The Lord of the Eucharist

PETER FAIRBANKS ’25, ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated,” writes J.R.R. Tolkien to his son, “I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: The Blessed Sacrament." The Lord of the Rings author believed the Eucharist contained all that we seek: “romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth.” This Eucharistic devotion shows forth in the lembas bread of his stories—special wafers made by elves that give courage and strength, especially in trying times. Lauded by the elves as “more strengthening than any food made by men,” and savored by Gimli the Dwarf (“better than the honey-cakes of the Beornings!”), the lembas accompanies the band of heroes on their quest. As the lembas acts as nourishment and a sign of the world’s goodness, even in the darkest places, so Jesus nourishes us in the Eucharist, an undying reminder of a world redeemed that he promised at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel: “Behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”