Hi everybody! My apologies to everyone who was looking for our livestream Mass today on Vimeo. They were evidently having issues as we began, so Facebook was our only livestream source today. I’ll post the video below once we have it available.
Between today’s Gospel story of the Road to Emmaus and the account of Peter and John healing a lame man at the beautiful gate from the Acts of the Apostles, we have beautiful instruction about the Eucharist!
The Eucharist (every celebration) is the ‘work of our redemption.’ Do you believe the bread and wine that are consecrated actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus? That is what we believe in the Catholic Church.
Have you heard of the Pachal Mystery? Do you know what it is? We just celebrated it in vivid fashion! Holy Thursday recalls the Last Supper where Jesus transforms the Passover Meal into its fullest meaning and purpose, where the bread he gives is His Body, and the Cup he offers is His Blood.
Then, his Passion begins with being handed over in the garden, he is condemned, scourged, crucified, dies, laid in a tomb and rises on Easter Sunday! This is the Paschal Mystery we celebrate in every Eucharist, Jesus’ death, resurrection and promise to come again.
The mission of the Church is displayed in this resurrection account today. Jesus explains the Scriptures to the disciples as they walk along the road. (Word) Then, he breaks the bread, and they recognize him! (Sacrament) Finally, in the Acts of the Apostles we see a beautiful demonstration of the third component (Charity) when Peter and John heal a lame man.
My friends, this is why the Eucharist is central to who we are as Catholics. We celebrate and receive our core belief that Jesus suffered, died and rose from the dead. We celebrate and are transformed as we receive this precious gift of Jesus’ Body and Blood. By our participation in the Sacrament, we learn how to offer our own lives in loving service.
During this time that so many have to fast from the Eucharist, let us beg the Lord for increased faith in true presence of Jesus in this sacrament. At the same time, we ask for an increase in our conscious understanding of how we are united to Christ and thus made capable of expressing and manifesting the mystery of Christ in the world.
Peace!
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