Eucharist: Source and Summit of our Lives
Eucharist: The Basic Spirituality
Introduction
SEARCHING FOR SPIRITUALITY
We live in very challenging times! Many are searching for a spirituality to suit their twenty-first-century needs and many young people have joined this search. However, I fear too few are engaged in a serious search. My hope is that this book will assist the serious searchers to find their spirituality in the Eucharist.
What do I mean by ‘spirituality’? By ‘spirituality’ I mean a set of beliefs and practices that put us in touch with the sacred other world that is bigger than ourselves, that develops within us a wholeness, that moves us toward a maturity of mind and spirit, and that motivates us to help others, especially the less fortunate.
Read the full text of the book by FRANK O’DEA SSS, a member of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
SEARCHING FOR SPIRITUALITY
We live in very challenging times! Many are searching for a spirituality to suit their twenty-first-century needs and many young people have joined this search. However, I fear too few are engaged in a serious search. My hope is that this book will assist the serious searchers to find their spirituality in the Eucharist.
What do I mean by ‘spirituality’? By ‘spirituality’ I mean a set of beliefs and practices that put us in touch with the sacred other world that is bigger than ourselves, that develops within us a wholeness, that moves us toward a maturity of mind and spirit, and that motivates us to help others, especially the less fortunate.
Read the full text of the book by FRANK O’DEA SSS, a member of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
Bishop Barron's Six-Part Video Series: The Mass
Bishop Barron’s six-part video series The Mass is now streaming online for free for a limited time!
Walk through the Mass with Bishop Barron and be transformed though insights on this most privileged and intimate encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ.
See how the Mass brings us out of the fallen world and into the heavenly realm; how it revolves around a call from God and a response from his people, the Church; and most importantly, how we are intimately joined with the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus through the Holy Eucharist. Click the button below to start watching or go to https://videos.wordonfire.org/themassepisode1. |
The Eucharist: At the Center of Catholic Life
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C21 Resources, Fall 2011
Read the issue in pdf or click on the image to the left. C21 Resources is a compilation of critical analyses and essays on key challenges facing the Catholic Church today. Each issue features original and reprinted articles around a particular theme. |
The Eucharist as a Call to Justice
When the famous historian Christopher Dawson decided to become a 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, in church at least, his aristocratic background would no longer set him apart from others or above anyone. At church he would be just an equal among equals because the Eucharist would strip him of his higher social status.
She intuited correctly. The Eucharist, among other things, calls us to justice, to disregard the distinction between rich and poor, noble and peasant, aristocrat and servant, both around the Eucharist table itself and afterwards outside of the church. The Eucharist fulfills what Mary prophesized when she was pregnant with Jesus, namely, that, in Jesus, the mighty would be brought down and that lowly would be raised up. It was this very thing that first drew Dorothy Day to Christianity. She noticed that, at the Eucharist, the rich and the poor knelt side by side, all equal at that moment. |
The Eucharist Is Justice
by Daniel Philpott
Learning that only one-third of American Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the body of Christ, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church” this past November. Even devout and knowledgeable American Catholics, though, may be surprised by what the bishops spend nine sections explaining—that the Eucharist animates work for justice.
After the bishops recount that the Eucharist is an act of worship and thanksgiving (what American Catholics will find most familiar) they teach that people conformed to the Eucharist “[reach] out to every sphere of Christian life” and “[reshape] the life of our society.” Such people love the poor in particular, in whom, like Mother Theresa, they find Christ. Tightening the bishops’ insight will be the yet more surprising claim that the Eucharist is not simply strength, inspiration, or instruction for justice; rather, the Eucharist is justice. |
From Mass to Mission:
Understanding the Mass and Its Significance for Our Christian Life
Every Sunday, Catholics gather together to attend Mass in memory of Jesus. At Mass we give God our thanksgiving, praise, and worship. We hear his Word and receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Participating at Mass is the most important thing Catholics do each week, for it is at Mass that we are changed, becoming what we have received in the Eucharist. The Mass charges us with an important mission—to be Christ in a world that is broken and in need of healing.
This five part series for adults, teens and children explores the parts of the Mass in a deeper way, helping you to better appreciate the meaning of the prayers, responses, acclamations, gestures, signs, and symbols. From Mass to Mission will inspire you to be more actively and consciously involved in the Mass and in the world as Christ’s disciples.
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Eucharist: What We Believe and How We Receive
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Sacraments 101: Eucharist (how we receive)
BustedHalo.com's fantastic introduction to the Sacraments series. |
Sacraments 201: Eucharist (what we believe)
BustedHalo.com's introduction to the Sacraments series continues as Fr. Steven Bell, CSP, answers more questions about what Catholics believe about the Eucharist and receiving Communion: How does the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ? Is Communion a reenactment of the last supper? Should you not receive Communion if you have sinned? Why can't non-Catholics receive Communion in the Church? These questions and more are answered in this edition of "Sacraments 201," a web video series geared for those who'd like an introduction or refresher course on these important, tangible Catholic experiences of God. |
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Click on the images for the Order of the Mass for Adults or for Children.
Also available in Spanish. |