Centered in the Eucharist

As the Church departs the glorious season of Easter and returns to Ordinary Time, we take a moment to pause and remind ourselves how we may grow in holiness during the "normal" course of our spiritual lives. The liturgical seasons of the Church immerse us in the greatest mysteries of our faith, but as necessary as they are for our souls, true spiritual growth doesn't happen in just a season. It happens in an organic process, over long periods of time and with diligent effort. For advancement along that arduous pathway of holiness, then, we need to be sustained and encouraged: and that is the role of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Let us never forget what the Church teaches about the Eucharist. Our Catechism tells us that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the "source and summit" of our faith (n. 1324). That is another way of saying that it is the very reason why the Church and each individual Christian believer has the gift of faith at all. Accordingly, even those separated Christians who do not believe in the Eucharist have faith in Jesus Christ because of the Eucharist! As the "summit" of our faith, it is the culmination of all goodness, the treasure of God's Life and the very thing that holds the Church and all of reality in existence. What a marvelous source of grace, healing, virtue and union with God and man is this Most Blessed Sacrament!

In this Sacrament we find the entire Christ: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. His Body and Blood, given to Him by the Virgin Mary, we are now able to consume sacramentally for the transformation of our souls. He communicates and even squanders His Soul and Divinity upon us like a holy Prodigal Son who cannot cease spending Himself for those He loves. How is it that every Christian is not flocking to Mass every single day to be nurtured by the Lord's very Life?

We must never forget either that the Eucharistic is a sacrifice, not just a meal. To reduce the Eucharist to a fraternal sharing only is to miss the essence of Jesus' redeeming act of love, which was the perfect act of self-giving and dying to self on Calvary that He asks each of us to imitate. As such, this Sacrament is the one font of all consolation for all the myriad sacrifices of our lives, those willed directly and those suffered. Every pain and sorrow in heaven and on earth can be offered to the Sacrificial Victim on the altar and will be met with the deepest of compassion and understanding. We must just stay in His divine Presence long enough to hear His tender words that address our particular sorrows: "Be not afraid, my dearest friend, I have trod this path before you. You are not alone!" What strength that consolation gives us for the journey and difficulties of life!

As the absolute epicenter of our spiritual lives, rivers of grace flow inexhaustibly from the Eucharist. One font of grace is the obligation to "keep holy the Sabbath" which requires us to have weekly contact with God in the Eucharist. Many parishes nowadays even have Eucharistic Adoration chapels that allow us to pray before the Blessed Sacrament directly and with greater frequency. Thanks be to God! We may also see the Eucharist as a repository for all our intercessory intentions on behalf of others by presenting them to Christ any time we have contact with the Eucharist. How wonderful that the Eucharistic Lord allows every one of us to see Him face to face, something that was only allowed to Moses in the Old Testament!

In Ordinary Time, let us renew our love for the greatest gift ever poured out upon mankind, the gift of God's very essence that has no equal in this world. Given faith and time, this Most Blessed Sacrament transforms us, strengthens our virtue, detaches us from sin, purifies our imperfections, inflames our charity and perfects our souls. He Himself calls and invites us to center our lives once again on the Eucharist. Who could possibly turn down such a gracious invitation from the Eucharistic King of Heaven?

So was I. Another lady and I worked on a Scriptural Rosary for Priests today and it just seemed like we couldn’t make it through the Joyful Mysteries.

But with my time in the Adoration room and asking for Christ’s help — I was able to pen out the rest of the Joyful (first five Hail Marys of each mystery pertain to that mystery — second five Hail Marys parallel that thought with priests and their ministry. It’s what we are doing to end the Year of the Priest.)

Anyway — I got to the Transfiguration and my time was up or else I had brain freeze. LOL!

Anyway — I’m going to type them up and send them to my friend over the weekend and then we are going to work on them again next Wednesday.

Thanks for posting! That reminds me I should go too. Does your parish have Adoration, or do you have to travel a bit? Ours has Perpetual Adoration. And did you know that Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapels Everywhere, spells out P.E.A.C.E.? Pretty cool ....

Centered in the Eucharist

Who Can Receive Communion? (Catholic Caucus)
Respect For Christ In The Eucharist – One Priest’s Perspective
Catholic Biblical Apologetics: Opportunities of Grace: The Eucharist: The Lord's Supper
THE PRIEST IN THE COMMUNION RITES - Liturgy Prepares for Reception of the Eucharist
Novena with Saint Peter Julian Eymard for Prayer in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament [Prayer]
THE PRIEST IN THE COMMUNION RITES - Liturgy Prepares for Reception of the Eucharist
Boston Cardinal: Church Needs 'Clear' Injunction Denying Pro-Abortion Pols Communion
Benedict XVI calls priests to protect communion between God and man
Eucharist: Holy Sacrifice
Fr. Men: The Eucharist [Cath-Orth caucus]

