By Fr. Robert P. Imbelli.

Two of the most moving words in the entire New Testament occur at the beginning of St. Luke's narrative of the Last Supper. "And when the hour came, he reclined at table with the apostles and said to them: 'How deeply have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'." (Luke 22:14-15) My translation here - "how deeply have I desired" - seeks to express Jesus' consuming longing, which Luke's Greek conveys by repeating the word "desire" as both noun and verb: "epithumia epethumēsa." With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you!

Two words that provide a privileged window into both the aim of Jesus and into the early Church's experience of the unique relationship of Christians to their Savior. They resonate with and are complemented by other words of the Lord revealing a like intention and goal.

Jesus declares: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) And he prays: "may they all be one, as you Father are in me and I in you; may they also be [one] in us." (John 17:21) This life-giving "at-onement" is the very heart of Jesus' mission and desire. And - wondrous mystery - his passion for communion is sublimely signified and fully realized in the Eucharist.

Three years ago, Pope Francis wrote an "Apostolic Letter" whose title is a Latin translation of the two words of Luke's Gospel highlighted above: "Desiderio desideravi," a mystagogic meditation upon the Eucharist, experienced as the recapitulation of Jesus' entire life and mission. Francis speaks of Jesus' "infinite desire to reestablish. . .communion with us," a desire that "will not be satisfied until every man and woman, from 'every tribe, tongue, people, and nation' (Revelation 5:9), shall have eaten his body and drunk his blood." (no. 4)

Francis ponders this priority of Jesus' desire. "We may not even be aware of it, but every time we go to Mass, the first reason is that we are drawn there by his desire for us. . . .Indeed, every reception of communion of the Body and Blood of Christ was already desired by him in the Last Supper." (no. 6)

But this intensely personal encounter of the consuming desire of Jesus with our own, often feeble, desire transpires in a setting that spans history and indeed opens upon cosmic dimensions. Francis poetically expands our constricted vision and imagination. He writes: "Peter and John were sent to make preparations to eat that Passover, but in actual fact, all of Creation, all of history - which at last was on the verge of revealing itself as the history of salvation - was a great preparation for that Supper." (no. 3)

In every Eucharist, whether celebrated in a modest chapel or a magnificent cathedral, cosmos and history are implicated in the miracle of transubstantiation. The fruits of the earth and work of human hands are transformed, not annihilated. And we, the recipients of Christ's bounty, discover our true dignity and calling as beloved of the Father, members of Christ's new body.

The pope's letter hints at a further immersion into Mystery. A contemplative gaze fixed on the Eucharist provides a glimpse into the very heart of God, "the depth of the love of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity for us." (no. 1) Though Francis does not himself use the term, one might extend his intuition to consider the "Eucharistic life of God." The Triune God's very life is the vibrant exchange of generous giving, grateful receiving and personal sharing adumbrated in the Pauline benediction: "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit." (2 Corinthians 13:13)

And because prayer is often enhanced when accompanied by mystagogic images, Rublev's great icon of the Trinity can aid our entrance into the inexhaustible Mystery as it invites us, through Christ, into Trinitarian-Eucharistic life.

Rublev's visionary representation integrates Old and New Testament. In the economy of salvation, the appearance of the Three Angels to Abraham ...