We thank Thee, Father,

, for life and knowledge, which Thou hast given us through Jesus Thy servant.

… Just as this bread, once scattered on the mountains, is united into one, so may the Church, from all the ends of the earth, be united in Thy kingdom.

… The mercy of God – (the kingdom of God) – may come, may this world pass away,

. Lord, come!

. Amen.. [808]

The main thing here, as in Luke's Eucharist, is the kingdom of God – the end of the world. Not a word about blood, about sacrifice either; everything is only about bread, about the Kingdom – the End. All this is terribly forgotten, lost in the later Eucharist – already the "church mass": there is no longer a real, satisfying hunger, bread, no Kingdom, no End.

And here is another, even earlier, testimony in the Acts of the Apostles (2:42-46):

… (the brethren) were always in communion, κοινωνία, and in the breaking of bread... and all had something in common... And every day, breaking bread from house to house, they ate with joy;

.

"Joy" is the main thing here.

Rejoice always, πάντοτε χαίρετε. (Ι Thess. 5:16.)

Oh, of course, here, in the first community, just as in the Upper Room, the memory of death, of sacrifice, of blood is present: His body, the living, is broken here too; His blood is poured out. Jesus eats and drinks for the last time on earth; tomorrow he will be in the tomb: this he knows, and the disciples also know; perhaps they will forget it at once, but at this moment they remember. There will be separation, but the joy of eternal rendezvous is so great that the sorrow of separation – death – wins.

Death is consumed by victory. (Isaiah 25:8).

Joy will abide in you, and your joy will be complete. (John 15:11).

There, in the Eucharist of Paul-Mark-Matthew, the shadows of Golgotha are still motionless, but here, in Luke's, they have already moved, running before the rising sun of the Resurrection.

XVI