between two Eucharists

It is weeks like this when I rely on prayers and rely on Christ.

I found a quote that resonated with me as I walked out down the Campus Ministry hallway at 3:00 when I was done studying for the night.

"I can endure anything
between two Eucharists."
- Dorthy Day

I don't know much about Dorthy Day; nothing more than she was a Catholic who was involved with the poor, who worked for social justice, was fairly modern, and founded the Catholic Worker newspaper. The quote resonated with me as I walked back to my dorm and gave the the strength to not fall into despair with my overwhelming week.

It is a beautiful thought: "I can endure anything." But it comes with the knowledge that I will be fed again and given the strength of our savior by consuming the Eucharist. I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me, says Paul. How true that is when our lives begin to revolve around the strength - spiritual, physical, and emotional- that we are given at each celebration of the Mass. How thankful are we? Do we hide how much we rely on our savior? even to him, are we scared to admit it. Weakness - an anti-value of our culture. We must be strong, self sufficient according to them. But how different are we supposed to be in the eyes of Christ. Reliant on our savior, childlike looking to Christ to guide and and support us each day.

It is truly a gift given to us. The Eucharist didn't have to happen. Christ could have come and then left, but instead he knew there would be centuries of persecution, wars that destroyed so much of mankind, famines, natural disasters, and on an individual's level, the loss of a child, the feeling of anxiety, unemployment, fear of future, and even midterm weeks. And because he knew that, he gave us himself to give us strength. The Cross is where we find salvation, and the Eucharist is where we find strength to always remember to live in that saving grace.

The times that are emotionally trying, that are physically taxing, the days when you look around and don't understand how you got where you are, or where you are supposed to be going, it is those times that the Eucharist calls us. "Come, child, rest in me for this hour, do not think, just open your heart and allow me to love you right here. All will be well, find strength in this gift, rest in me. I will soon be resting in you and carrying you though the day."

With Christ with in us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, we can endure anything between two Eucharists.

May the Lord accept the sacrifice,

ps. sorry about the font size change, it's not letting me fix it

"Pray, brethren, that our sacrifice my be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father."
"May the Lord accept the sacrifice, at your hands, for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and the good of all His Church."

When it comes time for Communion, we are not only partaking in the sacrifice of Christ, but also of ourselves.


On the altar, Christ comes down. It is the eternal kiss between divinity and humanity. Christ's one sacrifice spans all of eternity. It is not a reenactment of the passion, but a participation in it. Through the sacrifice of the Mass we are PRESENT at the table of the last supper, the 40 lashes, and the final breaths of the Cross. Christ is outside of time, and so while He was on the cross, He gave up his life for each and every Mass, each and every person. We are tapping into the divine love of the ultimate sacrifice. A gift fully given that will never be fully understood.


But it is not only Christ who is present on the altar. We are also called to make an offering. The words italicized above commonly are understood to pertain to the bread and wine, the offering that the priest will consecrate allowing the congregation to take part in Christ's sacrifice. However, we can also take this time with in the Mass to lay something on the altar. We pray "Accept the sacrifice" of our day, our frustrations, our joys, our pains. We offer our lives to Christ, telling Him, "It is all for you. I may not be a missionary, a priest, a nun; I am only a student, parent, worker. I have no conversion story. I am not Paul. I simply live, loving you, each day." We lay down THAT life, knowing our faults, and asking the Lord to accept the effort we put forward as we strive to become more rooted in Christ and fall deeper into Love.

We consecrate ourselves. Asking that as the bread and wine are transformed, we may also be transformed. We undergo a 'transubstantiation' of sorts. The bread and wine- physical, natural, human- becomes the Body and Blood - divine, the soul of Christ. We consume this into ourselves. And we the congregation of Christ - physical, natural, human- open ourselves to the grace of the divine, the soul of Christ, and it's ability to change us.

It does not happen with out our will. The divine cannot transform us, unless we allow it. Our lives are our own, feeble, human, weak, until we allow Christ, the Great High Priest, to consecrate them and work through our hands, our hearts, our selves to love all of humanity. By allowing Him to consecrate our lives, by offering ourselves to Him, we are then more prepared and able to live out the call and mission Christ has given to us. To LIVE and LOVE all for Christ, in all that we do, all we say, and all we are.