Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom
Here is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Welcome: Each week we come to celebrate Eucharistic. We share the bread and wine and reflect on scripture. This week our readings help us dig deeper into what does it mean to gather at our Eucharistic table.
Let us begin with our peace prayer.
Let us listen to our opening song as our opening prayer
Opening Song: At This Table – Idina Menzel
LITURGY OF THE WORD
1st Reading: A Reading from a selection of The Hours of the Universe by Ilia Delio
We have strayed very far from the early Christian church and the Eucharist, as agape, the significance of a meal as the expression of a shared love, a meal of thanksgiving for the goods of the earth, family and friends. Eucharist is not about “eating Jesus”; Eucharist takes place wherever two or more are gathered in an ineffable depth of love. God dwells quietly within….
Christian liturgy has become a routinized, mechanized pious devotion, an idolatrized form of worship that has depleted the real value of the sacraments. We do not partake of the sacraments “to be saved” by consumption; we partake of them to be free. “God has come to his people and set them free,” according to the words of the Benedictus. The Eucharist is not a meal to be consumed but a meal to be shared and offered to others. “See what you love, become what you see, in the well-known words of Augustine. Eucharist is more of a quantum entanglement of our lives and God’s life, a sacred exchange, so that our lives becomes God’s life and God’s life becomes our lives; this is the only way God can break into the world….
Our narrow provincial religious thinking has suffocated God, squeezing out God’s life from the everyday cracks of the world. Teilhard was acutely aware of this narrow thinking. God is within, he said, at the tip of my pen, in the tiredness I feel, in the silly joke someone told, in my darkest fears, and in my basking in the sun. Our task is to awaken to this deep presence of God, to find our freedom in this God of love, and to help create the world unto the fullness of love. To do so we must have a vital relationship with the living God.
These are the words from Ilia Delio and our community affirms them by saying, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A Reading from the gospel according to John
Jesus said to the crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Temple authorities quarreled among themselves, saying, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Chosen One 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 them on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.
Just as the living Abba God sent me and I have life because of the Abba God, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Our community affirms these words with Amen.
Shared Homily:
There was a poor old man who could only afford soup for lunch each day. He always went to the same restaurant, and every time, he complained about only getting two slices of bread to go with his soup.
So, the restaurant owner gave him three slices, but still he complained. Days later he was up to a half of a loaf. Finally, even a full loaf brought the same complaint. “Not enough bread!” Determined to win at this, the frustrated restaurant owner took a huge 2-foot-long loaf of French bread, sliced it lengthwise and buttered it liberally. The old man asked, “How come you’re back to only two slices of bread again?”
Let’s face it, we are obsessed with food, cooking and cooking shows. We can never get enough; we even have “supersizing” of fast food. A trip to any bookstore will reveal cookbooks representing the ethnic cuisines of cultures around the world. Food is a medium for all sort of emotions. Food is a basic need that has sustained us since birth. I once saw a sign that read, “food is love” and I was incensed because of the inequality of food distribution throughout the world, the inclination for over-eating and dieting. But when I really thought about it, sharing a meal seems to be part of every celebration that we have, whether it be simple or elaborate. Food does present us a way to show our love. Sharing food speaks of loving and caring, giving and sharing, living and growing, and even dying and rising. Is it no wonder that Jesus chose to use this simple vehicle of bread broken to reveal to us his continuing presence? We know that sharing a meal with even acquaintances will change our relationship with them. And Jesus knew that, too.
If someone were to ask you to share your most memorable meal experience, how might you respond? There will be as many answers as there are people gathered here. For some it may be a Scout outing, cooking with friends your 1st meal on an open fire. For some it may be how they were served breakfast in bed by their children or perhaps feeding your newborn for the 1st time. Holidays, feast days, and anniversaries may be on the list, or for some it may be a gathering such as ours this morning, joining together in community and prayer, meeting Jesus in each other, and in the breaking of the bread.
To fully appreciate the significance of our sharing, we may want to consider the importance of the meal in the Hebrew tradition. Food was God’s life-sustaining gift, so sharing food with others was equivalent to sharing God’s life together. Eating together and sharing God’s gift of life created a bond that you would uphold and protect at all costs.
Because the sharing of food was so central, it was readily incorporated into religious rituals. Take for example the Sinai covenant that Israel was privileged to share with God. It was sealed with the sacrifice of an animal, whose blood- or life force - was sprinkled on the altar which symbolized God, and then on the gathered believers. Then they all shared a meal, binding the partners of the covenant together for life. Moses mediated such a covenant in the desert to mark his people’s Passover from slavery in Egypt to freedom. This covenant was celebrated every year with a shared meal that affirmed their union with God and one another.
