Every Sunday, we have the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist with joy, nourishing our faith, growing in the sense of family, and entering into the mystery of the Risen Lord. Participating in the Eucharist is living the love experience of Jesus through his Word and Body that feeds those of us who approach Him.
Since 2022, the Catholic Church in the United States has launched an invitation to all Catholics to renew our love for Jesus in the Eucharist. We are in the second year of preparing congresses, meetings that seek to revive the greatest gift of all by getting closer to the fraction of bread.
We know that at the Last Supper, Jesus had a unique gesture, feeling the proximity of His death, where His saving mission for all humanity is concentrated and revealed: His love for the Father, showing compassion for all men until he died on the cross for all. At that dinner, his disciples learned that they would not be orphans. The death of the Lord never broke communion with Him. From that night, no one would feel his absence, leaving the celebration of the Eucharist at the center of community life, as we do every day, especially on Sundays, when we gather in his name to share his body and blood.
We live in the second of the three years of the Eucharistic revival; some parishes have attended the talks, formation, and congresses, where Catholics who had participated in, heard, and experienced the deep love of the Lord.
Christian Catholics feed our faith by receiving Him. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO ATTEND THE EUCHARIST and remain passive without receiving His body or just by approaching for a blessing. The disciples of Christ ARE INVITED to eat and drink, taking his words into our hearts, “Do this in memory of me.”
To commune with Jesus is to commune with someone who lived and died, giving His life to others. Yet, when we are at the moment of the consecration, His words are alive: “Take and eat, this is my body that will be delivered…. Take and drink… this is the blood of the new covenant which will be poured out for you and many.”
It is contradictory to approach the Lord’s table, feed our souls with His word, and fast when those invited to communion deny us to receive his body.
In May, children received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time; young people renewed their commitment to be witnesses of the Gospel in the Sacrament of Confirmation. They need to feed their souls at the table of the Lord. For the followers of Jesus, celebrating the Lord’s supper is crucial. A well-celebrated Eucharist, lived with faith, models, and unites the faithful to Jesus, nourishing our lives, familiarizing us with the Gospel, motivating closeness to others with an attitude of service, and above all, sustaining the hope of an encounter at the end of our life with Him.
Sunday is the day of the Lord when Christians gather around the altar table to share the body and blood of the Lord. We will meet again this Thursday, June 8, to celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi. We will celebrate the Eucharist and go out with the Blessed Sacrament to take it to three altars where we will sing, pray and receive the blessing. His presence and participation on Thursday of Corpus Christi, on Sundays, and whenever there is an opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist together, we focus on this sacrament that is the “center and summit of the Christian life.”
You can celebrate daily Mass with your kids, especially during summer vacation. It would be a great time to help them to love this Sacrament. Remember Don Bosco’s words: “go to confession regularly, receive communion often, and choose a regular confessor to whom you can unburden your heart,” as a way to be closer to Jesus.
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