The Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist of Santa Rosa and their satellite communities journeyed once again to Trinity Place , Mathura for their annual retreat held the first Saturday in Lent. Joining us for the second year were the ministers from Pointe-à-Pierre parish together with their parish priest, Fr Urban Hudlin.

After the welcome by Bro Martin Franklyn, Monsignor Christian Pereira, parish priest of Santa Rosa , reminded the retreatants of our core duties and responsibilities namely:

. We are called to assist the priest in serving the Body and Blood of Christ.

. Our service is not limited to just distributing communion but also involves building up communion among those with whom we live and share life

. We are part of a team in ministry

. We must have an evident love for and loyalty to the Church

. We must be willing to look after our sick and not just those among us but also those in our wider parish community

. We must develop and nourish our prayer life, rooted in scripture.

. We must develop an attitude of gratitude - our lives must be Eucharistic [continual thanksgiving]

Retreatants at Trinity Place, Matura

Our Retreat Director, Fr Arnold Francis, in his opening remarks on the theme - The Eucharist - quoted from the document Lumen Gentium: "The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life." (LG 11). Fr Francis then used this quotation to highlight not only how our lives are grounded in the Eucharist but also how the Eucharist nourishes and sustains us as we strive to live out the Christian life. He focussed on six areas:

1. What is Eucharist?

2. Keeping our Baptism dynamic

3. Five-step process of conversion

4. Discernment

5. What does it mean to be the Body of Christ?

6. How do we become the Eucharist of God in one another, that is how do we become the Body of Christ?

What is Eucharist ?

Taking us on a journey through the scriptures, Fr Francis started with the Old Testament Sinai Covenant in order for us to understand the greatness of the New Covenant.

In Exodus 24, the eating of the flesh was a sign of unity among the Israelites. The blood on the altar symbolised God's life among them while the sprinkling of the blood symbolised the life of God binding them together so that a diverse people became one people - God's people. 

In the New Covenant when we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ we proclaim we are one people, God's people sharing in God's life. Just as in Old Testament times, God called a people out of love, so too today He calls to us. He is a "jealous" God an "impulsive" God, according to Fr Francis, and all He asks is for us to love Him in return.

Fr Francis said we can not talk about Eucharist without talking about the Word. In John1:14 the Word became flesh and we partake of the flesh. The breaking of the Word and the breaking of the Bread are one movement. 

After Jesus' resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus first broke the Word and then He broke the bread and then the disciples recognised Him (Luke24:13-35). So we too must first break the Word and then the Bread to recognise Him, to share in His life.

Baptism and conversion

Sharing in Jesus' life means that there is a continual dying and rising to self. According to Fr Francis this dying and rising is really an ongoing renewal of our baptismal vows where we die to the old self and rise to new life in Christ, and is also the same process involved in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Fr Francis (IN PHOTO) outlined five steps in this process.

1. We must all experience our Good Friday - things we must die to or go through: addiction, loss, change.

2. We must then experience our Easter Sunday - a time of resurrection, a time of new birth.

3. We must mourn and grieve for the person or thing we have lost.

4. We must let go of the old life, do not cling to it - let it ascend to the Father.

5. We must claim our Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit in our lives and situations.

Through this process we can forgive ourselves and each other and accept whatever change comes into our lives.

Discernment

During the final session, Fr Francis emphasised the need to understand Jesus' participation in the Eucharist. With reference to 1 Cor11:27-31, he stressed that Eucharist calls us to discern. 

To discern that Jesus is the perfect and ultimate sacrifice - that because of His sacrifice no other sacrifices are needed. So we say no to human sacrifice, no to the culture of death. The death of Jesus redefines sacrifice as communion. The altar of sacrifice is now the table of life. 

Violence and torture are reverently broken when we eat the Body of Christ. Barriers and borders fall when we consume. Thus solidarity and harmony become real and so movement to one another is also a movement to the Trinity.

Eucharist calls us to solidarity and harmony. Eucharist calls us to compassion and thus to social action so that we reach out to one another in love.

During the final summation Fr Francis said that we are the Body of Christ - so as Christ is offering His Body, He is offering us as well. In our offering we experience our Eucharist, our gathering in the one bread of life. 

When we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ we become in essence a sacrament, a tabernacle for Christ both individually and in community. When we say "The Body of Christ" we consume Christ but since we are the Body of Christ, we are sharing ourselves and each other.

Eucharist calls us to live our lives in such a way that people can look at us and know who God is. Jesus came to reveal us to ourselves - to make the invisible God visible to humanity -a mystery to be lived out in unity. We declare the glory of God by the way we live.

So with the angels and saints we can proclaim:

Through Him, with Him, in Him, in union with the Holy Spirit all glory and honour are yours Almighty Father, forever and ever. AMEN.