Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Exodus 16:2ff) “What’s This”
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Exodus 16:2ff) “What’s This”
When the People of Israel were liberated by God from slavery in Egypt, they were spiritually energized. We can imagine the enthusiasm as they marched away from bondage, singing the hymn, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty.”
But then came the difficulties of daily life. The desert was an unforgiving place. How quickly they forgot what God did for them when they became hungry. God had to move from being a liberating force to being a God who would sustain the faith of the people.
God didn’t provide abundance, but God gave sustenance. God, we are told rained manna from heaven. The manna didn’t look like food. The crystal flakes were probably the dried liquid that was excreted from desert plants. Bedouins probably still eat manna today as they wander with their flocks in the desert. The translation of the word manna tells us all we need to know about how the people viewed what they were given. Manna is translated as, “What is this?” Manna is often compared to Eucharist.
The Eucharist is our manna. God sustains us with the host we eat. God uplifts our spirits with the wine we drink. We probably ask, “Just what is this food?” We have a lot to ponder when we consider the Eucharist. We often hear that Catholics have a lack of understanding. And it is a lack of understanding that revolves around not one Theological point but several of them.
For example, we hear people say, “I used to go to Mass but now I don’t because it doesn’t feed me.” The statement says the Eucharist is all about my personal encounter with God. But that isn’t the primary reason we go to Mass. We have two types of prayer in our church. One type of prayer is priestly prayer. The other type of prayer is devotional prayer. When we consider prayer we most often think of our private devotional prayer. We want to have a personal relationship with God. And this is very important. But that isn’t what liturgical prayer is all about.
Mass is a liturgical prayer which is the priestly prayer of the church. We are called to be priests, prophets and kings at our baptism. If we are priests, we offer sacrificial prayer as a part of the community. We could say this is an obligation that comes with our Baptismal commitment. We pray liturgically not for our needs but for the needs of the church community, also the needs of the whole world. There is a power in the community’s prayer that is stronger than my individual prayer. Priestly prayer sets the self aside to align oneself with the prayer of other believers for the good of the world. The words that we utter aren’t ours. No, they are the words of the church.
If we just take a moment to consider the words of the Eucharistic prayers, we can learn to appreciate that we are praying for the good of the world. All too often the words of the Eucharistic prayer become routine. We kind of take a little nap. We consider this the presider’s prayer. He is doing his thing. But the presider is speaking on behalf of the church community. As a spiritual exercise we might look at the Eucharistic prayers in our pray books or look it up on-line. Doing this might give us even more reasons to attend Mass.
We have eight elements in the Eucharistic prayers. The first is thanksgiving which is the function of the preface.
Next, we have praise, which is expressed when we sing the Holy, Holy. We call on the Holy Spirit to be with us. We have the words of institution when the bell wakes us up for a moment. Afterwards, we recall Christ’s life and death and future coming which is the essence of our faith. We speak of our sacrifice as an offering that asks for greater unity among ourselves and the whole world. We then make intercessions for the living, the dead, and for special needs today. All this is capped by a final doxology glorifying God. We give all honor to God. We say at end of the prayer, Amen, which means I believe.
What do we need most in the world today, unity and peace. During every Eucharistic prayer we ask for this as we unite ourselves to each other, with the Saints in heaven, with Jesus our brother. We need a sense of oneness with all creation while we fight for the welfare of the planet. The Eucharist can bind us together, rich, poor, people who lean to the right, people who lean to the left, people of different races, people who have different sexual orientations, we all come together united in our belief in Christ Jesus. If we ponder the words, Eucharistic Prayer we might really appreciate the true nature of the Mass. And we might say, “This is why I believe in Jesus as my Savior.”
Reflection Questions:
1. Have I ever meditated on a Eucharistic Prayer? Could I take the time?
2. Have I ever thought about the difference between priestly prayer and devotional prayer? What does that mean to me?
Dear Parishioners,
We received correspondence the other day from the diocese that informed us of our ADA goal for the year. This year our goal is roughly $95,000. The goal has dropped the last few years for several reasons. The primary one is that our school subsidies have amounted to more than 50% of our ordinary income. This means that more funds are going to Catholic Schools in our area than to the diocese.
The kickoff for ADA is on the weekend of September 7th and 8th. The switch from a spring campaign to a fall campaign took place several years ago. Another change was that the diocese would handle all correspondence. Information should be mailed to you in these last weeks of August from the diocese. There will be in pew solicitation on kickoff weekend. You will be able to send your donation directly back to the diocese if you wish.
We have come very close to our goal these last few years. It would be nice to exceed our goal. If we did, the extra funds could be used to reduce the parish debt on the Damien Center.
I thank you in advance for your support of the Diocese of Peoria.
May our Lady of Peace pray for us,
Fr. Mark