So, you can see where sharing bread together came from, and how Jesus used his experience with covenants to extend to his disciples and us, this life-giving meal that we share.
I often think of how the church has begun to emphasize the importance of Eucharist particularly in these recent times. They parade it in the streets, they spend hours sitting before it exposed as an object of worship, they preserve it for further adoration. And I think that it is a good thing to pay attention to what we share every Sunday, but not like that. Because it speaks to me of power and who possesses it, it speaks of the preservation of the priesthood and, I think, it is really seen as a noun, sacred but inactive. Rather I see the Bread of life and the sharing of it, as a verb; it is food for the journey, here to strengthen us as we continue to imitate and follow Jesus. We are fed by this meal that makes us who we are—one with Jesus, one with God, and one with each other!
The bread we share only whets our appetite and leaves us hungering for more—more God, more grace, more unity, more justice, more peace. This hunger compels us to work with renewed zeal toward easing the hunger in others. Because we are spiritually fortified by the Word, by the bread and wine, by the God we find within each of our hearts who gather, we are able then to go out and inundate our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools and everyone we meet with the same strength and energy!
More bread indeed!
We encourage you to share your thoughts….
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”
We pray for these, and all the unspoken blessings, cares, and concerns held in the silence of our hearts. AMEN
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
(Eucharistic Prayer by Diarmuid O’Murchu, modified by Kathie & Dennis)
Please join in praying the Eucharistic Prayer
God of life, you nurture and sustain your people.
You bless us with abundance; you gift us with your graciousness;
you know our every need.
In the birthing forth of creation you call us into being.
You gift us with health and wholeness; you sustain our every endeavor.
You feed your hungering people.
You call us to work for justice, to share our table with all creation,
to feed the needy at our door, to see nobody left in need.
For the blessing of your gifts, and the challenge of your call to us,
we lift our voices as we acclaim in song your gracious love:
Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy (MTStreck video)
The table we share is adorned with the gifts of creation,
gifts given for all to share in equality and justice, a table where all are welcome,
and from which nobody is to be excluded, from the greatest even to the least.
We celebrate the open table, proclaimed by Jesus, our brother,
a table of abundant life, inclusive love, and redemptive liberation.
Awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our time of need.
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
In the power of the creative Spirit, Jesus lived life to the full.
We, too, are blessed in the power of that same Spirit, which we now invoke upon all gathered here, to celebrate the transformative energy symbolized in our gifts of bread and wine, given to nourish and sustain us into the fullness of life.
That same bread, Jesus took and broke, to restore the unity of our broken world. Jesus blessed you, then he shared the bread with those at table saying:
Take and eat the Bread of Life for all who hunger for peace and justice.
pause
After the meal, he then raised the cup of blessing poured in a spirit of solidarity and empowerment, spoke the grace, and offered them the wine saying:
Take and drink the Cup of Compassion for a broken world.
pause
We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity.
Receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Compassion with the words: We share the Bread of Life.
Communion song: Become What We Love (St. Clare Prayer) by Carmen Boyle
https://youtu.be/98erkb5g88c?si=UBFKSr_BgRjUlrSu
Post-Communion Prayer
In celebrating this Eucharistic feast, we call to mind that we are nourished throughout the ages; and we look forward in hope to that day when justice will guarantee food for all who hunger for the fullness of life.
With grateful hearts we received the gifts of this table.
May the creative Spirit who energizes these gifts,
activate in our hearts, too, a hunger for that justice
that will guarantee sustenance for every human being.
In the spirit of this celebration, we rejoice and are thankful for all we have received; but we do so in the painful awareness of all who are excluded from the table of God’s abundant life.
Awaken in us a passion for equality and generosity of spirit, that all may be welcomed to the table of abundance. Amen.
Prayer of Jesus
O Holy One, you are within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come, your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits, and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever. Amen. (Sr. Miriam Therese Winter)
Closing Prayer: Written by St. Catherine of Siena, a mystic and Doctor of the Church:
"You, eternal Father, are the table that offers us as food, the Lamb, your only-begotten Son. Jesus is the most exquisite of foods for us both in his teaching, which nourishes us in your will, and in sacrament that we receive in Holy Communion, which feeds and strengthens us. And the Holy Spirit is indeed a waiter for us, who serves us charity for our neighbors. Amen."
BLESSING
Please extend your hands and pray our blessing
May we gather at this table as one with Abba God and all creation.
May our Eucharistic table be always open to all. May we be aware of Presence and know we are each valued and loved. Amen.
Closing Song: Everyday God By Bernadette Farrell
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