This weekend (4:30 pm and 10:30 am), twenty-five young kids are making their First Eucharist.  It is a major family event.  It is a major parish event. These children are welcomed to the Table of the Lord.  They should know that they are invited to this altar where there is forgiveness and nourishment. 

First Eucharist is part of the initiation of a Catholic.  Yes, initiation.  Historical studies revealed that adults were incorporated into the Christian (Catholic) life by receiving baptism, anointing (confirmation), and Eucharist.  When children are brought into the church in the Latin Rite, these sacraments are separated and usually rearranged (although some dioceses in the United States keep the strict order of the sacraments): baptism-first Eucharist-confirmation.  Today’s children are part of that process.

Among the Christian traditions, Catholics (Roman and Orthodox) hold that communion is receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.  This is the longest tradition in Christianity.  I don’t understand why other branches of Christianity do not hold the same understanding.  And just for the sake of clarity, it is the Body and the Blood of Christ, not solely of the historical Jesus the Nazarene.  We receive the Risen Christ, the glorified Lord Jesus.  Hence, it is not a minimalist body of corpuscles, neurons, and sinews like yours and mine; it is a risen body and a divine presence.  Thus it is sacramental.

Eucharist is the centerpiece of our public worship life.  It is the way that we come together to give thanks to God for his marvelous works, to offer our individual and collective works in God’s name, and to be nourished to once again enter the world where service continues … until he returns.  The Breaking of the Bread was quickly the worship that was unique to the Jewish Christians who came together on the Lord’s Day. 

Participating in this holy bread and this sacred cup is what marks us off as Catholic.  But strangely Catholics are wandering from this practice.  Today, about 40% of Catholics worship on any given weekend.  In the 1960s, 70+% came to Sunday worship (and Mass could be offered only on Sunday then).  Part of the reduction is due to work schedules.  Blue Laws forbidding certain kinds of commerce are long gone, and with it, refraining from jobs on Sunday.  Sometimes Catholics commit to other schedules of choice (e.g., soccer, camping).  And some have lost interest in the Mass or consider it optional for Catholics.  The more individualism commands our consciousness, the less collective experience bears meaning as it once did.   What is the value of Eucharist?

Eucharist (Mass) is where we consciously acknowledge the place of sacrifice in our lives.  Christian life is not “health and wealth”, personal gain; it is salvation and dedication to service as an appropriate response of gratitude.  Therefore we see the Sacrifice of the Mass as a model of grace and strength to live faithfully.  Eucharist is a conscious acknowledgement of God’s priority in our lives.  Because God is God and God is first, I/we are being liberated from the narrowness of social biases and my own narrow view of myself, as well as my sinfulness.  Eucharist is standing with other disciples in an allegiance of hope and of redemption (1 Pet. 2:9-10).  We are willing to be ambassadors of Christ and his redemption (2 Cor 5:20).  None of us does this on our own, but empowered by the Holy Spirit.  That “empowerment” is awesome!  No wonder the Eucharist IS thanksgiving! 

Welcome, children, to this Table of grace and of life.  Feast here often!