Eucharist
09-16

The guidelines for receiving Communion, which are issued by the U.S. bishops and published in many missalettes, explain, "We welcome our fellow Christians to this celebration of the Eucharist as our brothers and sisters. We pray that our common baptism and the action of the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist will draw us closer to one another and begin to dispel the sad divisions which separate us. We pray that these will lessen and finally disappear, in keeping with Christ’s prayer for us ‘that they may all be one’ (John 17:21).

"Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Communion. Eucharistic sharing in exceptional circumstances by other Christians requires permission according to the directives of the diocesan bishop and the provisions of canon law. . . . "

Scripture is clear that partaking of the Eucharist is among the highest signs of Christian unity: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Cor. 10:17). For this reason, it is normally impossible for non-Catholic Christians to receive Holy Communion, for to do so would be to proclaim a unity to exist that, regrettably, does not.

Another reason that many non-Catholics may not ordinarily receive Communion is for their own protection, since many reject the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Scripture warns that it is very dangerous for one not believing in the Real Presence to receive Communion: "For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died" (1 Cor. 11:29–30).

Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 3, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
The Many Dimensions of the Eucharist

When I think of the Eucharist as being the source of our Catholic Faith, I cannot help but think of Mother Teresa and all her charitable works because she commanded all her sisters to follow her example and begin their day with Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. "If I can give you any advice, I beg you to get closer to the Eucharist and to Jesus... We must pray to Jesus to give us that tenderness of the Eucharist." - Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

When I think of the Eucharist is the summit of our Catholic faith I think of the priestly martyrs throughout the centuries like Edmund Campion and Miguel Pro who died celebrating Mass and bringing the Eucharist to Catholics in areas of the world where it was illegal to celebrate Mass or be a priest. “I am a Catholic man and a priest. In that faith have I lived and in that faith do I intend to die, and if you esteem my religion treason, then I am guilty. As for any other treason, I never committed. I stand condemned for nothing but the saying of Mass, hearing confessions, preaching and such like duties and functions of priesthood.” (St. Edmund Campion, Martyr; Response, delivered at his execution, to charges of treason; 1581)

I would therefore like to dedicate this month’s Spiritual Ponderings to the source and summit of our faith – the Eucharist. As we dive into this great mystery, I would like to invite you to join me in using Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book:
Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist. In the second part of his book, Fr. Rolheiser looks at the Eucharist from 12 different perspectives. The quotes from his book will be in bold and my personal commentary will be in the regular font.

1. The Eucharist As God’s Physical Embrace
To my mind, that is the best understanding there is of Eucharist. Within both my undergraduate and graduate theological training, I took long courses on the Eucharist. In the end, these didn’t explain the Eucharist to me, not because they weren’t good, but because the Eucharist, like a kiss, needs no explanation and has no explanation.

In the Eucharist, I see a marvelous and genius way in which God can be close to us and at the same time respect our freewill. If we would see God without the veil of the Eucharist we would have to believe. We would have no choice and thus no freedom. Yet at the same time it is important for those who believe to touch their love one. The Eucharist allows us to be close to God through our senses without taking our freewill.

2: The Eucharist As An Intensification of Our Unity Within the Body of Christ: Totus Christus
How separate and divided is our world! We look around us, watch the world news, watch the local news, look at our places of work, our social circles, and even our churches, and we tension and division everywhere. We are far from being one body and one sprit. So many things, it seems, work to divide us: history, circumstance, background, temperament, ideology, geography, creed, color, and gender. And then there are our personal wounds, jealousies, self-interest, and sin. The world, like a lonely adolescent, aches, too, in its separateness. We live in a world deeply deeply divided.

One truly has to be amazed when attending Mass to see how many of things that divide us; just do not matter. What a small taste of heaven where there is no judgment but only love.

The Eucharist is such a prayer of helplessness, a prayer for God to give us a unity we cannot give to ourselves. It is not incidental that Jesus instituted it in the hour of his most intense loneliness, when he realized that all the words he had spoken hadn’t been enough and that he had no more words to give. When he felt most helpless, he gave us the prayer of helplessness, the Eucharist.

What do you do when don’t have the words to say? I, silently stand by someone and let my presence speak volumes. I am sure God is much the same way.

Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 10, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
The Many Dimensions of the Eucharist

This month’s Spiritual Ponderings is pondering the great mystery of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As we do this we turn to Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book: Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist because in the second part of his book, Fr. Rolheiser looks at the Eucharist from 12 different perspectives. The quotes from his book will be in bold and my personal commentary will be in the regular font.

3: The Eucharist as the New Manna: God’s Daily Bread for Us.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the Eucharist is the new manna, the new bread from heaven, the new way that God gives us daily sustenance. The Roman Catholic practice of daily Eucharist takes its root here. That is why, too, in Roman Catholic spirituality, unlike much of Protestantism, the Eucharist has not generally been called “the Lord’s Supper,” since it was understood not as an extraordinary ritual to commemorate the Last Supper, but as an ordinary, ideally daily, ritual to give us sustenance from God.

Our God is constantly providing not only for our physical well being but also our spiritual well-being and so He gives us the Eucharist as our Daily Bread. The Mass itself is a guide to how we should live out our daily life even when we are not at Mass. We are taught to live for God and others.

4: The Eucharist as a Meal as a Celebration of Our Health and Joy, and A Celebration of Our Pain and Sorrow.
We sometimes forget that Jesus was born in a barn not a church and that the God of the Incarnation is as much about kitchen tables as ecclesial altars. God is as much domestic as monastic. This important to keep in mind as we try to understand the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the body of Christ, a continuation of the Incarnation, and, like Jesus’ birth, is meant to bring the divine into concrete everyday life:

I think in a strange and beautiful way this quote from Scott Hahn summarizes this point:
Since marriage is a sacrament, family life is a kind of domestic liturgy, with its own responses, antiphons, and times of silence. There are lines we must never tire of repeating: “Thank you,” “I’m sorry,” “I love you,” “I forgive you,” “Tell me about your day,” “I’d be glad to do that,” and “How about a date?”
At Mass we know how to respond when the priest says, “Lift up your hearts” or “Lord, have mercy” or “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith.” In a similar way, we need to learn the responses of the domestic liturgy. When one of us says, “I am sorry,” the other replies, “I forgive you.” This liturgy, like any sacramental liturgy is not something mechanical or magical, but rather a habit-forming pattern of love. We don’t always feel the emotions when we say the words, at Mass or at home; but if we are sincere, God makes up for what we lack.

5: The Eucharist as a Sacrifice
Saint Augustine defined sacrifice by saying that is an act, any act, through which we enter into deeper communion with God and each other, and that the sacrifice opens us to deeper communion by changing and stretching the heart of the one offering it. When we add Augustine’s definition to that of the diction, we see that sacrifice works this way: To Make a sacrifice is to surrender something out of love, something that is ours and is painful to give away, and to let the pain of that surrender stretch and change our hearts in such a way that we are now more open to communion with God and others.

We see the love God has for us when we realize that He gave up His Son for us. We show God our love for Him by giving Him our first fruits (offertory at Mass) which becomes the bread and wine which becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. When I put money in the collection basket, I am putting in my faith, hopes, and dreams. The money is only a symbol.

Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 17, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
The Many Dimensions of the Eucharist

This month’s Spiritual Ponderings is pondering the source and summit of our faith life which is the great mystery of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As we do this we turn to Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book: Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist because in the second part of his book, Fr. Rolheiser looks at the Eucharist from 12 different perspectives. The quotes from his book will be in bold and my personal commentary will be in the regular font.

6: The Eucharist as a Memorial of the Paschal Mystery
Once upon a time there was a rabbi who, whenever he wanted God’s presence, went to a special place in the woods, lit a fire, said some prayers and did a dance. Then God would appear to him. When he died, his disciple did the same. If he wanted God’s presence, he went to the same spot in the woods, lit the fire, and said the same prayers, but nobody had taught him the dance. It still worked. God appeared. When the disciple died, his own disciple carried on the tradition. If he wanted God’s presence, he went to the same spot in the woods and lit the fire. He didn’t know the prayers or the dance, but it still worked. God came. Then that disciple died. He also had a disciple. Whenever he wanted God’s presence, he, too went to the same place in the woods, but nobody had taught him how to light the fire or say the prayers or do the dance, but it still worked, God appeared. That disciple, too, eventually died, but he also had a pupil. One day his pupil wanted God’s presence. So he searched for the place in the woods, but couldn’t find it. And he didn’t know how to light the fire or say the prayers or do the dance. All he knew was how to tell the story. But it worked. He discovered that whenever he told the story of how the others had found God, God would appear… In essence, this story explains how sacred ritual—liturgy—works. Judaism calls this “making zikkaron.” Christians call it “making memorial.” The idea is that a past event can be remembered, ritually recalled, in such a way that it becomes present again and can be participated in. How is this possible? We have no models in physics, metaphysics, or psychology by which to explain this adequately. Like all ritual, it is beyond simple phenomenology. Ritual is best understood through metaphor, through story, as with the tale just told, God appears whenever certain stories are told.

