- In all that you read from this encyclical and the instructor’s commentary, what did you find most helpful?
- What did you find most challenging? Why?
- Choose one of the seven gifts we receive from the Eucharist and explain what it means in everyday, ordinary life. Clue: how has the gift helped you?
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October 23rd, 2005 at 3:10 pm
In all that I read from this encyclical and the instructor’s comentary, I found most helpful learning the almost science fiction like concept of time in regards to the Euchrist. That I am taken back to the Last supper, the cross, and the resurrection in time as I share Jesus Christ in a tangible way as I eat his body that looks like bread and drink his blood that taste like wine I am with the apostles around that table, I am at the foot of the cross first hand during his agony with Mary his mother and John his beloved apostle, I am at the tomb to see the resurrected Christ, but I am also sharing the experience with the blessed Mary, alll the angels and Saints including John Paul who wrote this and also am connected with every person in the world partaking in Euchrist everywhere, especially all at my parish all of them. This connectedness with all the above and myself is also united with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I never realized how connected to all I am all people all of creation. How big this is. I am awed and amazed.
What I find most challenging is the fact that ordination gives priest a special position to act in Jesus place even when they are the most sinful of all. It seems that I must be without sin to receive Euchrist worthily but the priest can be very unworthy and still speak the words of consecration and this supernatural changing of bread and wine to body blood soul and divinity can still come through the priest.
Receiving from the Euchrist the foretaste of the fullness of joy that I will receive at the fullness of time which includes getting my own glorified, resurrrected body. A foretaste of eternal life I will receive in heaven. Praise God, as long as I feed on Jesus Christ, fully aware I am receiving Jesus, knowing in all my being that I want to be united with him, Oh I do, I really do, I already posses eternal life, because the Eucharist is the first-fruits of heaven. Somehow I am connected in a real way to heaven I cannot explan but somehow what I received in the Euchrist, it was not only my daily bread, but also part of my future in heaven.
March 6th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
After taking the course on the Rosary, I was glad to discover the connection never ends,the teachings are like stories that inter-twine with the Bible, the Rosary and the Mass. Being a convert, I thought my mis-understanding came from a place of ignorence, not true, so many [too many] of us either never knew the essence of the Eucharist or have long forgotten. God has given us an opportunity to stay connected as his choosen people with him and each other, I am so sorry the stife of this world has put up barriers-we have put up barriers and there was a time last year when I became overwhelmed and felt like we might not make it into the kingdom as a whole, a gift of “eternal hope” was begotten by the Holy Spirit and I thank him for it every day.
My challenges come from my lack of knowlege of the Catholic faith, the “little” things that werem’t explained when I converted.
The gift of a Pure Love first from Christ to the Father and then us, is so immense-I love trying to take it all in.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
The most helpful idea in my spiritual awareness is the realize that when we join in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist here on earth, we are uniting heaven and earth, and we ourselves get a glimpse of our life in heaven. It was very important to remember once again that I become one with Christ when I receive Him in faith and I say “Amen” with a believing heart. I truly wish I never miss any opportunity to experience this union with God and the entire Church. I also have to remember that every single person who worships with me is Jesus himself calling me to love without judgement and conditions. What a great vision of oneness when I reflect on His sacrificial love for all humankind and how He makes Himself one with us in the eucharistic bread!
The most challenging thought is the fear of ever doubting that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. I know it is true, but when my sinful blindness kicks in, I have to work really hard to just let my faith believe it, even if I don’t understand it.
When I feel down and weak, I know that by receiving the Holy Eucharist I will receive the strength of the Holy Spirit to come back to a life of holiness, to help the establishment of the kingdom of God here on earth, to become a beacon of light in the midst of darkness, to bring others to the presence of God; all this is only achieved when I allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to act through my life and use me as an instrument of love. This strength can only come into my life when I cling to the power of the heavenly food, God present in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
November 11th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I have found helpful the point which explains the continuity of the Lord’s sacrifice through the eucharist.This gives the HolyMass meaning as it brings us close to Jesus. Therefore, the continuity of the sacrifice susiains our hope for His coming and eternity.
