To the Eucharist
If the Church of
Pittsburgh is going
to grow, and if we
are going to be
excited about our
faith, we must, in
every act of our
faith, appreciate
the greatest gift of
God to us—Christ
in the Eucharist.
–Bishop Zubik,
The Church Alive! (17)
Follow our Shepherd, Bishop Zubik on this
ten minute retreat and reflect on the great
gift of the Eucharist as we cultivate
the Church Alive!
Progress through
the slides and
meditate on the
images, words,
and prayers
offered….
Pray with us now,
Father in heaven, you have made us for yourself;
our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Fulfill this longing through Jesus,
the bread of life,
so that we may witness to him who alone
satisfies the hungers of the human family.
By the power of your Spirit lead us to the
heavenly table where we may feast on the
vision of your glory for ever and ever. Amen.
“As Catholics, .
we have come to understand
.
the great gift which Jesus Christ
instituted as a means for us .
to abide in the life of God— .
the Holy Eucharist.” .
Bishop David A. Zubik,
The Church Alive! (17)
“Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist,
and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.”
~St. Irenaeus
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink
his blood, you do not have life
within you.
Whoever eats my flesh
and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise
him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.”
John, Chapter 6. Verses 53-55
Why does Jesus choose to become so helpless, to
come in the appearance of
Not only because man hungers and thirsts for God.
Rather, God desires man first.
These two desires
—one divine, one human—
meet in the Eucharist.
“When we consume the Eucharist,
we are drawn into
a love that transcends time.
Eternity is that boundless fountain of love, the
Father and the Son united and overflowing in
their Holy Spirit of love:
a love that is ever young, that does not fail,
that does not weary, that does not betray,
that does not fall prey to death…
…This is the faithful love that
we hunger and thirst for.
This is the love made really
present in the Eucharist.
The sacrificial love of Jesus has
somehow, mysteriously,
always been there….
Before ever molecular cloud collapsed into
flame in the first stars, there was Love, open
to us without defense, without reserve.
True love is the fabric of the universe,
our hearts’ deepest desire:
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever.”
The Fountain of Love: How Parents Form Children for Prayerful
Participation in the Eucharist by J. David Franks, PhD, and Angela Franks, PhD
“The liturgy is the summit
toward which the activity of the
Church is directed; it is also the
font from which all her power
flows.” Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10
Sharing the Body and Blood
“When we talk about sharing—a divine activity that
is an action of Jesus Himself and of His Body, the
Church—we are not being simply sentimental.
Real sharing is that glimpse of
the divine love that exists from our
Creator and through His Son,
the Word made Flesh in our Church,
in our lives and in our world.
People are God’s tender mercy in our lives, our
chance to live out—and experience—His sharing.”
–Bishop Zubik, The Church Sharing! (32)
By the Eucharistic celebration,
we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy
and anticipate eternal life,
when God will be all in all…
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1326
The Prayers of the Mass
Do This In Memory Of Me
On the day before he was to suffer
he took bread in his holy and venerable hands,
and with eyes raised to heaven to you,
O God, his almighty Father,
giving you thanks he said the blessing,
broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take this, all of you, and eat of it:
for this is my Body which will be given up for you.
In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took this
precious chalice in his holy and venerable hands,
and once more giving you thanks, he said the blessing
and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying:
Take this, all of you, and drink from it:
for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal
covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the
forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.
Eucharistic Prayer I (The Institutional Narrative), Roman Canon
Our Hearts Are Restless
Of all things Catholic,
there is nothing that is so familiar as the Mass.
With its unchanging prayers,
the Mass fits Catholics like
their favorite clothes.
Yet some Catholics sitting in the pews
on Sundays miss this—unable to see
the powerful supernatural drama that enfolds them.
Blessed John Paul II described the Mass as
"Heaven on Earth," explaining that what
"we celebrate on Earth is a mysterious
participation in the heavenly liturgy."
So they devoted themselves…
…to the Apostle’s teaching and fellowship,
to the breaking of the bread and the prayers…
day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their
homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts. ~Acts 2:42, 46
Ours is the Spirit of the
Eucharist,
the total Gift of Self.
- St. Katharine Drexel
Do you need a break from life’s
daily grind?
Turn to Jesus in The Anima Christi (Latin for “Soul of Christ”),
a prayer inviting us to ask our Lord for comfort, strength,
and guidance. It offers us a chance to meditate on His Passion
and pray for His help to gain Eternal Life.
The Anima Christi is profoundly Christ-centered.
Inviting God into the most inimate moments of Holy Communion….
Is there any wonder that it is often
recited after communion?
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O Good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy wounds hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from thee.
From the malignant enemy defend me.
In the hour of my death call me.
And bid me come unto Thee,
That with all Thy saints,
I may praise thee forever and ever. Amen.
“Faith has nurtured us in prayer and given us the gift
of Jesus in the Eucharist. Faith hasn't gone
away. In a world where everything seems to be
torn down, built back up, then torn down again,
faith is always there. Our world changes every day.
But God never changes. The pilgrimage
of life may take us to some strange lands. But we
must never be strangers to the Lord. Our faith
is our home.”
Bishop David A. Zubik,
Bridging the Gap, November 2011
The Church and the world have great
need for Eucharistic worship.
Jesus awaits us in this Sacrament of love.
Let us not refuse the time to go meet
Him in adoration, in contemplation full
of faith and open to making amends for
serious offenses and crimes of the
world.
Let our adoration never cease.”
~Blessed John Paul II
“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness;
He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you;
He is the beauty to which you are so attracted;
it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness
that will not let you settle for compromise;
it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life;
it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices,
the choices that others try to stifle. ~Blessed John Paul II
All of our loves are unrequited until they are
found within the life of God.
How long
will his love
for us go
unrequited?
Many parishes in the
Diocese of Pittsburgh
offer Adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament.
Make a visit and sit with
the Lord.
Just as you are.