When I think of my grandmother, who was a major role model and influence in my life, I like to recall things that we did together and surround myself with things that belonged to her. In doing this I somehow make her present to me. Fulton Sheen had this to say about the Eucharist: - “If then Death was the supreme moment for which Christ lived, it was therefore the one thing He wished to have remembered. He did not ask that men should write down His Words into a Scripture; He did not ask that His kindness to the poor should be recorded in history; but He did ask that men remember his Death. And in order that its memory might not be any haphazard narrative on the part of men, He himself instituted the precise way it should be recalled.”

7: The Eucharist as Reconciliation –as the New Wine.
Key to grasping the significance of this miracle is the particular jugs of water that got changed into wine. The water that Jesus changed into wine was not the drinking water but the wash water, the water used to ritually cleanse yourself when you entered a house. At the door of every Jewish house stood a series of water jugs, usually six of them, which were kept filled with water. Upon entering a house, you were obliged to first stop and wash your hands and feet, both because they were usually covered with dust and because you were ritually obliged to do this. By washing in this way, you made yourself “clean” so that you could join the household and sit at table with them. What Jesus does at Cana is change this water, used for cleansing, into wine. He replaces the old rite of cleansing with something new—the Eucharist.

The Mass has at least two parts that draw our attention to God’s mercy. The first being the Pentitential rite/sprinkling rite and the second being the Sign of Peace. In the Pentitential rite we do not so much confess our sins but rather we praise our God for being such a loving and merciful God. This is the God that I am called to imitate when I leave Church and so I should be a loving and merciful person. The sign of peace is an opportunity for me to turn to the person next to me and not catch up on the daily gossip but rather I turn to them and say “please before me a symbol of the person that I need to forgive the most in the world at the moment” so that I may tell them I am sorry before I go to the altar. Remember Mathew 5:23 & 24: “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

The Many Dimensions of the Eucharist
Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 24, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
The Many Dimensions of the Eucharist

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." - St. Maximilian Kolbe. Let us continue our reflections on the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As we do this we turn to Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book: Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist because in the second part of his book, Fr. Rolheiser looks at the Eucharist from 12 different perspectives. The quotes from his book will be in bold and my personal commentary will be in the regular font.

8: The Eucharist as the Ultimate Invitation to Mature Discipleship—to Wash Each Other’s Feet
This wonderfully expresses what the Eucharist is meant to do. It is a call to move from worship to service, to take nourishment, the embrace, the kiss, we have just received from God and the community and translate it immediately and directly into loving service of others. To take the Eucharist seriously is to begin to wash the feet of others especially the feet of the poor and those with whom we struggle most relationally. The Eucharist is both an invitation that invites us to do is to replace distrust with hospitality, pride with humility, and self-interest with self-effacement so as to reverse the world’s order of things---wherein the rich get served by the poor and where the first priority is always to keep one’s pride intact and one’s self-interest protected. The Eucharist invites us to step down from pride, away from self-interest, to turn the mantle of privilege into the apron of service, so as to help reverse the world’s order of things wherein pride, status, and self-interest are forever the straws that stir the drink.

I get really frustrated when people tell me that they do not come to Mass anymore because they do not get anything out of coming. My frustration comes mainly from the fact that I do not know what to say to someone who has so completely missed the point. It would be for me like someone complaining that there are not enough touchdowns in baseball. Where do you begin to correct their faulty misconceptions? Before my grandmother past away my mother would invite me to come over and stay with her so my mother could leave the house for a while. There was a major part of me that did not want to do this because I did not want to see my grandmother suffer and I did not want to be reminded of my mortality. I went though when I was able because I knew it was one way in which I could show my grandmother that I loved her. I go to Mass not because I get something out of it but rather to give thanks to God and to show God my love for all that He has given me – natural and eternal life.

