
	To review previous writings visit the archive Click here to view other writings by Bishop Manning of "The Year of The Eucharist"	October 2005
	The Year of the Eucharist Invitation to the Feast By Bishop Kevin Manning, Catholic Outlook, October 2005. As I write the last in my series of articles on the Year of the Eucharist, during which we were invited to know better, and frequent, the Eucharistic Banquet, my mind turns to the parable of the Wedding Feast (Mt. 22:1-14), which describes a king sending his servants to call to his son's wedding those who had been invited. But the Gospel says "they refused". A second invitation met the same fate: the guests just weren't interested. One went off to his farm, another to his business; others maltreated and killed the servants. The king was furious, destroyed the murderers and burnt their town. Then he sent his servants to invite anyone they could find to come to the wedding. This they did, good and bad alike, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. The general outline of the parable took me back to 10 October 2004 when Pope John Paul II, in order to concentrate the attention of all Catholics on Christ's great gift of the Eucharist, declared the Year of the Eucharist, which culminates in October 2005. The Pope's invitation was to celebrate a year of special prayer in which we, as individuals, and as Church, strive personally to renew our faith in the Eucharist, proclaim the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on Calvary and renewed sacramentally in the Mass, recognise the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, accept the Eucharist as the food Christ offers us out of love and commands us to receive in order to gain eternal life. In short, to take seriously the words of Jesus: "I am the Living Bread which has come 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." (Jn 6:51) Pope John Paul II also wanted us to understand the close relationship between the worthy celebration of the Eucharist and of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we might profit from Christ's generous offer of the forgiveness of our sins through sacramental confession, which is the sacrament of His loving mercy. Clearly, the Year of the Eucharist was meant to be a recommitment to both the Eucharist and Reconciliation. Personal conversion The year was clearly meant to promote the personal conversion necessary for sharing in the Eucharist, as well as a deep desire to fully, actively and consciously participate in our Sunday Mass. I am extremely grateful to the Priests of the Diocese for the effort they made to assist the faithful in this privilege and duty, which is theirs. At the same time I also invite those Catholics who, for one reason or another, have lapsed in the practice of Sunday Mass to rediscover this duty and treasure in their lives, and to take their rightful place in their community of worship. I also thank all parishioners for their faithful practice of Eucharistic devotion and encourage you to extend the period of Eucharistic exposition, which has already been established in your parishes. Mt Schoenstatt procession I proposed early in the Year of the Eucharist that each parish celebrate the Forty Hours devotion but have not heard too many reports of how often that occurred. However, one of the highlights of the Year of the Eucharist for me was the participation at Mt Schoenstatt in a marvelous procession of the Blessed Eucharist around their capacious grounds on Holy Trinity Sunday. An excerpt from the commentary by Angela Benson puts it in perspective: "The procession with Christ as Eucharist in the form of the reserved sacrament, presented another aspect of Eucharist: that of Christ leading us through the world on our pilgrimage of life. "Here was the form of the 'Body of Christ', with Christ at the head followed by those who recognise themselves as an apostolic part of this 'Body of Christ'. "This image was heightened by another image, which one had to move to the edges of the crowd or to higher ground to see and it could be a case of 'in the eye of the beholder'. "Here was the Bishop carrying Christ reverently and in awe as Mary our Mother would have done. Here was the 'Motherly' form that the Bishop takes on when the stole is worn. "The 'sense of purpose' that emanated from him was to witness to 'turning Christ outward to the world' as he spoke about in his homily, in the morning, referring to the statue of Mary, which holds Christ outward as 'Mother of Grace' in St Patrick's Cathedral in Parramatta. "In imitation the co-ordinators of our Pilgrim Mother Apostolate following behind in the procession would have had the same 'sense of purpose' driven by their love of the Schoenstatt picture in which Mary holds Christ outward saying to them, 'Take my Son out into the world for its renewal'." Priesthood In my appeals to you, I especially requested prayers before the Blessed Sacrament, indeed during the whole Eucharistic Year, for an increase of vocations to the priesthood. The connection between the Eucharist and the priesthood and the special needs of the Diocese urged me to single out this intention for intensified prayer. At the same time, let us not forget the Consecrated Religious life and the need to pray that Religious families may increase in our Church, and the cause of peace and life may prevail in our society. In the course of the year, two men were ordained to the priesthood and two seminarians from The Philippines offered themselves to study for the Diocese. Continuation I encourage the Priests of the Diocese, now that we have completed the Year of the Eucharist, to propagate zealously, at every opportunity the Church's teaching on the Eucharist as Christ's Sacrifice, the Supper of the Lord, sacramental food and presence, expression of Christ's friendship, experience of Christian joy, Viaticum, and pledge of eternal life. In all of these aspects the ecclesial nature of the Eucharist is most important, as is the constant challenge of the Eucharist to the Christian community to live the Gospel of justice, peace, love and life. The Church not only calls us to practise social justice and service to the poor but also gives the power to accepting such tasks. I believe that, generally, over the past 12 months, the lives of our people have been revivified by the wave of Eucharistic devotion, solidly rooted in the sacred word of God and expressed in personal liturgical prayer. Let us continue with a renewed sense of reverence and awe for Christ's gift of His Body and Blood. As we come to the end of the Year of the Eucharist, let us ask Christ in the Eucharist to strengthen us to recommit ourselves to the mission of the Church, and to all our duties and obligations as individuals, families, parishes and Diocese. We ask for strength to serve our families, to sustain our parishes, to continue to promote Catholic education, to work for the human and spiritual wellbeing of our children, for their protection from all harm, to live authentically and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, we pray that the Eucharist will draw us to live in the presence of Jesus, to draw strength and joy in order to be faithful as a community of faith and worship, a community of love and service, a true and authentic Eucharistic community. Participation in the Year of the Eucharist has helped us to intensify our efforts to face our obligations and duties as Christian people. At the same time, it has instilled in us strength, joy and peace as we respond to Christ's call to conversion, to service and to holiness in life. Let us return now to the parable of the wedding feast. Possibly we have been remiss in accepting this priceless invitation. If such is the case we remember that our God is a God of mercy, and there is always time to seek that mercy and forgiveness.

