14/12/2003 -
Notes on the Eucharist (2nd of 3) - "Celebrating" - 14 December 2003
THE EUCHARIST Celebrating “This second leaflet aims to help you take into prayer something of what it means to celebrate the Eucharist.” + Brian Third Sunday of Advent 14 December 2003 (Year of the Eucharist, November 2003 – June 2004) “The Church … spares no effort in trying to ensure that, when present at this mystery of faith, Christian believers should not be there as strangers or silent spectators. On the contrary, having a good grasp of it through the rites and prayers, they should take part in the sacred action, actively, fully aware, and devoutly. They should be formed by God’s word, and be nourished at the table of the Lord’s Body. They should give thanks to God. Offering the immaculate victim, not only through the hands of the priest but also together with him, they should learn to offer themselves. Through Christ, the Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and each other, so that finally God may be all in all.” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy No 48) We celebrate when there is a reason to do so – when there is something to celebrate … a birthday, a success. At every Mass we celebrate all that God has done for us in and through his Son Jesus. From earliest times there’s been a recognisable structure to this celebration – a coming together – to listen to God’s Word – and a carrying out of the Lord’s Last Supper command to “Do this in memory of me”. Here is a well known story that seems to reflect that structure. “Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognising him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said: but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘O, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures. “As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening, and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem: and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made know to them in the breaking of the bread.” (Luke 24:13-35) 1. You might like to read the story again … Underline anything that seems important to you. 2. “Were not our hearts burning within us, while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” At every Mass the Word of God is addressed to us here and now in the midst of our everyday lives. Imagine yourself walking along the road to Emmaus with a friend – What current difficulties in your life here and now might you be talking about?…Is there anything in this story that helps? 3. “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight.” Imagine yourself at Mass … Bread is blessed, broken and shared; Wine is blessed, poured out and shared. What does all this tell us about Jesus, about his relationship with us, and our relationships with each other? 4. Spend a few moments thinking about / praying over the following: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?” (Mark 10:38) “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them … Whoever eats me will live because of me.” (John 6:56-57) “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (I Cor 11:26) 5. Read again the quotation on page 2 – What does it encourage us to do at Mass? |