9: The Eucharist as an Invitation to Justice
When the famous historian Christopher Dawson decided to become Roman Catholic, his aristocratic mother was distressed, not because she had any aversion to Catholic dogma, but because now her son would, in her words, have to “worship with the help.” She was painfully aware that his aristocratic background would no longer set him apart from others or above anyone else. At Church he would be just an equal among equals because the Eucharist would strip him of his higher social status.

When you think about it there is a tremendous equality that happens in the Church at Mass. This equality stretches out in terms of social status, wealth, nationality, etc. All Catholics are invited to come and receive the Sacraments. The word “Catholic” means “Universal”.

We have to be careful though because “equality” does not mean sameness. There can be different roles within the Church because our personal value does not come from what we do. God loves the mother and father who is trying to quiet their child in the pew just as much as He is loving the priest. God loves the person who gets every response wrong as much as He loves the cantor who not only gets every response corrects but leads the congregation in doing so.

Anything that tries to say that one person is more loved by God at Mass is not truly a part of the liturgy or from God. If we need any proof of this we should turn to St. Paul’s letters.

Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 31, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
The Many Dimensions of the Eucharist

We have reached our last Spiritual Pondering this month on the Eucharist and so let us continue our reflections on the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As we do this we turn to Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book: Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist because in the second part of his book, Fr. Rolheiser looks at the Eucharist from 12 different perspectives. The quotes from his book will be in bold and my personal commentary will be in the regular font.

10: The Eucharist as a Ritual to Sustain our Health
Today, unfortunately, we are misled by a number of misconceptions about prayer and liturgy. Too commonly we accept the following set of axioms as wise: Creativity and variety are always good. Every prayer-celebration should be one of high energy. Longer is better than shorter. Either you should pray with feeling or you shouldn’t pray at all. Ritual is meaningless unless we are emotionally invested in it.

Each of these axioms is overly romantic, ill thought out, anthropologically naïve, and not helpful in sustaining a life of prayer. Prayer is a relationship, a long-term one, and lives by those rules. Relating to anyone long-term has its ups and downs. Nobody can be interesting all the time, sustain high energy all the time, or fully invest himself or herself all time. Never travel with anyone who expects you to be interesting, lively, and emotionally invested all the time. Real life doesn’t work that way. Neither does prayer. What sustains a relationship over the long term is ritual, routine, a regular rhythm that incarnates the commitment.

I wish I could write a book about each of the above misconceptions but let me start simply by saying that prayer is above all about relationship with the Blessed Trinity. Sometimes my friendship with another is deepened only after we have spent a whole day together and other times it is deepened by a short fifteen minute conversation. The same can be said with my relationship with God. There are times in which I enjoy doing new things with friends like taking a trip to somewhere I have never been and there are times in which I enjoy doing the same thing over and over again with friends like play a card game. There is something nice about the Mass in which is it is always the same but yet no two Masses are ever celebrated the same way.

11: The Eucharist as a Vigil, As A Communal Rite of Waiting
We are always waiting. The Eucharist is meant to help us with that. Among other things, it is meant to be a vigil, a coming together to wait for someone or something new to happen to us. We meet Eucharist to wait with each other. The Eucharist is meant to be a vigil.

It is important to remind ourselves that we are waiting for the second coming of our Lord. We do not want to be caught off guard like the foolish virgins in Mathew 25. We also know that the Lord said “like a thief in the night” Mathew 24. It is always easier to keep guard with a partner. As a Church community we get a foretaste of heaven by receiving the Eucharist because God comes to us in this awesome and silent way.

12: The Eucharist As the Priestly Prayer of Christ
One of the things asked of us by adulthood itself, and more especially by our baptism, is that we pray for others. Like the high priests of old, we need to offer up prayer daily for the whole world.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen labeled the part of the Gospel of John where Jesus prays as the Lord’s “My Father.” Fulton Sheen went forth to write: “During the Last Supper Our Blessed Lord used the word “Father” forty-five times. Up until then, the world had only known the Supreme Being as God. He now emphasized that God is a Father, because of His intimate and paternal attitude toward men.” The Eucharist reminds us that our Heavenly Father does listen to us His adoptive Sons and Daughters. At the Eucharist we can offer up the things that matter most to us because we know if they matter to us then they matter to our heavenly Father.

