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Every time we celebrate Eucharist we conclude the institution narrative, or what is more commonly referred to as the consecration of the mass, with the words: 'Do this in memory of me.' Well a short while ago when I was thinking over what I might say in my homily this evening, I got to wondering what exactly those words meant, those six simple words 'Do this in memory of me.' I decided that perhaps the best place to begin my research was with Jesus. After all he was the one who uttered those words in the first place. Therefore, in my reckoning, he ought to be the one to explain them. So, I sat down one evening in the quiet of my room and I had the following conversation with Jesus:

'Jesus, if you have the time I would like to ask you a question.' To which Jesus replied, 'My time is eternity; ask whatever you wish.' And so I said, 'Jesus, when you broke bread with your friends - the bread that you said was your body - and then shared with them a cup of wine which you told them was your blood, you then went on to say, "Do this in memory of me."' 'What I would like to know, Jesus, is what do those words mean?' 'When you said do THIS in memory of me, what did you mean by THIS. I'm not sure I get it, Jesus, do what in memory of you?

Jesus, sensing my urgent need for an answer, calmly replied: 'Allow me to break it down for you. When I said "Do this" in memory of me, I was asking my friends, and now all of you, to do a lot more than simply share a meal in my honor. I was inviting them, and now all of you, to do four things: Live as I lived; Love as I loved; Die as I died and Rise as I rose.'

'I see, and could you perhaps flesh out those four commands for me, Jesus, I'm not quite with it this evening.' And so he did . . . .

'To live as I lived means to live your life in friendship and communion with my Father, with others and with all of creation. It means to experience your life here on earth as pure gift, and to know that you have a unique and singular mission to fulfill in God's beautiful dream of you. Remember you are an integral and necessary part of nature's web of wonder and you are made in the image and likeness of God my father, which brings me to my second command . . .'

'When I invite you to love as I loved I am inviting you to imitate the whole of my life which was to love. All I did in the whole of my life, culminating on Calvary, was to love. I simply loved. Whether I was healing, teaching, consoling, denouncing wrong and unfairness, suffering patiently not returning evil for evil, or simply washing the feet of my disciples, it was altogether and only an expression of the love of my father expressing itself through me. So, I am inviting you to love as I loved. And this brings me to my third command . . . .'

'At the heart of loving as I loved is the call to die as I died. In other words I am asking you, yes each of you, to die to yourself, as I died to myself in the outpouring of my life for you. Now this does not mean that I am asking you to die in the violent way in which I died on Calvary. I hope this never happens to you. No, when I ask you to die as I died I am asking you to transcend all your self-centered needs, whims and cravings, so that you can freely and lovingly focus on the needs of others and of all God-given life on earth. I want you to lovingly cherish everyone and everything on earth, and to live as one undivided human family. Please remember that nobody owes you anything. Sometimes when something seriously goes wrong in your life your automatic response is "Somebody has to pay," and "Whom do I sue?" Wrong. You are the only one who has to die. And I simply mean here the day-to-day dying of people who love, for example, in marriage, friendship, parenting, tending the sick or dying and so on. Wherever you sacrifice your time and needs to bring a little joy and life and healing into the life of another, you die as I died. And this brings me to my fourth and final command . . . . .'

'When I ask you to rise as I rose I am asking you to first of all remember that my death on Calvary did not mean failure and defeat. Love triumphed on that day, and love still triumphs today in the heart of everyone who does not allow violence and hatred to crush them. When you adopt my loving and forgiving heart then you will rise victorious with me out of every trial, persecution and suffering in your life. My people are an Easter people; a people of hope; a people of life and a people of love.'

'O.K., Jesus,' I said, 'so, that's what you meant when you said to your friends and now to us: "Do this in memory of me?"

'Yes,' Jesus replied, 'but there's more. I have explained to you only the meaning of the words "Do this." I think I need to clarify for you the meaning of the remaining four words "in memory of me."

'Yes, I think you do, Jesus, please explain.'

'Well, what does a memorial do? It makes the past present. It is a monument. This monument, the Eucharist you now celebrate, is not a memory of a person who lived once upon a time; this person is HERE, ALIVE. When you do THIS as a person, you are, as a person, my living memorial. When you do THIS as a community, you are, as a community, my living memorial. In your communion with one another, people meet me, see me, experience me. And conversely, when you don't love, when there is no communion in your family or community, people miss me. I am not there; you are not a memorial of me. You are a memorial of me only when you are loved-filled or filled with me. And this is the good news: every time you gather to celebrate Eucharist you are filled with me and I empower you to live as I lived, to love as I loved, to die as I died and to rise as I rose.'

'Thank you, Jesus, it's been good chatting with you and most enlightening. Good night!'