The Eucharist
Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another Heaven, the Heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Opening Prayer
Prayer for the Year of the Eucharist (2004-5)
Mane nobiscum, Domine! (Stay with us, Lord!)
Like the two disciples in the Gospel,
we implore you, Lord Jesus, stay with us!
Divine Wayfarer, expert in our ways
and reader of our hearts, do not leave us
prisoners to the evening shadows.
Sustain us in our weariness,
forgive our sins and direct our steps
on the path of goodness.
Bless the children, the young people,
the elderly, the families and the sick in particular.
Bless the priests and consecrated persons.
Bless all humanity.
In the Eucharist, you made yourself the
“medecine of immortality”: give us the taste for
a full life that will help us journey on.
As trusting and joyful pilgrims on this earth.
Our gaze fixed on the goal of life without end.
Stay with us, Lord! Stay with us!
Introduction
During the Eucharistic Prayer of the mass when the priest invokes the blessing of the Holy Spirit and says the words spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper, “This is my body … this is my blood,” the gifts of bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. This is the real presence of Christ. After mass, some of the consecrated host is reserved in the church or chapel for personal devotions.
The Eucharist is believed to be the “heart [or the source] and the summit of the Church’s life, for in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.” (CCC 1407)
Eucharist means thanksgiving. In the Eucharist we thank and praise God for all that God has given to us – family, friends, life, love, our world and God’s very self in Jesus, and through him eternal life. During the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember and participate in Jesus’ saving actions, in his life, death and Resurrection.
Questions
For many, going to mass is simply an obligation that one finds excuses for not going. Many ask, “Why bother going to church?” “What is so special about celebrating the Eucharist?”
Create a top 10 list of excuses for not going to church.
We read that the Eucharist is the source and the summit of the Church’s life – of our lives. But more often than not, the basis for our actions is not the Eucharist but other things.
Ask the group, what/who motivates/inspires them and why.
Understanding
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) devotes a section to the sacrament of the Eucharist (numbers 1322 – 1419). However, to gain insight into the Eucharist, we will read the homily Pope Benedict XVI gave during the Mass for World Youth Day 2005.
Allow adequate time during your session to allow your group to read the homily or, preferably, distribute copies of the homily ahead of time so that the members have a longer period to think about it.
The text follows this outline, or you can download it at:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20050821_20th-world-youth-day_en.html
Questions for small group discussion:
How in the Eucharist is violence transformed into love, and death into life?
How are you being transformed in the Eucharist?
How can you participate in this transformation/renewal of the world?
We are asked to enter into Jesus “hour”. This is a mystery and we are asked to enter into it. How? What do you understand by this? How uncomfortable are you with such mysteries, with not knowing all the answers?
How are we called into union with God? With each other? Is this obvious in your life? How?
In a large group setting, create the following Top 10 lists:
Top 10 reasons to go to Mass
Top 10 ways to make Mass feel like more than just an obligation
Top 10 ways to live out the Mass every day of the week
Reflection
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:35
CCC 1406 Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; … he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and … abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:51, 54, 56).
This holy Mass, this Eucharist is clearly an act of faith … This body broken and this blood shed for human beings encourage us to give our body and blood up to suffering and pain, as Christ did – not for self, but to bring justice and peace to our people.
Oscar Romero
Be what you see, and receive what you are.
St. Augustine
Write down the above quotes in your journal. Spend some quiet time in prayer with each quote and note down what stands out for you. What do these words mean to you?
Closing Prayer
For the closing prayer, speak to your pastor or associate and ask him to help you organize an adoration service.
You will find an outline for a potential adoration service in the prayer section of the companion guide resource.
Faith on Film: Rain Man
Discussion questions:
How can Raymond be seen as a means of salvation for Charlie?
Is Jesus a means of salvation in your life? Why or why not?
What role does the Eucharist play in your faith journey?
Personal reflection:
How would you evaluate your attendance and participation in the Eucharist?
What could you do to increase your knowledge and participation in the Eucharist?
If you are a frequent participant in the Eucharistic celebration, try and help a friend to increase in their participation. How can you do this?
Quote:
Talk with Jesus in prayer while listening to the word; experience the joy of reconciliation in the sacrament of penance; receive the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharis; welcome and serve Him in your brothers and sisters.
