Bishop Paolo's Homily During his Pastoral Visit to St. Joseph's Cathedral Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi.

I am happy to begin my first pastoral visit to this parish with the celebration of the Eucharist which is the center of the Church and our parish. The Eucharist is the source and summit of life and mission of the Church.

The celebration of the Eucharist is the most essential gesture we can make in our Christian life and this pastoral visit. These days we will have the opportunity to meet, discuss, and listen to each other. But the most essential gesture remains the Eucharistic celebration.

Moreover, we have the providential opportunity to celebrate the solemnity of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ this Sunday with the Eucharistic procession.

As you may know, at the beginning of the fourth century, some Christians in North Africa were martyred after declaring that they couldn't live without the Eucharist, the food from the Lord which is his own body. 

 All this is also true for us. We cannot live without the Eucharist. This is a profound truth, not because the other things we do in our day are worthless. In reverse, the Eucharist itself gives deep meaning to everything we do.

We gather around the altar as a Christian community, as a Church. The Eucharist is the sacrament that makes us the Church of Christ. If we want to know who we are, we must look to the Eucharist. The Eucharist is Jesus who gives himself to us so that we become part of us, as Saint Augustine reminds us, imagining the words of Jesus addressed to the faithful: I am the food of grown men; grow, and you shall feed upon me; nor shall you change me, like the food of your flesh, into yourself, but you shall be changed into me." 

Dear friends, I invite you these days of my pastoral visit to keep the celebration of the Eucharist at the center so that we can rediscover our identity as Christians and our face as a Christian community around the altar.

We also welcome the word of God, which the liturgy of this evening offers to us. The theme of the gospel is actually deeply connected with the Eucharist. The dialogue between Jesus and one of the scribes concerns the first of all commandments. Jesus answers the question by reciting a typical Jewish expression, the Shema Israel: listen Oh Israel! Here the absolute primacy of God is manifested: you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

But Jesus immediately takes care to add the second commandment which is indivisible from the first: You must love your neighbour as yourself. In this way, Jesus connects the love of God and neighbour in a profound relationship. They are two faces of the same divine love. This is precisely what happens in the Eucharist. For the love of God, Jesus gives his life to save all men and women. In the Eucharist, we experience God's love for us, and we express our love for God through divine worship by opening our hearts to all.

Let us ask the Lord that through the Eucharist that we celebrate, we become more and more able each day to correspond to his love for all.

And may this pastoral visit be an opportunity for all of us to decide again to follow Jesus with all our hearts.