To review previous writings visit the archive

Click here to view other writings by Bishop Manning of "The Year of The Eucharist"

October 2005

The Year of the Eucharist

Invitation to the Feast

By Bishop Kevin Manning, Catholic Outlook, October 2005.

As I write the last in my series of articles on the Year of the Eucharist, during which we were invited to know better, and frequent, the Eucharistic Banquet, my mind turns to the parable of the Wedding Feast (Mt. 22:1-14), which describes a king sending his servants to call to his son's wedding those who had been invited.

But the Gospel says "they refused". A second invitation met the same fate: the guests just weren't interested. One went off to his farm, another to his business; others maltreated and killed the servants.

The king was furious, destroyed the murderers and burnt their town. Then he sent his servants to invite anyone they could find to come to the wedding. This they did, good and bad alike, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

The general outline of the parable took me back to 10 October 2004 when Pope John Paul II, in order to concentrate the attention of all Catholics on Christ's great gift of the Eucharist, declared the Year of the Eucharist, which culminates in October 2005.

The Pope's invitation was to celebrate a year of special prayer in which we, as individuals, and as Church, strive personally to renew our faith in the Eucharist, proclaim the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on Calvary and renewed sacramentally in the Mass, recognise the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, accept the Eucharist as the food Christ offers us out of love and commands us to receive in order to gain eternal life.

In short, to take seriously the words of Jesus: "I am the Living Bread which has come 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." (Jn 6:51)

Pope John Paul II also wanted us to understand the close relationship between the worthy celebration of the Eucharist and of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we might profit from Christ's generous offer of the forgiveness of our sins through sacramental confession, which is the sacrament of His loving mercy. Clearly, the Year of the Eucharist was meant to be a recommitment to both the Eucharist and Reconciliation.

Personal conversion
The year was clearly meant to promote the personal conversion necessary for sharing in the Eucharist, as well as a deep desire to fully, actively and consciously participate in our Sunday Mass.

I am extremely grateful to the Priests of the Diocese for the effort they made to assist the faithful in this privilege and duty, which is theirs. At the same time I also invite those Catholics who, for one reason or another, have lapsed in the practice of Sunday Mass to rediscover this duty and treasure in their lives, and to take their rightful place in their community of worship.