What challanged me most is the idea that when concecrated, the bread and wine change into flesh and blood of Jesus. This is so because unlike other parts of the document which are logically understood by reason, this part demands faith for one to understand it. However, using the knowledge in the above paragraph, it becomes clear that by repeating the Lord’s words,as commanded by Him, the change is possible.
Gift number seven means that whenever we recieve the Eucharist, we recieve Christ. Therefore we are required to live like Him. We must love and serve others like Him.This gift is helpful to me because it is a centre of my vision– the vision to serve God and hummanity. Therefore the more I recieve the eucharist, the more I renew my vision, the more the more I gather the strength to walk.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Where does one start to explain what I found most helpful from this encyclical and the instructor’s commentary? I am a cradle Catholic, and for the past year have been taking part in weekly Eucharistic Adoration, and feel I have received profound graces during this time. During this time my search for answers led me to this course. This encyclical reminds me that Jesus is present in all around me, that He is truly present in the bread and wine, always available for us, inviting us to become one with Him. It is all right not to fully comprehend this mystery, it is a blessing to have the gift of faith to believe He loves us enough to be present in the Eucharist. In paragraph 15 quote from Saint Cyril of Jerusalem states: “in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are His body and His blood; faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise”.
What I find most challenging is Jesus offering Himself for me - a sinner - and being available for me every day in this wonderful gift.
We receive the nourishment of Christ - food for what we need to be like Him in everyday life - this is such an affirmation for me. The challenge of being sinful, I wonder if I can ever be a mere portion of the person He is, but, through the gift of Eucharist He comforts me, teaching me that through Him all is possible.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I have found the encyclical letter to be very beneficial to me as I am learning about the Catholic faith. I am reminded of Jesus’ presence in every circumstance and every part of creation. His presence is a great mystery, just as the presence of the Holy Spirit astounds me. I do not understand how He comes into my heart (and everyone elses0, but I know it to be true. I find the mystery of transubstantiation to be most challenging for me to comprehend. I know I don’t have to understand fully yet and I am okay with that. Through the gift of the Eucharist (communion) I find comfort for my daily struggles, I find rest for my soul.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:09 am
The thing that I find most helpful is the realization of the profound meaning of “communion”. Since the beginning of time, our Triune God is in communion with one another. Their love for each other is a complete exchange of love and mutual inter-penetration. Through this love, creation came into existence and mankind is created in the image and likeness of God. Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death resulted from sin, therefore everyone dies, because everyone has sinned. But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that the Messiah died for us while we were still sinners (Rom 5:12, 8). For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (1 Cor.15: 21-22). Jesus holy sacrifice - His passion, death and resurrection - saved all of creation to return to its Creator. Through partaking of the Eucharist, we are once again united with God, the Catholic Church, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Communion of Saints in heaven. We are empowered and become His living body through, with and in Jesus.
Like the Apostles, even after journeying with Jesus for three and half years, it is still not easy to grasp the full meaning of the words spoke by the Messiah. I have been commissioned a Parish Sunday Catechism Formator for 20 years. Even though by faith and consciously aware that “sharing in the body and blood of Christ leads to no other end than that of transforming me into that which I receive”, it is a daily challenge to live the Gospel serving the Person and society.
The very first sentence of this encyclical ‘Ecclesia de Eucharistia’ says it all: The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. I firmly believe when I receive the Eucharist, Jesus not only cleanse my sins but also empower and transform me to be a better person everyday. I used to be a self-righteous person, always pointing the problems at others and expect them to change – you need to, you have to, you ought to. Over the last 7 years, I have rediscovered the Spirit of Christ within me. I am now living in the constant state of awareness to be more loving, understanding, accepting people as who they are, make time to listen to the lonely like the “troubled teens” and the elderly. In short, as I receive Christ’s Spirit in the Eucharist, I also strive to live and reflect His image to others.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
The discussion about the “real” presence and transubstantiation was very helpful. I think that it is true that many Catholics do not understand or maybe more accurately don’t appreciate that we are receiving the body and blood of Christ during Communion. I have found that the concept of transubstantiation can be extremely confusing and difficult to follow. What I took from this lesson is that transubstantiation describes what happens during the consecration, it doesn’t claim to tell us how that happens. We have to accept that the change that occurs is done by the Holy Spirit. The way we know that it in fact this change does happen is because we have Jesus’ word that the bread and wine are his body and blood. I really also liked the instructor’s example of the words printed on the page as a way to explain the difference between form and substance.