Catholics in Costa Rica outraged by disrespect toward Eucharist [Catholic Caucus]
The Institution of the Eucharist in Scripture
St Anthony and the Real Presence
The Essentials of the Catholic Faith, Part Two: Channels of Grace: The Eucharist
EWTN - October 29 - 8PM - Fr. Antoine and the Eucharist
The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium
Radio Replies First Volume - Holy Eucharist
The Institution of the Eucharist in Scripture
Catholic Caucus: The Spiritual Combat Ch 54. MANNER IN WHICH WE OUGHT TO RECEIVE...BLESSED SACRAMENT
Catholic Caucus: The Spiritual Combat: Ch 53. CONCERNING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

A Few Texts From Saint Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist
Catholic Devotional: On Visiting Jesus Christ In the Blessed Sacrament
The Early Christians Believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
Focus on the Real Presence
A Chinese Girl-True Story That Inspired Bishop Fulton Sheen- Eucharist Adoration (Catholic Caucus)
Doubting Thomases(Eucharist); the Pitfalls of Folly(Catholic Caucus)
Rainbow sash-wearers prohibited from receiving [the Eucharist at Cathedral of St. Paul]
The significance of Holy Thursday (institution of the Eucharist and priesthood)
Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament [Catholic Caucus]
The Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas THE HOLY EUCHARIST

Holy Communion and Non-Catholics (with a Quiz!)
Beginning Catholic: The Eucharist: In the Presence of the Lord Himself [Ecumenical]
Beginning Catholic: Receiving the Lord in Holy Communion [Ecumenical]
Faithful Invited to Follow Pope, Adore Eucharist [Catholic Caucus]
Christmas and the Eucharist(Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)
Eucharist kneeling request sparks controversy [Catholic Caucus]
Eucharist vs. the Word (which is more important in the Catholic Church)
Christ the Miracle Worker in the Eucharist(Catholic Caucus)
Imitating Christ in the Eucharist(Catholic Caucus)
The Eucharist - the Lord's Sacrifice, Banquet and Presence (OPEN)

Pope Calls Eucharist History's Greatest Revolution [OPEN]
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 22: The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion)
A series of reflections from St. Peter Julian Eymard Blessed Sacrament(Catholic Caucus)
Eucharist, Holy Meal
Imitating Christ in the Eucharist
Christmas and the Eucharist
Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament
This is My Body, This is My Blood
THE HOLY EUCHARIST IS THE WHOLE CHRIST
Gift Of Life, Gift Eternal: The Most Holy Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Area worshipers march to celebrate Holy Eucharist
Grace of the Eucharist is secret to holy priests, says Pope
The Disposition of Priests [Valid Mass, Valid Holy Eucharist?]
The Body of Christ?
Holy Sacrifice, Living Sacrament
Knights of the Eucharist
The Banquet of Corpus Christi - "Why did Jesus give us His Body and Blood?"
The Eucharist: Eternity and Time Together
Restored Order of the Sacraments of Initiation? Confirmation and First Eucharist together? (Vanity)
Reflections of Cardinal Ratzinger on the Eucharist

THE HOLY EUCHARIST: NOURISHMENT TO FINISH OUR COURSE
The Eucharist in Scripture - Part 1 - Old Testament
LITANY OF REPARATION TO OUR LORD IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
POPE GRANTS PLENARY INDULGENCE FOR YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST
New Plenary Indulgence to Mark Year of the Eucharist
Kneeling and Faith in the Eucharist
The Immaculate Conception and the Eucharist, a course in Christian culture in Tashkent
The Year of the Eucharist by Bishop Donald Wuerl
"While We're At It": What can we do to show that the Eucharist is a communal activity?

CATHOLICS AND BAPTISTS WITNESSED UNUSUAL IMAGES IN BLESSED SACRAMENT
The Discipline of the Eucharist Holy See Releases Redemptionis Sacramentum...
Vatican: Matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist (April 23, 2004)
Devotion to the Holy Eucharist Advances Devotion to Jesus' Person
New rules on the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday
The Reverence due to the Holy Eucharist
The Holy Face of Jesus Christ as appeared on the Holy Eucharist
The Fourth Cup: The Sacrament of the Eucharist [Holy Thursday] [Passover]
Holy Father stresses Need of Devotion to Holy Eucharist outside of Mass: Pope Paul VI

The Real Presence. Old testament is the foreshadowing of the New. If God institued that you eat the victim(Lamb) in the old. Why would he put that there unless to have declared for the ultimate new covenant victim Christ for the future. A benign manner like the Host. Remember the 72 disciples left to become 12 disciples because they did not understand. It took me a while to understand but its there. What we do not understand sometimes is the cost of sin. Which caused death. That Christ now has the keys of life and death. Praise Jesus and Hail Mary!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.