America: Land of the Free??

America: Land of the Free??

The "freedom" of the world is a precarious and fragile thing, often taken for granted and often lost quickly and unexpectedly.  The freedom of the kingdom, however, endures all things and cannot be taken away since one has already given everything to God.  Therefore, we need the Eucharistic school of freedom.  A school that speaks to us the language of giving.  The great tragedy of our world is selfishness, the withdrawal into oneself.  Man wants to keep himself for himself.  The antidote is the Gift.  

When we come before the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist speaks to us this language of the Gift.  He has given Himself up in a total vulnerability.  One can take Him.  We can move Him.  He lets it happen.  Not only is He given, but given up, that is to say thrown to the wolves.  And for those who want to nourish themselves on Him, He becomes the food of eternal life.  But for those who want to profane Him, an act of sacrilege is possible.  He permits Himself to be thrown to the wolves.  The Eucharist teaches us the logic of the Gift. 

Consider this story:

"I have a friend who lived nine and a half years in the Gulags: Alexander Ogorodnikov was tortured, beaten, abused.  I asked him: 'but how did you resist so many horrors, so much suffering?'  While being very discreet about what he experienced, he told me about some of the torture to which he was subjected to.  According to him, without the grace of God it was impossible to bear them.  He said, 'You know when you have given everything to God, down to the last cell of your body, they can no longer take anything from you, even when they tear your flesh, it is already given.'  Here, you see, we kneel.  We'll have to move from servitude to myself to the freedom of self-donation.  The Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament teaches us that freedom."