Living Out the Eucharist

As faithful Catholics, how exactly are we living out the Eucharist, both during and outside of Mass? 

This is the basic question posed by Pope Francis during the second part of his Catechesis on the Eucharist . In the first teaching, the pope reminded us about our real communion with Jesus and his mystery during the Eucharist. Now he challenges us to live out this communion with Christ, 

“Is it only a moment of celebration, an established tradition, an opportunity to find oneself or to feel justified, or is it something more?”

Coincidently, I just read an article by a nurse, on her way to Church, who stopped to help victims of a car accident. She left after help arrived but was covered in blood and dirt. Rather than wasting time by going home to change clothes, she decided to simply put her top on inside out to hide most of the mess. Although she missed her own regular Eucharist, she just had time to make it to a nearby Mass at another church.

Immediately after she felt self-conscious, ill at ease with the kind of attention she attracted but it was at the kiss of peace where she was actually shunned ; people ignored her, refusing to make eye contact or shake her hand. As an upstanding, well-known, active member of her parish, she was shocked by their judgements about what type of person she was. Suddenly this warm, giving nurse realized how the poor, marginalized and needy must feel every time they step inside a church.

Pope Francis addresses this exact scenario
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