1. Make an Intention
At each and every Mass, we come and join our prayers with the prayers of Jesus. We are encouraged by the Church to offer our time, energy, effort, good and bad feelings to the Lord with a specific request. As a priest I normally offer Mass for the intention of a parishioner who has made a sacrifice (usually monetarily in our Western culture but in other cultures and in the early Church people often brought animals and crops). There are sometimes though that I do not have a specific intention given to me and at those times I will offer the Mass for a deceased relative like my grandmother or for someone I know who is sick or going through some sort of struggle. When you come to Mass take time to think of a specific intention in which to offer Mass for

2. Come to Worship & Not to Be Entertained
I use to think that I had to defend the Mass when people told me that they thought Mass was “boring.” I do not feel that anymore because sometimes the Mass is boring but I do not go to Mass to be entertained but rather to worship God. Worship entails two important things in my mind. The first thing is that it is a way to give thanks to God for all that He has given me. After all the word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving.” The second thing is that I finally realize that spending time with someone is one of the best ways to show that I care for that person. There are many times that I set aside what I want to do in order to spend time with or help family and friends because I know I want to show them my friendship and love. As a Catholic Christian I profess God to be my Father and Jesus my friend so why would I not want to show them my love in a similar way.

3. Read the Reading A Head of Time
Take some time to prepare for Mass by reading the readings a head of time. You can find a copy of the daily readings at http://www.usccb.org/nab/index.shtml. When we take the time to read the readings a head of time we make it easier to connect the readings to each other and to our daily lives. You may try to make a game out of it by trying to figure out what the priest or deacon will preach about before they actually preach.

4. An Attitude of Gratitude
I do not know if there is anything that we can do in a spiritual life that will lead to more spiritual growth than developing an attitude of gratitude. Is it not true that we enjoy spending time with people who treat us well? When we realize how much God loves us than Mass moves from being an obligation to being a great way for us to say thanks to God for all that He has given us.

5. Learn About the Mass
The Mass is one of the greatest gifts God gives us and it is crammed pack with meaning. By taking time to learn more about the Mass we begin to unlock the mysteries behind each word and gesture. Imagine how much more a person who knows the rules of the game of baseball enjoys watching a game of baseball as opposed to someone who does not know the rules or the history of the game.

6. Get to Know Your Fellow Parishioners.
Taking time to introduce yourself to your fellow parishioners can help you grow in your faith in much the same way a young couple grows in knowledge of each other by introducing each other to each of their parents. When we gather at Mass on Sunday we are members of God’s family. The person sitting next to you is not your competition with you for anything; he or she is simply a brother or sister in Christ. Besides don’t we all enjoy hanging out with people we know.

7. Dress Up.
The type of clothing that we wear to Mass can (not always) show us how much we care about what we are doing. For example when we wear a suit and tie to an event we tell people that we consider the situation to be very important. Before you dismiss the benefit of dressing up think about how important clothing is in our society, in the military, in sports, etc.

8. Participate and Don’t Anticipate
Sometimes the best thing we can do is to simple determine in our own mind that we are going to do something to the best of our ability no matter what others think. When we can focus on the present moment and let all other thoughts move out of our mind we cannot help but get more out of whatever we are doing. Take time therefore to sing no matter how bad your singing voice is and respond to the prayers with voices full of confidence. Take the time to consider becoming a server, lector, hospitality minister and/or another ministry.

9. Take time to get to Mass Early and to Stay Late
Take time to prepare oneself for Mass by arriving early and spending a few moments in silent prayer. When we feel rush we might miss something or not be in the best mood to receive all that God wants to offer us. In a like manner don’t be in a hurry to leave. Stay and offer a prayer or talk to your fellow parishioners after Mass. How would you feel if someone came to your house ate and then left without saying thank you.

10. Realized How Blessed We Are To Celebrate Mass
We are extremely blessed in the United States because we have the freedom to choose what faith we are going to be and to attend the church of our choice. Remember always that many of the early Christians were killed for their faith and that there are even Christians today who cannot celebrate their faith openly for fear of persecution.

Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
January 4, 2015
Spiritual Ponderings
Spiritual Randomness

My Spiritual Ponderings this month will be another round of Spiritual Randomness which means I will have a different topic to ponder each week. Today, I would like to reflect on the third part of Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s book: Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist. In the third part of his book Fr. Rolheiser suggest four steps/actions that a person should take in developing a Eucharistic spirituality. Quotes from his book will be in bold.

