Day 180: The Source and Summit (1322-1327)

• It’s Day 180!!

• ARTICLE 3: THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

• The Eucharist is the SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF ALL GRACE

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. Thank you so much for the gift of your Son in time. The gift of your Son, your Only Begotten Son, who gave himself for the sake of the world, who gave himself for us. We ask you to please, once again, renew in our hearts a love for you, a love for the gift of your Son, a love for the Eucharist. Lord God, let that love for you in the Eucharist dominate our lives. Because all grace, all of your gifts, they lead us to the Eucharist and all grace, all your gifts flow from the Eucharist. We thank you so much for this incredible gift. Thank you for this incredible day. Receive our thanks, receive our praise, you are good, you are God, and we love you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• The Eucharist isn’t a topic or subject

• The Eucharist is a WHO!!

• THIS IS JESUS!!

• BUT…

• THIS IS ALSO AN ACTION!!

• It is the GREAT SACRIFICE OF JESUS, the Son of God, to the Father in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• Let’s get to the nuts and bolts…

• Paragraph 1322 says, “The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.”

• If you have all three of these sacraments, you are FULLY INITIATED

• We participate with the WHOLE COMMUNITY in the Lord’s sacrifice

• Why?

• Because it is ALL OF JESUS BEING OFFERED

• Not only Christ the head being offered

• Christ’s body being offered

• Christ’s body is TRULY TRULY in the Eucharist

• BUT…

• Also Christ’s body in the Church

• YOU are a member of Christ’s body

• When we are fully initiated into the Church, even if we are just simply baptized, we are able to join in offering up that great sacrifice of the Eucharist, of the Son to the Father and the Power of the Holy Spirit 

• IT IS JUST REMARKABLE!!

• Sacrosanctum Concilium in Paragraph 1323 says, “[The Eucharist] is a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’”

• THIS IS JUST INCREDIBLE!!

• It is a SACRAMENT OF LOVE

• Why?

• Because on the night before Jesus died what did He do?

• Knowing that all was fulfilled and all was taking place, Jesus said, “I have longed to eat this Passover with you,” and He took bread and said, “Take and eat. This is my body given for you.”

• Taking the chalice filled with the fruit of the vine, he says, “Take and drink all of you. This is the chalice of my blood. The blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

• This is the great sacrifice of God’s LOVE

• Not only God’s LOVE FOR US but also God’s LOVE FOR THE FATHER

• This is His sacrifice of Himself to the Father FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD

• IT IS A SACRAMENT OF LOVE

• LOVE BEING POURED OUT

• It is also a SIGN OF UNITY

• IN FACT…

• We only can be admitted to the Eucharist if we are IN COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH

• If we step out of communion with the Church, then we are not able to have this sacrament or sign of unity because IT IS A PRECONDITION

• A precondition for being able to receive the Eucharist is being in union with your Bishop who is in union with the Holy Father

• It is a BOND OF CHARITY

• If it’s a sacrament of love, it is also a BOND OF LOVE

• The more and more a family eats together, the more and more they have the opportunity to be bound to each other

• The more and more they have the opportunity to recognize they are called to actually love the people in their family

• That is what we are doing here in the Eucharist as well

• It is a PASCHAL BANQUET

• The Paschal mystery is the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

• SO GOOD!!

• Fr. Mike is telling a story from his college days so let’s listen…

• The Second Vatican Council states that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life

• The source of ALL GRACE comes from the great sacrifice of the Son to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit which is THE EUCHARIST

• The SUMMIT of the Christian life…

• The GOAL of the Christian life…

• The PLACE WE ARE ORIENTED TOWARDS in the Christian life…

• IS THE EUCHARIST!!

• Why?

• BECAUSE THE EUCHARIST IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!!

• THIS IS SO SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!

• The other sacraments and other ecclesial ministries and works of the apostolate are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented towards it

• Why?

• BECAUSE THE EUCHARIST IS JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!!

• The other sacraments are INCREDIBLE

• THey are the actions of Christ

• They are the works of Christ

• You have rebirth in Christ in Baptism

• You have confirmation in Christ

• You have healing in Christ

• You have vocations, matrimony and Holy Orders, in Christ

• But the Eucharist is not only a work of Christ

• THE EUCHARIST IS CHRIST!!

• It is the action of the Son offering Himself to the Father in the Power of the Holy Spirit

• BUT…

• It is also IS THE SON who offers Himself to the Father in the Power of the Holy SPirit

• THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US TO RECOGNIZE AT ALL TIMES!!

• As powerful as all the other sacraments are, and as necessary as they are, are ACTIONS OF GOD

• THE EUCHARIST IS TRULY TRULY HIM!!

• BECAUSE HE SAID SO!!

• “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you.”

• What did He say at the Last Supper?

• “This IS my body. This IS my blood.”

• Paragraph 1326 says, “Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.”

• It was at the very beginning of PILLAR 2: HOW WE WORSHIP when we learned WHO CELEBRATES THE LITURGY?

• The first is the WHOLE CHRIST, HEAD AND BODY

• Head meaning Jesus Himself

• Also all the Saints and Angels in Heaven 

• So we keep on praying

• We keep on walking 

• We keep on celebrating

• We keep on worshiping the Lord God in the Eucharist

• WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GIFT!!

• Tomorrow we will continue to talk about what the Eucharist is and its place in the economy of salvation

• What is it?

• How deep does it go in all the way back to the very beginning of God’s creation in his salvation of the world until it reaches us today

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!