Talk to catechetical leaders - I

Later this morning, I will be giving a talk to catechetical leaders from the Archdiocese. The theme will be on discipleship with regards to the Eucharist. I have been asked to make my remarks in relation to Pope Benedict's document on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Charity). While this is a great honor, it is also a daunting challenge. In addition, Archbishop Wuerl will be in attendance! Please pray for me!

Here are the first half of my notes for the talk:

- story of woman who experienced Real Presence in powerful way

Christian discipleship: following Jesus as members of his Body, the Church

a) The first part of discipleship is being fed by Christ

- Apostles, disciples
– 3 year period of formation before being sent out
- they were specifically and most substantially fed by Christ with the Eucharist: Last Supper

- “take… and eat” before “do this…”
- fed with the Eucharist
- life of Church begins with the Eucharist

b) Sacramentum Caritatis (apostolic exhortation: “The Sacr. Of Charity”)

- the Church / disciples come forth from the Eucharist very similarly to the way that Eve came forth from Adam’s side(sacramental symbol of blood and water flowing from Christ’s side at the Crucifixion)

- “’the Church draws her life from the Eucharist’” (PJP II)

- FG/ priesthood as coming forth from the Euch.

- as disciples, we “come forth” from the Eucharist and go forth from the Eucharist (at every Mass)

- challenge is for every modern disciple to make the Eucharist C.O.O.L. (center of our lives)- center of your discipleship

c) beauty and depth of the Eucharist
- Wuerl (on SC):“ It is in the Eucharist that we not only encounter Christ, but are invited into his death and resurrection, not as something beyond or outside us, but rather as members of his body in which Christ truly is present today - is ‘our contemporary.’”

- “invited into his death and resurrection”
SC: invited to share in “love in its most radical form” (9)

- when we encounter our contemporary, when we experience the Real Presence of Jesus, when we are fed by the Eucharist, our whole being is transformed

SC: “there is nothing authentically human – our thoughts and affections, our words and deeds – that does not find in the Eucharist the form it needs to be lived to the full…it permeates every aspect of our existence” (71).

- example of a couple whose lives have been transformed by the Euch.

- a daily call for each of us to reform our lives by enthusiastically making the Euch. the center of our lives

-every reform in the Church has been linked to “rediscovery of belief in the Lord’s eucharistic presence” (6)

- same is true for each of us: reform in our lives, discipleship + catechesis: “rediscovery…”

- SAA: experiencing a reform b/c experiencing a rediscovery of belief in Euch.