Our wedding feast with Christ!

The Eucharist is the heart of the book of Revelation
 
Christ is our groom. We the baptized, the universal Church, are the bride who despite all our sins and imperfections have been washed back to purity by Christ, the word made flesh and Lamb of God.
 
Together we are an inseparable couple, one body, united by love into one unique reality. The history of Christ and his Church is a love story filled with passion, pain, sacrifice, new life all bound together in transcendent love. A love that becomes a feast. A feast that is our eucharistic celebration, the Mass, where we forever give thanks for his infinite life-giving love.
 
Ephesians 5: 25-32, begins to speak of this sublime truth:
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So, also, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his body. ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.”
 
Every married couple who strive to live the sacrament of matrimony is a sign and symbol to the whole community of faith of the inseparable loving and life-giving marriage between Christ and his bride, the Church. I am speaking of all of us, we are Christ’s bride. As the previous scripture verse stated, “This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.”
 
When the Book of Revelation, aka the Apocalypse, speaks of the wedding feast of the lamb it is speaking about the Eucharist, the Mass, our wedding feast with Christ, the Lamb of God!
 
Revelation 19: 7-9, state this clearly:
“‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding day of the lamb has come, his bride has made herself ready. She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen garment.’ (The linen represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.) Then, the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These words are true; they come from God.’”
 
Our marriage to the Lamb of God is renewed and consummated again and again at every Mass.
 
“Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb.”
 
And we respond:
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
 
As we approach the altar, the minister shows us our loving groom in all his glory and says “Body of Christ.” We who are hungry for love and mercy, hungry for God, hungry for the word, hungry for Christ say, “Amen.”
 
The Church, the bride, all of the baptized present and living in a state of sanctifying grace, are once again reunited with our loving and life-giving groom Jesus Christ, really and truly alive and present under the appearances of bread and wine. Our senses are deceived but our hearts see a reality that transcends the eyes.
 
The Revelation of John is beautifully divided into two parts. First the Liturgy of the Word with the reading of the scrolls at its’ center. Then, in Revelation 3:20 we hear, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.”
 
This is the beginning of the second part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Last Supper, where we lovingly dine with our groom.
 
Many verses in the Book of Revelation point toward the Mass and Jesus as the Lamb of God. In Rev. 8:3, we see an altar; Rev. 1:12 mentions the candles; Rev. 4:4 speaks about the elders/priests that are present in white robes; Rev. 4:8 has the Holy, Holy, Holy, and there is much, much more. But, our communion, our receiving Christ, the Lamb of God and our groom, is the triumph of love.
 
We have nothing to fear when we are one with Christ, the Lamb of God, the Eucharist.
 
“…the lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and king of kings, and those with him are called, chosen and faithful” (Rev. 17:14).
 
After Mass has ended, visit Jesus, the Lamb of God, in the tabernacle and give thanks for Holy Communion and once again say “I love you” to your groom. Give him thanks for the beautiful wedding feast. Amen.