3rd Week of Easter 2019 - Wednesday - Hunger for God is Satisfied in the Eucharist

One of the things that perennially draws people to join the Catholic Church is the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Even amidst scandals and abuses, Jesus draws people to the Catholic faith through the Eucharist. And life-long Catholics can attest to the power of the Eucharist in transforming their lives and strengthening them in Christian discipleship.

Why is the Eucharist so powerful? Because the Eucharist is God, in the Eucharist, our desire and longing for God is satisfied.

St. John Vianney said, “The soul hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it.  Therefore He came to dwell on earth and assumed a Body in order that this Body might become the Food of our souls" God has placed a deep hunger within our souls, a hunger for himself. And our good God has provided the food to satisfy that hunger.

The world offers many artificial alternatives to God, but the Eucharist is the food that truly satisfies.
John Paul II called the Church the Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the Church of the Eucharist.  For the Church draws her life from the Eucharist.  John Paul writes, “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men.” John Paul adds, “No Christian community can be built up unless it has its basis and center in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist”

The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.”  Our works of charity flow from it, the strength to fulfill God’s Holy Will, the strength to resist worldly and demonic temptation. And we are led back every week, to the altar to worship and adore. We are led to the Eucharist because our hearts long for God, and sent out into the world from the Eucharist we seek to live lives pleasing to Him.


This last year on the feast of Corpus Christi, Holy Father Pope Francis said, “Let us choose this food of life! Let us make Mass our priority! Let us rediscover Eucharistic adoration in our communities! Let us implore the grace to hunger for God, with an insatiable desire to receive what he has prepared for us”

May we respond generously to Jesus who longs to feed us with his body and blood, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
- - - - - -

That the Church will deepen in her devotion to the Eucharistic sacrifice which is the source and summit of our Christian life.  We pray to the Lord.

That the redemptive power of Christ’s Eucharistic sacrifice will extend to the hearts and minds of all those who govern peoples and nations.  We pray to the Lord.

That the Eucharist will be for priests the source of their joy and their deeper configuration to Jesus Christ.  We pray to the Lord.

That the Eucharistic self-giving of Jesus will be found in all marriages, and in all our daily encounters.  We pray to the Lord.

For those who live in want: that Jesus the Bread of Life will be their sustenance, and that Christians may bring the justice and mercy of Christ to all those in need.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.