Hello, and welcome to the
Tiber River Café. My name is Dean
Humphreys, and today’s two minute topic is the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the
second part of the Catholic Mass.
Catholics come together weekly at our local parish church as
a faith community. We talk to God with
our prayers and petitions. We then
listen to God talk to us, we listen to God’s word proclaimed to us in the Bible
readings. We then come to the table,
which is the altar, to share the bread and wine, which is the Eucharist, the
body and blood of Jesus.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist
is the high point of the Mass.
Everything in the Mass is ultimately directed towards the Eucharist; our
prayers, the scriptural readings, everything is in anticipation of the
Eucharist. During the Liturgy of the
Eucharist we remember that Jesus took bread and wine, he gave thanks, he broke
the bread, and then he gave the bread to his disciples, and said, ‘take and
eat, this is my body; take and drink, this is my blood.’ This is the Supper of the Lord, this is the
celebration of the Eucharist, and we are invited to sit at the table.
Just like Jesus promised us,
the bread has truly become his flesh and the wine has truly become his blood.
The bread and wine are now fully the body, blood, soul and divinity of
Jesus. And as Jesus instructed us we are
to eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life. We have been nourished and transformed by the
Body and Blood of Jesus, and now we are to live a Christian life, to spread the
Gospel message with our words and actions.
In the Book of Acts we read
how the early Church devoted themselves to the Apostle’s instructions and the
communal life, to the breaking of the bread which is the Eucharist, and to the
prayers. And 2000 years later we
continue this tradition when we gather each Sunday at Mass.
Well, thanks again for stopping by the Tiber River Café,
where there is always plenty of room at the banquet table. I hope to see you next time. Peace be with you.
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