The Eucharist heals people of their wounds, emptiness and sadness, and gives them the strength to share Christ’s loving mercy with others, Pope Francis said.
Eucharist heals, gives strength to serve others, pope says
Katie Prejean McGrady: Returning to Mass: unexpectedly familiar moments
Perhaps, after weeks of uncertainty and nearly unhealthy doses of hopelessness, church is precisely the place we can bring those feelings — anxiety, fear and nervousness — and lay it down at the altar.
New executive order allows Minnesota churches to resume public worship at 25% capacity
St. Cloud Bishop Donald Kettler called it an “important breakthrough” in a May 23 letter to the people of the diocese. “This breakthrough is consistent with our need to protect public health as we take significant precautions in how we come together and pray,” he said.
Bishop Kettler video message: Gathered, nourished and sent
The current challenges we face have opened up new opportunities, Bishop Kettler said. “This is the silver lining to what we are going through right now — new ways of making Jesus Christ known and loved. New ways to be gathered, nourished and sent.”
Bishop Kettler’s Holy Week/Easter video message: Stay close to Jesus, spiritually close to one another
“We are a Church that values every human life. We are a Church in solidarity with others at this time. … We are a Church that understands sacrifice.
This couldn’t be clearer on a day like today, when we remember Jesus’ loving sacrifice for us.”
Real Presence: Do you believe in miracles?
Bread and wine become the actual substance of the body and blood of Christ during the Eucharist.
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Honoring the Real Presence
We can each deepen our faith in the Real Presence — and help our children and grandchildren to do the same — in small ways each day.
The Real Presence: What do Catholics believe and how can the Church respond?
Pew’s finding “certainly shows a failure in catechetics, but I think the Church faces a greater problem,” Jesuit Father Thomas Reese wrote in a column for Religion News Service. “Catholics have an impoverished idea of what the Eucharist is really about.”