What Shall I Render to the Lord?
Saturday, May 10th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Third Week of Easter
Today’s Psalm is very Eucharistic and thus appropriate to be paired with today’s Gospel reading. The Psalm contains a verse that is traditionally prayed after the priest receives the Sacred Host at Mass, before He consumes the Precious Blood: “What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things [H]e hath rendered unto me? I will take the chalice of salvation; and I will call upon the name of the Lord” (Ps 115:12-13 DRB).
Today’s Gospel reading occurs immediately after Jesus declares Himself to be the Bread of Life. Many of His disciples thought this doctrine too difficult to accept, and so they walked away. Jesus asked His Twelve Apostles if they too would leave, and St. Peter gave a beautiful declaration of faith: “Lord, to whom shall we go? [T]hou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn 6:69-70).
The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharistia, which means thanksgiving. The return that we shall make to the Lord for all the good He has done for us is the Holy Eucharist, which the priest offers in the person of Christ on behalf of the entire Church. When we receive the Holy Eucharist worthily—that is, in the state of sanctifying grace—we too make a return to God for the blessings He has given us.
The number of blessings God has given us are countless, but foremost among these blessings is our faith. As St. Peter said, Christ alone has the words of eternal life. Without Christ and the truth of the Church that He established, we cannot attain eternal life. In his first homily as pope, our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV spoke of moving aside so that Christ may be at the center of our lives. This Christocentric way of life can be seen most perfectly in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which the Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross is offered again in an un-bloody manner under the appearances of bread and wine through the words of the human priest. As the physical presence of Christ among us, the Eucharist should be at the center of our lives, since Christ Himself must be at the center of our lives. Such is the least that we can render to Him in thanksgiving (eucharistia) for all the things He has rendered unto us.
In this historic time in the Church’s history, may we offer our worthy receptions of Holy Communion in thanksgiving for a new pope, entrusting him to the Holy Ghost as he assumes the leadership of the Church given to St. Peter and his successors.
