the meal that shouts the good news
"Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes!" —1 Corinthians 11:26
You may not be a good speaker, but you can spend your life evangelizing and proclaiming the faith. You may be shy and find it hard to approach people with the message of salvation. You may not have led anyone to Jesus for years. Nevertheless, God has still provided a way for you to loudly proclaim that Jesus died for the sins of the world.
By eating the eucharistic body of Jesus at Mass, Scripture declares you are proclaiming to the world that Jesus Christ came to earth to take upon His shoulders our sins (1 Cor 11:26). By drinking of the cup of the precious blood of Jesus, you in effect shout from the rooftops (Mt 10:27) that Jesus is coming again in glory (1 Cor 11:26).
We live in a hurting world that desperately needs to hear the good news of Jesus over and over again. Let your message go out to the ends of the earth (Ps 19:5; Acts 1:8) by receiving the eucharistic Jesus daily, or as often as possible. Jesus commands: "Do this...in remembrance of Me" (1 Cor 11:25).
Prayer: Father, use me to bring many thousands of fallen-away Catholics back to Jesus, back to a regular sacramental life in the Church, and forward to a life of mature discipleship.
Promise: "If I washed your feet — I Who am Teacher and Lord — then you must wash each other's feet. What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do." —Jn 13:14-15
Praise: Praise the Eucharistic Jesus, Who humbled Himself to be food for our souls.
Reference: (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)
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Rescript: †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, October 3, 2008
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