The Eucharist: the source of happiness.

"What is the meaning of life? Why I am here? How can I be happy?" These are the questions which man in every age asks himself. Today, young people especially, are desperately asking themselves these questions. And all too often they are getting false answers.

The culture tells them that happiness lies in doing whatever one wants, no matter how sinful it may be, that man is here on earth to worship himself, to direct all of his activities to the fulfilment of his own desires. Sexual sin, especially, is exulted by the culture. But because worshipping oneself is not the way to happiness, those young people who pursue solely their own interests are not truly happy in spite of the fleeting and superficial pleasures that sin may give them, and so many of them are fearful and confused.

To all young people, we must cry: man was created by God in the image and likeness of God! Therefore, man was created for God, who is eternal, unchanging, and perfect in every way! All earthly things are vain and perishable, and they will all inevitably forsake us in death (cf. Fr. John Laux, Chief Truths of the Faith, p. xv). Hence, St. Augustine of Hippo writes: "You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our heart is restless until it rests in You."

God desires man to spend all eternity with Him in heaven. Therefore, the purpose of man is to conform himself entirely to God's will, to know, love, and serve God, to attain union with God, to "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," in other words, to be a saint, that after this life he may see God, who is everlasting joy, face to face.

But how can man attain union with God? Indeed, God is perfect, and man is imperfect; God is infinite, and man is finite; God is sinless, and man is plagued by the effects of Original Sin.

The fact is that man cannot attain to God on his own. Only God can unite him with God. God must stoop down to pull us on our feet again. And so, to conquer sin and death, to reopen the gates of heaven, and so to reconcile man with God, God became man, like us in every way except sin. This is a historical event; in fact, it is the most important historical event ever. It is called the Incarnation. Then, for thirty-three years, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, true God and true Man, walked this very earth.

But where is He now, one might ask? Did He not ascend up into the clouds, leaving man to himself again? No! Though He ascended into heaven, Christ instituted the Catholic Church to continue His mission of teaching, governing, and sanctifying all mankind. In the Church, Christ's presence is perpetuated, and especially in the Eucharist.

When the priest consecrates the bread and the wine at Mass, they are no longer bread and wine--they are Christ Himself, the Redeemer of the World! In the Holy Eucharist, God is literally in our midst! The Mass is the very same Sacrifice, in an unbloody manner, as the Sacrifice that Christ offered on the Cross! What inexhaustible love God has shown us in this great gift!

Since God is happiness, and the Eucharist is God, it follows that the Eucharist is happiness. In fact, it is before the tabernacle that our joyful moments on earth are spent. In the words of Pope John Paul II, the Eucharist is a "relationship" between God and man "of profound and mutual 'abiding' that enables us to have a certain foretaste of heaven on earth" (Apostolic Letter Mane Nobiscum Domine).

We must obey the precepts of the Church to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and to receive Communion at least once a year at Eastertide. We should even try to attend daily Mass when possible. We should spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass. We should ask Christ in the Eucharist to help us to be holy and virtuous, to be saints. If we are truly devoted to the Eucharist, then we will learn to obey the commandments of God and His Church in this life; we will gain a foretaste of heaven on earth, and in the end we will obtain eternal life.

Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and Mother of the Church, ora pro nobis--pray for us. Amen.

Written for the Year of the Holy Eucharist, Oct. 2004-Oct. 2005

Derek Remus is a sixteen-year-old high school student from Coaldale, AB. Check out his blog at www.militesveritatis.blogspot.com.