So I feel like our blog is really good at recapping all the things we have done in the past days and weeks, which is good at getting you all in the loop on what we’re doing to help the parish and diocese here. However, it doesn’t always get you in the loop on what the parishioners are doing and saying and thinking.

A few weeks ago, the parish had its fourth weekend of preparation for the International Eucharistic Congress. After putting on weekends focusing on the Congress, the theme of gathering for Mass, and the Liturgy of the Word, the parish’s fourth round covered the Eucharist. Through a special homily crafted and delivered by members of the parish’s pastoral council, they shared a beautiful reflection on the Eucharist that was relevant, accessible, and really insightful.

They drew upon the writings and insights of Fr. Ron Rolheiser and put together a really beautiful homily to share with the parish. I’d like to share it with you in full here. Enjoy!

There is the story told of a young boy named Mortaki, who refused to go to school. When he was 6 years old, his mother took him to school, but he cried and protested all the way and ran back home. She brought him back to school and this scenario played itself out for several days. He refused to stay in school. His parents tried to reason with him but to no avail. His parents then tried the age old trick of applying an appropriate combination of bribes and threats. This too had no effect.

Finally, in desperation they went to their Rabbi and explained the situation to him. The Rabbi simply said: “If the boy will not listen to words, bring him to me.” They brought him into the Rabbi’s study. The Rabbi said not a word. He simply picked up the boy and held him to his heart for a long time. Then, still without a word he set him down. What words couldn’t accomplish, a silent embrace did. Mortaki not only willingly started going to school, he went on to become a great scholar and a Rabbi.

What that story wonderfully expresses is how the Eucharist works. In the Eucharist, God completely gives himself and, if you like, totally embraces us. Indeed, that is what all the Sacraments are – God’s loving embrace of us.

Words, as we know, have a relative power. In critical situations, they often fail us. When this happens, we have another language. It is called ritual. The most ancient and primal ritual of all is physical embrace. It can say and do what words cannot.

Jesus acted on this. He always used words in his preaching and teaching. Through words, He tried to bring us God’s consolation and strength. His words stirred hearts, healed people, and affected conversions. But words became inadequate. Something more was needed.

So on the night before He died, having exhausted what He could do with words, Jesus went beyond them. He gave us the Eucharist, His body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine – His very life. This was his embrace – a ritual which holds us to His heart. So, the Eucharist is God’s embrace.

But we sometimes forget that Jesus was born in a barn, not a church, and that God is as much about kitchen tables as altar tables, a community celebration, where we come together to share ordinary life and to celebrate special events with each other and to be together simply for the sake of being together.

“It is not good that man should be alone.” God spoke these words just before creating Eve and he meant them not just about Adam, the first man, but about every man, woman, and child. Everything is meant to be in relationship. The Eucharist honours that.

When Jesus gave the Eucharist to us, He intended it to be a ritual that invites us to come together as a family in every circumstance of our lives. In faith as in nature, we are meant to come together with others: when we are happy and when we are sad, when the occasion is festive and when it is mundane, when we celebrate new life and when we bury loved ones, when we give ourselves to each other in Marriage and when we need Reconciliation.

The Eucharist invites us to gather as family. The very essence of family is sharing with others the very special and ordinary moments of life. That is what we do together in the Eucharist.

To conclude, let us remember that in the Eucharist, we experience God’s physical embrace, and when we celebrate Eucharist together, we share our lives with God and with one another.