Tag Archives: Eucharist

LOOK BEYOND THE BREAD YOU EAT…

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Sunday 7th June –Solemnity of the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Reflection: Mark 14: 22-26

LOOK BEYOND THE BREAD YOU EAT…

The body and blood express the life of the being that possesses them. Christ once taught His disciples in these words at the close of His earthly life: “Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). There is therefore no greater expression of love than a sacrifice of life in its totality.

God; who is Love, gives His life in the sacrifice of His begotten Son (true God from true God and consubstantial with the Father). Christ out of perfect love gave a sacrifice of Himself for the salvation of the world at the first Eucharistic feast (Mass) during the Passover; with a perfect accomplishment of this ‘once for all’ sacrifice by His death on the Cross (Hebrews 9:12-14). At the Last Supper, He instituted the Eucharist as a memorial of His infinite Love. He gave us a daily nourishment of His true life: in the appearance of bread and wine that we may live His life of Love here on earth and join in the unending feast in heaven. With this perfect sacrifice, He sealed His covenant of love with us; as with the Israelites when Moses sprinkled the blood of sacrificed oxen after all the people had promised to live by the same divine covenant (Exodus 24: 3-8).

Friends in Christ, today we celebrate God’s love for us fully expressed in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Let us learn from Christ’s sacrifice as we feast at His table. Let us love as we have been loved: this is living by the divine commandment. Look beyond the bread you eat, see your savior and God. Look beyond the wine you drink, see His love for the world.

PRAYER: Dear God, give me perfect love like Yours. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 211 – How important is the Eucharist for the Church?

The celebration of the Eucharist is the heart of the Christian communion. In it the Church becomes Church.
We are not Church because we get along well, or because we happen to end up in the same parish community, but rather because in the Eucharist we receive the Body of Christ and are increasingly being transformed into the Body of Christ.

HIDE A TREASURE: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” John 6: 56 RSV-CE

Today’s Readings: Exodus 24: 3-8; Psalm 116: 12-13, 15-18; Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26

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BREAD OF LIFE

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Monday 20th April – Monday of the 3rd week of Eastertide

Reflection: John 6:22-29

BREAD OF LIFE

Today’s world is filled with billions of people who profess to be Christians. Look around you, almost everyone in your class, office or neighbourhood is a Christian. Many of us Christians, including Catholics who have been baptized and received Communion for years still do not have the passion to live the life of holiness to which we are called. Though we receive Him in the Eucharist, we are ignorant of the immense power He bestows on us.

Christ has given us his very self as food for our souls. He wants his entire being, spirit, soul and body to dwell in us so that we may hunger and thirst no more for perishable things but for things that have eternal value. This was why he told the people in today’s reading: “Do not work for food that goes bad; instead, work for food that lasts for eternal life” (John 6:27). Dear friend, Christ’ offering of self will be of no benefit to us if we do not seek to know and approach him as He reveals himself to us in various ways.

Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves to satisfy the hunger of the crowd was a sign to prefigure the giving of Himself as the bread of life and set the stage for the long and revolutionary discourse on the Eucharist; the meal which transcends death and opens the gates of heaven to those who eat it (John 6: 54). Thus as we receive Christ in the Eucharist, let us ask God for a deeper insight into the mystery of the Eucharist so that we will be empowered to live as Christ did. It would renew the grace of Baptism and strengthen our personal relationship with God.

Thank God for this precious gift of himself and seek to be open to him so that the Mass can make much more meaning to you.

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for your desire to live in me, please help me to hunger for the food that endures to eternal life. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 221 – How does Holy Communion change me?

Every Holy Communion unites me more deeply with Christ, makes me a living member of the Body of Christ, renews the graces that I received in Baptism and Confirmation, and fortifies me for the battle against sin. 

HIDE A TREASURE: “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent”. John 6:29 GNB

Today’s Readings: Acts 6:8-15; Psalm 119: 23-30; John 6: 22-29

OUR PASSOVER LAMB

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Thursday 2nd April – Holy Thursday

Reflection: Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14

OUR PASSOVER LAMB

Israel was a unique nation, one with its laws, customs, feasts and even its very calendar set up by God. More than just a nation, they were the people of God. Today’s reading outlines the instruction God gave them in celebrating the feast of the Passover which marked the beginning of a new year for them as well as their liberation from slavery in Egypt. It marked the beginning of a covenant which God established with them through Moses.

