Healing your fear of Commitment
- Fr Raphael Ma, CR
- John 6: 51 - 59
A Resurrectionist Vocation Minute for June 11, 2023 – Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Healing your fear of commitment.
“This is My Body.” We hear these words of Jesus at every Mass, and believe what they do, but have you ever thought about what they mean?
As Catholics we believe – through the word of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit – the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Jesus becomes really present. This is what these words “do.” But what do they mean?
We’ve probably all been in a situation where we were talking to someone, and either we, or they, or both of us were on our phones. Quite simply, one or both of us was not really present to the other person.
As human beings, every form of interaction with others or the world somehow involves our bodies. To write a letter, say something, send a text, smile, offer your hand, go for a walk, help with a task – these all necessarily involve making a commitment through your body. It’s a gift you’re giving to the other person. You could be somewhere else, you could be doing something else, but you are choosing to be there for them through that gesture, expression, and moment in time.
Many people fear commitment, having been hurt and disappointed in the past. But when we find someone who can faithfully commit to us, we begin to experience healing and ourselves learn how to commit and make a gift of ourselves to others. The Eucharist is the source of Christian vocation, because Jesus says to us: “This is My Body.” And it is through this mystery of his real and bodily commitment to us that we can receive the healing and courage we need to commit and make a gift of ourselves to others in turn.
“…The Eucharist must be the central act of our daily life because it is here, through our participation in Christ's paschal mystery by dying and rising with him, that we encounter the deepest meaning of the Resurrection. In the Eucharist we also experience reconciliation with our brothers and sisters and unity of heart and soul as we, together with Christ, offer ourselves to the Father. It is in the Eucharist that Christ, our spiritual food, enables us to strengthen our baptismal and religious commitments. A natural outcome of our participation in the Eucharist is our devotion to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.”