Eucharist: The Sacrament of all People

“It is the heart of the Gospel. Like those who first ate and drank at the table of the Lord, we who gather today at that table have no choice but to proclaim his Gospel to all.”
(“To the Ends of the Earth”,
Pastoral Letter on World Mission of the US Bishops, 1986)

“Do this in memory of me”: and since Jesus’ Last Supper, hundreds of millions of people all over the world meet every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. Languages may be different, as well as gestures and music, but the mystery is the same. We remember Jesus’ death and resurrection by sharing His Body and Blood. The table is so large that everyone has a place around it.

Join us in these nine days of prayer and reflection on the Eucharist.

Day 1 - The Eucharist

Eucharist means Thanksgiving. The Hebrew tradition keeps a special ritual for the meal in which the works of the Lord had to be remembered. The father of the family, surrounded by all his children, lifts his eyes to the heavens saying: “Blessed are you Lord, God of the universe. You make bread come out of the earth and feed the whole world with your grace, favor and mercy. Because of your goodness we never lacked and will never lack the food because of your Holy Name. You feed and provide food for all creatures.”

Eucharist is a big “thank you.” It is the thanksgiving of the Church for all the gifts that God has given us. In giving thanks we open our eyes to the Lord’s goodness. Jesus taught us to do so, in fact, we give God thanks through Him and with Him.

Therefore it is our duty to give thanks always and everywhere to God, Creator and Lord. Through the Eucharist we realize how much God cares for us, giving us constant protection and help. Through Jesus we remember the greatest intervention God had on our behalf: His death and His Resurrection.

Prayer

God all powerful and almighty,
You are the only true and living Elder:
The Universe is full of your presence
but most of all you are present with us,
the people created in your image,
marked with the sign of your glory.

You call us co-workers of creation
through the daily activities
and give us your Spirit so that in Christ,
our ancestor, the first born of all creation,
we may become bearers of justice and peace.
We thank you and give you praise.
(Eucharist Prayer from Kenya)

Day 2 - The Covenant

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel. This is the Covenant which I will make: I will place my law within them and write it in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.” (Jer. 31:31-34)

The Lord wants to establish a relationship with us. Not just a simple pact, but a Covenant. God wants to touch the most intimate part of us, the heart, the blood. And then we will feel the heart of God filled with tenderness and compassion.

It is a covenant with many risks… God has invested the life of Jesus, the Son, and the guarantee of the Cross and Blood. God is jealous of an eternal jealousy. Through Baptism and sharing, we have pledged faithfulness, to follow Jesus’ path and to take his Word at heart. The Reign and the New Covenant begin as we drink of the Cup.

Prayer

Lord, perfect your Church in faith and love
together with N. our pope, N. our bishop,
with all bishops, priests, and deacons,
and all those your Son has gained for you.

Open our eyes to the needs of all;
inspire us with words and deeds
to comfort those who labor and are burdened;
keep our service of others
faithful to the example and command of Christ.

Let your Church be a living witness
to truth and freedom, to justice and peace,
that all people may be lifted up
by the hope of a world made new.
(Eucharist Prayer IV for Masses for Various needs and Occasions)

Day 3 - The Supper of the Lord

God invites us to supper. Yahweh sits with us in friendship and faithfulness. More than that, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus invites himself to dinner with Zacchaeus, the outcast. By eating and drinking together we open up to reconciliation and friendship and the most beautiful memories are easily shared. “The Lord Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world, a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine. God will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over the nations…” (Is. 25:6-8)

God, as a caring parent, invites us to the banquet. God wants to celebrate our conversion. God accepts what we bring: listening, forgiveness for our brothers and sisters, our willingness to share. By eating and drinking together we taste the uniqueness of God’s Love. As we sit together at the table we taste the holy encounter with the poor and the exploited, the marginalized and the unemployed. At this sacred banquet, everyone wears a white garment. With Baptism we were buried with Christ in order to come to new life with him. Happy and blessed are those invited to the Lord’s supper. The table is so big to include all peoples.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you invite us to your table
prepared by you with so much love.
We bring all that we have.
With Zacchaeus we bring the wine of conversion;
with Martha and Mary,
we bring the bread of our listening and hospitality.

Grant us the strength
to make room for all our neighbors,
especially those we did not care for,
whose names we so easily forget,
the many people we did not care to know
because their cross is too heavy.

Above all, grant us the gift of joy
every time we are asked to welcome
our neighbor back to the table in God’s house.

