NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL

EUCHARISTIC WITNESS

   For over 30 years, I had the pleasure of helping to prepare children for their First Communion in my parish. Over time, I realized there were no children’s books explaining the last words the priest speaks to us before the final blessing at Mass … “Go in peace to love and serve the world”. Knowing how important these words are, I decided to write the book myself. The name of the book is “It’s All About Change”. Although written for children, the message is true for all of us. The book begins by pointing out that changes are constantly occurring around us... changes in the weather and seasons, changes due to aging, and certainly our world is constantly changing. I then went on to explain that many changes came with Jesus’ life on earth. Some people were cured, some forgiven, some brought back to life, and some, like His apostles, changed just by spending time with Him.

 When Jesus knew His time on earth was coming to an end, He gathered with His closest friends and celebrated the Passover meal with them. At that meal, He took bread, blessed it, and broke it, saying, “Take this all of you and eat. This is My Body”. The bread was no longer bread. It was changed into Jesus’ body. Then He took the wine and said, “Take and drink. This is the cup of My blood.” The wine was changed into Jesus’ blood. He told His apostles to do this in memory of Him.

 Over 2000 years later, we still celebrate that same meal. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we are as close to Him as those apostles were on that first Holy Thursday night. The point that I wanted to make to the children is that, shortly after receiving Holy Communion, the Mass comes to an end, but it’s not really over. At the end of Mass, the priest commissions us to go and bring Jesus out into our world. For most of us, this will be done in very small ways at home, school, work, in our neighborhood, and wherever our daily lives take us. We do this by acts of kindness and helping others. We don’t even need to use words. And little by little our world changes. The changes might be very small and we might not even notice them, but Jesus does ... and it makes Him very happy.

~ Joanne Dinan

   For additional information and resources, please visit the Diocese of Portland Maine website at https://portlanddiocese.org/Eucharist