- In these two chapters, what did you find most helpful or enlightening?
- What did you find most challenging about the role that the Eucharist plays in unifying the Church? Why?
- What does the celebration (as defined in this document) of Christ’s sacrifice mean? And how can this deepen your experience of the Eucharist during Mass?
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December 20th, 2006 at 7:09 am
This is my second lesson of e-courseand I have been bless with so much knowledge of what I consider as the Gift of Life. God gave us His only Son to suffer and die for us and it is so important for me to receive that Gift of Life on Sunday and anyother time God Blesses me to be able to go to Mass.
In question #1
How real that the Eucharist really is and how much has been given for each and every person of all times. To know that we can be a part of such a gift is overwhelming to me and to realise that each and every person can have that gift.
Question #2
Unification of the peoples of God in peoples lives is of the up most importance why people do not participate in the Eucharist is beyond understanding to me, I worked so hard to return to the sacraments, the time, the cost which is if you can, and the knowing that a marriage would be forever be declared as not having ever been. And then to know that people just do not want to or take it as just another thing you do at Sunday Mass. It is so sad to me, I pray that more will understand what a Gift it is.
Lesson #3
To answer from my heart is this, That we are Blessed to be in the presence of the Living Christ.
When interning the Church I have always felt the Presence of God and Tartaking of the Eucharist makes me fully and totally part of Christ in my heart and Soul.
God has Blessed us all with this class and the understanding we can gather from the pages of Pope John Paul ll words.
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
lesson 2
August 20th, 2008 at 9:12 am
1. All that I have read reaffirms for me the wonderful graces and blesings I receive through Eucharist, also….it is not for me alone….it is for all around me…for me to share. This is the primary call to evangelization, to share Christ through my receipt of Him in Eucharist. When Christ comes to me in Eucharist I ask Him to fill every cell of my being, through reading these chapters I was once again reminded it does not end here with me, I must share Him will all He puts before me. 2. I have many family members and friends who are not Roman Catholic and are challenged by my belief in Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist - at Mass and at Eucharistic Adoration. I understand my belief is a tremendous grace I have been given, why can’t everyone be a recipient of this same grace…..this gift of faith? Oh in my mind and in prayer I have reviewed several concepts - once again I give this over to God, trying to live my life allowing God to work through me in accordance with His Will. 3. This celebration not only connects me to the Last Supper but mainly to Christ’s passion and death for me - He loved me so much (and all beings past and future) that He gave His life for us. This is so difficult to comprehend - someone can actually love me (us) that much - this is the ultimate experience and blessing to become one with The Blessed Trinity.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I enjoyed reading these two chapters tremendously. I will highlight some things that I found most helpful in the two chapters read:”We cannot say not only that each of us receives Christ, but that also Christ receives each of us”….That is so true! Christ is already in our hearts, but that is magnified as we partake in communion/Eucharist. It is such an intimate experience and it should be entered into reverently. Also, that “the Church is built up through” the communion….taking part in communion together with others who believe that Jesus is the great High Priest unifies us and reminds us of our ultimate calling here on earth….to tell others what He has done in our lives.
I believe that ‘full unity’ will always be a challenge that the believers of Jesus Christ face. We are, after all sinful since birth (Psalms constantly reminds us of our poverty and dependance on a Saviour). I’m not sure if God meant us to be all exact replicas of each other. He created us unique and wonderful in His eyes. But I do know He did mean for us to be unified in reaching and telling others the good news of our faith….that is where we get stuck (I think), both Protestant and Catholic…focusing on our differences rather than what should unify us: our love and reverance for Jesus Christ.
Celebration of Christ’s sacrifice for me means that I approach communion/Eucharist with awe and take serious contemplation of my life in Him…how can I improve? Be more like Him? It reminds me to take the focus off myself and worship the One who created me.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:20 am
1. By Baptism, I am united with Christ. Being imprint with an indelible spiritual mark on my soul through Confirmation, I am strengthened and empowered to profess my faith in Christ. In receiving the Holy Eucharist, the “sacrament of sacraments,” I am continuously fed with and nourished by the food of eternal life - Christ Himself - to continue with His mission.
2. What touched me most to the very core of my spirit is the unconditional love of God through the person of Jesus. Reading the Bible, I noted that whenever someone meets Jesus, “that encounter” transforms their life. Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2-10), A woman suffering from hemorrhage (Matthew 9:20-22), A woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11), The blind man (Mark 10:46-52), just to name a few. The spoken words of Jesus such as “Come follow me”, “Come to me and I will give you rest”, “Woman has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more”, “Let the little children come to me …”, and a long list of others, are so comforting, unreserved and no barrier whatsoever as far as age, sex, creed or caste is concern.