Day 4 - The Mystery of Faith

Whenever we sit at the table with the Risen Lord, it is the first day of the week, very early in the morning. The mystery of Jesus’ self-giving invades our lives for an all-demanding mission: “Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them…” (John 20:17)

Our arms are too short to reach God and our eyes too dim for the mystery of God’s presence. But in our hearts we believe that nothing in the world will separate us from God’s Love. We will recognize Jesus in all those who come along our way made in God’s image and likeness.

If we abide in love, we will abide in God and we will not wander in darkness. We will follow Jesus up to Jerusalem, the city of suffering and glory, and on the way there, we will carry each other’s burdens overcoming all barriers of race and differences.

Prayer

Lord, our God, sin has come into our life
like a mosquito that sucks our blood on our skin.

Our life has become poor and selfish:
who will save us?

You are our Father: Lord, have mercy!
We praise you, God,
through your Son, Jesus Christ.

He is the Word that gives life.
through Him you created the earth and the sky.
through Him you created
our forests and our rivers
and all the animals that live therein
and the fish that swim in the rivers.

Through Jesus you created
all things visible and invisible.

You are Great. We praise you forever!
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
(From the Eucharist Prayer used in D.R.Congo - Central Africa)

Day 5 - The Cup of Salvation

“All you who are thirsty come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat. Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!… I will renew with you the everlasting Covenant, the benefits assured to David.” (Is. 55:1-3)

Wine is not an abstract symbol. It is an element of life. It is the fruit of the vine which gives life and brings joy to the feast. Jesus becomes the real groom who in the wedding banquet provides new and good wine.

The cup filled with wine fully identifies with our life filled with vulnerability. With wine one can take risks that reveal our weakness. With the wine and the feast that it brings, we are already in the eternal banquet that finally overcomes all suffering and anxiety. The cup of blessing helps us to see that our salvation takes place in the Blood of Jesus. Our involvement in His plan is completed when we drink of His Cup.

Prayer

Lord, the cup of your Blood reconciled us
by giving us a new and eternal Covenant
and has freed us from addictions and slavery.

We praise you and we give you thanks.

Now we lift up a cup filled with blood,
suffering, tortures, and exploitation.
It is filled with voices of our brothers and sisters
who seek appreciation.

They are waiting for the feast
and the banquet of their liberation.
Lord, your Blood has let us
into the sanctuary of your Reign.

Give us the courage to lend a hand to our neighbors,
and be in solidarity with all.
We are many as many were the grapes
that formed this wine.

Grant us that we may sing the canticle of Alleluia
with the heart in celebration
for you are still in our midst.

Day 6 - “Do this in Memory of Me”

“Celebrate this day as a religious festival to remind you of what the Lord has done. Celebrate it for all time to come.” (Exodus 12:1-4)

The Eucharistic memorial repeated periodically makes us grateful for the salvation received and makes God “remember” that we are children in need of protection. We ask God to intervene once more, not to abandon us. It is neither nostalgia of a beautiful time nor representation of past events. We recall the supreme act of Jesus, His Death and His Resurrection. We do our part. We participate in eating and drinking: “When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come again.”

The Eucharist reminds us that God has been faithful to the covenant. We resolve to die to our selfishness and greed so that we may bring life and grace to others.

Prayer

Remember, Lord,
Your Church throughout the world.
Free this Church of all evils
and perfect it in your love.

Gather your Church together from the four winds,
for it has been sanctified in your Reign
that you have prepared for your Church.

Remember, o God, those in sorrow and in tears,
and those in exile.
Remember those who are persecuted
in so many countries
and those who are dispersed with no hope.

Remember those who are in prison,
under the tyranny of selfish people.
Remember all of us, your children,
for your mercy is great
and your faithfulness lasts forever.

Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power,
and the Glory, Forever. Amen.
(Didache’, an ancient prayer of the Church)

Day 7 - Bread Broken

“Day after day, they met as a group in the temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts, praising God and enjoying the good will of all the people.” (Acts 2:46-47)

Bread is earned with sweat. It is the fruit and the sign of our work. We ask for daily bread because work is done daily. The making of the bread draws together the fruit of the earth, the abundant light of the sun, the cold dormancy of the winter, and the work of so many hands. It becomes bread of oblation when it is offered back to God.