1. Receive
Moreover, we would have in our lives first and most important virtue of all, the sense that all is gift that nothing is owed us by right.

There is a great difference in people are aware that their life and everything they have is a gift and those who do not see their life as a gift. Here is a story from the book: The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning:
A very learned man who had heard of the rabbi of Berditchev—one of those who boasted of being enlightened—looked him up in order to debate with him as he was in the habit of doing with others, and refuting his old-fashioned proofs for the truth of his faith. When he entered the zaddik’s room, he saw him walking up and down, immersed in ecstatic thought. The rabbi took no notice of his visitor. After a time, however, he stooped gave him a brief glances and said: “But perhaps it is true after all!”
In vain did the learned man try to rally his self-confidence. His knees shook, for the zaddik was terrible to behold and his simple words were terrible to hear. But now the Rabbi Levi Yitzhak turned to him and calmly addressed him: “My son, the great Torah scholars with whom you have debated, wasted their words on you. When you left them you only laughed at what they said. They could not set God and his kingdom on the table before you, and I cannot do this either. But, my son, only think! Perhaps it is true. Perhaps it is true after all!” The enlighten man made the utmost effort to reply, but the terrible “perhaps” beat on his ears again and again and broke down his résistance.
Admitting that we are not in control opens us up to the possibility of miracles. We no longer have to control or explain every moment of our existence but rather we admit that perhaps there is a Great Being that loves us.

Adam and Eve began to take by force, as by right, what was theirs only as gift. The result of that is always shame, a darkened mind, rationalization and the beginnings of a dysfunctional world.

2. Give Thanks
To be a saint is to be motivated by gratitude, nothing more and nothing less. To give thanks, to be properly grateful, is the most primary of all religious attitudes. Proper gratitude is the ultimate virtue. It defines sanctity. Saints, holy persons, are people who are grateful, people who see and receive everything as gift. The converse is also true. Anyone who takes life and love for granted should not ever be confused with a saint.

Doing good for someone who has done good to me makes doing the good not only easier but makes it something that I want to do. Following God’s commands are so much easier when I realize that He has given me so much.

To consider life as tragic is not to live out the Eucharist.

3. Break
But it is on this very point that, perhaps, we struggle the most at Eucharist. What’s wrong at the Eucharist generally is not that we don’t pray and sing, but that we don’t break down. There is too little anguish in our Eucahrists. To become one in heart with each other involves precisely breaking down, anguish, the painful letting go of distrust, selfishness, bitterness, hurt, jealousy and even of shyness. All these things keep us apart and all of these are strongly held and fiercely guarded inside of ourselves. If our Eucahrists do not succeed in breaking down the barriers that separate us from each other, then we have little reason to hope that these barriers will break down in our world. If we cannot succeed at forming community in church, we will not succeed in forming it elsewhere.

The more that I allow myself to realize that I am in a safe place and can offer God not only my positives but also my negatives the more Eucharist means to me. Father Rolheiser in another part of the book writes this:
The Eucharist is such a prayer of helplessness, a prayer for God to give us a unity we cannot give to ourselves. It is not incidental that Jesus instituted it in the hour of his most intense loneliness, when he realized that all the words he had spoken hadn’t been enough and that he had no more words to give. When he felt most helpless, he gave us the prayer of helplessness, the Eucharist.

4. Share
Theologians tell us that God is as much a verb as a noun. God is a trinity of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For Christians this is more than a simple dogma that we are asked to accept, even if we don’t understand it. It is something that invites us to a whole way of life: God is a family, a community of persons sharing life together in such a way that a spirit, and energy of gratitude and joy, flows out of that shared life. We are asked to do the same—to share our lives with one another in such a way that joy and gratitude flow out as an energy that nurtures others.

Jean-Paul Sartre once suggested that community is hell. On a given day, the tensions inherent within community life can certainly make that seem true. However, in our better moments, we all know that the reverse is the truth: alienation and alones are hell; shared life is heaven.

Something so great as the Eucharist makes me want to go forth and share God’s love with the world. This is why the Mass ends so quickly after we receive the Eucharist. Perhaps this is also why Mother Teresa requires her sisters to have a daily holy hour and Mass every day before they go forth and do their work and may be this is why they are able to change the world in the way that they have.

