Ministers of the Eucharist

To be invited to be a special minister of the Eucharist is to be invited by grace into a most privileged ministry. Jesus’ offering of himself on the Cross to God and to the world is made present each time we celebrate Mass. That this is what Jesus wanted is clear from the last supper. As he broke the bread to share it, and as he poured the blood-red wine for his friends for the last time, he could not help thinking of his own body and his own heart which were about to be broken for them. All he had left was his life, and he wanted to give it for those who had drawn close to him during his public ministry. His heart is the heart of God, however, and so he wanted to give himself, body and blood, for every man, woman and child who is born into this world. So he made of this meal a sacrament that would enable him to give himself to us everywhere till the end of time. As he promised: "When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw everyone to myself" (John 12:32); and ‘I am with you always, till the end of time’(Matthew 28:20).

He invested this bread and this wine with a new meaning and a new reality, and he asked his followers to "Do this in memory of me"(Luke 22:19). Do what? Do what he was doing. He placed himself in their hands and asked them to give him – his life, his Spirit, his prayer, his heart –  to all who were hungry and thirsty for love. He asked them – and he continues to ask us – to give their lives, too, and their life-blood, their energy, their spirit, their love, to others: "Love one another as I have loved you"(John 15:12).

At the last supper it was Jesus who took the bread, and broke it, and handed it to his disciples. As a special minister you are graced to be the one who hands to others the body and the blood of Jesus. People come to you, hungry and thirsty, for this amazing gift, and you have the privilege – a humbling one – to place Jesus’ body in their hands with the words ‘The Body of Christ’, and to offer them his blood, his life-blood, to drink, with the words ‘The Blood of Christ.’

 

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