Pastoral Letter - Corpus Christi 2005 |
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My dear people, This weekend we are celebrating the great feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is the Year of the Eucharist as declared by the late Pope John Paul II and in our Diocese of Rockhampton, we have been working through our program, Rediscovering the Eucharist. The Eucharist or the Mass as we still call it, was described by the Second Vatican Council as the “Summit and Source” of our life. Sadly over the years the number who worship regularly has been decreasing and I believe there is an urgent call on us all, to rediscover what a treasure God has given for our life’s journey. Somehow we have to re-open the treasure and offer it to all. The opening prayer for this weekend’s Eucharist says it all so clearly. What is the Eucharist and why is it so important.? How can we better appreciate the gift we describe as the Body and Blood of Christ? “Lord Jesus
Christ, you gave us the Eucharist The word “memorial” has a very powerful significance and means more than just remembering. It is Jesus way of making His sacrifice continually present to us. Jesus, at every Eucharist through the priest, changes the bread and wine into Himself, and then comes to us in Holy Communion. It is closely linked up with what happened after the Last Supper, namely, Jesus suffering and death on Calvary. It is truly a reenactment of what happened at the Last Supper and on Calvary, and draws together the meal Jesus shared and the death Jesus underwent. Each time we take part in the Eucharist, we join our self offering to Jesus perfect gift of Himself to God. We are also receiving Jesus as divine nourishment for your journey of life. The prayer continues - “may our
worship of this sacrament of your body and blood, When we speak about ‘salvation’ we are describing what Jesus achieved for us by His death and resurrection. Jesus saved us from ongoing separation from God. Salvation was achieved when Jesus’ Body was broken for us and his Blood poured out for us and for everyone. Eucharist is a profoundly generous gift of Jesus own self, His Body and Blood given for us. Salvation reaches out to all who accept Jesus’ death and resurrection, and allows us to be united around the table of the Eucharist. Eucharist is about transformation, just as bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, so too those who come to the Eucharist in faith are changed to become identified with the one they have received. The prayer concludes by asking that the Eucharist will - “help us to
experience the peace of the kingdom We all desperately seek peace in our lives. This peace is not something we can generate on our own, solely through our own efforts. For followers of Jesus, this peace is found in the Kingdom, in the family Jesus established. The Eucharist, or Mass is able to give us that peace as we connect with Jesus. It enables us to connect with each other and experience the real peace that comes from the acceptance of one another, regardless of our differences. We cannot be passive or merely present for the celebration of the Eucharist. We need to respond to Jesus’ invitation to consciously welcome Jesus gift of Himself, to worship God through the offering of the sacrifice and to receive Jesus gladly into our hearts and lives. Furthermore, we do it together, we are sharing Jesus friendship and sharing each others journey. The Eucharist must be connected with our everyday lives. We all have much to suffer as well as much to celebrate. We have times of darkness and of light, times of dying and times of rising to new horizons. As we celebrate this gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus may we listen again to the opening prayer to this Eucharist: Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. May I ask you to reflect again on the five leaflets in our “Rediscovering the Eucharist” program reminding us that there are four distinct ways in which we become involved. We
Gather in
Community We Listen to the Word of God I invite you to revisit, especially the Scripture and prayer, included on each leaflet and pray regularly our Prayer of the Eucharist, composed for this year. May God enrich our understanding of this treasure in our midst. May God help us to invite to the Eucharist all of our family members and fellow Catholics. May we hand on to our children and their children an understanding of the Eucharist as a guiding light for their lives. May we all draw from the Eucharist the power to witness to God’s love for everyone. God be with you through the Eucharist. + Brian Heenan 29 May 2005
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