Dear Friends,
Together with my fellow parishioners at Sts. Philip and James Church, I just finished a three-part session on “Love Beyond All Telling: The Meaning of the Eucharist in Our Lives”. The sessions were presented by Dr. Tom Petriano, a professor of Religious Studies at St. Joseph University in New York.
Some of the topics included were ‘The Eucharist as a Food for the Journey’, ‘The Eucharistic as Sacrifice’, ‘The Eucharist as the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving’, and ‘The Eucharist as the Real Presence of Christ’.
On the last evening, Dr. Petriano shared the following prayer with us, a portion of which I would like to share with you in turn. If there is anything I have learned, it is that we need to be Eucharist for others. I think you will find a lot to reflect on.
The Eucharist, by R. Voight
He was old, tired, and sweaty,
pushing his homemade cart
down the alley, stopping now and then
to poke around in somebody's garbage.
I wanted to tell him about EUCHARIST
But the look in his eyes,
the despair on his face,
the hopelessness
of somebody else’s life in his cart,
Told me to forget it.
So I smiled, said “Hi” – and gave him EUCHARIST.
Downtown is nice,
Lights change from red lo green, and back again,
Flashing blues, pinks and oranges.
I gulped them in,
Said, "Thank you Father," and made them EUCHARIST.
I laughed at myself, and told myself,
You, with all your sin,
and all your selfishness,
I forgive you,
I accept you,
I love you.'
It's nice and so necessary to give yourself EUCHARIST.
My Father' When will we learn - you cannot talk EUCHARIST
You cannot philosophize about it - YOU DO IT.
You don't dogmatize EUCHARIST.
Sometimes you laugh it, sometimes you cry it, often you sing it.
Sometimes it's wild peace, then crying hurt, often humiliating, never deserved.
You see EUCHARIST in another's eyes,
give it in another's hand held tight, squeeze it in an embrace.
You pause EUCHARIST in the middle of a busy day,
speak it in another's ear, listen to it from a person who wants to talk.
For EUCHARIST is as simple as being on time
and as profound as sympathy
I give you my supper, I give you my sustenance,
I give you my life, I give you me,
I give you EUCHARIST
Beautiful! During the rest of this week, why not try your hand at being EUCHARIST for others?
Take the time to jot down how you may have been EUCHARIST, and then thank God and share your stories with others. That’s the EUCHARISTIC community!
Till next week,
Sister Theresita
PS: I would love to hear how some of you have been EUCHARIST to others, if you would like to share it with me. Ee could write our own litany!
