ORATIONS: EUCHARISTIC ADORATION. In part 12 of my series on The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church US Bishops’ document, I’m reflecting on the 6th of the 7 prayers used to end Benediction. The 7 ‘themes’ are: Memorial; True God/True Man; Paschal Lamb of God; Heavenly Bread of Angels; Spirit and Truth; Life-Giving Bread/Viaticum; and Paschal Mystery Renewed. Past articles on this Revival, the whole document, and a free study guide, are on our Parish website: stmaryrutherford.org; click on National Eucharistic Revival Bulletin Articles.
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Eucharistic Adoration Oration: 6 of 7 Lord, may this Sacrament of new life |
THIS SACRAMENT OF NEW LIFE. We rightfully call Baptism the Sacrament of Rebirth since it enables us to die or drown to sin and our former way of life and begin our new life in Christ. We see this more clearly in Baptism by Immersion, rather than Pouring (the most common method for Roman Catholics) or Sprinkling, which are valid ways to baptize but lack the visual impact of Baptism’s reality. However, just as newborns need to be properly fed in order to live and develop, so do those reborn in Baptism. For just as our bodies need regular doses of food and drink, so, too, do our souls – which is why the Eucharist is called the Sacrament of New Life.
How does the Eucharist give new life? Again, we turn to the 4th Gospel’s ‘Bread of Life Discourse’ in which Jesus lays it all out for us. “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” Then Jesus added: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:27, 51) And just as those who heard these words 2,000 years ago baulked, so do many today!
In the Latin or Roman Catholic Rite, the Eucharist may only be given to one who is baptized, is in union with the Catholic Church, and has some understanding that the Consecrated Bread and Wine are not just ‘regular’ food. (In Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, like the Byzantine Rite, Baptism, Confirmation and First Eucharist are given at the same time – even to infants!) We may differ on when and how we receive Holy Communion, but the more we are fed from the Heavenly Banquet Table, the more we are infused with Divine Grace, the more easily we can become another Christ, and the more likely we will share in all Christ won for us – above all, eternal life. And the more time we share in the presence of our Lord’s Real Presence, the more eagerly we desire to spend all eternity with Him!
WARM OUR HEARTS. Many years ago, soon after the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, the Church began to promote what some dismissed as ‘folksy’ images of the power of the Eucharist. One was a short film entitled, ‘Grandma’s Bread’ – a schmaltzy tear-jerker about an Italian ‘Nonna’ who dies before her grandson’s First Communion, whose parents discarded all her baking materials – but he had secretly saved them. It ends with the family – sans ‘Nonna’ – gathered at table with her traditional Easter bread – which they learned to make in her memory.
But before we write it off as silly, have we lost sight of the deeper meaning of this sacred meal Jesus left us the night before He died? For as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on that first Easter night said, after the Risen Lord broke the bread for – and with – them: “Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) Maybe we need to rediscover and develop the inner longing for – and rejoicing with – the Risen Lord, truly present in this Sacrament of New Life. That, in turn, would give us a taste of heaven – “the eternal joy of (God’s) Kingdom” – here and now: each time we receive Holy Communion; each time we ‘make a visit’ to the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle; each time we simply pass a church and make the Sign of the Cross in humble, prayerful recognition of the One who is waiting in there for us: our Lord Jesus Christ!
With God’s love and my prayers,
Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS
ORATIONS: EUCHARISTIC ADORATION. In part 12 of my series on The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church US Bishops’ document, I’m reflecting on the 6th of the 7 prayers used to end Benediction. The 7 ‘themes’ are: Memorial; True God/True Man; Paschal Lamb of God; Heavenly Bread of Angels; Spirit and Truth; Life-Giving Bread/Viaticum; and Paschal Mystery Renewed. Past articles on this Revival, the whole document, and a free study guide, are on our Parish website: stmaryrutherford.org; click on National Eucharistic Revival Bulletin Articles.
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Eucharistic Adoration Oration: 6 of 7 Lord, may this Sacrament of new life |
THIS SACRAMENT OF NEW LIFE. We rightfully call Baptism the Sacrament of Rebirth since it enables us to die or drown to sin and our former way of life and begin our new life in Christ. We see this more clearly in Baptism by Immersion, rather than Pouring (the most common method for Roman Catholics) or Sprinkling, which are valid ways to baptize but lack the visual impact of Baptism’s reality. However, just as newborns need to be properly fed in order to live and develop, so do those reborn in Baptism. For just as our bodies need regular doses of food and drink, so, too, do our souls – which is why the Eucharist is called the Sacrament of New Life.
How does the Eucharist give new life? Again, we turn to the 4th Gospel’s ‘Bread of Life Discourse’ in which Jesus lays it all out for us. “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” Then Jesus added: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:27, 51) And just as those who heard these words 2,000 years ago baulked, so do many today!
In the Latin or Roman Catholic Rite, the Eucharist may only be given to one who is baptized, is in union with the Catholic Church, and has some understanding that the Consecrated Bread and Wine are not just ‘regular’ food. (In Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, like the Byzantine Rite, Baptism, Confirmation and First Eucharist are given at the same time – even to infants!) We may differ on when and how we receive Holy Communion, but the more we are fed from the Heavenly Banquet Table, the more we are infused with Divine Grace, the more easily we can become another Christ, and the more likely we will share in all Christ won for us – above all, eternal life. And the more time we share in the presence of our Lord’s Real Presence, the more eagerly we desire to spend all eternity with Him!
WARM OUR HEARTS. Many years ago, soon after the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, the Church began to promote what some dismissed as ‘folksy’ images of the power of the Eucharist. One was a short film entitled, ‘Grandma’s Bread’ – a schmaltzy tear-jerker about an Italian ‘Nonna’ who dies before her grandson’s First Communion, whose parents discarded all her baking materials – but he had secretly saved them. It ends with the family – sans ‘Nonna’ – gathered at table with her traditional Easter bread – which they learned to make in her memory.
But before we write it off as silly, have we lost sight of the deeper meaning of this sacred meal Jesus left us the night before He died? For as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on that first Easter night said, after the Risen Lord broke the bread for – and with – them: “Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) Maybe we need to rediscover and develop the inner longing for – and rejoicing with – the Risen Lord, truly present in this Sacrament of New Life. That, in turn, would give us a taste of heaven – “the eternal joy of (God’s) Kingdom” – here and now: each time we receive Holy Communion; each time we ‘make a visit’ to the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle; each time we simply pass a church and make the Sign of the Cross in humble, prayerful recognition of the One who is waiting in there for us: our Lord Jesus Christ!
With God’s love and my prayers,
Very Rev. Michael J. Kreder, VF, KCHS