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First Communion Parent Workshop
I gave a workshop today for parents of children receiving First Communion. It was part of a two hour workshop where the kids were taken out for catechesis on the Eucharist and the parents stayed for a brief session put on by me. We ended the workshop with a few minutes of adoration in the Church. [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/189988038" params="color=1b595f&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
I focused a great deal on initial evangelization and invitation to a personal relationship with Jesus and less on the actual content of the Eucharist and Confession (which I did cover for the last 25 minutes of the workshop after the prayer when the recording stops) because often sacramental preparation is an opportunity to reach out to people who may not have ever been invited to a relationship with Jesus or experienced a profound conversion experience that gives meaning to everything we do as Catholics.
This was my attempt at a proclamation of the kerygma centered on communion with Jesus in the Eucharist.
"He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in Him." John 6:56
This talk was influenced a great deal by the book Forming Intentional Disciples
To say this talk was heavily influenced by Michael Gormley's talk (here) would be a huge understatement. I borrowed a great deal from him and owe him a big, pandering, groveling thanks.
If you are interested in more on the Jewish and Old Testament roots of the Eucharist (like the Temple, Passover, and Bread of the Presence) I highly reccomend this book by Dr. Brant Pitre: Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
This talk was published on The Frank Show, the podcast of St. Francis of Assisi in Grapevine, TX. You can checkout the podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, or the podcast app.
The Mass: A Model for Personal Prayer
St. John of the Cross Statue by Magdeleine Weerts
What should the rhythm of our personal prayer look like? Is prayer just one action, or a movement toward God with a beginning, middle, and end? The Church gives us an answer in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This rhythm is akin to the Mass and can help us enter into prayer more easily and develop a habit of prayer that moves us towards God.
Personal Prayer and the Mass
If we look in the fourth pillar of the Catechism on prayer (remember, the Catechism is split into four pillars - Creed, Sacraments, Morality, and Prayer) especially the section on contemplative prayer, the Catechism makes the connection between contemplative prayer and the Mass:
"Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy" (paragraph 2711).
Remember, contemplative prayer is not something only reserved for Nuns or levitating Saints, contemplative prayer is nothing more than "a close sharing between friends" and "a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus" meant for every Christian.
As we'll see in the Catechism, there are four movements to this rhythm of prayer: GATHER, RECOLLECT, ABIDE, ENTER.
Let's unpack the rest of paragraph 2711 to find a rhythm of personal prayer and its connections to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
GATHER
"Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "gather up" the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us." CCC 2711 __________________________________________________________________________
At the beginning of Mass, we begin with the sign of the Cross and with an opening prayer, called the Collect. Thus the beginning of Mass is a call to gather ourselves up from the world and reorientate ourselves in relation to Christ.
When I first walk into Mass, there are a thousand thoughts and distractions going through my head, as when I first begin to pray. At the beginning of prayer and the Mass, the first step is gathering our attention and thoughts and disengaging from the world around us (like Kevin Costner in that baseball movie...) so that we can place ourselves in the presence of God. Making the Sign of the Cross is a good way to begin prayer because it reminds us why we pray and to whom we pray.
St. Francis de Sales offers four ways of disengaging from the world and placing ourselves in the presence of God in the Introduction to the Devout Life:
1) Realizing God is omnipresent; that God is in everything and everywhere 2) Realizing God is in a very special manner in your heart and the depth of your spirit 3) Realizing God looks down on us from heaven, especially those in prayer 4) Imagining Jesus Christ in his humanity as though he were near us or next to us
RECOLLECT
"Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "gather up" the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us." CCC 2711 _________________________________________________________________________
At the beginning of Mass after the opening prayer is the Penitential Rite, where we acknowledge our sins and repent of them, followed by the Gloria praising God for his mercy and love.
Likewise the next phase of prayer means being honest with ourselves and with God about the state of our our soul and our heart. "We do not know how to pray as we ought" (Romans 8:26), but if we ask, the Holy Spirit teaches and guides us in prayer to acknowledge and relate to God truthfully who we are, where we have been, our thoughts, desires, baggage, and even our recent sins and shortcomings.
