Brother Tom Draney speaks at CTA in Estero

September 17, 2009

The theme of the day was “Reclaiming the Eucharist as a Meal”

<Summary> Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was sent to the early Church and guided its development. The historical reality is that the first Christians celebrated Eucharist as a meal, the Lord’s Supper and, over time, this supper was transformed into a sacrifice. The early Church of small groups needed to develop a sense of the universal Church, and the Spirit guided them through social circumstances, the reality of politics, etc. to develop Eucharist as a sacrifice we know as the Mass.

Our world is very different, as are our needs. We have and recognize a world wide Church and institution. We need now a means of experiencing Christ’s presence in small groups where there can be interchange, social intercourse, and the experience of Jesus in our neighbor.

Eucharist as a meal in house churches does not mean that the parish Mass is no longer needed. It means that we need both a communal experience of sacrifice and a more personal experience of Christ being with us as He was to the disciples at Emmaus. People, particularly the young, are leaving the Church in droves because this dimension of the faith is not being met.
 

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