Attuning our way of thinking

 Saint Irenaeus famously once wrote according to many popular translations:

Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking. 

St Irenaeus lived in Gaul or what is now France at the end of the second century A.D. He was only three generations away from the Lord Jesus as he was taught by Saint Polycarp who in turn was taught by the apostle John – the beloved disciple of Jesus.

Some context is in order. He was writing against various erroneous doctrines and practices in the very early years of the church.  Here is the full paragraph:

Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with the body of the Lord and with His blood, goes to corruption, and does not partake of life? Let them, therefore, either alter their opinion, or cease from offering the things just mentioned. But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.  [Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter XVIIII, Section 5]

A number of key points arise:

1. The body and matter is good contrary to what some were teaching at that time.
2. Thinking ‘eucharistically’ is to think in and with the Christian community. It is never just the Lord and me but the Lord and us who proclaim him as Lord and seek to live out his message.
3. Our bodies are destined for glory and every time we participate at mass we are making a profound act of hope.
4. Heavenly and earth are joined together in the eucharist: bread and wine are transformed and so are we who receive.  We are divinised as the Eastern Catholics are fond of saying.
5. Each time we are called to the eucharist we are called into a deeper communion with God and with the whole church. We cannot stand still. We move forward. How we think about the world and the people around us must be more and more attuned to the Eucharist and our participation in the eucharist shapes are thinking and our acting.