation to enter more fully into the love of God, the Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. To receive communion is to enter more fully into the eternal embrace where we are loved securely, perfectly, and completely. To remember Jesus by eating the bread and drinking the cup is to enter more fully into the mysterious dance with the One in whose image we are created and who sees us, knows us, welcomes us, and adores us. We sing of adoring Christ. God adores us – it’s amazing!
What is love? Thomas Aquinas offers a definition that has been foundational to the church’s understanding of love for 800 years: to love is to consistently will and choose the good of the other. We all need to learn to love. None of us has “arrived.” In communion we receive the grace we need to love those whom we find hard to love. Some of us struggle with loving ourselves. Some of us struggle with loving other people. I think most of us struggle with both, at times. As we receive the elements today, I encourage you to sit and to be in a posture of openness to God to receive an infilling of God’s grace and love today.
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and said, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Eat together) Again, Jesus took the cup and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Drink together)