Pope John Paul II, WYD XII
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO COLOGNE
ON THE OCCASION OF THE XX WORLD YOUTH DAY
EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
Cologne – Marienfeld
Sunday, 21 August 2005
Dear Young Friends,
Yesterday evening we came together in the presence of the Sacred Host, in which Jesus becomes for us the bread that sustains and feeds us (cf. Jn 6:35), and there we began our inner journey of adoration. In the Eucharist, adoration must become union.
At the celebration of the Eucharist, we find ourselves in the "hour" of Jesus, to use the language of John's Gospel. Through the Eucharist this "hour" of Jesus becomes our own hour, his presence in our midst. Together with the disciples he celebrated the Passover of Israel, the memorial of God's liberating action that led Israel from slavery to freedom. Jesus follows the rites of Israel. He recites over the bread the prayer of praise and blessing.
But then something new happens. He thanks God not only for the great works of the past; he thanks him for his own exaltation, soon to be accomplished through the Cross and Resurrection, and he speaks to the disciples in words that sum up the whole of the Law and the Prophets: "This is my Body, given in sacrifice for you. This cup is the New Covenant in my Blood". He then distributes the bread and the cup, and instructs them to repeat his words and actions of that moment over and over again in his memory.
What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood?
By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence - the Crucifixion - from within becomes an act of total self-giving love. This is the substantial transformation which was accomplished at the Last Supper and was destined to set in motion a series of transformations leading ultimately to the transformation of the world when God will be all in all (cf. I Cor 15:28).
In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world: violence is transformed into love, and death into life.
Since this act transmutes death into love, death as such is already conquered from within, the Resurrection is already present in it. Death is, so to speak, mortally wounded, so that it can no longer have the last word.
To use an image well known to us today, this is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being - the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world.
All other changes remain superficial and cannot save. For this reason we speak of redemption: what had to happen at the most intimate level has indeed happened, and we can enter into its dynamic. Jesus can distribute his Body, because he truly gives himself.
This first fundamental transformation of violence into love, of death into life, brings other changes in its wake. Bread and wine become his Body and Blood.
But it must not stop there; on the contrary, the process of transformation must now gather momentum. The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn. We are to become the Body of Christ, his own Flesh and Blood.
We all eat the one bread, and this means that we ourselves become one. In this way, adoration, as we said earlier, becomes union. God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him. His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world.
I like to illustrate this new step urged upon us by the Last Supper by drawing out the different nuances of the word "adoration" in Greek and in Latin. The Greek word is proskynesis. It refers to the gesture of submission, the recognition of God as our true measure, supplying the norm that we choose to follow. It means that freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total autonomy, but rather about living by the measure of truth and goodness, so that we ourselves can become true and good. This gesture is necessary even if initially our yearning for freedom makes us inclined to resist it.
We can only fully accept it when we take the second step that the Last Supper proposes to us. The Latin word for adoration is ad-oratio - mouth to mouth contact, a kiss, an embrace, and hence, ultimately love. Submission becomes union, because he to whom we submit is Love. In this way submission acquires a meaning, because it does not impose anything on us from the outside, but liberates us deep within.
Let us return once more to the Last Supper. The new element to emerge here was the deeper meaning given to Israel's ancient prayer of blessing, which from that point on became the word of transformation, enabling us to participate in the "hour" of Christ. Jesus did not instruct us to repeat the Passover meal, which in any event, given that it is an anniversary, is not repeatable at will. He instructed us to enter into his "hour".
We enter into it through the sacred power of the words of consecration - a transformation brought about through the prayer of praise which places us in continuity with Israel and the whole of salvation history, and at the same time ushers in the new, to which the older prayer at its deepest level was pointing.
The new prayer - which the Church calls the "Eucharistic Prayer" - brings the Eucharist into being. It is the word of power which transforms the gifts of the earth in an entirely new way into God's gift of himself, and it draws us into this process of transformation. That is why we call this action "Eucharist", which is a translation of the Hebrew word beracha - thanksgiving, praise, blessing, and a transformation worked by the Lord: the presence of his "hour". Jesus' hour is the hour in which love triumphs. In other words: it is God who has triumphed, because he is Love.
