Learning Fatherhood (6):Eucharistify Me

"Learning Fatherhood" are reflections on Spiritual Fatherhood. They are not mature reflections on the theme and may be considered more "experiences" and meditations through which we come to Spiritual Fatherhood in the Priesthood. As a seminarian I know that this will be the identity and challenge I am called to take on especially in these last years of priestly formation.

I've been learning French. I don't know if I'm the only Korean (and American) living in Italy learning French. In the midst of this curious linguistic scenario one of the most peculiar prayers came to my mind in Italian:

"Eucaristificami"

"Eucharistify Me"

I can't say that I have been saying it very often but some times before the Blessed Sacrament or wherever I find myself uttering these words often, "Lord, make me more like you".

My Community in Thursday Night Eucharistic Hour
LC Center for Higher Studies - Rome, Italy

Really, what else can I say is the purpose of the Priesthood - is there any other goal to which I would like to become? Can there be anything or anyone higher to which I can anspire? Lord, to whom shall we go?

Everyday throughout the afternoon we have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and anyone who would like come down from a study period (some choose study Philosophy or Theology on their knees) to spend time with Our Lord: Way, Truth and Life

  

We discover in the words before the Consecration a formation plan for a seminarian and a religious:

Accepit panem - "He took the Bread": Each Priest is called to become an image of our Lord, Ultimate Spiritual Father and Purpose of our Lives.

Fregit - "He Broke it": In this transformation we are "broken" or sacrificed with our Lord in as much as we grow close to Him in grace seeking out our common "Death on the Cross".

Dedit - "He Gave it": The Apostolic mission imparted on us is one of "gift and mystery". We have received a mystery - Jesus Christ - beyond our human capacities which we would like to "give to many".

 "The Priest and the Sacrifice are One and the Same"

(St. Thomas Aquinas)

Finally, I found inspiring words while reading the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas.

"...also the priest carries the image of Christ in whose person and by whose power he prenounces the words for the consecration..and thus in some way the Priest is [one and] the same as the [Eucharistic] Sacrifice" (III q.83 a.1 ad 3)

 Ad tertium dicendum quod, per eandem rationem, etiam sacerdos gerit imaginem Christi, in cuius persona et virtute verba pronuntiat ad consecrandum, ut ex supra dictis patet. Et ita quodammodo idem est sacerdos et hostia.

Lord,
"Eucaristificami"