When we recently celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass, the night on which four new members of the Church (and our parish) were Baptized, Confirmed, and welcomed to the Table of the Lord for the first time, we heard and saw how all of our Catholic life leads to the Eucharist and flows from it. The Second Vatican Council referred to the Eucharist as “the source and summit” of the Catholic faith and practice.
Sure, Baptism and Confirmation are grace-filled moments in the Sacramental life of the Church, but these (and all of the other Sacraments) lead to and, quite literally, flow from the Eucharist. It is the Table of the Lord to which we bring our lives and beg our God to bless us and our gifts, to make them holy. We break bread together and signify, through this act of grace, that our lives are transformed and are brought ever closer in union with God, our world, ourselves, and those around us.
So, the Eucharist is the great sign of the Christian community by which we both affirm and celebrate our union with Jesus. By our eating of “the bread-that-is-flesh” (the Real Presence of Christ), we affirm our total adhesion to all that Jesus is and stands for. Again, the culmination of the Easter Vigil is the Eucharist … in fact, the culmination of everything Catholic is the Eucharist!
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On Thursdays at Holy Cross, from the beginning of our daily Mass (at 8:30am) until the final prayers and Benediction (at 8:30pm) we observe a “day of prayer” in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Please come. In fact, make a commitment to an hour each Thursday. We would love to have you join us.