What I am struggling with is how exactly do I join into this redemptive sacrifice through the Eucharist? What am I bringing to the sacrifice? What am I offering to the father? How do I unite what is going on in my life to what happened at Calvary? It seems to me that this is the core of what one can experience on a personal level at Mass. If we bring our troubles, worries, pain, hopes, and joys with us to Mass and spiritually bring them to the Cross we don’t carry them by ourselves anymore. I know that Mass is not a personal celebration, but I think that we do need to bring something of, if not our entire selves, to Mass. I guess that I am looking for an answer to those people that say they “don’t get anything out of the Mass”. I personally hate hearing that statement, but I am not sure of a good argument to counter it.
The gift that has helped me the most is the gift of our daily bread, the nourishment that helps us to become more and more Christ like. I think that people are drawn to the Eucharist even if they don’t fully appreciate the gift they are receiving. I believe that in receiving Christ even without fully understanding it helps us to stay close to Him until we can gain a deeper understanding.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I have found most helpful Pope John Paul II’s insistence on the primacy and power of this Sacrament of sacraments! Without any of the “ambiguity and depreciation” he says are intolerable, he invites us to be constantly amazed as we contemplate the face of Christ ever present in the Eucharist.
The most challenging thing is to acknowledge that I, on my own, am incapable of being as amazed as I should be; this spiritual awe is really a gift of grace. We can rouse ourselves to a deeper reverence and read ourselves to a fuller understanding, but to be touched to the core of our being and glimpse beneath the veil, as it were, to truly encounter the living Christ we know to be present, is a gift from Him alone. To fully acknowledge that, in my fallen state, I am blind and deaf and dumb and yet to desire deeply to come face to Face with Jesus Christ in this Sacrament and be changed by Him is my own personal challenge.
Still, I come as often as possible to this celebration, knowing that it is in the Mass (and at adoration) that I “plug into” the Source and am filled with all I need to do what I must do. It is there that I gaze on Christ and receive a kind of “Divine transfusion” so that I can, in some small way, reflect His love to others. This repeated encounter has allowed me to WANT to live the words of St Paul: It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me. My request that He dwell more and more fully in me, more and more deeply, that He transform me completely - all the way to my very core, the center of my center - so that I am more completely what I am created to be, has indeed changed me. And at every Eucharist, I learn to become more fully one with Him, for others.
January 17th, 2010 at 7:49 am
As someone new in understanding the Catholic Faith, I now realize that God has given us an opportunity to stay in touch with Him forever. At the Last Supper the Lord Himself used bread and wine. The priests do at Mass today is what the Lord commanded when at the Last Supper. Priests always change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ; and it is this changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ that constitutes the offering of the Sacrifice of the Cross in the Mass. Had He not intended that the People of God would one day offer that Sacrifice along with Himself, He would not have held that Last Supper with His apostles. For His purpose in holding that last Supper with His apostles was to institute the Sacrifice of the Mass, that is, to give priests the power to offer with Himself His own Sacrifice of the Cross. Through His priests He planned to associate with Himself the entire People of God till the end of time. When I meditate on just how He arranged all this, I cannot but marvel at the Sacrifice and at how He chose bread and wine as the instruments with which to institute this Sacrifice. We do need faith to understand and accept this Sacrifice, that Jesus is present in the Bread and Wine and that he is with us at all times. We also need Faith to accept that the Lord is God; He is the Creator of all things and He can do what he wishes. It is a challenge to bring it all together; it is a gradual process, I believe.
The challenging aspect for me is that the priests and bishops have been given the privilege by ordination to offer the actual Sacrifice which Christ offered on the Cross of Calvary for the sins of the world and we later discover some of them have been engaged in sins and criminal behaviour. It can create doubt and uncertainty with regard to their sincerity in participating.
The nourishment of Christ in the Eucharist is a gift. We see it as a opportunity to love, respect and serve others; treat others as you would like to be treated. People may see Christ in us; this may help to empower change in them to follow suit. We also gather strength and fulfillment as we go forth and do good.
