"The Liturgy is like an engagement for us..."

 The Liturgy is like an engagement for us. Just as you wear an engagement ring, which signifies a promise of marriage, so too does the Liturgy signify that I am united with Christ, who promises me that, if I remain faithful, He will certainly bring me into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We live in this paradise on earth.

Here, then, my beloved, this great truth is fulfilled.

Here, when we celebrate the Liturgy, the entire Church of Christ is present.

We are united with Christ and become one body with Him.

Just as, if you take a white cloth and place a very powerful lamp behind it, it becomes a luminous screen, so too are we absorbed by the rays of Christ and made Christ-like.

We become the temple of Christ, we become members of Christ, we become Christ-like, and He is our head. Head, “Christ is the head of the church,” means the source, the origin. When you are thirsty, you go to the fountain to quench your thirst.

Christ is the one who quenches our thirsty hearts. Our members, our flesh, and our bones become the members, flesh, and bones of Christ. We live the life of Christ, and Christ takes on our own life.

Just as the bread we place in the holy bread box is one, just as the bread we place on the holy Table is one, just as Christ is one, so too do we become one with Christ and with one another; we become one Christ.

What, then, happens when we celebrate the Divine Liturgy? We hold a banquet, a supper. We invite as our fellow guests the saints of our Church; we invite our departed father, our grandfather, our great-grandfather, our beloved ones who have passed away; we invite the angels.

And Christ Himself comes and offers us His body and His blood. This means, “Having commemorated all the saints, we offer ourselves, one another, and our entire lives to Christ our God.”

Having brought all the saints here and entrusted ourselves to them, having implored them and made them our helpers, we now give ourselves to Christ.

Elder Emilianos of Simonopetra