A few paragraphs back, the Catechism explains contemplative prayer in the words of St. Teresa: "Conteplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends" (Catechism 2709). It's like answering the question "How ya' doing?" from a friend you haven't seen in awhile.
ABIDE
"Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "gather up" the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us." CCC 2711 __________________________________________________________________________
During Mass, we abide in the presence of God and listen to Him. We hear His voice in the Old Testament, His glory in the Psalms, and encounter Him in the flesh in the Gospels, all during the Liturgy of the Word.
After coming to God in prayer and talking to Him about what is honestly going on in our heart and in our lives, the conversation begins to turn over to God. Just like on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), after we unload what is on our hearts we give God the opportunity to respond to us. This is when true contemplative prayer can begin.
In the following paragraphs of the Catechism, it explains that "contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God." (Catechism 2716) In order for us to hear the Lord, we need to be patient and wait on Him (Psalm 27:14). I can't stress enough how important interior silence is for prayer. How can we hear God speak to us if we never shut up? Don't be afraid that you are doing nothing by sitting in silence this way. "Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus." (Catechism 2715). As long as you are focused on God, you are praying. Sometimes God speaks words to your heart, sometimes He sends you peace, sometimes He may just be present with you in that moment, pouring out His love on you.
ENTER
"Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "gather up" the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us." CCC 2711 __________________________________________________________________________
The most intimate moment of Mass happens when we receive our Lord in the Eucharist and come into communion with our God.
Contemplative prayer is a gift beyond words. Initiated by God, we become caught up in the life of the Trinity and are led to share in the love between the Father and the Son. There is no way to make this happen, we must abide in God's presence and wait for Him to bring us into communion with Him. But when this gift does occur, when God allows us to enter into His mystery and experience a foretaste of heaven, it is like an blaze of faith, hope, and love being ignited in your chest!
It's That Easy! (Sort of)
Prayer is hard work, especially contemplative prayer. Remember, God is the one who initiates contemplative prayer, it is a gift and we can only patiently wait with a loving gaze fixed on Him. Realize that it will be hard at the beginning, but if we put in even the smallest effort to reach out to God in love, God graciously reward us. Set up a time to regularly practice praying in this way everyday and you will begin to experience the deep love, joy, and peace of a life in intimate relationship with God.
A Rhythm of Prayer from Catechism 2711 "Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "GATHER up" the heart, RECOLLECT our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, ABIDE in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to ENTER into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed."
+JMJ
###What do you think? Was this helpful? Let me know in the comment box. God Bless!
"Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist" - Review
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
Brant Pitre
Douobleday 240 pages
Once or twice a year I read a book that rocks my world. This was one of them. This is a super review of sorts; a bunch of resources, videos, and links are included.
How would the Jews at the time of Jesus viewed his actions at the Last Supper and His words about the Eucharist?
It's hard for a twenty-first century Christian to hear the words and actions of Christ with the ears of the Jews who heard and saw them firsthand. Dr. Brant Pitre attempts to accomplish just that in "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist". He gives you the eyes and ears of a first century Jew using the Bible and ancient Jewish tradition. Seeing the Eucharist from this perspective is like suddenly seeing 3D after living your entire life in two dimensions - mind blown.
Dr. Pitre looks at the Eucharist through the Old Testament and various sources of Jewish tradition; the Targums, Babylonian Talmud, and Mishna are various collections of ancient commentary, oral traditions, and Bible commentaries from Jewish rabbis between 600 BC and 220 AD.
The book focuses chiefly on the New Exodus, the New Passover, the Manna, and the Bread of the Presence. Dr. Pitre unpacks each of these perspectives on the Eucharist by first looking to the Old Testament and then drawing from the extra-biblical traditions of ancient Rabbis.
Bread of the Face
By far the two biggest takeaways for me are the sections on the Manna and the Bread of the Presence. The Bread of the Presence is remarkably hard to miss in its connections and implications with the Eucharist. An accurate translation of the Bread of the Presence is literally the "Bread of the Face" and was kept in the tabernacle the Jews had in the wilderness during the exodus (Leviticus 24:1-9) along with the Ark of the Covenant and the golden lamp stand, known as the Menorah.