By Julie Rattey
Susan pulled into the church parking lot on Sunday morning, early as usual. The children had just finished their morning Rosary. During Mass, the choir was perfectly on key and the priest’s sermon seemed tailored to Susan’s life. Each moment felt spiritually fulfilling and uplifting. When the service was over, Susan breathed a sigh of contentment. “Ah,” she said, “another perfect Mass.”

It doesn’t take long to realize that this story is fiction. In the Mass we know, someone’s cell phone rings, or someone’s child starts crying in the middle of the eucharistic prayer. Our minds wander, or we get bored. With all the distractions, the imperfections, how can we have a spiritual experience? How can we get any meaning out of Mass? The following tips may help:

20 ways to get more from the Mass

1. Keep the big picture in mind. The Mass is more than the homily, more than the music, more than the prayers, more than any one separate experience. The Mass, along with the other sacraments, is the way we enter into the mystery of our salvation, the dying and rising of Jesus. Some have compared the Eucharist to a blood oath. In the Mass we remember what Jesus did for us, and by eating of his Body and drinking of his Blood, we commit ourselves to live as He did. This is true, whether the music or homilist at any one Mass is inspired or not.

2. Embrace imperfection. When Jesus spoke his Sermon on the Mount, He probably didn’t have perfect conditions. Maybe people couldn’t concentrate on what Jesus was saying because someone else was carrying on a gossipy conversation or eating extremely smelly fish. In the days of Jesus’ ministry, and the days of the early Church, distractions were just as common as they are now. Even the great St. Augustine complained that people gabbed through his homilies. Dwelling on these interruptions and distractions does no good. Inwardly acknowledge the annoyance, take a deep breath, and redirect your focus to the Mass.

3. Sit in a different spot. A new pew might bring a whole new perspective.

4. Ask a saint for help. Read about the saints and their relationship with the Mass. You may find renewed insight into and appreciation for the Mass as a whole, or for its individual parts. Pray to these saints and ask them to help you on your spiritual journey.

5. Do some homework. The more we know about the Mass, the more we can feel a part of it and appreciate it. Obtain a book such as The How-to Book of the Mass (Michael Dubriel, Our Sunday Visitor), which explains the meaning behind different parts of the Mass. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has very rich sections on liturgy, the paschal mystery, and the Mass. Read especially nos. 1066-1209; and 1322-1419.

6. Prepare ahead of time. Read the readings before you go to Mass, asking God to speak to you in them. Gather with friends to read the readings and discuss how you see these Scriptures coming to life in your own lives. Do the same with the prayers of the Mass. Sometimes these prayers go by so quickly that we don’t get much of a chance to know what we are saying “Amen” to. How do they speak to your heart? (Living with Christ is a monthly spiritual companion containing all the Sunday and daily Mass readings and all the prayers of the liturgy: www.livingwithchrist.us.)

7. Attend a different Mass at your parish. Different music, different people, sometimes even a different language might be a refreshing change that brings you new insights and perspectives.

8. Pray and sing with enthusiasm. Just imagine if you were to say, “I love you” to your spouse or your children in a bored voice, looking as though you were going to a funeral or itching to leave the room. Who would believe you?

9. See Jesus in the sign of peace. When you greet someone, remember that you are seeing Christ in that person and offering his peace. Give a warm, friendly handshake. Speak clearly and meaningfully. Don’t break eye contact until you have finished speaking, or rush through a greeting in order to greet someone else.

10. Arrive on time. Easier said than done. But arriving to Mass on time — or better yet, early — helps put you in a calm and prayerful state of being in which you can be receptive to listening to God’s word and to experiencing Mass as part of a community. Give yourself enough time beforehand to write down any to-dos for the day so that you won’t be mentally listing them during Mass.

11. Make a great entrance. If you find yourself arriving at Mass anxious or angry for any reason, take a moment before getting out of the car or entering the building to acknowledge your feelings, take a deep breath, and center yourself. You might say a short prayer like, “Empty my mind, that I may reflect upon your word. Calm my spirit, that I may feel your presence. Open my heart, that I may receive You.”

