Start with the concrete sign: in the name of Jesus Christ, bread is shared and distributed to all; the same with wine. This is a gift—or at least an offering—to everyone present. Someone gives something to someone else.
Who gives? What is given? To whom?
1. God gives, shares, and distributes
Throughout the Bible, God always takes the initiative. He is the one who gives, who offers his covenant, who renews it, who promises to give his Spirit to all, who finally gives his Son: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16).
God wants us as friends: "You did not choose me, but I chose you."
In the Eucharist, it is always God who gives. "He took the bread... broke it, and gave it to his disciples." It is always God who serves us: "Jesus rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet" (John 13:4-5).
2. What does God give us?
God gives us his Son. In his Son, God gives himself—his own life: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
Indeed, "the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:33). So Jesus can say: "the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6:51). Jesus truly gave his life. He gave himself completely.
In the Eucharist, God through Jesus continues to give us his life: "This is my body, this is the chalice of my blood." God brings us into communion with his life, with himself: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me" (John 6:57).
3. Who can receive God, who gives himself?
To whom is this gift of God offered, this communion with God? To all. "This is the chalice of my blood... shed for you and for all."
In the Eucharist, God does as he always has: he draws near to everyone. The prophet Ezekiel says it this way: "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 34:11-16).
Watch in the gospels how Jesus draws near to all, and you will understand that God's life is for everyone. It becomes clear that no one is more worthy than another to receive God's life. No one "deserves communion," as if it were a reward for the good, the innocent, the intelligent, the strong, the wise. This explains the words of an English bishop, Monsignor McLean: "The mentally handicapped have an absolute right to receive the sacraments" and "If a person is so handicapped that no instruction is possible, the faith of the family, the faith of friends, is sufficient."
We are all "taught by God" (John 6:45).
Michel Carpentier and Vito Palmisano, 1977
The Eucharist, or communion, is Christ giving us his life. Just as bread and wine are the most natural and simple food of human life, Christ willed to be our bread and our wine for eternal life.
But this bread is his Body, and this wine is his Blood. Just as in natural life parents give life through their blood, and the mother nourishes through her blood, so Christ gives us his life and nourishes us with his Body and his Blood. The mysteries of our divine life are like those of our human life. Therefore, communion is both a sign and a gift of eternal life—life that does not die.
Sister Ida Maria, 1977