The Bread of the Face was kept on a golden table, or altar, and veiled when brought out of the tabernacle (Numbers 4:1-15). It was kept with flagons of wine (Exodus 25:29) and the bread and wine were eaten by the Levitical priests every Sabbath day (!). The Bread of the Presence was a "perpetual due" that would be continually "before the Lord" as a "covenant forever".
According to Rabbinic tradition, the bread changed once it was brought into tabernacle, as Dr. Pitre explains:
"...certain rabbis believed that something special happened to the Bread of the Presence when it was offered by the priests as a sacrifice to God. Before the bread was brought into the Holy Place to be offered in sacrifice, it could be laid on a marble table. But after the bread had been consecrated to God by the priests, it had to be laid on a golden table..." (pg. 128)
Also, when the Temple in Jerusalem was built and pilgrims would travel for miles to celebrate Passover, Pentecost, or the feast known as Tabernacles, the Bread of the Face would be removed from the Temple so pilgrims could see it:
"They [the priests] used to lift it [the Golden Table] up and exhibit the Bread of the Presence on it to those who came up for the festivals, saying on them, 'Behold, God's love for you!' (Babylonian Talmud, Menahoth 29A)" (pg. 130-131)
The connections here to the Eucharist, as we know it now in our experience as Catholics, are just ridiculous. What more love does God have for us than giving us His body on the cross and in the Eucharist? Doesn't it make sense that this sign of the "covenant forever" would continue after Christ, to be eaten on the Sabbath? Isn't it a sign of God's "presence" here on earth with His people and in His "temples"?
There were at least two chapters in the book when I felt the sections drawing from the writings of the rabbi's were redundant and hard to trudge through. Sometimes there wasn't much incentive to read those parts except to see that the rabbis agreed with how Dr. Pitre interprets the Eucharist through the Old Testament. Despite those couple instances, the book is very easy to read and hard to put down.
READ THIS BOOK!
Like a Scott Hahn book, Dr. Brant Pitre uses the Old Testament to explain the Catholic faith in ways that leave you screaming "Why have I never heard this before?". Dr. Pitre answers the question "why did early Christians so easily believe in the Real Presence?" in a very convincing and unique way.
This book would be a time-bomb to give to a protestant and great for those who think Mass is boring or don't understand the Real Presence of the Jesus in the Eucharist. This book is a must read and I highly recommend buying multiple copies to give away.
Resource Goodness
You can read the first chapter of this book here. Also check out Dr. Brant Pitre's website with links to talks and other books by him.
You can get an outline of Dr. Brant Pitre's talk on Jesus and the Jewish roots of the Eucharist here. Download and save the pdf by right clicking and clicking "save as". This outline gives you a bird's eye view of the book and would be great for presenting this content to an RCIA class or other study group at your church.
You can also listen to an hour long talk by Dr. Pitre on this topic (and most of the content of the book) here.
Video Goodness
[youtube=http://youtu.be/eiZMyqGLw5Q]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/97SvFoW-hS4]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/TtdrOcoEPSs]
### I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review, through the Blogging for Books program. I was not required to write a positive review and I receive no other compensation for this review other than the book.
Buy Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist here!
Dr. Brant Pitre Talk on the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYDSPcEoC74]
How would ancient Jews have understood the Eucharist?
This mind blowing talk by Dr. Brant Pitre on the Jewish roots of the Eucharist answers that question. Prepare to have your little Catholic brain explode - you'll never look at the Eucharist the same again.
Just a little teaser for you as I read and write a super-review of his book "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist".
Zombies vs. Jesus
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y2BrmcVf6c&w=640&h=360] I'm back from a glorious Texas vacation visiting my wife's family and a few friends from college. And just in time for Spirit Juice Studios to release Zombies vs. Jesus, a short film about... well... just watch it.
What do you think?
Memento Mori!
***Stay tuned for my longest post yet, "We Need More Death", to be posted today or tomorrow.