What Is Your Source?
The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of Christian belief. Celebrating the Sacraments is an important part of Catholic worship and the Eucharist is known to be a source of spiritual energy and strength. Catholics believe that through the Eucharistic Prayer of the priest, the power of the Holy Spirit changes bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.
Pew Survey
A recent U.S. study revealed that almost 70% of American Catholics don’t believe this, and that the bread and wine are only symbolic. As a result, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops planned a three-year project to rekindle a deeper appreciation and understanding of the Eucharist. The project ended this summer on Sunday, July 21st in Indianapolis with the 10th National Eucharistic Congress. For five days, over 50,000 pilgrims attended talks, confession, Masses and nightly Eucharist adoration. It closed with a call for renewal for the faithful, the church and ultimately the world. How can we achieve this renewal? We can find many answers in scripture. The Readings for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time offer us a place to begin.
The Letters of Paul
St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians (4:30-5:2) to “be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ”. Jesus said (John 6:41-51) “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
My Thoughts...
I believe that by regularly receiving the Eucharist and spending time in Eucharist Adoration, a transformation can begin to take place. Renewal can happen when we look for peaceful solutions and reconcile with others. We can begin to live in harmony when we learn about our cultural and religious differences and accept each other as images of God. Through respect and tolerance, we can create an environment of freedom. May Jesus Christ be your source for living and pray that we can one day live in unity as children of God’s great family.