Parish Focus on the Eucharist

Eucharistic theme for this Lent

EUCHARIST: Covenant, Conversion, Commitment
We might easily agree that Lent is not just about giving up things. But do we sense the depth to which we are called? The fact that we can even think of doing anything good is because God has taken the initiative and first loved us. That initiative is so strong it can’t be broken. The Scriptures call it a COVENANT, a word we will hear throughout Lent. “I will write it upon your hearts” says Jeremiah. Even when we fail, God’s covenant with us endures. We are repeatedly gifted with merciful kindness.

Beginning with God’s Covenant doesn’t work in a magical way though. Rather, Lent supplies us with a whole battery of support and instruction about how to respond to love. We make room in our lives for God’s presence. We empty ourselves of the little things… and the big things … that keep that loving covenant from affecting us. Above all it’s our hearts that are changing. We notice it in very concrete ways – in prayer, in fasting, in reaching out to those in need. All this “heart work” and “hard work,” this response to covenant during Lent, is CONVERSION.

Our conversion is not a one-time experience either. It is lived out over time, and requires repetition. It actually requires COMMITMENT. With commitment, God’s covenant becomes part of our character. It expresses who we are.
The Eucharist unfolds these three realities for us so that we can be united to Christ’s self-giving and become one with Him.

Our journey this Lent is to say yes to: Covenant – Conversion – Commitment.


Be a Eucharist Prayer

Heavenly Father,
At our wondrous birth,
You invite us to be a
part of Your body.

We praise You
for Your Gift of
the Bread from Heaven
divine in Your Son, Jesus.

At Your table, You offer us
to take and eat the Eucharist,
to receive Jesus
in the depth of our soul.

Your prescient love
fills the longing of our heart
and we journey in hope –
strangers no longer.

In this sacred mystery,
You call us to
to do for others
as You have done.

Transfigured by Your holy Spirit
we promise to be Your Eucharist
to one another that all will know You
until the end of the age.

Amen.

 


Read Bishop Noonan’s Pastoral Letter, The Eucharist: God Among Us HERE.

Learn more about the National Eucharistic Revival and how you can get involved here.