It also becomes bread of life with Jesus’ blessings and its distribution. “They ate to their fill” (John 6:1) because one child was generous in giving all that he had. Broken bread, shared in the simplicity of a generous heart. In the generous sharing of our life and of our activity God becomes banquet of solidarity. By becoming broken bread for others, we facilitate the inexhaustible grace of God to reach all people. God’s Reign has already begun.

Reflection

In your homes, bread is not lacking, and not just wheat bread. You also need another bread to live a really human life: the good bread of hospitality, friendship, respect, and mutual help, the bread of rights and responsibilities, of health and culture. Please, share all this: you will be brother and sister to all.

There is also dark and hard bread: that of poverty, suffering, loneliness and sickness. If you are not able to share this too, you will not be Jesus’ disciple. Overcome all barriers of race and nationality, of color and class. Enlarge your communion to a global communion.

Then, you will be a witness of the Risen Lord. If you are not able to share the good and the hard bread, you will be like the disciples of Emmaus. They were so close to Jesus, they were walking with Him and they did not recognize Him… They only recognized Him in the breaking of the Bread.
(Cardinal Kim - Korea)

Day 8 - A Heart that Beats

The heart in the human body has two movements: it collects all the blood to oxygenize it, and then pushes it out to the last cell of the body.

The Eucharist gathers all together from our various paths of life with stories to share and needs to intercede for. Then “Go, the Mass is ended.” We are back on the roads of the world caring and loving with the energy that the Body and Blood of Jesus have given us. “As you go, make this announcement: the Reign of God is at hand.” (Matt. 10:7)

Eucharist was called Viaticum… the food for the journey, just like Elijah on the way to Mount Horeb: “Take and eat, because you have a long journey ahead of you.” (1Kings 9:7)

It becomes a gathering of pilgrims who search for the Reign that Jesus came to proclaim. We bring the Good News to the ends of the Earth. Even the last cell of the Church has a right to be nourished and sustained.

Prayer

Lord, You called Abraham and Sarah
out of their homeland
to become parents of all peoples.
You called Moses to free your people
and lead them to the promised land.

In the fullness of time,
You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ,
as a guest and pilgrim among us
to redeem us from sin and death.

You give us Your Spirit
so that all nations may become one new people,
and be in Your Reign,
a Reign of freedom for all Your children,
a Reign governed by Love and Peace.

May this Spirit strengthen
the mission of the Church
to the ends of the earth.
(Eucharistic Prayer from Taize’ - France)

Day 9 - “Lord, to Whom shall we Go?”

“Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you… For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink." (John 6:52-54)

On the Sea of Galilee, Jesus tried to explain and to celebrate Eucharist. On the same shores the Master had called Peter to follow him. There Peter will pledge everlasting love. Other people instead, scandalized, will abandon the Master. “Now it is too much! Who can listen to these words?” they kept saying. The amazement is too great. Jesus is asking for a personal relationship and full participation in the offering of oneself. Peter realized that the consent, the Amen, was not general.

A choice has to be made. Reason cannot explain the levels of faith, for faith is founded on trust… We adhere and affirm with all our life that, yes, it is the Body of Christ. The Reign of God is being born with different logic and values. “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have words of everlasting life. Now we know and believe that you are the One sent by God.” (John 6:68-69) Faith prevails… Life becomes Eucharist!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, speak to us
because only you have words of eternal life.

Speak challenging words to us
because we did not believe in the daily Eucharist
in our homes, offices, and schools.

Give us the courage to choose your Eucharist
made of gift, gratuity, forgiveness and solidarity.

With Peter we say 'Amen' to your words
knowing full well our weakness.

With the apostle Philip we ask you
to help us to find bread, friendship and support
for so many people who are lonely and in pain.
With the two disciples of Emmaus,
we ask you to stay with us when evening comes
and the road is not clear in front of us.

You are the bread of life, the cup of salvation,
and your table is always ready to all people.

Prayer - “The Our Father”

Our Father
who are among millions of peoples
may your Holy Name be honored
in the poor and the humbled.

May Your Kingdom come,
a kingdom of truth,
freedom and compassion.

May Your WIll be done
in our families and society.

Give everyone their daily bread,
bread of home, health, and peace.

Forgive us, Lord, for forgetting
our brothers and sisters, your children.

Keep us safe from the temptation
of serving us first.

Protect us from all evil,
sickness, addiction, and war.

For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power,
and the Glory, for all ages. Amen.

by Fr. Nick Colasuonno - Fr. Alfredo Turco