We really are socially contagious human beings, but we settle for “human doings.” It is at the being level that life is most vitally transferred. It’s no surprise that we Catholics speak of Eucharist as the “Real Presence.” It is on that level that life and energy are transferred. That’s what has happened to each of us when we first fall in love—and that’s why falling in love is so exciting. Suddenly, the very eyes of the other receiving me, delighting in me, enjoying me, and looking at me—make me feel like me, and my best me! For believers, that is also what happens when they apprehend the Real Presence in the Eucharist. We move to a deeper level of Being ourselves when we genuinely receive the being and the gaze of the self-giving Jesus. It reminds me of what they told me in some Hindu temples in India: “You come here not to gaze at God, but to let God gaze at you.”
—from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality
by Richard Rohr, OFM
