|
INTENTION : |
That believers may recognize in the Eucharist the living presence of the Risen One who accompanies them in daily life.
|
Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said that the greatest poverty of our time is not material poverty but loneliness. There are so many people who feel themselves, or who are, very lonely, often overcome by sadness and despair. Where can they find a friend? Today there are numerous social networks on the internet, where it is easy to have hundreds of 'friends', even if in reality they may be completely unknown. On the web there are also services for finding friends or partners, selected according to the personal tastes of the 'surfers'… which sometimes give results in the shape of real meetings between people.
We need, and we seek, to be connected. It is a basic human condition, from our first experiences in the womb, when Daddy taps on Mummy's belly with his finger, and we kick back … right up to the dramatic experience of the Chilean miners in 2010, lost and out of contact for seventeen anxious days, 700 metres underground, before being found.
We might say that Christian faith is also fundamentally a meeting, a connection: a connection both with the risen Christ and among ourselves, the members of his community.
The Pope's request for prayer this month reminds us of a consoling reality: in every Eucharist, regardless of the devotion or ability of the priest who is celebrating, the risen Christ is present for us. There, as in a privileged place, we really can connect with him, and we form a celebrating community. In the light of God's Word, and under the veil of the humble, everyday sacramental signs, the generous and approachable person of the risen Jesus comes to meet us. For the people of God, pilgrims amidst the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of today's world, the Eucharist becomes a source and a central focus of this connectedness that we long for.
As Christians we are invited each Sunday, if possible each day, to come to this meeting. Let us ask the grace to recognise the Lord's smiling face in every Eucharist and to strengthen ourselves with his body given up for each one of us. There we can be sure that when the Eucharist is over He will continue to accompany us in our daily life, 'all days, even to the end of the world.' (Matt. 28: 20)
Claudio Barriga, sj
Director General of the Apostleship of Prayer
|
|