The challenges I face today are the over restricted conditions sanctioned by the Church. I understand that in order to preserve the sanctity of the Eucharist and to avoid sacrilege of the body of Christ, the Church laid down laws and decrees to prohibit the non-baptized from receiving the Eucharist. However, in refraining the Catholic faithful from joining in the “common meal” celebrated by our separated brethren who commemorates the memorial of Jesus’ last supper, I feel is very insular. Why is the Catholic Church so afraid that by joining in their “common meal”, we may give them a false idea that their celebration of the breaking of bread is at par as our Eucharistic liturgies? I personally feel we Catholics should go out and mix not only with our separated brethren but also people of other creed so that we can have the opportunity to tell our story, our faith and evangelize instead of becoming a self centered elite group! Look at Jesus in Matthew 9:10-13. I am of the opinion that this is what we are called to do in Constitution Lumen Gentium, n. 33 and in the words of Jesus in John 20:21.
It is my hope and prayer that one day soon, John 10:14-16, John 17:21 and Ephesians 4:4-6 will come to pass.
3. The celebration of Christ’s sacrifice means Jesus instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His body and blood during His last supper, the night before He died, so that he might perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the centuries till His coming. He then entrusted to the Church, a memorial of the Paschal sacrifice. Today, we come together as a community of believers in a gathering called the Mass. We acknowledge our dependence on God, listening to His word, celebrate our common belief, praise of His glory and thanking God particularly for His death and resurrection in which brings about our salvation.
During the Mass, when the Priest in persona Christi prays the Eucharistic prayer, bread and wine transubstantiate into the body and blood of Christ. Hence, the Mass and the Lord’s Supper, is at the same time and inseparable. That is why the Eucharistic sacrifice is the source and summit of the whole of the Church’s worship and of the Christian life.
Jesus’ presence during Mass is truly a divine revelation of experience for me. Jesus Christ is not a man of history walking and preaching in Nazareth 2000 years ago. He is present today in the person of the ordained priest in persona Christi every time a Mass is celebrated. He is also present in the scripture reading, the Eucharistic species and the gathering of His faithful.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:42 pm
In these two chapters, what did you find most helpful or enlightening?
I found it enlightening that the Church was built on the Eucharist. It all started when the Apostles accepted Christ’s invitation enter into sacramental communion with him at the last supper. The Church grows every time the Sacrifice of the Cross is celebrated. Our Church doesn’t close in on itself, it is meant for all of humanity. We are meant to share the gift we have received with all people. It is our mission to bring the Good News of the resurrection to the world and we get the spiritual power to carry out this mission from the Eucharist.
What did you find most challenging about the role that the Eucharist plays in unifying the Church? Why?
I found challenging the fact that Catholics should not participate in the Eucharistic celebration held by Protestant Churches. I also took from the reading that the counter question is also true that a non-Catholic should not participate in a Catholic Eucharistic celebration. At first glance it seems that these prohibitions would tend to inhibit bringing about the unity of the Christian faith. After reading and thinking about this issue it is clear that you cannot give yourself totally to something that you don’t believe in. It would be disingenuous to say that you are united with something that you don’t believe in. If you are a Protestant there is something that is preventing you from being in union with the Catholic Church. If you aren’t in union with the Church receiving the Eucharist would be a sham.
What does the celebration (as defined in this document) of Christ’s sacrifice mean? And how can this deepen your experience of the Eucharist during Mass?
The Eucharistic celebration makes present the Paschal Mystery. This means that those present can unite themselves to Christ’s sacrifice. We can bring our entire selves to the altar so that we can spiritually and physically unite our lives to Christ. When we join with Christ, which is a gift and a grace available to all of us, we also share in the unity of his body the Church. Our individual action is combined with all the other members of the Body of Christ, like the example of many grains of wheat making up a loaf of bread.
November 21st, 2009 at 10:13 pm
These beautiful chapters remind us of the deep connection every Mass makes with all of Christian history! In “Communion,” we are united to the entire Mystical Body of Christ - past, present, future - and to the very actions of Christ at the Last Supper and Calvary. The Eucharist expresses the unity of the Church, and the unity of the Church comes FROM our celebration of the Eucharist, it is “built up through sacramental communion with the Son of God.” These were the “most enlightening” meditations for me.
I found none of this “challenging” in the sense of difficult. The one thing I prayed to really “get my head around,” though, was the profound truth that our gathering in one place is only a vague image of the true gathering: as we receive Holy Communion, we are “oned” with Christ and, in Him, with one another. In the Eucharist, we “become Church.” Receiving Communion both expresses and creates our oneness - the oneness of the universal Church. (I know this, but I want to KNOW it!)
To “celebrate” Christ’s sacrifice means to gather together for public assent, worship, and adoration to the one great Sacrifice of the Cross. Our celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice connects us to the Last Supper and to Calvary. It is a “making present” of the moment of our redemption, Christ’s offering of Himself (both at the Last Supper/First Mass and on the altar of the Cross) for us in loving obedience. Remembering that Mass is not simply a ritual to observe or even the receiving of the Eucharist only, but rather the celebration and making present anew of this pouring out of the Blood of the New and Everlasting Covenant, that the altar is both the table of the Last Supper and the altar of Sacrifice, will help us to be “more present” to what is happening in the words and actions of the Mass. The Paschal Mystery is made present DAILY, so that we can participate in it as fully as we are able, and hopefully more and more fully as time goes on.
