The Eucharist - a call to action
Opinion
We have often heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It kick starts your metabolism, helps you burn energy, and gets your brain moving for whatever lies ahead, whether it's school, work or family commitments. Our bodies need fuel to function properly. Without it, we slow down, lose focus, and struggle to keep up with life’s demands.
We have often heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It kick starts your metabolism, helps you burn energy, and gets your brain moving for whatever lies ahead, whether it’s school, work or family commitments. Our bodies need fuel to function properly. Without it, we slow down, lose focus, and struggle to keep up with life’s demands.
The same is true for our spiritual lives. Just as we need physical nourishment, we need spiritual sustenance to keep going in our journey of faith. Each time we come together for Mass, we’re invited to feast at the table of the Word and the table of the altar, to be nourished by something far greater than food. In the Eucharist, we receive Christ himself, His body and blood, given freely for the life of the world.
We often arrive at Mass tired, distracted or burdened by the demands of daily life. We may come with our doubts or confusion, our hurts and fears, our hunger for peace and meaning. But we don’t leave in the same state. At the end of Mass, we hear the words, ‘Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.’ This isn’t just a fancy way of saying the Mass is over; it’s a call to action. We are being sent out to live what we’ve just received.
The Eucharist isn’t meant to be a private exchange between ourselves and God. It’s meant to change us – and through us, to change the world. At its heart is Jesus’ self-giving love, His sacrifice for all of humanity. When we listen to Scripture and receive Holy Communion, we’re not just receiving grace for ourselves. We are being commissioned to live as His hands and feet in the world – to be people of compassion, justice, mercy and truth in all that we do.
This missionary aspect of the Eucharist is often overlooked. Too often we fall into the habit of seeing Mass as just a weekly obligation or a time for personal prayer. But if we truly understand what we are receiving, we will realise that Jesus is sending us out to continue His mission. He feeds us so that we might feed others, not only with food but with love, compassion, generosity, and care.
Here in Adelaide, living out that call might look like checking in on a lonely neighbour, volunteering at the Hutt St Centre or Vinnies, standing up for fairness in the workplace, or speaking out for those on the edges of society who have lost the power of their voice. It’s about bringing the light of Christ into every part of our lives – our families, our jobs, our communities.
Pope Benedict XVI once said, ‘The love that we celebrate in the sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature, it demands to be shared with all.’ Pope Francis told us ‘The Eucharist is a missionary sacrament; it calls people to give all they are and have to God, seek his blessing and then take his love to the world’. Our lives should be marked not only by the breaking of bread, but by radical love and deep care for one another.
Today, our world desperately needs people who live this kind of faith. The Eucharist isn’t just about what happens at the altar. Its real fruit is seen in how we live when we walk out the church doors.
So next time you hear the words, ‘Go in peace’, hear them as a beginning. You’ve been fed. Now go and feed others, not just with food but with the love of Christ.
- Orla Wright, Pastoral Support, Community Life and Worship
