Ongoing Formation Session 2

Eucharist as Gift

Opening prayer: Lord, as we come together in a communion of spirit, let us be open to the miracles you perform in our life, especially that you offer us your body and blood during Mass.

Leader: Our formation discussions in 2023-24 will follow Sister Cheryl Clemons’ talks during Associates and Sisters Day, “From Incarnation to Eucharist,” and “Living a Eucharistic Life.” For the Eucharist to have an impact on our lives, we must have a relationship with Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Session 2 will focus on the Eucharist as Gift.

Reader 1: “What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction.”

Saint Augustine 

Reader 2: “In the Eucharist we have Jesus, we have his redemptive sacrifice, we have his resurrection, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have adoration, obedience and love of the Father. Were we to disregard the Eucharist, how could we overcome our own deficiency?”

Saint John Paul II

Leader: A Pew Research study in 2019 showed that 69 percent of self-identified Catholics said they believed that the bread and wine used at Mass are not Jesus, but instead “symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” American bishops have embarked on a three-year National Eucharistic Revival to share with us the true presence of Jesus in the bread and wine. During Covid, when many of us were restricted from attending Mass, we learned what it was like to not have access to the Eucharist.

Please discuss the following questions in your group.

  1. What does the Eucharist mean to you?
  2. Have your feelings about the Eucharist changed since you’ve regained full access to Communion?

Leader: In a 2017 Advent retreat titled “Eucharist and Mercy” at the Mount Saint Joseph Retreat Center, the Diocese of Owensboro’s Bishop William Medley spoke of the power of joining together as a family around a dinner table just as we talk of the powerful presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He said the disciples felt the real presence of Jesus.

Reader 3: “Is it any wonder that the stories of Jesus involved eating and drinking at the table? There’s something about the family table that provides a sense of tradition, community and history. … The main point Jesus wanted to make at the Last Supper was, ‘When you eat this, think of me.’”

Bishop William Medley

Reader 4: “When the bee has gathered the dew of heaven and the earth’s sweetest nectar from the flowers, it turns it into honey, then hastens to its hive. In the same way, the priest, having taken from the altar the Son of God (who is as the dew from heaven, and true son of Mary, flower of our humanity), gives him to you as delicious food.”

Saint Francis de Sales 

Leader: The belief in Transubstantiation – that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ during the consecration at Mass – requires faith in Catholic teaching. Bishop Medley spoke of how the closeness present when gathering for a meal changes us, when we are in communion with each other. Please discuss the following questions in your group:

  1. Do you have a memorable experience with the Eucharist?
  2. Does taking the Eucharist during Communion make you feel that you are a part of the family of Jesus?

Leader: Saint Angela doesn’t say much about the Eucharist, but she strongly advocated that her daughters go to Mass often. She became a Third Order Franciscan so she could receive the Eucharist more frequently.

Reader 5: “Each one should go to Mass every day, and hear at least one entirely, and attend it with modesty and devotion. For in the holy Mass are to be found afresh all the merits of the Passion of our Lord. And the greater the attention, faith and contrition one brings to it, the deeper is one’s participation in these blessed merits and the greater the consolation one receives. Indeed, this will be a communion in spirit.”

Saint Angela Merici, Chapter 6 of her Rule

Reader 6: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Reader 7: “If we paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude.”

Saint Angela of Foligno

Leader: Consider these questions in your group:

  1. How does Saint Angela’s devotion to the Eucharist encourage you?
  2. How does consuming the Eucharist change you?

Closing prayer: Lord, let us take with us the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, who said, “That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for our salvation.” Amen.