Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament

This continues a series of ideas to use in your parish or area. They are based on St. John Paul II’s encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, (On the Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church).

Week 13  “For this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the whole Christian life” (Art 33; cf. Lumen Gentium). Offer a parish Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration asking Jesus—the Prince and source of peace—for world peace. 

Week 14   “Jesus explained to them: ‘I Myself am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me shall ever be hungry, no one who believes in Me shall ever thirst’” (Jn 6:35).“It is as the living and risen One that Christ can become in the Eucharist the ‘bread of life’ (Jn 6:35, 48), the ‘living bread’” (Jn 6:51) (Art 14). Give a series of presentations on the Living Presence of Jesus and Eucharistic Adoration to your parish, and invite them to sign up for a Holy Hour of weekly Adoration as we embark on Eucharistic Revival.

Week 15 “I Myself am the Living Bread come down from Heaven.  If anyone eats this Bread he shall live forever; the Bread I give is My flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). “Before this mystery of love, human reason fully experiences its limitations. One understands how, down the centuries, this truth has stimulated theology” (Art 15). Invite a missionary/preacher to speak about Jesus’ Personal Presence in the Eucharist and Adoration at your parish.

Week 16  “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:57). “The Eucharist is a true banquet, in which Christ offers himself as our nourishment” (Art 16). Publicize information and announcements about the Holy Eucharist and Adoration in your parish bulletin, newsletters, website, diocesan newspaper and announcements, and other media.

Week 17  “God’s Bread comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:33). “The Church implores this divine Gift, the source of every other gift” (Art 17).  Share about the True Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist with children, teens, college and adult students by using appropriate means and materials in classes and inviting them to weekly Adoration.

Week 18 “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54). The Eucharist is the “pledge of future glory” (Art. 18). Offer your Mass and Communion in reparation to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus for the sins of the world and invite others to join you in attending daily Mass.

Week 19  “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:10). At Mass we offer the sacrifice of Jesus, the Eucharistic Lamb, and “are united to the heavenly ‘liturgy’” (Art. 19). Encourage parishioners, family and friends who are not signed up for a weekly Holy Hour of adoration to pledge a weekly Holy Hour with Jesus.

Week 20 We await a “new heavens” and “a new earth” (Rev 21:1). “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20). The Eucharist “spurs us on our journey through history and plants a seed of living hope in our daily commitment to the work before us” (Art. 20). Invite parish prayer groups and other groups (e.g. Knights of Columbus, Altar Rosary Society, etc.). to join you in praying for and promoting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in your parish and community.

Week 21 “Do this is remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:24-25).“The Second Vatican Council teaches that the celebration of the Eucharist is at the centre of the process of the Church's growth” (Art. 21). Distribute pamphlets, prayer cards and other materials on the Holy Eucharist and Adoration in your parish and community. Invite others to help you in this endeavor.

Week 22  “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (Jn 20:21).“From the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross and her communion with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the Church draws the spiritual power needed to carry out her mission. The Eucharist thus appears as both the source and the summit of all evangelization” (Art. 22). Invite a family member, friend, neighbor or co-worker to go to Mass and/or Adoration with you.

Week 23 “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17). “Our union with Christ [in the Eucharist], which is a gift and grace for each of us, makes it possible for us, in him, to share in the unity of his body which is the Church” (Art. 23). Make a Holy Hour, and give a Holy Hour gift card, to someone in need. (Cards are available through us.)

Week 24 “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . and we were all given to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13). “The Eucharist, precisely by building up the Church, creates human community” (Art. 24). Offer a parish Holy Hour for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life. Encourage adorers to pray for seminarians, priests, bishops, cardinals and our Holy Father.

Week 25 “[John, the beloved disciple, was] leaning on Jesus’ breast” (Jn 13:25). “It is pleasant to spend time with him, to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple (cf. Jn 13:25) and to feel the infinite love present in his heart” (Art. 25).  Spend a Holy Hour resting in Jesus’ Love.