Jesus' hour seeks to become our own hour and will indeed become so if we allow ourselves, through the celebration of the Eucharist, to be drawn into that process of transformation that the Lord intends to bring about. The Eucharist must become the centre of our lives.
If the Church tells us that the Eucharist is an essential part of Sunday, this is no mere positivism or thirst for power. On Easter morning, first the women and then the disciples had the grace of seeing the Lord. From that moment on, they knew that the first day of the week, Sunday, would be his day, the day of Christ the Lord. The day when creation began became the day when creation was renewed. Creation and redemption belong together. That is why Sunday is so important.
It is good that today, in many cultures, Sunday is a free day, and is often combined with Saturday so as to constitute a "week-end" of free time. Yet this free time is empty if God is not present.
Dear friends! Sometimes, our initial impression is that having to include time for Mass on a Sunday is rather inconvenient. But if you make the effort, you will realize that this is what gives a proper focus to your free time.
Do not be deterred from taking part in Sunday Mass, and help others to discover it too. This is because the Eucharist releases the joy that we need so much, and we must learn to grasp it ever more deeply, we must learn to love it.
Let us pledge ourselves to do this - it is worth the effort! Let us discover the intimate riches of the Church's liturgy and its true greatness: it is not we who are celebrating for ourselves, but it is the living God himself who is preparing a banquet for us.
Through your love for the Eucharist you will also rediscover the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which the merciful goodness of God always allows us to make a fresh start in our lives.
Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on.
In vast areas of the world today there is a strange forgetfulness of God. It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him.
But at the same time there is a feeling of frustration, a sense of dissatisfaction with everyone and everything.
People tend to exclaim: "This cannot be what life is about!". Indeed not. And so, together with forgetfulness of God there is a kind of new explosion of religion. I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery. But to tell the truth, religion often becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.
But religion sought on a "do-it-yourself" basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable, but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves.
Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ! Let us seek to know him better and better, so as to be able to guide others to him with conviction.
This is why love for Sacred Scripture is so important, and in consequence, it is important to know the faith of the Church which opens up for us the meaning of Scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church as her faith grows, causing her to enter ever more deeply into the truth (cf.Jn 16:13).
Beloved Pope John Paul II gave us a wonderful work in which the faith of centuries is explained synthetically: the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I myself recently presented the Compendium of the Catechism, also prepared at the request of the late Holy Father. These are two fundamental texts which I recommend to all of you.
Obviously books alone are not enough. Form communities based on faith!
In recent decades, movements and communities have come to birth in which the power of the Gospel is keenly felt. Seek communion in faith, like fellow travellers who continue together to follow the path of the great pilgrimage that the Magi from the East first pointed out to us. The spontaneity of new communities is important, but it is also important to preserve communion with the Pope and with the Bishops. It is they who guarantee that we are not seeking private paths, but instead are living as God's great family, founded by the Lord through the Twelve Apostles.
Once again, I must return to the Eucharist. "Because there is one bread, we, though many, are one body", says St Paul (I Cor 10:17). By this he meant: since we receive the same Lord and he gathers us together and draws us into himself, we ourselves are one.
This must be evident in our lives. It must be seen in our capacity to forgive. It must be seen in our sensitivity to the needs of others. It must be seen in our willingness to share. It must be seen in our commitment to our neighbours, both those close at hand and those physically far away, whom we nevertheless consider to be close.
Today, there are many forms of voluntary assistance, models of mutual service, of which our society has urgent need. We must not, for example, abandon the elderly to their solitude, we must not pass by when we meet people who are suffering. If we think and live according to our communion with Christ, then our eyes will be opened. Then we will no longer be content to scrape a living just for ourselves, but we will see where and how we are needed.
Living and acting thus, we will soon realize that it is much better to be useful and at the disposal of others than to be concerned only with the comforts that are offered to us.
I know that you as young people have great aspirations, that you want to pledge yourselves to build a better world. Let others see this, let the world see it, since this is exactly the witness that the world expects from the disciples of Jesus Christ; in this way, and through your love above all, the world will be able to discover the star that we follow as believers.
Let us go forward with Christ and let us live our lives as true worshippers of God! Amen.
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