February 11th, 2010 at 7:19 am
1. Spiritual awareness- The Church (consecrated peolpe and all the lay faithful) draw life form the Eucharist, so when we celebrate the holy Eucharist here on earth, we are uniting heaven and earth and we get a glimpse of how our life will be in heaven. When we partake of holy communion , we enter into Christ’s embrace and permeate of all creation.
2. a) It is only an ordained priest who can consecrate the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of ordination gives the priest a supernatural moment giving him power to act like Jesus did on Holy Thursday.
b) To understand this nature of “transubstantiation”, which is beyond human understanding, we must be guided by our believe and faith. Unless we are guided by strong faith, we are bound to doubt that Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist because we see natural elements of bread and wine instead of real flesh and real blood.
3. Receiving the Eucharist nourishes us with the strength of the Holy Spirit and at the same time we enter into Christ’s embrace of all creation. So when we say “Amen” when receiving the holy communion, we receive “a new me”. We are brought to the life of holiness, we become a beacon of light in the middle of darkness, we are transfigured in our hearts and transformed physically so that whoever sees us sees Christ in us. But do we Faithful Christians live by this!
March 8th, 2010 at 8:25 am
1. What I found most helpful was a better understanding of the importance of the Eucharist. I already know its importance and value but knowing more has given me an extra boost in the knowledge of God’s love for us. When the Pope mentioned that he was in the Upper Room to celebrate the Eucharist, it brought me back to the time I made the visit there in 2008 and I could imagine all that was happening there. What an awesome feeling!! I never connected that the Mass is the Holy Hour which we spend with Jesus just like when he asked his disciples to spend an hour praying with Him.
2. The greatest challenge is to see Jesus in everyone, especially those who have hurt us or done things to others that really is not Christ like. My humanness blinds me as I pass judgement on fellow Catholics whom I think have fallen short of being Christ like without realizing that I too have fallen short by passing judgement on them.
The other greatest challenge is to try to make others see the importance of the Eucharist – especially children in the choir I am attached to. Kids (and adults too) naturally love to talk/laugh when they are together and this is done at Mass too and I have a “tough” task to make them understand that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament the minute they enter the church. The noise level rises before and after Mass – there is also some talking during Mass. Sometimes, even the handphone goes off.
In my younger days, I didn’t realize the importance of the Eucharist until about 6 years ago when our Parish Priest emphasized it during his talks and even during the Mass itself. He celebrated a 4-hour Mass to explain the various parts of the Mass, why we do certain things and how we can relate the Mass as our thanksgiving and offering up of ourselves. It was most nourishing to learn all these things.
3. Receiving the Eucharist has given me hope in times of despair. I will never forget the time when I was hurting so badly that I felt my heart was broken – a void was present. During the Eucharistic celebration, I prayed that after receiving the Eucharist, I would feel better. The Lord never failed and after Communion, I felt the void being patched up like a load of cement/glue was poured into the void to prevent it from leaking. Although I could still feel some leaking – as I couldn’t let go, the immediate feeling that 99% was filled up gave me so much hope. I must say that void has been totally filled now. Many a time when I was down or felt tired or stressed with home or office, I always sought consolation in the Body and Blood of Christ because I know He never fails. I have this renewed strength and vigour and always feel so much better after the Eucharist. Even when I am sick, I look forward to receiving Christ as I feel, that is the only way I can begin to feel better. Praise the Lord for this wonderful gift He has given us.
June 27th, 2010 at 10:15 am
1. That partaking of the Holy Eucharist is our closest union to God here on earth. Participating in Mass brings heaven and earth together to celebrate this Most Holy sacrifice, with all the angels and saints and the most Blessed Virgin Mary being present.
2. I find the statement “Those who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life: they already possess it on earth, as the first-fruits of a futere fullness which will embrace man in his totality”. I feel as a sinner, that I am so unworthy of this infinite love Our Lord gives us. That as much as I want to live with Him in heaven for all eternity, that I could possibly be worthy.
3. The gift of Holy Eucharist brings me strength to be more Christ-like. To follow in His footsteps loving all people the way He does. The feeling of Him being inside of me is indescribable, closenss, oneness, forgiveness and a total awe of how much God loves me.