Few realize that when they say the Great Amen at the end of the eucharistic prayer, they are "signing up for trouble," theologian Bernard Cooke told conference attendees. In fact, he said, they are committing themselves to the option for the poor and to the transformation of a world that is being dehumanized. The key to fully understanding eucharist, Cooke explained, is the Holy Spirit and its relation to us. "I don't think Jesus of Nazareth ever experienced God's Spirit as 'someone'," he said, but as the power that was in "Abba his father." Nor did Jesus save us by his death but by letting that power, that Spirit of God, flow through him -- and ultimately through us, his living body. But Jesus, he explained, turned the power structures of humanity upside down because he revealed that this incredible power is realized in letting go, becoming a servant, emptying oneself.

Through prayers and readings, said Cooke, the liturgy aims to impress on us this realization, to convert us to the "God-mindedness" that was so present to Jesus himself. In this view, the Great Amen then is the people's commitment to God-mindedness (and what it implies) and the reception of the eucharist itself is the living symbol of the communication of God's Spirit to us.

Clearly, this communication is not just for personal holiness, said Cooke; it is power given for the struggle against racism and inequality and the great conglomerates that exploit people and resources. Of course, he added, such struggle is hopeless and useless based on our own strength; it makes sense only when humans acknowledge their impotence and allow the power-laden Spirit that was in Jesus to operate through us.