We become a part of Him when we eat the Eucharist

By PAT ARENSBERG
For The Catholic Week
I love to eat.  When we as humans eat something our digestive system takes the food, which is not a part of our body, and turns it into energy and minerals that become a part of our cells.  That which we cannot use is discarded as waste.  In other words, what we eat becomes part of us.  This is a true incorporation, literally speaking.  We are all familiar with the expression, “You are what you eat.”
Now, imagine the Eucharist.  We eat, and someday when the pandemic is behind us, we will drink the Eucharist.  However, when we eat the Eucharist it does not become a part of us.  Rather, we become a part of it, or more appropriately speaking, we become a part of Him.  We have been incorporated into the Body of Christ at our Baptism, and at every Eucharist we physically and spiritually are renewed in this incorporation into Christ. 
When we eat food our bodies break it down so that our bodies can use it and then it becomes a part of our bodies.  When we eat the Eucharist we are built up and become more fully the person Christ calls us to be because we are raised up and into union with Him.  
When we eat food our bodies get rid of any parts of the food that we cannot use.  It becomes waste.  When we eat the Eucharist we are totally brought into union with Christ.  None of us is left behind or wasted, except for sin.
Normally when we eat food the food becomes no longer itself.  In our consumption of the food it loses itself.  When we eat the Eucharist we are not consumed but rather fulfilled.  We become most fully who we are called to be.  God’s love is like the Burning Bush that Moses saw.  It burned providing light and heat, but did not consume the bush.
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected] 
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