I also thank all parishioners for their faithful practice of Eucharistic devotion and encourage you to extend the period of Eucharistic exposition, which has already been established in your parishes.

Mt Schoenstatt procession
I proposed early in the Year of the Eucharist that each parish celebrate the Forty Hours devotion but have not heard too many reports of how often that occurred.

However, one of the highlights of the Year of the Eucharist for me was the participation at Mt Schoenstatt in a marvelous procession of the Blessed Eucharist around their capacious grounds on Holy Trinity Sunday. An excerpt from the commentary by Angela Benson puts it in perspective:

"The procession with Christ as Eucharist in the form of the reserved sacrament, presented another aspect of Eucharist: that of Christ leading us through the world on our pilgrimage of life.

"Here was the form of the 'Body of Christ', with Christ at the head followed by those who recognise themselves as an apostolic part of this 'Body of Christ'.

"This image was heightened by another image, which one had to move to the edges of the crowd or to higher ground to see and it could be a case of 'in the eye of the beholder'.

"Here was the Bishop carrying Christ reverently and in awe as Mary our Mother would have done. Here was the 'Motherly' form that the Bishop takes on when the stole is worn.

"The 'sense of purpose' that emanated from him was to witness to 'turning Christ outward to the world' as he spoke about in his homily, in the morning, referring to the statue of Mary, which holds Christ outward as 'Mother of Grace' in St Patrick's Cathedral in Parramatta.

"In imitation the co-ordinators of our Pilgrim Mother Apostolate following behind in the procession would have had the same 'sense of purpose' driven by their love of the Schoenstatt picture in which Mary holds Christ outward saying to them, 'Take my Son out into the world for its renewal'."

Priesthood
In my appeals to you, I especially requested prayers before the Blessed Sacrament, indeed during the whole Eucharistic Year, for an increase of vocations to the priesthood. The connection between the Eucharist and the priesthood and the special needs of the Diocese urged me to single out this intention for intensified prayer.

At the same time, let us not forget the Consecrated Religious life and the need to pray that Religious families may increase in our Church, and the cause of peace and life may prevail in our society.

In the course of the year, two men were ordained to the priesthood and two seminarians from The Philippines offered themselves to study for the Diocese.

Continuation
I encourage the Priests of the Diocese, now that we have completed the Year of the Eucharist, to propagate zealously, at every opportunity the Church's teaching on the Eucharist as Christ's Sacrifice, the Supper of the Lord, sacramental food and presence, expression of Christ's friendship, experience of Christian joy, Viaticum, and pledge of eternal life.

In all of these aspects the ecclesial nature of the Eucharist is most important, as is the constant challenge of the Eucharist to the Christian community to live the Gospel of justice, peace, love and life. The Church not only calls us to practise social justice and service to the poor but also gives the power to accepting such tasks.

I believe that, generally, over the past 12 months, the lives of our people have been revivified by the wave of Eucharistic devotion, solidly rooted in the sacred word of God and expressed in personal liturgical prayer. Let us continue with a renewed sense of reverence and awe for Christ's gift of His Body and Blood.

As we come to the end of the Year of the Eucharist, let us ask Christ in the Eucharist to strengthen us to recommit ourselves to the mission of the Church, and to all our duties and obligations as individuals, families, parishes and Diocese.

We ask for strength to serve our families, to sustain our parishes, to continue to promote Catholic education, to work for the human and spiritual wellbeing of our children, for their protection from all harm, to live authentically and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also, we pray that the Eucharist will draw us to live in the presence of Jesus, to draw strength and joy in order to be faithful as a community of faith and worship, a community of love and service, a true and authentic Eucharistic community.

Participation in the Year of the Eucharist has helped us to intensify our efforts to face our obligations and duties as Christian people. At the same time, it has instilled in us strength, joy and peace as we respond to Christ's call to conversion, to service and to holiness in life.

Let us return now to the parable of the wedding feast. Possibly we have been remiss in accepting this priceless invitation. If such is the case we remember that our God is a God of mercy, and there is always time to seek that mercy and forgiveness.