I Will Dine With You

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Rv 3:20).

What does opening the door mean in order for Jesus to really enter and dine with whoever receives Him in Holy Communion?

To open the door means –of course- not to be in mortal sin and to have kept the required fast.

But to open the door also means having total faith and trust in Him, and therefore, surrendering one’s self to His Will totally. If any of these conditions (faith, trust or surrender to His Will) is lacking, we are not fully opening the door for Jesus Who wants to come in so that we can dine together.

Jesus wants us to surely believe that what seems a host is not a host but it is He Himself. And He wishes that, in believing, we trust Him fully, because when we have full confidence in Him, we can then surrender ourselves to whatever He wishes for us, or whatever He wishes from us.

He also wants us eliminate all things that keep us from loving others as He wishes us to love them: no vengeance, no envy, no resentment, no unforgiveness … even if these are only thoughts or desires.

For we must remember He has also said: “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Mt 5:23-24).

And Jesus insists, but He does not force us. He doesn’t even push the door: He just knocks and hopes we open it, receiving Him with a fully open heart.

When we are presented with the Consecrated Host and we say “Amen”, Jesus wants that Amen to mean that we accept all of His wishes, His Will, His plans for our life, the good and that which we think is not good, health or sickness, that which is pleasant and that which is unpleasant … everything that He permits for us we accept saying “Amen”.

And He wishes that the surrender to His Will be constant and permanent, but also progressively growing, growing with each Holy Communion, with each “Amen” that we say when receiving the Body of Christ.

And while that surrender is growing, the better the Supper we share with Jesus and the stronger the union with Him.