As the Church celebrates the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood today, she celebrates the beginning of a new covenant, sealed not with the blood of animals but in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christ ate the Passover meal with His disciples on the evening before His death, He fulfilled the old covenant and ushered in the new covenant that embraces not only Israel but the entire world. Just as the eating of the lamb was a prerequisite for the salvation of Israel in today’s reading, so is the eating of the flesh and blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb a prerequisite for our entry into eternal life (John 6: 53).

You have entered into the new covenant through your baptism and Christ offers you Himself in the Eucharist each day to renew that covenant and as food for eternal salvation. What is your response to such great gift? Do you bother to prepare yourself to receive the Eucharist worthily? Do you avail yourself of receiving this great gift more often by attending daily Masses or you are simply satisfied to fulfill your Sunday obligation? Dear friend, do not forsake Christ’s call. Only in Him are we certain of eternal life.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank you for taking my sin upon yourself. Please open my mind to receive with faith and thanksgiving your Body and Blood in the Eucharist and let me be transformed through it. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 95 – Why did Jesus choose the date of the Jewish feast of Passover for his death and Resurrection?

Jesus chose the Passover feast of his people Israel as a symbol for what was to happen through his death and Resurrection. As the people Israel were freed from slavery to Egypt, so Christ frees us from the slavery of sin and the power of death.

HIDE A TREASURE: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood; you have no life in you” John 6: 53 RSV-CE

Today’s Readings: Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14; Psalm 116: 12-18; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13: 1-15

BE HOLY!

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Sunday, 23rd February – 7th Sunday of the year

Reflection: Leviticus 19: 1-2; 17-18

BE HOLY!

“Holiness” is a word that many of us, young people do not really want to be associated with. For us, it as an old fashioned word that describes a way of life which denies us of the pleasures of our youth. However, holiness is in fact, what we are called to as Christians. The first reading gives us God’s injunction to His children: “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Holiness is an attribute of our Father in Heaven whom we must resemble just as we resemble our earthly parents in various ways. Dear friends, rather than dampening the joy and excitement of our youthful age, holiness helps us to know and enjoy this joy and excitement in a way that pleases our Heavenly Father who loves us so much and in whose hands lies our future.

Holiness means keeping ourselves free from all sinful affections. It demands a conscious desire and effort on our part to live in the righteousness that we have received at our Baptism. Hence, though we are saved through God’s grace and not by any effort on our part (Ephesians 2: 8-9), we must walk in holiness if we are to persevere in that grace we have received at Baptism and ultimately be united with our Father eternally. Leviticus 19: 17-18 gives us an example of what holiness entails – a life of love and forgiveness towards our neighbor (Leviticus 19: 17). In addition, we, as baptized Catholics are the temple of God, a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. It is our duty to keep this temple holy otherwise, we bring destruction upon ourselves (1 Corinthians 3:17).

Dear friends, let us today, make a decision to be holy. All God demands is our sincere desire for holiness and then He will supply all the grace we need to be Holy. Let us approach Him in confession when we fall and receive the sanctifying grace He gives in the Holy Eucharist. Then, you and I can indeed “be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) “Holiness is not the luxury of a few people, but a simple duty for you and me”

BL. TERESA OF CALCUTTA (1910-1997)

PRAYER: Loving Father, Please help me to daily desire to please you and fill me with the grace that I may not be contaminated by the evil that surrounds me. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 342 – Are we all supposed to become “saints”?

Yes. The purpose of our life is to be united with God in love and to correspond entirely to God’s wishes. We should allow God “to live his life in us” (Mother Teresa). That is what it means to be holy: a “saint”.

HIDE A TREASURE: “Strive for peace with all men and strive to be holy, for without holiness no one will see the Lord” Hebrews 12:14 CCB

Readings for today: Leviticus 19: 1-2; 17-18; Psalm 103: 1-4, 8-13; 1 Corinthians 3: 16-23