Introduction
by the Celebrant
A. Take and
Eat The most frequent form of contact with the
Church is, for almost all Catholics, the Sunday Mass. It is good to ask
ourselves today: Why are we here? What are we doing here? Why must it be the
eucharist that brings us together? Because the eucharist is the Lord himself.
It assures us, believers, that the Lord is here, that he is present not only in
the Blessed Sacrament but in each of us and in our communities. He guarantees
to those who believe in him that he is walking with us as our companion in
life. Even more, he shows us in the eucharist how to live like him, give
ourselves with him; how with him to break ourselves for one another and to give
thanks to God, and to each other too. We join Jesus now in his thanks to the
Father.
B. An Active
Presence When in a cafeteria you sit at the same table
with someone who is just sitting there without a word or a sign of recognition,
it is as if he or she is not present. People are present to one another when they
interact. We believe in the real presence in the eucharist. The Lord is there
for us, speaking to us, loving us, giving himself to us, and I hope that we
respond to him. He makes us capable of becoming present to others the way he is
there for us. Let us ask him for this living real presence.
Penitential
Act
-Lord Jesus, in
the eucharist you give yourself to us to eat and share. All thanks and praise
to you!
-Jesus Christ, in
the eucharist you invite us to become with you food and drink for the life of
the world. All thanks and praise to you! Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ,
have mercy.
-Lord Jesus, in
the eucharist you give us the strength to live the way you lived: for God and
people. All thanks and praise to you! Lord, have mercy. us to everlasting
life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
God our Father, you
fill the hungry with the food they need and you do not let the poor go away with
empty hands. Keep speaking to us the Word of your Son as the inspiration and
guide of our life. Let Jesus sustain and restore us with his body and refresh
us with his drink of joy, that we may share ourselves with each other and
become each other's delight. Let his bread of life be the pledge of your
unending bliss and happiness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/
Amen.
Prayer over
the Gifts
Our God and
Father, as a meal brings a family together and is a sign of unity and
solidarity, so too we are gathered in unity around the table of your Son. Let
your Son keep us together in friendship, peace and a common concern for love
and justice among us and in the whole world. We ask you this through him who
gives himself to us and stays with us, Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord
forever. R/ Amen.
Homily
Prayer:
Lord, often today we see pictures of hungry
people,
- mothers with ghostly babies at their breasts,
- children with swollen bellies,
- long lines of people outside social centres.
Like the disciples of Jesus, we might say,
“Why can’t they go back to their villages and farms and find something to eat?”
Now and then the thought comes to us that we should give them something to eat ourselves, but we quickly dismiss that as impractical. We find all kinds of excuses:
- we alone can’t solve this problem;
- we have no more than five loaves and two fish;
- we have to feed our own children first and these people are the Government’s responsibility?
Lord, you taught us today: to make them sit people down in small communities, take their resources and help them solve their problems; take whatever five loaves and two fish you have; raise your eyes to heaven and say the blessing over them;
break the bread and hand it around to be distributed among the crowd. Not only would all eat as much as they want,
but when the remaining scraps are collected, we will fill many baskets.
- mothers with ghostly babies at their breasts,
- children with swollen bellies,
- long lines of people outside social centres.
Like the disciples of Jesus, we might say,
“Why can’t they go back to their villages and farms and find something to eat?”
Now and then the thought comes to us that we should give them something to eat ourselves, but we quickly dismiss that as impractical. We find all kinds of excuses:
- we alone can’t solve this problem;
- we have no more than five loaves and two fish;
- we have to feed our own children first and these people are the Government’s responsibility?
Lord, you taught us today: to make them sit people down in small communities, take their resources and help them solve their problems; take whatever five loaves and two fish you have; raise your eyes to heaven and say the blessing over them;
break the bread and hand it around to be distributed among the crowd. Not only would all eat as much as they want,
but when the remaining scraps are collected, we will fill many baskets.
Lord, it is an extraordinary thing:
if we complain about the little we have, we never have enough;
but if we take what we have, raise our eyes to heaven and say the blessing over it,
we have as much as we want, and even twelve baskets of scraps left over. Thank you, Lord.
if we complain about the little we have, we never have enough;
but if we take what we have, raise our eyes to heaven and say the blessing over it,
we have as much as we want, and even twelve baskets of scraps left over. Thank you, Lord.
Preface:
It is
truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give
you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our
Lord.
For at
the Last Supper with his Apostles, establishing for the ages to come the saving
memorial of the Cross, he offered himself to you as the unblemished Lamb, the
acceptable gift of perfect praise. Nourishing your faithful by this sacred
mystery, you make them holy, so that the human race, bounded by one world, may
be enlightened by one faith and united by one bond of charity.
And so,
we approach the table of this wondrous Sacrament, so that, bathed in the
sweetness of your grace, we may pass over to the heavenly realities here
foreshadowed.
Therefore,
all creatures of heaven and earth sing a new song in adoration, and we, with
all the host of Angels, cry out, and without end we acclaim:
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord,
from every evil and grant us to live in peace and friendship. Through the body
and blood of your Son free us from the selfishness of sin and give us the will
and courage to bring food and justice to a hungry world, as we work in joyful
hope for the coming of your kingdom among us and for the final
Invitation to
Communion
This is Jesus our
Lord, who gave bread to the hungry. He says to us now: I am the bread of life. It
is my flesh for the life of the world. Happy are we to be invited to the table
of the Lord. R/
Prayer after
Communion
Lord Jesus
Christ, you have given us your body and blood, your whole self. Accept our
thanks and stay with us to be our strength in the beautiful but demanding task of
bringing your love, justice and hope to a divided and cold world. And make us
capable of setting the table of ourselves for one another, as you do for us, our
Lord and Savior forever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
In this Eucharist
the Lord has shared himself with us not just for our consolation but to possess
us and to transform us with his own spirit of commitment to God and to people.
May the Lord give
us opportunities and willingness to attend the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist as often as possible.
May the Lord
inspire us to do something for the many people hungry in any way for food and
love, for encouragement,
May the Lord give
us the words to encourage those who stay away from the Church to come and join
us and find a sense of fulfillment and strength
for something and
someone to believe in, can no longer leave us indifferent. May God give us this
self-forgetting courage: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/
Amen. Let us go with the Lord and
share ourselves with him. R/ Thanks be to God.
