Be Nourished by the Eucharist!

Be Nourished by the Eucharist!

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Eucharist

The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives as Catholics. For those in communion with Jesus Christ and His Church, this spiritual food wipes away venial sin, provides strength in times of trial and temptation, unites us with our Triune God, and gives us the necessary graces to follow the Lord and serve Him in our brothers and sisters. Unlike regular food that simply sustains our mortal bodies, the Eucharist strengthens our immortal soul, so we can strive for holiness in this life and be with all the angels and saints in the next.

The Eucharist is not only the source, but also the goal, or summit, of our lives as well. At Mass we encounter the living God, Christ Himself, made present under the appearance of bread and wine. To Him we come as a living sacrifice, offering Him our very lives and all our burdens, joys, and sorrows. Just as we offer the elements of bread and wine, and they are returned to us as the Body and Blood of Christ, so too when we surrender our very lives to the God who loves us, He will transform them with His grace.

Unfortunately, many Catholics have forgotten or never learned the beautiful truths about the Holy Eucharist, and that Christ is truly present in the Mass. Many people would rearrange their schedules and make great efforts to accept an invitation to meet with the governor, president, or foreign royalty. Yet every day we are privileged to have God Himself present on the altars of our churches.

More than ever before, our world is a broken place, with wars, violence, poverty, broken homes, and hopelessness and despair. For many people, life has become a burden. They yearn for meaning and purpose, but do not know where to find it. Our world offers us many quick fixes, to ease our pain or make us forget about it for a time, but drugs, alcohol, pornography, food, sex, and social media are not the answer and don’t provide us with lasting joy or peace.

Jesus Christ alone offers the answer. We may experience trials and sorrows in this life, but with Jesus at our side we are not alone on the journey. He provides us strength when we are weak, consolation when we are sad, and hope when we are despairing. When we know and trust Jesus Christ, we realize that there is a bigger picture than what we can see, one in which God can and does bring good out of evil and where there can be joy in the midst of tears. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and it is by clinging to Him and refusing to idolize the goods of this world, that we find true happiness.

There are many Catholics in southern Minnesota who have discovered the joy of having Jesus Christ at the center of their lives, and they desire all people to experience the strength and power of coming to Mass and encountering and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. To this end, the Diocese has created a special webpage dedicated to “Eucharistic Reflections.” Here you will find explanations by diocesan staff about the Church’s teachings on the Eucharist, as well as short videos and written reflections featuring parishioners from around the diocese, sharing why the Eucharist and coming to Mass are so important to them. We also have a variety of other videos and written pieces that provide a glimpse into how the Eucharist nourishes us, and helps us to faithfully live out our different vocations. I invite you to check these out and share them, to strengthen your own faith and encourage others to discover the great gift of the Eucharist. You can find the Eucharistic Reflection page under the Office of Divine Worship section of our diocesan website, www.dowr.org.

The Blessing of Children

In the Rite of Marriage, a man and a woman promise before God and their witnesses that they will lovingly accept children from God. This reflects the fact that marriage itself is ordered toward the rearing and education of offspring, who are a tangible sign of married love. While the Church recognizes that there can be serious and legitimate reasons to temporarily avoid pregnancy, Christians throughout the centuries have considered it a grave evil to thwart God’s plan for marriage and for married couples to close themselves off from the possibility of having children. Children are “the supreme gift of marriage” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1652), and are to be welcomed as a gift from God.

Unfortunately, in today’s secular culture, openness to life is a countercultural message. Society offers us the way of comfort and selfindulgence, and we are told that it is better to not have the “burden” of children, or to have only a few so we are not too inconvenienced and do not have to sacrifice any material comforts. Alternatively, others choose not to have children in order to preserve the world’s resources, even though large families often live much more frugally and less wastefully than those with a few or no children.

To live out the message that every child is precious and a blessing to his or her parents and family is not always easy. Yet our Triune God calls us to proclaim and live this truth, the Gospel of Life. Married couples are called to be open to life and welcome the children God gives them, and our whole Church must do its part to support families in raising their children.

Natural Family Planning

Natural Family Planning is the umbrella term for methods of achieving or avoiding pregnancy that cooperate with the Lord’s design for our bodies. While contraceptive devices and drugs repress or seek to control a couple’s fertility, the Church recognizes that the Lord has designed a woman’s body to naturally have fertile and infertile periods, and that if a couple truly deems it prudent to delay pregnancy for a time, they can do so all the while respecting the integrity of the human person. In this way, husband and wife recognize and respect the design of God’s plan for married love in exercising responsible parenthood.

July 25-31 is Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, a time to draw attention to the beauty of married love and ways that couples can faithfully live out that love in accord with the Lord’s design. There are a variety of Natural Family Planning methods, which are in accord with Church teaching and respect God’s plan for marriage. To learn more about Natural Family Planning and instructors near you, you can contact Peter Martin, Director of the Office of Life, Marriage and Family, at pmartin@dowr.org or 507-858-1273.

Hyde Amendment

For over 45 years, the Hyde Amendment has kept national taxpayer money from funding abortion. For decades it has had bipartisan support, even from politicians From the Bishop and citizens who were supportive of legalized abortion.

Unfortunately, there is now a movement in Congress to do away with the Hyde Amendment and force every American taxpayer to fund abortion. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to sign the petition at notaxpayerabortion.com, letting Congress know that you support the Hyde Amendment and strongly oppose using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion. It is important now more than ever to continue to pray and work for an end to abortion and for prolife protections such as the Hyde Amendment. We must never let down our guard in the cause to protect life. Blessed are you!

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Rev. John M. Quinn Bishop of Winona-Rochester