“1. The sacrament of charity (1), the Holy
Eucharist is the gift
that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to
us God’s infinite love for
every man and woman. This wondrous sacrament
makes manifest that “greater” love
which led him to “lay down his life for
his friends” (Jn 15:13). Jesus did
indeed love them “to the end” (Jn 13:1).
In those words the Evangelist
introduces Christ’s act of immense humility:
before dying for us on the Cross,
he tied a towel around himself and washed
the feet of his disciples. In the same
way, Jesus continues, in the
sacrament of the Eucharist, to love us “to the
end,” even to offering us his
body and his blood. What amazement must the
Apostles have felt in witnessing
what the Lord did and said during that Supper!
What wonder must the
eucharistic mystery also awaken in our own
hearts!”
These words open the encyclical and place its contents under the love of God
towards man, shown in what Christ Jesus has done for humanity. Love is the
motivating factor behind God’s salvific will towards man: For God so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him might
not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).
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