12. Give with gladness. When we give a friend or family member a present we are sure they will like, we present it with a smile, and with excitement and happiness. The monetary offerings we give at Mass are gifts too. Just as the bread and wine are gifts of the earth and the work of human hands, so the money we give is the work of our lives. Symbolically, the money offering is a way we offer our whole lives to God. Along with the bread and wine, we place our lives on the altar so that we too may be changed, transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ.

13. Get to know people. Getting involved in a church activity can transform a roomful of strangers into a roomful of friends. Don’t have time to sign up? Greet your pastor after Mass, say hello to the people in the pews around you, or compliment the musical director on a particular selection. These are simple ways to initiate contact.

14. Serve at Mass. Participating as a lector, singer or musician, extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, or usher can help give you an entirely new perspective on the Mass.

15. Get to know the Bible. Not just the readings at Mass, but the whole rich word of God. When we explore the historical and cultural context of the readings we hear at Mass and reflect on their meaning in our own lives, we can better understand what we’re hearing at Mass and more thoughtfully apply it to our own situations. The Catholic Study Bible (Oxford) is a great resource. God’s Word Today is a monthly Scripture magazine that explores a book of the Bible or an important biblical theme in each issue, and helps you bring it to your life and prayer (www.godswordtoday.com).

16. Listen. Really listen. Don’t worry about absorbing everything. Just listen for the word or phrase God wants to speak into your heart today. When you find your attention wandering, gently bring yourself back.

17. Imagine Jesus is present, because He is. How would our attitude at Mass change if we were to envision Jesus Himself sitting in one of the pews, or standing at the altar, or proclaiming the readings? How much more would we pay attention? With how much more fervor and emotion would we profess our faith? With how much more joy and adoration would we sing?

18. Pray. The Mass is the source and summit of our lives as Catholics, but it was never meant to carry the entire burden of our spiritual lives. Pray, even if it is just a quick “Thanks be to God” on the way out the door. Before Mass begins, ask God to open your ears to God’s word, your eyes to see God in the parishioners around you, your heart to God’s message, your mouth to joyfully praise God and profess your love.

19. Leave Mass with a mission. In the quiet time after Communion, think about how God has spoken to you this day. What is God calling you to do? How will you be more like Christ this week? By forgiving someone? Asking forgiveness? By reaching out to help someone? By being more patient with your children? By confronting a friend or loved one at risk? By helping someone whom is ill? By smiling and thus lightening the day of someone who you pass on the street? Try not to leave until you’ve committed to at least one small, concrete way to live the Mass.

20. Work for justice. Over the last 100 years, the Church has reinforced the connection between Eucharist and justice. For example, in his letter on the Year of the Eucharist in 2003, Pope John Paul II pleaded with Catholic communities to commit themselves to alleviating poverty and the ills that come with it.

If you wonder by what means you can most please God, the answer is: celebrate the Eucharist. There is no prayer, no meeting, no ceremony that is comparable to the prayer and sacrifice of our Lord on the cross. - Cardinal Van Thuan

1. When we think about being in God's presence the first thing we must realize that it is simply alright to be doing nothing. One of the major aspects of prayer is that is not so much what I am doing that matters but rather what God is doing. If we come with too much of a plan for our holy hour we might not allow God to have His way in time of prayer.

2. Part of prayer is also simply reminding ourselves that our value does not depend on what we are doing or what we are producing or how busy we are but rather are value comes from the fact that we are children of God. Therefore just sitting there in front of the Blessed Sacrament can be of a great value in itself

3. You may try journaling during your time in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Write God a letter and let Him know what is going on in your life.

4. Praing the rosary can be a good prayer for in front of the Blessed Sacrament because it forces you to slow down the hectic pace of your life, quotes Scripture, and focuses your attentions on the Mysteries of Salvation.

5. Reading Scripture can be another good things if you read in a prayerful way and not just race through it. Imagine yourself in the story and ask yourself what is God trying to say to you now.

6. Spiritual reading can also be good if it is done to gain insights into how God is working in your life and not to simply finish the book.

7. Talk to God in your heart or softely outloud. There is no wrong way to pray as long as you are trying to pray and not just simply past time. Who cares what other people may think if they hear you mumbling to yourself as long as you don't share with them in appropriate material and or not disturbing them by talking with an "outside" voice.

8. Sometimes it is important to just ponder the great mystery that the God of the Universe has deemed it necessary out of love for sinful humans to lower Himself to take the form of Bread and Wine so that we could be in His presence but yet still have our free will.