St Peters RC Church Hamilton

“Within You, generation after generation will proclaim their joy,…” (Tobit 13 v 11 TNJB)

Food for the journey, the Bread of Life is this joy.

This is Christ entering us in the Holy Eucharist.

Mere men, mortals, yet we eat the Bread of heaven! 

For the Lord has redeemed us at Christ’s †.

Strong is the love of the God to whom we belong.

All who eat this bread will live forever,

In the One who lived, died and rose again for us.

The † and the Sacramental Mystery,

Present the Bread of Heaven, Christ Jesus to us regularly.

The living Lord strengthens our trust and dependency 

Gifting us the Holy Spirit of countless blessings. 

Jesus is gifted us as the Life of the World.

We have fullness of life now and eternally

Because the Lord Jesus makes Himself accessible 

To all who know Him interiorly and seek to love freely.

“The mourners and the happy, the philosophers and the fool, the old man and the child – persons of every temperament, every range of intellect, every nationality – all these unite in that which alone can unite them: the friendship of the Lover of their souls.” (Life because of Him.” Monsignor Robert Benson)    

The Lord Jesus comes to us as love.

He offers us the Father’s mercy and the Holy Spirit’s power.

He is readily accessible in sacred Scripture, in prayer,

And in the sacraments, notably the Eucharistic Banquet.

The Lord Jesus is food for thought, for faith, for belief.

His friendship is a gift most precious, invaluable.

He is our Brother, yet Saviour to each believer.

He lives, dies, rises again to win the world for the Trinity.

In Him, according to the working of the Holy Spirit,

We find our ability to battle with satan and win.

We begin anew each day through holy love’s mercy,

Wiping the slate clean of our iniquity, lovingly.

For Christ Jesus won forgiveness for us making us righteous.

He gifts us Himself under the form of bread and wine.

And all we can readily recognise and respond to without being overcome.

“He first becomes present on the altar, at the word of His priest, in the form of a Victim.” 

(“Life because of Him.” cont) 

“In the Sacrifice of the Mass He presents Himself before the world, as well as before the eyes of the Eternal Father…” (“Life because of Him” cont.)

For Father God, Deliverer, this is Your mercy at work, inviting us to pray and believe in the One we receive as Saviour. 

Please pray then for:

The world to recognise the life we are offered because of Christ Jesus; 

All to understand that the Holy Eucharist is truly life giving through Christ Jesus, because it carries “…the same significance as that in which He hung upon the cross” (“Life because of Him” cont); 

A fuller appreciation of this Sacramental Mystery whereby the Saviour is “performing the same act which He did once for all.” (Cont);  

We gain “that passion of friendship in whose name He claims our hearts” (Cont);

Lord Jesus is the Life Giver, a promise made; “ ‘Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on Him the Father, God Himself has set His seal’.” (John 6 v 27 TNJB);  

“ ‘It is My Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread…(which) gives life to the world’.” (John 6 v 32 TNJB); 

“ ‘Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me and I live in that person’.” (John 6 v 56 TNJB); 

“ ‘Who eats Me will also draw life from Me’.” (v 57);

The Holy Spirit of conviction to reveal to many more the friendship of the living Bread from heaven, whereby we gain salvation;  

“The climax of that Greatest Love of all by which He laid down His life for His friends.” (“Life because of Him” concluded);

Wise reasoning states: “Let us love then, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4 v 19 TNJB);

Christ Jesus is the living Bread from heaven and we have life because of Him;

“You have not seen Him, yet you love Him and still without seeing Him You believe in Him, and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1 v 8, 9 TNJB) Amen.