Tag Archives: Eucharist

Communion with Christ

 

In the Last Supper, Christ instituted the Eucharist and gave the apostles his Body and Blood as Holy Communion for the first time. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, the Catechism, St Josemaria Escriva and St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, to consider how:

  • In Holy Communion we receive the living Jesus himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity
  • Since Christ is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we receive the whole Blessed Trinity
  • Communion fills us with grace, forgives venial sins, helps us avoid mortal sins and is a promise of heaven, an anticipation of heaven and the means to reach heaven
  • We should receive Communion as often as we can and prepare well to receive this truly  Blessed Sacrament

 

 

Eucharistic souls

Christ holding Communion host

On Holy Thursday we celebrated the institution of the Eucharist by Christ in the Last Supper, in what was his last celebration of the Passover. Even though In these extraordinary times of a pandemic most of us are unable to attend Mass, we can still be very united to the Masses being celebrated and so be, in the words of St Josemaria, “Eucharistic souls”. In this meditation we consider how:

  • The Jewish Passover was a figure of the Eucharist and it has many aspects that were fulfilled and made a reality in the Eucharist
  • The sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist flowed from Christ’s open side as he hung on the Cross
  • We can be personally united with the four ends of the Mass
  • We can make the Eucharist the “centre and root” of the interior life, as St Josemaria suggested, and so be “Eucharistic souls”

Holy Week

 

 

 

As we celebrate the important events of this most holy week of the year, we pray in this meditation about the significance of the events and how we can use them to grow in holiness ourselves. We consider:

  • Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday
  • The institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday to make Christ’s death on the Cross present through the Mass
  • The agony of Christ in his prayer in the garden where he suffered so much for us
  • The passion and death of Christ on Good Friday which brought about our redemption
  • The joy of the Resurrection

Holy Mass, centre and root of the interior life

Pope St John Paul II saying mass

 

 

 

The Second Vatican Council, using some words of St Josemaria Escriva, called the Mass the centre and root of the interior life. If we make the Mass our centre and root, we will attend it better and we will unite all our acitivities with it. In this meditation we consider how:

  • The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary made present on the altar
  • It is the Church’s most powerful prayer and we can unite our own intentions with those of the Mass
  • The Mass is the centre of all the sacraments and we can strive to make it the centre of our day and the focal point of  all our activities
  • As the root of the interior life the Mass strengthens our faith by anchoring us firmly in Jesus Christ
  • Through the root of the Mass we receive nourishment for our soul through the prayers, readings and especially Holy Communion
  • We should strive to be truly Eucharistic souls

Love for the priesthood

Icon of Christ the eternal high priest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can sometimes take our priests for granted, or even complain about them. In this meditation we look at what our priests do for us and how we can help them. We consider:

  • Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest, instituted the priesthood to continue his priestly ministry down the ages
  • Priests do so much for us: celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass in order to offer this pure sacrifice to the Father, to leave Christ in the tabernacle and give him to us in holy Communion; forgiving our sins, anointing us when we are in danger of death, teaching us the faith…
  • St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, has beautiful things to say about the priesthood
  • St John Paul II wrote wonderfully about what people expect from priests
  • We should give thanks for our priests and pray for them so that they will be holy and faithful
  • We should pray too for seminarians, for young men considering a priestly vocation and for families, the seedbed of vocations

Meditation on the feast of Corpus Christi

As we celebrate again the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Eucharistic feast of the Body and  Blood of Christ, we do our prayer in this meditation on the origin of the feast in the thirteenth century and its meaning for us today, helping us to grow in love for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We will consider:

  • the history of the feast, going back to St Juliana of Liege and the Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena-Orvieto
  • the scriptural passages in which Jesus promises the gift of his Body and Blood and institutes the Eucharist
  • the constant tradition of belief in the Real Presence
  • the ways in which we can live out and grow in our love for the Eucharist

Meditation on the lessons of Holy Week

Holy Week should be holy not only in its name and in the events we commemorate, but in the way we live it. In this meditation we consider the numerous lessons we can learn from this week and how we can put them into practice. We will consider:

  • Palm Sunday – praising God by our life
  • Holy Thursday – frequenting the sacrament of Penance
  • Washing of the feet – spirit of service
  • Institution of the Eucharist – love for the Eucharist and prayer for priests
  • Prayer in the garden – spirit of prayer
  • Passion and death – spirit of penance
  • Jesus gives us his mother – love for Mary
  • Resurrection – joy and hope