"We must learn to listen to him and learn to let him enter into us. Sacramental Communion is precisely this interpenetration between two persons.
- Pope Benedict XVI
Interpenetration.
What does this very intimate kind of communion really mean?
Perhaps we are more likely to think of God as an infinite and distant God with whom no intimate communion is possible.
Perhaps we might also think that in any relationship with God we must count ourselves as nothing - as persons who are very small and unworthy, especially when compared to God.
However, these thoughts are far from the purpose and intention of Jesus' Incarnation.
Jesus made very physical contact with the people around him. He looked into their eyes and into their souls. He did not stand apart from them. He held their hands.
Jesus also recognized his disciples as people with their own personalities - real people with their own individual skills and talents - not just empty shells with little value to contribute to the mission.
Perhaps during the reception of the Eucharist, interpenetration really involves two very real persons - holding each other's hands, looking into each other's eyes.
