When, through my tears, I began to tell him something of the years during which I betrayed him, he lovingly placed his hand over my mouth in order to silence me. His one concern was that I should muster courage enough to pick myself up again, to try and carry on walking in spite of my weakness, and to believe in his love in spite of my fears. But there was one thing he did, the value of which cannot be measured, something truly unbelievable, something only God could do. While I continued to have doubts about my own salvation, to tell him that my sins could not be forgiven, and that justice, too, had its rights, he appeared on the Cross before me one Friday towards midday. I was at its foot, and found myself bathed with the blood which flowed from the gaping holes made in his flesh by the nails. He remained there for three hours until he expired. I realized that he had died in order that I might stop turning to him with questions about justice, and believe instead, deep within myself, that the scales had come down overflowing on the side of love, and that even though all, through unbelief or madness, had offended him, he had conquered for ever, and drawn all things everlastingly to himself. Then later, so that I should never forget that Friday and abandon the Cross, as one forgets a postcard on the table or a picture in the wornout book that had been feeding one’s devotion, he led me on to discover that in order to be with me continually, not simply as an affectionate remembrance but as a living presence, he had devised the Eucharist. What a discovery that was!
—Carlo Carretto, In Search of the Beyond
Yesterday we saw in Carretto’s writing, the necessary prerequisite of having a saving faith—the difficult and painful task of acknowledging our sin and our utter inability to fix ourselves. Today, we start to see the Good News of Jesus Christ. In vivid imagery that startles our modern senses, Carretto reminds us of the basis for our Christian hope—the Cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross, God has satisfied his Holy Wrath and his Holy Love. It is simply mind-boggling and it is simply True.
Carretto also tells us why he thinks regular participation in the Eucharist is so important. We come to the Table to feed on Christ so that he can dwell in us and remind us of his love and his Presence. We have Christ’s Holy Spirit living in us, feeding us, and reminding us of his Truth. It is a glorious gift of God and we are to feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.