Catechesis With Saint John Paul Ii

St John Paul II, 13 June 1979: "The Eucharist brings us closer to God in an amazing way. And it is the Sacrament of his closeness in respect of man. God in the Eucharist is precisely this God who wanted to enter into the history of man. He wanted to accept humanity itself. He wanted to become man. The Sacrament of the Body and Blood reminds us continually of his divine humanity. We sing "Ave, verum corpus, natum ex Maria Virgine". And by living with the Eucharist, we find again all the simplicity and depth of the mystery of Incarnation. It is the Sacrament of God's descent to man, of his approach to all that is human. It is the Sacrament of divine "condescension" (cf St John Chrysostom). The divine entry into human reality reached its culmination through the passion and death. Through his passion and death on the Cross, the Son of God Incarnate became, in a particularly radical way, the Son of Man, he shared right to the end that which is the condition of every man. The Eucharist, Sacrament of the Body and Bl