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:17 pm
1. These chapters are helpful and enlightening as I realize that the celebration of the Eucharist is the focal point of the Mass. This is a marvelous and extraordinary change of the substance of bread into Christ’s body and the substance of wine into his blood. What was bread and wine is now, Jesus. He is in our midst. We, who participate in the celebration are also changed, purified and nourished. Only Jesus can give us the power to love and forgive each other and we do that together at Eucharist. In the service when the priest says, “The Lord be with you.”; this is a call to attention for the congregation and that the priest is ready to surrender his person and his place to the Lord Himself, who will perform the rite of consecration through him. The Lord is represented as actually coming into the sanctuary when we sing,
“Holy, Holy, Holy,” It is all such a special gift to us!
2. The most challenging role that the Eucharist plays in unifying the church relates to the Christians and People of God not understanding the role or significance/importance of the Eucharist celebration at the Mass. They may not be fully involved in the Mass. You do hear Christians sometimes claim that they ‘get little out of the Mass’; they are expecting everything, possibly, from the priest and nothing from themselves. The Church is the people; it should be a community and a call together of Christians to participate. We are privileged to be given the opportunity to be nourished by the Eucharist
Celebration.
On another note, I believe that Roman Catholics are the only Christian people who celebrate the Eucharist at their Sunday Service. Some Christian Churches celebrate the Eucharist at Easter and Christmas.
3. The celebration of Christ’s sacrifice relates to Jesus who choose to come into the world visibly through us; he has joined his life to us through the Eucharist. We, who are received by Christ, are given the opportunity to spread his word of the gift of salvation. We are now the only way his hands can heal the sick or give bread to the starving. The Eucharist brings us closer together with Him and with each other so that we may be the One Body and show our kindness to the world. We are united to Jesus in the Eucharist, his love, his kindness and gifts which we are to share with others for the benefit of our neighbourhood, community and the world.
February 17th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
1The Eucharist is the source and summit of all evangelization since its goal is the communion of mankind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Its a gift to all humanity even those who do not know its meaning. We are advised not to receive Communion only for our sake because this will turn our relationship with Christ into a private closed-up affair. What we receive from Eucharist is the same love, same healing,and same redemptive power that Jesus gave to the world and it is not for us alone; it’s for the world through us.
2 The challenging roles the Eucharist plays in unifying the Church is in relation to Christians and God’s people who do not understand the significant of Eucharist Celebration at Mass. Since everyone was created with a need for community because we are made in the image and likeness of God, who is a community as the Holy Trinity, we have a yearning that can be “superabundantly” fulfilled if we pay attention to what happens when we receive communion in a community. We become conjoined in body.
3 Celebration of Christ’s Sacrifice means we are connected to the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and more so to Christ himself. When we celebrate Mass, we are in union with the Apostles. That is why Mass should be celebrated by an Ordained Priest because he can sacramentally serve us “in persona Christi”. This is because Jesus is fully present when a priest performs a sacramental rite, simultaneously with the priest.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:56 am
1. What I found most enlightening was the fact that the Catholic priest is fully united to Jesus even if he is actively sinning. Many a time, it is difficult to see Jesus in the priest due to his sinfulness. But I guess with the help of the Eucharist and if the priest celebrates it daily or ever so often, it will help him and us to be more focused and to receive strength and graces through the Eucharist in times of trials.
2. We are blessed to be able to receive the Eucharist weekly if not daily. Our brothers and sisters in remote areas of the world have no or little access to the Eucharist frequently – sometimes they even have to wait for months before someone brings them the Eucharist. We must not take it for granted but must strive to take the opportunities given to us to receive the Eucharist whenever possible. Attending the daily Eucharistic Celebrations would be ideal.
3. The celebration of Christ’s sacrifice means that we are united as one body regardless of who we are and how we feel about our brothers and sisters who have come to the same celebration - they may be our so called “enemies”, people who have hurt us or whom we have hurt. By having this one body in Christ mentality, only then can we fully experience the Eucharist during Mass. It is not an easy thing to do but with the grace of God, we can even if it takes us a long time.
July 4th, 2010 at 11:06 am
1. How the comunity of people along with the ordained priest transends time and partake in the Last Supper with Jesus as the high priest. What a special gift the Lord has given us, that we sometimes take for granted.
2. The real presence of Jesus and receiving him in Holy Communion, how very blessed we are to have that oneness and closeness here on earth with our Lord. It is our piece of heaven here on earth.
3. The celebration of Mass brings us all back to calvary and the ultimate sacrifice Jesus gave to save us from our sins. The extaordinary gift of His Body and Blood, to fill us with Himself and the graces we need to try and follow in His footsteps. As we can only humbly approach these gifts, being unworthy and sinful and pray to the Lord our God for His mercy and forgiveness.