From this October 17th until October 2005, Pope John Paul II announced the [url=http://www.vatican.va/holy_fa...] "Year of the Eucharist"[/url]. The celebration of the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith as Catholic Christians. The Eucharist, as a mystery, holds many meanings for us: it proclaims God’s works:creation, redemption, and sanctification”, when we gather at the Eucharist we are fulfilling Jesus’ command to “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24), it anticpates the wedding feast of the lamb (Revelation 19:9), at the Eucharist we are and form the one Body of Christ, and it is a sign of unity as the visible expression of the Church. I would be remiss if I did not mention an important aspect of the Eucharist that is sometimes ignored-The Eucharist commits us to the poor (CCC,1397).  Who are the poor? As John Paul reminds us: "The poor", in varied states of affliction, are the oppressed, those on the margin of society, the elderly, the sick, the young, any and all who are considered and treated as "the least". The poor constitute the modern challenge, especially for the well-off of our planet, where millions of people live in inhuman conditions and many are literally dying of hunger. It is not possible to announce God the Father to these brothers and sisters without taking on the responsibility of building a more just society in the name of Christ.   This will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged.


 


Let us remember to take on the interior attitude of poverty and to take on the reponsibility for building a more just society in order to be participants in the "Kingdom of Heaven".